I'm sorry I got distracted and never answered the original question.
I would love technology a whole lot more if it didn't force you to upgrade every six months. I miss the good old days of landline phones--you could buy a phone or two and be set for the next 20 years, not 2 weeks when the newest model came out. And, you only paid for OUTGOING calls, NOT incoming ones, too.
Way back in the early 2000's, I had a very tech-savvy friend build a (gasp) tower computer for me. Yes, it's absolutely huge. And red, my favorite color, with a cool neon blue light behind the fan. But at the time, he build it so that everything could be taken out piece by piece and upgraded, so about every 18 months I'd have him do whatever upgrades I needed and I still have that computer to this day. The last time I had it upgraded was to run Windows XP, and the reason I've kept it is because I have a sewing machine that is compatible only with XP. The updates for my sewing machine to run with Windows 7 (I'm not even sure if they have a compatible update for Windows 8 yet) alone is around $1500, last time I checked. So what do I do... buy a new sewing machine AND computer??? Yeah, right. ACK!!!! Technology gets you every time! I'm grateful for it but can't afford to keep up with it.
I do have a beloved Sony Vaio laptop that is at least 4 (maybe 5) years old. That's as modern as I get--sorry, folks. I'm trying to squeeze at least another year out of it and will probably be forced to update that soon as well. My phone is among the cheapie Straight Talk selections from Walmart that uses card refills for about $33 a month (with tax.) I refuse to update to the $45 a month cards because I just don't need that. But I AM at a point where I need a better phone... and an upgraded model forces you to also upgrade to the $45 plan. ARGH!!!!! Caught between a rock and a... lot of expensive machinery. Saving money for the future is very important to me, but modern gadgets can suck the wind right out of my goals.
It's times like this that I actually do want to go back to the good old Stone Age of technology, literally... As in, being forced to spend all this money on electronic devices just to maintain my part in the modern world... really makes me want to throw large rocks at several things.
