Ask HN: Do you become emotionally attached to your old tech?
I have an Early-2011 MacBook Pro and recently upgraded to the most recent MBP. The new MBP is collecting dust because I find myself always preferring my old machine... It is like an old trusted friend who has seen me through stupid things (like writing that email to an ex) and awesome things (like writing code that I thought was beyond my ability). I realize the new MBP is a superior machine, but just can't seem to let the old one go. Have you experienced this phenomenon? How did you overcome it?
4 comments
I've witnessed it, but not experienced it myself. I'm sentimental for the data on it, and not the machine or medium that holds it. However, I also lack (most) sentimentality to things, not just technology.
Perhaps this is something you can practice at? I'm honestly not sure. I grew up moving around from state to state, another country once. This led to a certain level of non-attachment for me. I couldn't be attached, because all the things in my life (except family and ideas) were ephemeral. I don't even have friends that I'm still in contact with from prior to high school, literally none from my first 14 years of life (technology was what permitted them to continue at that point, circa 1996).
Not the computer, but examine your other possessions. How many things do you have because of sentimental value? Try to rank this to a certain degree. It was sad, but I was able to give up my grandfather's recliner last year (I'd ended up with it in college after he and my grandmother had passed and I had very little furniture). It got 10 more years of "life" in the family because of me, but it was time to let it go. Other things, however, I've retained (he was always a collector and got caught up in the Beanie Baby craze, so I have 4 or 5 of them in my home from his collection and a couple more that he'd gifted me during his collecting phase). These are small, they are decorative and are attached to a positive emotion (memories of visiting them, being with them). And I've given a couple of them away to other people who could get more value than I could (friends visiting with a kid who took a shine to a cat Beanie Baby, for instance).
On your computer, examine what it is you care about. The photos, the emails, the IMs. Preserve them. Preserve them in a way that keeps them visible to you on a recurring basis. Most of my photos are now on a digital picture frame, or I've been printing and framing them over the past few months. So now the camera, an old digital camera circa 2006 or 2007, and its ancient and small (by tech standards) memory card are no longer cherished items for me. I have what I wanted from them, I have a new (and much better camera) that I continue to photograph with and create new art and memories with. Perhaps when it's time to replace this one I'll remember taking it to Argentina and Uruguay and photographing my girlfriend as the sun set over the river. It may be difficult to part with. But I have the photograph, framed at work and at home. That's the thing I care about. The camera, the computer, they're mediums for the things I care about, not the things themselves.
Perhaps this is something you can practice at? I'm honestly not sure. I grew up moving around from state to state, another country once. This led to a certain level of non-attachment for me. I couldn't be attached, because all the things in my life (except family and ideas) were ephemeral. I don't even have friends that I'm still in contact with from prior to high school, literally none from my first 14 years of life (technology was what permitted them to continue at that point, circa 1996).
Not the computer, but examine your other possessions. How many things do you have because of sentimental value? Try to rank this to a certain degree. It was sad, but I was able to give up my grandfather's recliner last year (I'd ended up with it in college after he and my grandmother had passed and I had very little furniture). It got 10 more years of "life" in the family because of me, but it was time to let it go. Other things, however, I've retained (he was always a collector and got caught up in the Beanie Baby craze, so I have 4 or 5 of them in my home from his collection and a couple more that he'd gifted me during his collecting phase). These are small, they are decorative and are attached to a positive emotion (memories of visiting them, being with them). And I've given a couple of them away to other people who could get more value than I could (friends visiting with a kid who took a shine to a cat Beanie Baby, for instance).
On your computer, examine what it is you care about. The photos, the emails, the IMs. Preserve them. Preserve them in a way that keeps them visible to you on a recurring basis. Most of my photos are now on a digital picture frame, or I've been printing and framing them over the past few months. So now the camera, an old digital camera circa 2006 or 2007, and its ancient and small (by tech standards) memory card are no longer cherished items for me. I have what I wanted from them, I have a new (and much better camera) that I continue to photograph with and create new art and memories with. Perhaps when it's time to replace this one I'll remember taking it to Argentina and Uruguay and photographing my girlfriend as the sun set over the river. It may be difficult to part with. But I have the photograph, framed at work and at home. That's the thing I care about. The camera, the computer, they're mediums for the things I care about, not the things themselves.
Thank you for this great answer. It gave me a lot to think about.
Definitely when it comes to gaming. I probably have as much fun playing Street Fighter II with a usb-snes controller + emu as I do playing with the GearVR, modern games, etc.
As long as it isn't holding you back from productivity - there's no real downside to being held back by nostalgia. If keeping old tech is holding you back in any way (security flaws, being out of touch with your industry, unable to collaborate, etc.) - then you'll find the happiness quotient goes up if you upgrade ;)
As long as it isn't holding you back from productivity - there's no real downside to being held back by nostalgia. If keeping old tech is holding you back in any way (security flaws, being out of touch with your industry, unable to collaborate, etc.) - then you'll find the happiness quotient goes up if you upgrade ;)
donate it to some one who may have need for it.
I wish I knew how to overcome it. My 1541 drives and Commodore computers take up so much room.