Say what you want, but if you've got a wallet-sized computer in your pocket, you're in deeper with tech than you're admitting.
Many adults are frustrated with tech – if they're not downright scared of it – and you may have heard some of them explain it away by saying, "I'm a Luddite."
That's shorthand for: They're too old-school, or, they're hopeless with tech. We suspect they really mean, they're too cool to use the latest tech, or they like living the simple life, just like the people in the year 1811.
Wait – 1811?
That's when the legendary Ned Ludd reportedly smashed machines in the early textile mills, shortly after the start of the Industrial Revolution. As opposition to mechanization and its de-humanizing effects grew over the next few decades, activists ascribed the actions to Ludd, and such protesters and vandals took on the name Luddites.
One could debate whether the automated textile machine and the steam engine – let alone, electricity and the computer – have helped or cursed humanity (For other species, it's been nothing but downside...), but this is the world into which you've been born. If, however, since the start of your life you rejected your mass-produced glass baby bottle; if you made your own clothes, using hand-made tools; if you never read a mass-printed book, drove a car, watched TV, streamed a podcast, or listened to recorded music – or, more in keeping with Ned Ludd's example, if you smashed that baby bottle, and the cars and TV's you encountered – congratulations; you're a Luddite.
You didn't walk to the hardware store and buy nails: you mined and smelted your own metal, made your own nails, and then built your own house. The milk you drank was straight from the cow – no refrigeration, let alone, bacteria-killing pasteurization, both of which require technology.
And as long as you're avoiding technology: no vaccines, ever. Right? No X-ray machines. No MRI's.
(As we write this, Scotland has announced it had ZERO cases of cervical cancer in women born, 1988 to1996, who were fully vaccinated against HPV. Looks like that worked. For more on forthcoming vaccines against cancer, see this article in Science magazine. )
So, if your parents never had you get vaccinated, and you've smashed every mechanical or electronic gadget you were ever gifted – congratulations; you really deserve to call yourself a Luddite.
Wait – you're reading this on a computer (Yes, even if it's a phone or tablet, it's a computer. The NASA scientists who designed the Space Shuttle, in the 1970's, could only dream of having the computing power of your iPhone.)
Awkward.
Our point: If you can't navigate your car without GPS; if you use mass-produced reading glasses, or electric lights, you are not a Luddite.
What we often see is that people who perhaps don't know every feature of their device, or who don't rush to upgrade to the latest operating system, like to call themselves Luddites. We know that many people are intimidated by tech (No judgements here...), and we imagine that, by calling themselves a Luddite, they let themselves off the hook. That's not a crime, either.
Call yourself scared. Call yourself hopeless with tech. Call yourself a late adopter. If you sometimes want to smash your computer, well, we feel your pain.
But in an era when some are framing science as an evil – even, as not real – language matters. If you use any tech, whatsoever, you are not a Luddite. And if you change your mindset about that, you're likely to do better with your own tech.
And, keep in mind: Here at Personal Tech Support, we use logic and the scientific method to try to help you with your tech – so, if you don't believe in science, we can't help you.
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