The (Anti)Social Issues with Starlink

[clamshack]

There are cruisers and those that are traveling cruisers. I've met a lot of cruisers who haven't traveled much and it's hard to relate to them. A goat on a dirt road is not unusual. Just tell me to take a right on the dirt road that may have a goat on it.

A lot of cruisers have traveled between FL and the Bahamas for 30 years and have seen amazing things. It's just not the same as to have worked your way to Grenada 20 or even 10 years ago.

Now you are seeing different people. Some take on cruising that have already backpacked Southeast Asia or India 20 years ago. It depends on the trail they took, but you won't impress much on them travel wise. However we could use some tips on keeping food frozen with a DC Fridge/Freezer.

Knock on my door and I'll talk to you for hours. Maybe after your third tip about avoiding that goat we could talk about freezing food :-).

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by boatman61

To many rich folk who can afford Internet on their boats.

Us poor folk get in a dinghy with our laptops and head for a bar with Internet, go online for an hour till the battery runs down then hang out, socialise and get pissed..:

Probably got rich by not going to bars and getting pissed paying $12 a drink

[IslandHopper]

Nothing new, only new to you

Been happening ashore for years now, go to the pub and most of the punters are browsing or faceplanting on their phones, hilarious to see a table full of people with their heads in their smart phones doing "important" stuff...

At work it used to be we head down to the Mess for a feed and the chatter was constant, now that we have Wi-Fi throughout the ship nearly everyone has their head in a phone or tablet while eating their meal, you almost feel like you're intruding if you try to strike up a conversation. And now that we have Wi-Fi in everyone's cabin your hard pressed to find someone off watch, no more getting together after dinner for a movie or cards, darts etc....everyone's locked away in their cabin....

Oh, and when the free Wi-Fi goes down at the marina, end of the world stuff!

[JPA Cate]

There may be a whole generation or two, who were mesmerized by the internet, at the same time that child care became focused on keeping children safe at all cost. Those children, nurtured by parents and the internet, have not been encouraged to acquire social skills. This is the harvest we are now reaping.

Sorry.

Ann

[sailorboy1]

But I think we are taking about the same people who were more social just a few years ago. There less cruiser beach get together, sundowners etc. Even locations here in Bahamas that a few years ago had morning cruiser vhf nets dont

[MicHughV]

I love these threads.

In my day, there was no internet, no cell phones, no gps, no starlink, not much of anything. Ham radio was pretty much the only tool available for long distance communication.
Mail was held for you in various post offices on your route.

To let people know where you are or where you were going, you sent postcards.

I had a blast. Managed to do a lot with little.

[OldManMirage]

I have been following these conversations about "connectivity" in it's various forms, and across various forums. With the introduction of SL it almost seems to be bringing about a social change in some ways.

For myself, I do NOT plan to have it. I can see the convenience but I don't want it. I'm not an anti-social person. I will gladly throw myself into the middle of a party with my guitar and fram out chords and sing Margaritaville. But at the same time I guess I'm a bit of a throw-back because I want to get away from a lot of the things that comprise modern life.

I look forward to not driving. God I hate driving. I don't need a television, and I absolutely will not have one mounted on a bulkhead. I will however gladly come over to your boat and watch a movie with you just for fun sometime, and I'll even bring a dish of some sort - and alcohol !

Of course I'll still have a phone, but I look forward to being someplace without service for some days at a time, even a week or two ! (Gasp !!) Sure I'll come back to civilization to check in, let loved ones know I'm still alive - and annoy people with my guitar playing - but then I'll head back out so I can turn all that noise off again for a while.

But - like Don says - it's ok with me if you want it to do it differently on your boat. Just don't let it keep you from getting OFF your boat and socializing with other cruisers, even the annoying guitar-playing ones !

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

If anything, Starlink has increased our social connections as it allows us to stay in contact with people who we couldn't before due to distance and limited phone/interwebs connectivity.

