Living Low Tech

[kybearfuzz]

After a rather stressful day, I went home after work for a nap and had planned on going for a run. It was probably one of the last nice warm days we'll have this year, but I skipped it in favor of hitting the "Woof Wednesday" happy hour at a local bar. A beer can be just as cathartic as a run somedays.

I ran into the globe-trotting and freshly shorn chrisglass who is always a pleasure as well as a few other familiar faces. Sitting alone next to our group was this beefy-looking cub type. So rather than have him sit alone, I scooted a couple of chairs down and introduced myself and then integrated him with some of rest of the group.

While he looked cubbish in appearance, I found out that he is actually 10 years older than me. What surprised me is that he admits that he'd only been in a gay bar four times in the last few years and drove roughly 30 miles to get to this one. Even stranger, he says he has no computer at home and his cell phone is of the non-iPhone/Droid variety. He says he uses a computer at work, but doesn't do Facebook or Twitter or have an email account other than his office.

Such technology has become so ingrained in our society that it is odd to run into someone who is freely and intentionally avoiding it. While I'm no FB fanatic, I do use it to keep up with people and events. I asked him how he had even heard of the bar or any of the events. He simply uses the local City Beat. The old fashioned way I suppose.

While I applaud the kind of resolve it must take to stay away from the internet and all its yummy goodness, I have to wonder how long a person can maintain such a distance from the online world. In talking to chrisglass, I know he's preparing for another trip where he will not have access to cell or WiFi access for weeks, but that is a different situation. Do you think you could give up the web for any excessive length of time if it were freely around you?

Comments

[martini-tim.livejournal.com]

I cannot imagine existence with computers. I have had one since I was 14 years old. I have been using the Internet since it was the Arpanet. I had used a windowing GUI for years before Apple "stunned" the world with one. I have seen fads rise and fall on the Internet like waves on a beach, and I surf them while never really getting immersed in them, knowing they will be gone tomorrow.

And yet this man intrigues me. Was he cute? Well spoken? Educated or at least well-informed?

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

The odd guy was very handsome, shorter and stocky, full stache with that divot goatee, very beefy and seemingly very educated. I didn't ask what he did for a living, but he had an air about him that suggested he had a professional job.

When I told him that it was strange to meet someone nowadays with no online presence, he seemed very concerned with putting his personal and financial info "out there" for anyone to get.

[martini-tim.livejournal.com]

You should consider pursuing him. He is the rare subspecies of gay, the hot gay luddite. I thought they were extinct.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Heh... I'd not heard the term "luddite" before, but he does fit the bill after I looked it up. We exchanged phone numbers and I may give him a buzz.