Vaudane wrote:So my old 386 came up, and I was showing off pictures of it. Waxing lyrical about how the 30+ year old 80 MB hard drive has zero […]
Show full quote
So my old 386 came up, and I was showing off pictures of it. Waxing lyrical about how the 30+ year old 80 MB hard drive has zero errors, bad sectors or other damage despite not having lived a blessed life. So I start discussing the whopping 2 MB ram of the thing when one of the people I am showing states
"It's a pile of junk"
"It's a computer older than you are that works as well as the day it was built... 😕 😕 "
"yes, doing very little."
There are some that don't understand the preservation of history and admiring it in regards to the timeframe it was built, nor building for nostalgia or other reasons personal to yourself.
Just took me off guard.
Did they ask you to "wax lyrical" about the 30+ year old HDD? It might have simply been the case that you were boring them, or at least the individual that spoke up as you describe. They're still jerks for trivialising your hobby like that, but also try to see it from their perspective.
When you're super in to something, and other people aren't, it can be a hard pill to swallow. You're so excited to talk about and share your passion, but others aren't really interested, and either humour you, or be rude about it, like the person you described.
People aren't "wrong" to see computers simply as a means to an end. Old computers use a lot of desk space, mostly aren't very nice to look at, and aren't useful for what most people use their computers for today. Compare this hobby with something like classic cars, where classic cars are visually striking, and perform their task of transportation just as well as a car purchased today.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" here, no "us" and "them". I know that my eyes glaze over when people I know start bragging about their sport/athletic achievements, and once upon a time I might have given them a gentle ribbing for voluntarily doing something that just makes you tired and sore. It's just human to show disinterest in something you're, well, not interested in.
MMaximus wrote:they're only using it to satisfy their craving for social connection (i.e. Facebook Twitter etc.)
It's broader than that, really, and doesn't have to be condescending. All sorts of people have to use computers to perform their jobs. Emailing, point-of-sale, data entry/lookup, document preparation, spreadsheets, etc etc etc.
They have no interest in the machine used to perform these tasks, only that it is capable to do it. I used to find that inconceivable, but I got older and realised it's the same as any piece of technology really. Most people couldn't describe how an Internal Combustion Engine works, and wouldn't bother to maintain a classic car, but still drive to work every day.
We can have our hobbies, everybody can have their hobbies, and we don't all have to show interest in everyone else's hobby. The problem isn't that OP's friend didn't care about old computers, the problem is that he was low-key a dick about it.
VogonsDrivers.com | Link | News Thread