Bring Back Old Tech
Recently I have gone down the route of really HATING generative AI, which has ultimately led towards me disliking a lot of new tech.
These past few weeks I have started using “older” tech that I already own, minimizing my phone usage and once again carrying multiple devices.
In this post I want to share what I’ve started replacing various things with and how.
The Shift
I shouldn’t say this change is solely because of AI, I actually started making this change over a year ago but it’s been more drastic as of recently.
A friend of mine bought a new phone over the summer and had showed me just how much AI was crammed into the device. Don’t get me wrong, the specs on the phone are great but something we both discussed was, who really needs that kind of tech in their pocket at all times?
Now I personally am not one for upgrading my devices frequently, even if they are old; it doesn’t make sense to me.
My phone for example is around five years old and was a hand-me-down from my parents a couple years ago. It stills runs decent and receives updates, so I continue using it. And even once it no longer receives updates, I will still use it because it still works and I will repair it when it doesn’t.
Along with that, in my house we don’t really get rid of tech either. We have kept almost every device we have used over the years, including a variety of game consoles that still get used from time to time. One of them being a DSi XL, which I’ve even brought to campus to play games with some friends a few weeks ago.
Disclaimer
One thing I would like to note prior to talking about the changes, almost everything I’m using is something I already owned.
This isn’t a post encouraging people to buy new, in fact it’s the opposite. I know pretty much everything I’m going to mention can’t be bought new anyways, but I want this to encourage people to look at what they might already have and start there.
If you have any “older” tech, whether it’s similar to what I’m using or not, I want this to hopefully give you ideas on ways you can reuse them to your own benefit.
That being said though, I also understand that I’m in a fortunate position where my parents and I kept a lot of these over the years and I have it available to me now unlike most people.
So if you are inspired by this in whatever way, but don’t already own anything like it, then buy used instead of newer cheap off-brand alternatives.
Buying used means re-purposing something that may just end up in a landfill. And if you are getting rid of anything, either look to sell, donate, or recycle it at a proper e-waste facility in your area if available.
The Changes
iPod Shuffle - non-streaming music
This is one of my more recent changes so far. It has about 2GB of storage, adding MP3 files onto it is extremely easy, and it gives me a very small device with one sole purpose: music.
It might seem like a downside having to actually go through the effort of adding the music onto it but I enjoy what I am listening to so much more. There is a process of picking out what I actually want on it instead of a 12+ hour long playlist full of stuff I don’t really care for.
And instead of draining my phone battery first thing in the morning, on my way home, or throughout the day because I love listening to music, I instead have one device that can last days and only does the one specific thing.
The only downside I have ran into so far is no Bluetooth. Different iPod models allow for mods that can add the functionality but with how small the 4th gen shuffle is, the ability here is slim to none but to be honest I don’t mind.
Some big wins though are cutting down on streaming any music through the few services out there and getting myself off of my phone; no screen on the shuffle to distract me.
iPad Mini - fancy Kindle alternative
The device has tons of storage and can’t really hook up to the internet anymore but airdrop still works. Solution: airdrop books from my phone onto it for a digital collection, including textbooks and various novel and comic book series’.
This one I actually started over a year ago when I started my bachelors program. I don’t like reading on my laptop but I refuse to pay the insane cost for a physical textbook or buy something brand-new like a Kindle.
I have had this iPad since probably 2017 or 2018 when I bought it used. It’s the 1st generation of the iPad Mini, and has been used a ton over the years.
It always upset me that even though it was still in such great condition that it didn’t have anymore support, so I’m glad I found a way to reuse it.
For those of you who might be reading this and asking about the security risks of using tech this old with no more support, here are the measures I have in place:
- Wi-Fi is always turned off, with the exception of when it is connected to my phone hotspot to airdrop books.
- The only apps still downloaded on it are those that cannot be deleted.
- Airdrop is limited to contacts only, with my phone being the only contact, and airdrop is always turned off otherwise.
I have looked into ways to exploit the device as well out of curiosity to be honest, but I haven’t come across any major concerns with how I’m using it.
This change though has got me back into reading a ton, in-turn encouraging me to get rid of more social media apps on my phone and cancel any subscription services I had for entertainment.
I do often prefer physical books and choose to support local bookstores and the public library when able to, but things like textbooks and the comic series The Future is [REDACTED] for example are much easier and cheaper to get a hold of digitally.
Sony CyberShot - small digital camera
I’ve always had an interest in photography, and watching my classmates breakout small digital cameras to take photos instead of using their phones inspired me to get back into it.
Now I do have a Canon EOS Rebel T3i, which I love and was both a hand-me-down from my parents again and also bought used. But it’s a little bulky to carry around everywhere, especially when I have all my stuff for school.
The Sony CyberShot though is small and compact, fitting easily into my backpack or jacket pocket. The vibe of the photos are awesome, and the quality is decent too.
I don’t need to worry about filling my storage with random photos that I forget exist and take up too much space on my phone. Instead, I get to go through the process of sifting through them on my laptop later after taking them and then sharing them with my friends through our groupchats.
