27 Fascinating Reasons People Rejected New Technology

Author image for Eric Lund
Eric Lund
Apr 23, 2019 12:00 PM EDT

Throughout history, people have been afraid of new developments, usually leaning on the idea that it will make you lazy, rot your brain or corrupt the youth. Socrates was famously against the written word because he thought writing things down would ruin people's memory and make them dumb. This askreddit thread asked older people who the "I don't use computers" people of their time were, and the results were incredible. For one reason or another, there have been people who reject new technology that has since become commonplace, and frankly weird to not have.

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  • 01
    Text - 8 hours ago st8x3 13.0k points tr8ors No car of mine will have electric windows! You're asking for trouble Uncle fred
    via AskReddit
  • 02
    Text - areyou 2.4k points 9 hours ago "Ill never own one of those horseless carriages. When I come out of the saloon, at least the horse knows the way home." Reply Share Report Save mike_d85 1.3k points 7 hours ago Ihad a friend whose grandfather accidentally ran someone over the first time he tried to drive in the 1930's. Never drove a car again.
    via AskReddit
  • 03
    Text - SpiritOfSpite 8.4k points 9 hours ago My grandmother is 97 and told me about people who would refuse to get air conditioning or drink Sodas, because "they the devil's work." She grew up on a farm in a two room house with 11 family members living in that house. She always had sodas and the AC rocking and rolling all summer
    via AskReddit
  • 04
    Text - Bogthehorible 3.0k points 6 hours ago I have a coworker about 52 yo. Refuses to use computer because he caught his wife sexting in a chat room on their computer,so he destroyed it
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  • 05
    Text - OofBadoof 14.3k points 8 hours ago My grandfather refused to get a vcr. But not because he was a luddite. VCRS were all made in Japan and he had fought in the Pacific in WWII so he refused to buy anything Japanese
    via AskReddit
  • 06
    Text - ParsleyBagel 3.5k points 6 hours ago My grand-aunt still believes that 15 is the age of adulthood, that schooling isn't necessary beyond that point. She grew up in a time when literacy wasn't a given.
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  • 07
    Text - thedankbank1021 23.0k points 7 hours ago My grandpa used to tell me that he was basically set for life because he learned to read and write. Mass illiteracy wasn't as long ago as we like to think
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  • 08
    Text - AnotherPint 6.3k points 8 hours ago Color TV. When they became common in the mid-60s a lot of older people believed they emitted harmful rays. When Mom finally got one circa 1972 it was kept in her bedroom and we were ushered in to watch it only on special occasions. And we had to sit at least ten feet away.
    via AskReddit
  • 09
    Text - The_Angel Of_Def 4.3k points 7 hours ago When I was little my mother would have us evacuate the kitchen whenever she used the microwave.
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  • 10
    Text - Andromeda321 1.3k points 6 hours ago My grandma says when she was younger there were still some people who were judgmental about the introduction of any anesthetics in childbirth. On the grounds that Eve was supposed to suffer in the Bible during childbirth for tempting Adam, so all women should suffer for that. Crazy religious people have been around forever.
    via AskReddit
  • 11
    Text - laterdude 5.7k points 7 hours ago "I don't read novels." My grandfather thought they were a plot by the elites to both ruin our eyesight and keep us locked away in a fantasy world.
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  • 12
    Text - edited 5 hours ago Tsquare43 843 points 7 hours ago Touch tone dialing. My mom refused to pay the $1 and change a month to have it. She finally caved in around 2002. Edit: Since several have asked, touch tone, was a key pad, much like what almost every phone is now. Before that it was a rotary dial phone
    via AskReddit
  • 13
    Text - soundsliketoothaids 663 points 6 hours ago My grandmother didn't like to use the remote control for her television, because she was afraid it would break somehow and function as a laser dangerous enough to set things on fire.
    via AskReddit
  • 14
    Text - edited 5 hours ago isladesangre 4.6k points 7 hours ago Grandfather thought graduating high school was a big deal. He graduated in 1941 and was the first in this family We had a great aunt who hated using the washing machine and claimed it " never cleaned the sheets properly"
