I noticed as I have become older, that one would think new thingamajigs and whatchamacallits would be easier to use..... NOT so. What new and improved items have you thinking the older items were much simpler to use important data For me, one item is the washing machine. When searching for a new machine I found way too many models that had controls that looked like the inside of an airliner cockpit. No wonder older relatives may bulk at doing their own laundry.It took me a while to find an easy to use machine. Bravo, found a well known machine brand that was pretty much on/off, hot/warm/cold, with 4 washing cycles. Works like a charm.
She was released from the hospital and had to have someone drive her home. To avoid another heat stroke upon coming back to a super hot mobile home, I called her neighbor and ask that she came over (she had a key) to my friend's home to turn the AC on before my friend's arrival.
I could see the benefit of having the ability to turn on your AC or lights prior to coming home. In my friend's case, she was lucky she had a good neighbor that was available to help.
When my family leaves on vacations, I'd like to leave the lights and TV on so that the house looks occupied. Would be nice to be able to remotely control the lighting and the TV at random hours, and not at preset times that might look like they were turned on by a timer and not people.
When I've had to rely on private Uber or Lyft transit (can't remember which) I noticed that the drivers always had that annoying GPS verbal directional system on. I couldn't be comfortable driving with that disruption. I prefer classical music; it's more amenable to relaxation. Besides, I know how to read a map, and I've also found that the Uber and Lyft directions aren't the best; they don't know the logistics of time differences and heavier traffic during certain hours, or areas in which it's more likely that zoomers are showing off their hot rods or speeding.
Both of the trunkline highways in this area have vastly different driving patterns and characteristics, depending on the time of day. Some are perfect between the business traveling hours of early am to pm, but are clogged with tailgaters as standard office hours open and close.
(I'm also fortunate in that I'm so close to Canada that I can get a Canadian station, so I can listen to news in French, which compliments driving b/c I think better when I'm trying to understand a different language.)
In fact, when I want to watch a TV show at 8:00pm, I need to start the TV at 7:58 pm so I don't miss the beginning because of all the hoops one must jump through to start the TV and to find the station.
Oh my goodness, there is no such thing as a simple "dumb" tv any more. All I need is for it to turn on and then go to football, golf, or news, whatever we say into the voice remote. (Ok, so I do like the voice remote technology.) But there is so much that this TV can do, and I didn't even pick out a fancy one. And I don't feel like learning it all, so I won't.
It will be my job to transfer the cable service from the old tv to the new one. Comcast assures me that all I need to do is follow the instructions in the article they linked to me. Yeah, I'll let you know how that turns out!
I have visions of 20 years from now, when the younger generation doesn't know how, when the cellphones go down for whatever reason, we will see people in front of their houses trying figure out how to unlock the front door, and inside trying to use the appliances or even turn on a light.
Sounds like an episode of the Twilight Zone.
On the other hand, cell phones get fancier and fancier and I do appreciate some of the features and find that slowly I am using it more and more as a mini computer. I will can my landline when I move. I only get spam calls on it anyway. I love my small lightweight laptops, doing most of my banking online, being able to purchase the condo remotely, paperless billing and so on. So for me it is a mixed bag.
technie - you found an electronic piano that has the same touch as a high quality grand piano!!! Wow!!! Please tell me the make and model. Touch is so important. I haven't been successful in finding one I like.
My 26 year old Jeep has no GPS, but I can easily read a map. My sig-other had set up his smartphone for GPS but he found I am able to give him easier to follow directions by using landmarks. I use to joke that if our GPS is missing, that means I have been kidnapped.
One of our two 1996 Jeeps looks like it drove through a briar path, so no worry abut door dings, and it has a large rust spot on the front of the roof.... hey, easy to locate in a parking lot.
I predict that before long you will be able to say "put my black jeans on a cold wash" and your washing machine will reply "tissue detected. Do you want me to pause the program?"
My worst thing is the mobile phone. On the farm in a deep valley, we had no mobile reception at all, so I missed 20 years - all the time when everyone else was learning. My hi-tech DH keeps giving me new phones (I’ve now had 4) because I might get on better with them, so I start all over again. I just hate them! We now can’t get a landline, so I’m stuffed! Just don’t ‘message’ me!
