Is it normal to prefer old technology over new?

Nostalgic.

It's a different feeling. That flip up phone was fun to use. That box TV was somehow homelier and slipping the tape into the VHS and hearing those machine-like noises before it finally played, was somehow, appetizing.

The nice thing about older technology is you didn't have to update it, it didn't try to act like your friend, it didn't track your every move, etc.

I like the new electronics. But I miss quality tools and gear. Some stuff you used to buy and figure it could last a lifetime if you treated it right. Now a lot of stuff is crap brand new. Just too much cheap China junk flooding the market and too few people respect or realize that quality is worth it.

crt screens suck

id take a dumb flatscreen lcd hdtv over some fuckin thang whats forcin me to make accounts & hook it to wifi & report my metadata back to corporate headquarters

id take radio knobs & keys over touchscreens & pushbutton startin on my car

id take a $20 mr coffee with an on/off switch over a coffeemaker with bean grinders or espresso pumps or electronic panels

dvd was the superior format over vhs but i prefers multiple terabyte hdds with thousandsa movies and i ripped my dvd collection to start it

and fuck cloud storage or streamin services except to record even more movies & shows to my hdd

i wanna own the media and hdd storage is dirt cheap to keep redundant copies & travel with

i likes my internet smartphone though but it pisses me off when its always tryin to sell me shit

I collect cassette tapes. Either you're right, or I'm insane.

In all seriousness though, old stuff rocks. I miss the whine of CRT screens and plugging in the N64. I was a 2000s kid, but I grew up on Disney VHS tapes and I didn't have a phone of my own until 2015. I miss the good old days.

I prefer modern technology but there are things about older technology that I do prefer. Like for videogames, you just buy a game and play it. No downloading patches, no internet required to play, no install codes instead of discs, no microtransactions or dlc. Also every single device wasn't connected to the internet back then, so they couldn't track you 20 different ways.

Other than that I don't see why you'd want to go back to all that. TV's with only a couple channels, having to actually be at home to record something with a tape, VHS quality picture/sound, having to buy CD's instead of listening to music online, having to buy a separate camera/camcorder/discman as well as a mobile phone, corded house phones, dial-up internet, etc. I don't know how I managed to survive.

Some new tech is better, some isn't.

You're just a hipster, it's normal.

I kind of miss some of the old technology. Those flip phones didn't break no matter how many times I dropped them.

i prefer old technology things like tube radios and TVs I don't want my oven to talk to me and i don't want my car to control itself the older stuff is more reliable

I've never had a cassette skip.
I've never had a vhs pixelate and skip or freeze.
That said, I'm amazed at what a cell phone can do.
Long distance calls used to be a big deal.
Paper maps, or spoken directions.
Library vs google.
Etc.
Goods and bads.
That said how many of you have memorized 6 phone numbers?
It used to be pretty normal.
Things gets smarter, us?
I'm not so sure.

Depends on the tech...

Media electronics for example, the modern ones are better. I like my 4k, curved Samsung and wouldn't think of going back to the shitty old tvs. Same thing with computers, smartphones. Newer is better.
Media storage is absolutely amazing now. No more swapping cassettes and VHS tapes. Everything you could ever want to watch and listen to can fit on an external HDD. Micro SD cards and USB sticks have tons of space and are small.

I hated rewinding VHS tapes and I didn't like cassette players too. No skip function. You want to hear the next song, stop the playback, push the fast forward, press play and see if you are there yet. 99% you'd either have to fast forward more, or go back... CDs were rubbish too, cause they'd get scratched and degrade over time.

But for other stuff like vacuum cleaners, ovens, fridges, coffee makers, washing machines, etc... those were better built in the old days.
In my apartment, my oven is about 40 years old. Works like a charm. It even has original light bulbs in it. The microwave at my parents apartment is 25 years old, still working perfectly. I had to buy a new microwave after 6 years and I didn't even use it often...

Cars were also better in the past. I believe the last long lasting cars were made in the mid 2000s... After that, cars were designed to be disposable items after 4-5 years... You'd drive it until the warranty runs out and then sell it to some poor sap to constantly repair. Cars in the 80s and 90s, now those were forever! A well maintained Mercedes 300D will outlive you, me, my children, my children's children, etc...

Older cars are also much easier to work on. I have an 80s 6-series BMW that is child's play to work on, everything is visible, everything is simple to take apart and reassemble and two Mercedes ('05 C-class and '07 E-class) that do require some special tools for repairs, but I can still do work on them myself, swap out parts and do mods.

My 2017 C350e however... I can't even read error codes on it, cause my version of STAR is too old.
Also since it's a hybrid, you need to be extra cautious, cause there is some serious voltage in that car...

Only thing I can do is call the dealer. Needless to say,in 4-5 years, I'll take it back to Mercedes and swap it for a newer one, or just sell it...

Lighting nowadays is also much better. I hated having to go to the basement as a kid and look for light bulbs, everytime a bulb went out in our apartment... Now with LED lighting, you'll probably never have to buy new light bulbs. You can also chose the color you want. You can do mood lighting with LED strips and make rooms look really cool and up the ambiance.

Phones are also better and very useful. True, old Nokias were built like tanks, but they were just phones. You can't look up something on the internet, or take a photo. If you have to write down a memo, you need to spam the numbered keys like crazy and the speakers were crap. You'd have to put the phone right against your ear and cover the other ear with your other hand.

I still have and play my Atari 2600 i got over 30 years ago. I can kick the crap out of my kids playing those games, one joy stick, one button. Now you have 9 buttons 2 directionsl pads, ughhh! Lol

I don't like CRT technology, it uses lot of power. The LCD are much more energy efficient, but CRTs do have better picture quality.

It seems like much of the quality has degraded.

Some things I prefer with a knob instead of a touchscreen, a radio and even a oven. I hate to look at a screen when I know exactly what I want to do. And a knob feels so much better.

We have like...100 VHS cassettes. You want em? They're no use to me but can't bring myself to throw them into landfill :/

Fortran still rocks hehe