On the Menu: Crow

I was scanning the earliest parts of my back pages this evening and came upon this lil nugget I posted back on December 21, 2005:

So there's this article (ed: dead link) this morning about an AP/Ipsos poll that sez Americans are becoming high-tech junkies. Here's a graf:

The bill for being thoroughly plugged in to entertainment and communications runs more than $200 a month for a third of the households in this country. Four in 10 spend between $100 and $150 a month, according to the poll of 1,006 adults taken Dec. 13-15.

Sounds about right. I'm right at $150.00 a month when you add up the bills from cable TV (basic, not digital), internet (a 300Kb connection) and my cell phone (I don't have a land-line for what should be obvious reasons). I don't call myself a "gadget guy." I don't have a BlackBerry, an iPod, a TiVo, a stand-alone DVD player, nor an XBox or equivalent. I don't think I'm a Luddite, either. I just have no need, interest or desire for the things I don't have.

Try as I might (and I tried, believe me) I cannot find the breakdown on this poll. The Ipsos site doesn't have the data and it looks like you need to be a subscriber to get details, anyway. I think the details, rather than the generalities, of this poll would be fascinating!

To quote The Guess Who: "Seasons change and so do I... you need not wonder why, you not wonder why..."  What's changed since 2005, in the way of device additions: 

• A DVD player that rarely gets used


• A SmartPhone, which is kinda-sorta like a Blackberry


• My SmartPhone can double as an iPod, if I let it.


• A DVR... not a TiVo... as part of my cable package.


• A Kindle (not available in 2005)

What's changed in the way of services:

• I went from basic cable to a package that includes HD-TV channels (no HBO or other movie crap, thankyouverymuch)


• I went from a 300Kbps "wireless" internet connection to a fiber connection with 4Mbps access.

I suppose I have to eat some crow and re-classify myself as a "gadget guy," painful as it is.  There IS a price to be paid for bein' a gadget guy... my monthly expenses for information services (cable, internet, cell phone) have gone up over 50 Yankee Dollars a month since 2005.  But... they're worth every penny and I'm SO very glad to be able to have them.  Ain't livin' in the 21st century great?

More from Pew Internet on the subject of gadgets and stuff here... including this spiffy graphic:

My generation...The Silent Generation (heh)... looks positively retarded in the gadget space.  What the Hell is wrong with us, aside from the fact we're old?  Wait.  Old might explain it... cue up Emily: