It is official. I am a dinosaur.
The realization hit me when I was driving to pick my daughter up from her late-night shift. It was not the early 430am wake-up call that convinced me. It was not the ache of muscles once taut now trembling with the weight of almost six decades on them. No, it was the voice coming from the car radio talking about the Covid - 19 pandemics that convicted me. As he began to count off the numerous well-established businesses that would close with this pandemic being listed on their death certificate as the cause of death, he began to talk about streaming services. How services like Netflix and Hulu were the big up and comers and that everyone would have to be connected to them. It was then he said that anyone who did not have or use these services were dinosaurs that would very quickly become extinct.
I hung my head. Netflix has been in business since 1997. Hulu since 2008. They have become so popular that Netflix and chill have become the mating equivalent of "let's hook up with no other baggage or expectations" jargon of a generation.
I have never streamed one thing on Netflix or Hulu. Never watched it on anyone's tablet, phone, or Tv. Never binge-watched any show or series. I have not done it. My children have. My wife has. But I have not. My streaming has been limited to occasional YouTube videos and long car drives where I will reluctantly try to find a streaming music service if I can not find a reasonable talk radio, sports station, or religious broadcast on the car radio.
I do not see the value of paying for something I will not use or use so infrequently that it makes no sense to buy it. Work, peace and quiet, and building precious few yet priceless personal relationships is what matter most to me as I approach sixty years of age.
It is true. I am a dinosaur. Rawwwr.