We bought a boat to get away from living on top of people in suburbia
I see no reason to try and replicate it on the water.

I don't mind catching up for a few sherbets either onboard or the beach but there is a reason we are anchored waaaay over here.

That’s me. With a significant other or solo.

See that boat all the way out at the end, possibly even anchored outside the harbor? That’s me.

And look at all my posts. Lots of finished books and a boat built as well.

I’m not much for the socializing, don’t (can’t) drink anymore. No weed, no substances at all.

I just work, learn, think, exercise, cook very healthy foods and enjoy peace.

Since I’ve been out here without a significant other this time (first time in a very long time and it’s kind of nice), I’ve even been dabbling back into physics, realizing I’ve made some decisions in life that were maybe better financially, but not better overall.

Also developing new app. Hopefully I can get a good week to finish it.

These things are much, much more enjoyable than all the years I wasted going out to bars.

Also, the internet is a social life in itself. Think of all the discussions you’ve participated in just on this forum and how you’ve come to know the personalities of the members. They might be half way around the world, but you have gotten to know them for who they are. I’ve seen some of the community many die hard extroverts lament missing right here and in other less subject focused areas of the internet.

As a solution to the OP, I say, if you can’t beat ‘em, join em. For drinks! Get online and see who is in your area looking to meet up in real life. Organize a weekly gathering ashore. Use the technology to announce it, including the VHF.

If I started a weekly sailors dinner in say, Coconut Grove or something and put it on this forum, I’m sure I’d get several people stopping by who wanted to meet other in real life. Do it on the vhf and you would add even more. Even a few signs at the dinghy dock. You’d have a full house in no time.

I probably wouldn’t go, (unless it was from this forum) but you’re not the only one in your anchorage that feels this way. All the extroverts do.

A last little comment. For a long time, as long as I’ve been alive, it’s been the time of the extrovert. It’s now the time of the introvert. Things change I guess. you just have to get used to living in the other type of person’s world.

Old Man Mirage: EXACTLY! Nearly every time I have driven somewhere lately I remember why I am on a boat. It’s terribly annoying. Riding my bicycle 10 miles to do errands has been physically exhausting but so much better mentally. I will never get star link either. For me it’s more about the finances. I don’t really need a $200 a month payment. I just don’t like that. On principle. Feels like I have a loan payment or something. It’s hard to get by without a cell phone payment. So I just roll the Internet into that.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Probably got rich by not going to bars and getting pissed paying $12 a drink

Only paid $12 for a beer once in my life, that was in Darwin, Oz in 2014, never went into another aussie bar in the 3mths I was there, getting ripped off takes the fun outa drinking.

[bgallinger]

I hadn't thought of the "anti-social" element! It gives thought to watching a family at dinner and all on their cellphones!

[Solafide]

Well being from the usa the greatest ability to ( do what you like ) it is great we can all use balance. It is the perspective you all give that gives us all choice. thank you for a great topic.

[sailorboy1]

Isn't this thread just pure irony?

[MicHughV]

No-one can deny that the cell phone and internet has ushered in a dulled down youth.

Wherever I go, the modern day youth has his/her face glued to that little square, pretty much 24/7. Their entire social life revolves around it.

It's not only the young either, a cell phone can be sticking out of everybody's pocket, no matter where you go. Next to picking up the car keys is the cell phone.

Could not even suggest how this will all end.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Isn't this thread just pure irony?

Yes Don.. but worth it for the

[BlueH2Obound]

Go out to lunch or dinner with friends. Everyone puts their cell phones on the table, upside down, so you can't see the screens. Eat, talk, etc. First one to pick up their phone to check a text, etc, pays the tab. My phone if for MY convenience, not for the convenience of OTHERS. Same goes for the internet. I turn it on when I want to, but am not slave to it . . .

I'd much rather get out there and meet up with others, go to their boats, see how they do things. Invite them to our boat, show them how WE do things. Hey, I even LEARN things from others . . . . I try hard not to, but it still happens!