The only downside so far with this one is the proprietary storage type that it uses, Sony’s very own Memory Stick PRO Duo. And I was struggling to come across a cheap, usable reader for the card but eventually found one.
Yes, sites like Amazon have some available but a) they don’t typically actually read this type of card even if it’s listed, b) there $40+ to buy, which I cannot shell out right now, and c) I would rather not support Amazon or some company mass producing cheap variants with the risk of not even working.
I have been using the camera still even with that being the case because I’m not going to let it stop me just yet.
And literally as I was working on this post I decided to take a look at Facebook Marketplace, something I had kind of been avoiding, and to my luck I found an official Sony reader for $12 that was available for me to pick up the next day.
It didn’t come with the required cable, a USB Mini-B but still having a PS3 meant I could borrow one of the cords used for charging my controllers in this case.
Even with the process of hunting down a reader for the card, I’m extremely happy with the camera overall, and getting to look at photos from old trips that never got pulled from it is so satisfying.
Windows 8 PC - Linux PC or home server
This one I actually mentioned in a post almost two years ago now. I had found this old PC in my basement, it was built for Windows 8 but now runs Windows 10.
At the time, I completely wiped it because I knew no one had used it in years, but I shouldn’t have redownloaded Windows onto it.
I didn’t use it again after having written that post because my laptop was more convenient and ran better.
The PC ran okay but Windows definitely wasn’t helping, and I have had multiple ideas for it since but haven’t really sat down to do any of them yet.
Back in about April of this year though I set up a test Ubuntu server virtual machine on my laptop to start building out some of those ideas.
Everything was going smoothly with it, and I know there will be a handful of differences between virtual and physical hardware but this gave me more of a push to start this larger project. It also gave me other ideas besides a home server.
Another push for this has also been watching more and more of my friends start switching over to Linux on their laptops, and getting into fixing up old laptops and PCs as well.
If I go the route of a home server, I can continue streaming movies and stuff but I will actually own the content I’m streaming. The PC has a built in DVD player which I can easily then use to store old physical discs onto it digitally, and host for myself.
And I can host more than just media streaming, with stuff like building my own personal version of a Google Drive (with actual privacy policies and no AI training from my data) or network security tools for better managing devices and so much more.
Even installing a regular Linux OS (opposed to a server) will make the hardware in it run better due to it not being so bloated compared to Windows.
This change compared to the other three will definitely require the most time and effort to actually complete, however, it will offer the most in return.
What I’ve Learnt
Aside from the technical skills and various tools I’ve learnt while working with all of these, I’ve come to learn that I really do not like the modern tech scene at the moment (I don’t know a better way to put this).
I’m so sick and tired of the overconsumption of people nowadays, especially in tech but the blame can’t entirely be put on consumers.
Companies take advantage of the fact that most people want convenience and the fact that some areas have very few, if any regulations.
So they create products that combine the function of multiple other products, constantly make things “easier” for a higher price, and shorten the amount of time devices get support.
Think about your smartphone for example. At one point it was a flip phone, and it could still do quite a bit but the main selling point was easier communication with people, and so during that time, people had other devices for other purposes.
Various types of MP3 players or similar devices for music, cameras for pictures, TV’s, radios, and gaming consoles for entertainment, and more.
Now the opposite could be said as well, look at the PS3 compared to the PS5. The PS3 at launch could support digital content (i.e. downloads) but also DVDs, Blu-Rays, and CDs, along with being backwards compatible with physical PS1 and PS2 games.
Then on the other hand, some models of the PS5 only really support one of those things, digital content (with the inclusion of some older games) because they removed the disc drive.
I’m not saying I’m against the invention of the smartphone or the improvements that technology has seen, but I don’t really like the direction that technology has gone in.
Everything today can basically be done from your smartphone, which is great and all but products today also aren’t really built to last and more companies are insisting on moving to digital for everything.
Many people don’t have the skills (or interest) to repair their tech when it’s required and newer products make that harder as well, so out of convenience people opt to buy new instead.
Lots of companies are pushing for subscription models and/or digital libraries where you don’t own anything you purchase. Meaning they have the control to take away the content you bought for any reason they want or go back and change content that was already released.
It’s frustrating as a consumer, and I think my last post touches on this more, but I miss when tech wasn’t so sterile and outright owned by like the same few big tech companies who are basically now trying to get rid of humans.
I miss when tech wasn’t some social status and was actually something unique that people wanted to build, share, and cherish.
Conclusion
I’ve barely scraped the surface of what can be done with “older” tech and I look forward to learning more about other possibilities.
Taking a step back and finding ways to re-purpose what I already have is such a breath of fresh air and reminds me what got me into cybersecurity in the first place and why I built this site.
I’m also glad to see a lot more people getting involved in these kinds of things and that people now more then ever are calling out the large corrupt corporations destroying the earth and exploiting people.
Maybe in the future I will go more in-depth about each of these projects but for anyone reading this who might have questions or just want to chat, feel free to reach out to me wherever and I would love to.
I want to share the things I’ve learnt with whoever and help people do more stuff like this in whatever way I can.