There's an old joke floating around if anyone remembers where it's from:

A tech enthusiast has the latest and greatest smartphones, voice assistants, and everything else cool and flashy. A programmer has a single inkjet printer from the 90s, and they keep a shotgun by their bedside in case it makes a noise.

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jjice a day ago | parent | next [-]

I always joke with people that I hate software in anything but a traditional computers _because_ I'm a software engineer. I want the car with the fewest smart features, a normal door bell, a non-smart washing machine.

Software sucks a lot of the time and it often gets in the way, at least the way it's deployed over the last decade. Very few things in my home should connect to the internet. My phone and computers. Begrudgingly my TV now.

Also, those things that connect to the internet but don't let you have control? They get EOL'd, despite having paid a premium for them. I've never had a stove from this century and they all work fine, because why the hell wouldn't they?

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robocat a day ago | parent [-]

I've become oversensitive to UI problems and bugs.

I get triggered when watching my family or friends struggle with egregiously poor design.

I have avoidance techniques, so I can avoid facing the most anger inducing software.

I just feel lucky I'm not a graphic designer or architect or writer. How does someone with good taste even survive facing the outside world?

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Izkata 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> I just feel lucky I'm not a graphic designer

"If you really hate someone, teach them to recognize bad kerning."

https://xkcd.com/1015/

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joquarky a day ago | parent | prev [-]

I did UX for over 20 years, and the profession is now cooked. Nobody cares about quality anymore. I'm angry and bitter.

If you have any avoidance techniques that are easy to articulate, please share them.

	▲	robocat a day ago \| parent [-]
		Quitting work years ago helped, even though I still enjoyed software development. I had intended to instead work on my own investments, but I stopped that after I figured out money is a joyless and meaningless motivator. Mostly just saying no to helping anyone with computer problems. Fortunately changed from Windows 7 to Linux, so I can be mostly honest when I tell people I don't understand their laptop problems. Said no to helping family with with any printer issues after ~2005. I often print stuff, but I use the printer at my local library or printshop. I still occasionally dabble, but only for those people I dearly love. I'm still very good at tech support, I just don't do it. I've got my tech frustration level down to about the background radiation level (as politics or taxes).

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fg137 a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The earliest that I can track down is https://www.tumblr.com/michaelblume/169525456166/tech-enthus...

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six_seven a day ago | parent [-]

What was your process to find the oldest reference?

	▲	fg137 a day ago \| parent [-]
		Google search. P.S. only the oldest that I can track down.

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BLKNSLVR a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Real tech people don't own printers.

(to ruin an otherwise good joke)

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jonah a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'd go with an ancient boat anchor LaserJet but, otherwise, yep.

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wolfi1 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

if it makes an unexpected noise, to be precise