Self un-awareness

[Versalia]

SOME PEOPLE. Seriously.
Me: You said that you own a conventional non-smartphone, correct? (This means they don't have an iPhone or a Droid etc)
SC: Correct...
Me: Yet you also chose the response "I always look forward to the next great tech thing, personal technology is one of my hobbies," from the provided choices. Is that also correct?
SC: Yes.
Me: Since you do not own a modern personal device can you explain to me how personal technology is a hobby of yours?
SC: Uhm, well, I work as a business and payroll analyst here, so uhm, we're always looking at new technology to use with our system.
Me: ... So that's a job responsibility and not a personal hobby.
SC: Well, uhm, I uhm, spend a lot of time at home looking at uhm wireless features and network features to uhm integrate into my home network.
Me: And how much time would you say you spend doing that?
SC: About 10 hours a week.

You spend 10 hours a week reading random crap about wireless networks? You, sir, have:
a) Way too much time on your hands
b) A very poor idea of interesting reading material
c) No concept of what technology means as a personal hobby.

[Andara Bledin]

Personal tech is one of my hobbies.

My phone can do data, but all I ever use it for is to make/receive calls and store numbers.

Personal tech is a really broad category, and mine tends to include things like gaming devices, decocrative devices, and computing/communication devices other than phones.

But your guy is just deluded.

^-.-^

[MoonCat]

No, no; reading about it is the hobby! It's sure not buying/using/building any new technology!

[Versalia]

Personal tech is one of my hobbies.

My phone can do data, but all I ever use it for is to make/receive calls and store numbers.

Personal tech is a really broad category ...

Very true. I just got sick of hitting my head against the wall with all these people who own a piece-of-crap phone and then try to convince me they're so into personal electronics - this is San Francisco. If you're into technology, you HAVE a NICE phone.

[PatchO'Black]

If I may?

One may be interested in something like personal electronics and not have "the latest and greatest" products themselves.

Think of it this way: One may be interested in high-end automobiles. They may check out what the major manufactures have to offer, know various statistic, and so forth, but may not actually own a high-end car themselves. It doesn't mean that they don't consider it their hobby, it just means they may not, for various reasons, own one.

I happen to like various personal electronics. However, I don't own a "smart phone", as I don't feel that I would use the additional functions enough to justify the higher fees and price.

[Mondestrucken]

My hobby is technology.

I owns a television machine!

[Andara Bledin]

However, I don't own a "smart phone", as I don't feel that I would use the additional functions enough to justify the higher fees and price.

This.

I can hold my own and make useful recommendations on the current smart phone market because they interest me and I follow news articles about them. But I still don't have any need in my personal life to actually buy one for myself. *shrug*

^-.-^

[Versalia]

If I may?

One may be interested in something like personal electronics and not have "the latest and greatest" products themselves.

Think of it this way: One may be interested in high-end automobiles. They may check out what the major manufactures have to offer, know various statistic, and so forth, but may not actually own a high-end car themselves. It doesn't mean that they don't consider it their hobby, it just means they may not, for various reasons, own one.

I happen to like various personal electronics. However, I don't own a "smart phone", as I don't feel that I would use the additional functions enough to justify the higher fees and price.

Hence why I called and asked. It IS, however, undeniable in this market that anyone who is really into technology has a modern phone. I've done enough studies to know what I'm talking about.

[PatchO'Black]

Hence why I called and asked. It IS, however, undeniable in this market that anyone who is really into technology has a modern phone. I've done enough studies to know what I'm talking about.

I respectfully disagree. One does not need to own what you qualify as a "modern phone" in order to be knowledgeable about technology in general. While it might be true that people who are "really into technology" might be more inclined to buy a smart phone, it is doesn't follow that anyone who doesn't have a smart phone is not really into technology.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

My hobby is technology.

I owns a television machine!

I owns several of those too . . . the one in the boudoir is a flat screen. And we have several old fashioned tv's too (those now obsolete ones with the tubes and stick out in the back five miles.)

Of course I wouldn't call myself a hobbyist . . more like just catching up by degrees.

[Soulstealer]

I respectfully disagree. One does not need to own what you qualify as a "modern phone" in order to be knowledgeable about technology in general.

Oh they don't need to but they want to if my own personal experience with geeks has any weight. I have a friend who just had to get an HTC on a pay-as-you-go plan. He buys parts to build robots. I'm not saying everyone is like that but the hard core ones are.

[SarcasticJerk]

Hence why I called and asked. It IS, however, undeniable in this market that anyone who is really into technology has a modern phone. I've done enough studies to know what I'm talking about.

Like PatchO'Black, I have to disagree with this assertion.

**
TLDR version: I don't own a smartphone, but am into tech stuff more than most people.
**

The computer I'm writing this post from: i7 975, overclocked to 4.5 GHz. P6T7 WS mobo, as dual nForce 200 chipsets will support quad PCIex16. 24GB of RAM, overclocked to 2000 MHz. Four GTX 480 graphics cards (which I'm conisdering replacing with the 580 that came out yesterday). Two 160 GB SSDs in RAID 0. Water cooled. Built it myself.

The stereo in my car has 3-way components in the front R/L, 2-way for the center and rear channels. Three 4-channel amps to power them. The signal from the DVD changer gets fed into a 5.1 DSP with seperate 31-band equalisation for the five main channels, and it's time-aligned to the driver's seat. Plus the obligatory sub in a custom enclosure, powered by it's own amp. Installed it all myself.

My living room (and my girlfriend) conspired against me, making my setup in there much less elaborate than what's in the car. That didn't keep me from going the media centre route, instead of the normal 'hook up a Blu-ray to the TV'.

Now all of that could be taken as bragging about how I have way too much money to blow on toys, but keep this in mind: I don't own a smartphone. My cell phone is for, well, making phone calls (and the occasional text message). I don't own a bluetooth headset either (though I do use a wired headset when talking for more than a minute or two).

I'm not sure how not owning a smartphone factors into whether someone is into technology. My standard would be anyone who doesn't have a quad-core with at least two high-end graphics cards and 12GB of triple channel memory (lolz at people still using dual channel, right?).

[Seshat]

Poke poke.

Some of us geeks are ON A PENSION for one reason or another. Or otherwise severely money-restricted.

We simply can't afford the latest-and-greatest. Doesn't mean we don't want to.

[Teefies2]

Poke poke.

Some of us geeks are ON A PENSION for one reason or another. Or otherwise severely money-restricted.

We simply can't afford the latest-and-greatest. Doesn't mean we don't want to.
__________________


THIS

[Darkforge]

well a lot of people here have answered the question

Since you do not own a modern personal device can you explain to me how personal technology is a hobby of yours?

very nicely, a lot lot better than the SC in the original post.

But then thats what makes him an SC, he says his hobby is tech but can't back it up in any way shape or form.

lots of people do tech in different ways, but this guy doesn't