My oven has lots of options I do not use, as does the microwave. Maybe its because when I learned to cook bake and broil were the only options, those are the ones I use today. I use the self clean about once a year because I've learned to use baking sheets and aluminum foil to avoid most spills.
I also love all the options on my washer, although I generally use the one that I programmed in my selections for water temperatures and an extra rinse.
BUT, I am a techie so maybe my love of technology drives my love of SOME modern appliance features. Afterall I'm still the one the younger generations ask how to do stuff with their computers and phones and game systems. I even have an electronic piano that has the same touch as a high quality grand piano... and two old fashioned pianos and an even older pump organ. I don't play the pump organ very well but it was being "thrown out" (so I got it for free), has a beautiful cabinet, was a good fix-it-up project, and reminds me a lot of my great-aunt who played one. I'm probably going to donate it to a local museum in the near future because its for sure no one else wants it!
My house is split personality - 100+ year old furniture sitting beside bookcases of books and the latest TV and game systems guarded by a techie security system. The very old and the newest.
I use a Berkey water purification system but, my fridge has a filter for the water and ice, which is great because we don't have very tasty water and you taste the ice. The water isn't cold, except the first tiny bit, that's what the ice maker is for. :-)
Oh my, I would love an actual pickle jar to make pickles. You had some awesome treasures from your parents.
I keep ice trays and use them when I get lots of lemons, I juice them, freeze them and then I can pull out a fresh squeeze of lemon or easily make lemonade. They are also the perfect size for freezing eggs. They were hard to find when I purchased them years ago.
I just put a pitcher of water in the frig to keep it cold.
But a faucet refrigerator requires connections, extra pipes, and what does it really provide?
Same with ice cubes; my sister's freezer had an automatic ice maker which continued to pour out cubes even though they weren't used - how many ice cubes does one person need?
Interesting event: when I hired a Veteran owned business to help clean out Mom's shed then dismantle it, we found a lot of things that the younger folks didn't recognize: an ice cube tray was one, a special container for making pickles was another.
I can't imagine anyone who lived through the Great Depression, WWII, and who grew much of their own food not knowing what a pickle barrel is, but the youngsters who didn't were completely unfamiliar with the cube tray and pickle barrel.
The mangle in their basement was also something that was unrecognizable by younger folks. I discovered a toboggan too,
I often wonder if in 20 - 30 +/- years from now people will wonder what cell phones were.
I had to laugh at the fears of causing an appliance to blow up. My mother refused to use a microwave because she was sure it'd "crash," as she put it. Forget computers -- there was no way she'd have gone there.
We just bought a house and will be redoing the kitchen from the studs up. I've been poking around looking at appliances since this is the first time I get to have what I want. I couldn't believe some of the refrigerators these days; four or five different doors or drawers just to access the inside, more in the body of the unit, and some will make "craft ice," -- those giant ice balls for cocktails. Oh, please. 🙄
I eyeball-measured every one of the refrigerators based on whether it looks like I can get a turkey in it at Thanksgiving. The rest is gravy.
I replaced the washer with a knobs and agitator model. I LOVE it. No more moldy front loader seal. I can stop it and add the one thing I forgot, and even put the top up, for extra long soaking. Aaaaahhhh!
Fawnby, in the old days you didn't need a support group in your pocket, people actually communicated and helped one another, neighbors were friends and offered support to one another. People weren't kept alive decades after their expiration date.
I think there could be a better balance with quality, user friendly products and integrated technology.
Always afraid of messing her computer up
My fave are the stackable w/d system that look like a spaceship. I've the thing that John Glen orbited the earth in back in the early 60's, and my w/d look MUCH more substantial!!
I'm sure my appliances could do wondrous things if only I were brave enough to try all those settings- or bright enough to comprehend the owner's manual.
Same thing with washing machines and microwaves. I had to buy my 3rd microwave and chose one with the least amount of bells & whistles on it. When my washer goes, I'll do the same. I had good luck with my Sears heavy duty model that has the same simple cycles as yours does!
And sis was telling me her MIL's TV was screwed up again, I've never understood why those systems need multiple remotes and why those remotes have to have dozens of buttons that are (almost) never needed.