Community Stories

Tell me a joke! The OF humor thread :-D

Speed2Sea
Posts
325
Likes
1,248
Tony C. Tony C.
Ah yes, the good old days. Was that back in mid-June, which appears to be the date of your very first post on the forum? 😁
Ah yes is that the best you can do? Sad
 
sheepdoll
Posts
2,315
Likes
3,700
Poor polar bear, lost is a snowstorm. Often mistaken for a goat lost in a sandstorm. Or even a white elephant lost in fog.
 
jsducote
Posts
954
Likes
1,481
aoy2Xow_460s.png
 
blufinz52
Posts
2,968
Likes
7,784
The rain was pouring down. And there, standing in front of a big puddle outside the pub, was an old Irishman, drenched, holding a stick, with a piece of string dangling in the water.
A passer-by stopped and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Fishing," replied the old man.
Feeling sorry for the old man, the gent says, "Come in out of the rain and have a drink with me."
In the warmth of the pub, as they sip their whiskies, the gentleman cannot resist asking, "So how many have you caught today?"
"You're the eighth." says the old man..
 
Pastorbottle
Posts
1,934
Likes
3,404
On the subject of boat names, I knew a bloke who's Boat was named WAANF.....Wet Arse And No Fish!
 
M'Bob
Posts
6,565
Likes
21,244
Tony C. Tony C.
Reading newspapers was not then, nor is it not now, "antisocial" behavior. Virtually no one read (or reads) newspapers for 6, 8, or 10 (or more) hours a day. You also can't define "antisocial" as any action that happens to temporarily preclude socializing. If young people were only on their phones for an hour a day, the impacts would be dramatically different.

It is true that there is a great deal of a form of social interaction on phones, but the original, and widely accepted (and relevant) definition of "antisocial" is not being sociable or wanting the company of others. I would argue that there is a rather large, and important distinction between socializing on-line, and face to face. Mobile phone use has undoubtedly had a meaningful impact in extending the former, and reducing the latter.
lindo lindo
Hi @Tony C. It is rather nice that my wry little contribution sparked off a real discussion from you about the impact of mobile phones on today's world. They are undoubtedly addictive devices - mine is a constant companion that provides access to knowledge on things I want to google, instant messaging from family and friends, weather reports and so on. And as someone who remembers the days when we had to rely on public phone boxes when out and about, having the modern ability to call anyone at any time from anyplace (with signal access), I am glad to have them.

However I agree with your reservations. Dodging phone zombies in public places, trying to get kids to put the damn things away when we are having family gatherings, watching drivers wobble over the road while they look at their phones, and similar frustrations are familiar to all of us.

Comparing them with people reading newspapers is facetious, but it still made me smile.
Tony C. Tony C.
Thanks. I wasn't in any way criticizing you, but merely commenting on the content, and what provoked my reaction was that many, if not most internet users, would probably think, at least initially, that the two are comparable.

While I obviously do have serious concerns about some of the impacts of mobile devices on societies, and on young people in particular, I am a heavy internet user, and something of a "digital nomad" these days. So I am ambivalent at worst, and have benefited in many ways from the digital (online) revolution.

Having said that, I completely disconnect whenever I leave the house, partly in order to provide some balance, and partly because I really have no interest in being distracted from the real world.

Sometimes, when something like this technology creeps surreptitiously into society, it gets increasingly difficult to assess what you’ve lost.

For fun, I punched into YouTube, “Street scenes NYC 1970’s, or something relatively similar. The most profound difference, which you have probably guessed by now, is the absence of cell phones.

People were looking at each other, the street, the buildings, their kids, the trees - not isolated in their own little world.

In my practice, I take checks only. My patients say, “ Why don’t you take Zelle?” I tell them that I go to the bank: I know the manager, the customer service reps, and the tellers. I know their names, about their kids, and their nagging muscle injuries. Branches are closing daily.

I go and stand in line at my local post office. I know all the folks in there, one for over 20 years, who is thinking of retiring in two.

How many things are we going to turn over to technology to the point where we’re sitting at home perpetually pressing buttons, becoming not unlike a physiological construct of the very devices we’re using?
 
251 More Posts...
Sign up or log in to reply...