    via AskReddit
  • 15
    Text - LilG1984 2.2k points 7 hours ago My grandparents laughed at the idea of a mobile phone or sending messages through the phone line when fax machines were a thing. My grandparents didn't like computers they still had a typewriter or wrote by hand. I was given a typewriter as a kid but by then I was using windows 95
    via AskReddit
  • 16
    Text - captwafflepants 596 points My dad once told me a story about his grandmother refusing to fly in planes because she didn't want to get her hair all messed up 6 hours ago from the wind.
    via AskReddit
  • 17
    Text - Bellamy1715 363 points 8 hours ago People who listened to one Beetles song and insisted that all music was now a person repeating "yeah yeah yeah" over and over. Reply Share Report Save khendron 132 points 6 hours ago My grandfather was like that. He said that every song ended by singing the same line over and over until the music faded out Also, Beetles Beatles.
    via AskReddit
  • 18
    Text - CaptainWisconsin 354 points 6 hours ago My grandmother drinks only hot decaf coffee. Every meal, every day. 95 degrees with 100% humidity? Hot decaf coffee. Feeling parched after a day of hard work? Hot decaf coffee. edited 4 hours "When I was growing up, we never had ice. That was a luxury. Cold drinks aren't good for your stomach."
    via AskReddit
  • 19
    Text - BlueLilacMoon 3.5k points 9 hours ago I said at one time i would never buy CDs. I liked albums and tapes too much. I never got rid of the albums and tapes but i have many CDs also
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  • 20
    Text - stevenfromstephenson 245 points 6 hours ago My dad is 65. He remembers old folks complaining about the forward pass in football
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  • 21
    Text - khendron 4.8k points 6 hours ago Back in the 80s I knew an old lady who used one of those really old toasters that could only toast one side of the bread at a time. As a present, we went out and bought her a modern pop-up toaster, but she wouldn't use it. She preferred to use her old one
    via AskReddit
  • 22
    Text - charlie_boo 1.4k points 6 hours ago I am the web designer for a local organisation. Their treasurer refuses to accept card payment via their website. People have to print out forms, fill them out and post them with a cheque. I also get paid by cheque with a handwritten note. They would be a much more popular and successful business if they just modernised a little!
    via AskReddit
  • 23
    Text - axo-lotl 4.0k points 6 hours ago Some people still had outdoor toilets and were laughing at those who had them installed inside because "they are shitting their own houses"
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  • 24
    Text - tallenlo 3.5k points 7 hours ago When I was a kid (late 50's early 60's) seat belts in cars were an option. Lots of people thought they were unnecessary and refused to pay extra for them Heaters and windshield defoggers were likewise optional (my parents bought a new 1964 Plymouth Valiant and didn't get the option)
    via AskReddit
  • 25
    Text - edited 5 hours ago justsarah_ 832 points 6 hours ago My mom was just telling me about when answering machines were new, and how people were so fearful of them and refused to leave a message She got promoted at a job because she didn't mind calling clients and leaving messages
    via AskReddit
  • 26
    Text - redmeansdistortion 1.8k points 7 hours ago My grandparents refused to buy Japanese or German cars. They'd complain about the price of gas while driving cars that were unable to pass a gas station due to their humongous curb weights and 400+ cubic inch engines. When my uncle retired from Ford, he bought a Honda Accord and my grandpa about threw a fit. At that time, Honda offered a 7 year 100k mile warranty while the domestic brands only had 3 years and 36k miles. He wanted reliable and he
    via AskReddit
  • 27
    Text - DavidRempel 615 points 6 hours ago My grandfather was Mennonite, but had moved to a city and worked in factories as an adult. He even used to watch TV... until John Wayne died... then he got rid of their set. He said it was evil to watch dead people moving around on the screen as if alive - like watching ghosts. He would constantly tell us that TV was the devil's work. As a kid, I started drawing cartoon characters, like animal characters and stuff. One day he asked to see my drawings, an
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