I've never used a compass except in team building yomping exercises (yawn) but I stopped driving before SatNav came in, so it would be weird for me not to use a map.

Chances are I would plot an unfamiliar journey online, but I'd still want something beside me, written down in case of diversions/ accidents etc.

BUT the two teens working with me on the 27th both have SatNavs in their cars now (the 17yo got hers for Christmas) and find the idea of maps seriously archaic. Like, who has a map in their car anyway? Why? Then again, neither of them have driven anywhere unfamiliar to them yet. The day after I passed my driving test I drove into Central London! The day after that I drove the evil ex to a job interview in Reading (reasonably sized city I had never been to before).

I guess if I ever drive again I will succumb to SatNav - I'm not anti it or anything. It just seems odd that the beauty of maps has been lost so quickly to the next generation.

Better keep your maps, the Chinese have entered the sat nav game.

http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNe...D=201112290035

Writing a letter by hand, putting into an envelope, licking a stamp and sending it off in the mail has become seriously archaic. All in all there is something different about the hand written word that is different then the type written word. It seems more permanent and much more intimately connected to me.

Which probably explains ...

Yea, true. I just hope they don't go away completely. Besides when the aliens take out all of our satellites and the electric grids, we may need those post office networks once again.

That's why I still love sending cards.
And especially those sent for no precise reason, as I don't trust the post to get anything anywhere on time.

It's a slice of sunshine when you know someone has gone and chosen and bought something for you, put thoughts on paper, addressed it and stood in line to get the correct postage. A value way above the actual cost.

That said, if I have a lot to say I do type it.
I still write because it's necessary at school. But I find my typing fingers can keep up with my brain more nimbly than my writing fingers.

My postal service is already in serious decline. Our pay stubs were stuffed with a coupon for a ham or turkey for the holidays, it took 10 days for mine to arrive in my Dad's mailbox, not my box which they never use.

FTFY

...i feel so young (26.. 27? need to count, remind me sometime next week).

off the top of my head from things i grow up with that are disapearing for more and more of my generation:

home phones (smartphone+skype+wifi & turn your data off when your home)
cable/satalite tv setups (websites for movie streaming of ill repute)
wall hanging or floor standing clocks (mobiles)
wall hanging calanders (screensaver widgets if you want changing pics)
books of local road maps that always used to be out of date (GPS)
magazines (currently fashionable only because they are archaic)
CDs/DVDs (not big enough for anything you can't just upload anyway)
music players (download MP3s on the pc and upload to your mobile)
dictionaries & encylopedia's (urban dictionary / google define / wikipedia)
fixing services (howstuffworks + youtube + free time)
globes (google earth/maps)
peep shows (online porn)
newspapers (everything)

Not quite sure what this one means. Do you mean clocks?

:o fixed. now lets pretend that never happened.

From the way we're moving today, my dog and I are archaic.

*grins* pretend what never happened?

WOW! Now I feel BLOODY old.
I'm not disagreeing with the post.
I'm just explaining how it is different to me/ my generation and/ or why some of these things are still relevant to me/ us.

I'm not anti new technology, if I have a use for something I'll use it archaic or not.

Our home phone is still the best way to get hold of any of the three occupants in this house

most of it really depends on whether you have internet avalible to you at all times or not, which really depends on what companies are availble to you and where you live, and its usually best to research for the companies you don't know about and check for "competiton encouraging" laws enforced on providers in your local mancupality.

for example for me (israel) there's a law that phone companies are required to treat new customers who got their phone elsewhere exactly like they would if they bought it from the same company.. including the payment reinversement most payment plans have.

now if you buy a smart phone online from a supplier rather then a service provider, and then use a 12-24 month payment program, you will actually make a profit of the reinversement.

in other countries (canada) companies will give you a completely free smartphone because they expect most customers to have no idea how much their data packs (mobile internet access) will be. other countries have their own tricks. there's always something.

either way, that is why is the first thing you do is download a desktop app to turn data on/off easily. you get a skype or a google-call number, you set up a referal to your actual number, and you pretty much get free calls and no data charges or nearly so whenever your in a wi-fi zone (malls, resturants, office buildings, and ofcourse set it up in your house).

limit your time using the data pack and phone service within the range which will give you the reinveresement for the payment (if it depends on it). get an app to monitor it. beyond that use it for emergencies only.

now yes, there are many packages that combine internet and cable tv and phonelines and mobile lines and they tell you that the other services are free... which is always bullshit. google unlimited highspeed internet [insert your area] and its likely their will be a few companies giving internet only services for a much lower flat monthly price.
place a cable between your tv and a convenient spot for your laptop and add links to your ill-reputed video streaming websites of choice, and you pretty much got all of the services you would have gotten otherwise. alternatively their are "Streamers" which are gadgets that streamline the process.

most households can save hundreds of dollars a month.