Do you think we've become like "hothouse orchids"?

I dunno. I lived without TV for 20 years and felt fine. After we got a set, we used it for VHS only for years. Before online info, I listened to the radio for news, thought-provoking talk shows, new music. I read books & a few magazines. And learned directly by way of gardening, tree culture, nature observation, and building/handyman stuff.

Telephone was great (still is) for arranging things (projects, get-togethers with friends), though we use email for that too. Out here, yeah we drive cars, but we often walk or bicycle to go places, or we car pool. We like keeping warm in winter in our house, but I don't really go in for the hothouse orchid thing.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Today, most people can't get by without a car, AC, internet access and cable/streaming TV, etc., etc .Do you think we've become like "hothouse orchids"?
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No, I think those things are more like enhanced competitive advantages. If you have a car you can get to a higher paying job (or in areas without mass transit, any job at all), you have more time available (whether or not you use it to get ahead), you can use the internet access and TV to enhance your survival (weather awareness, financial opportunity awareness, etc).

AC made the southern U.S. more livable and I imagine makes work productivity much better.

I suppose you could say the inventions of fire and agriculture make us dependent on them, and losing them would cause catastrophic population decline. Depends how you look at it.
 
How Air-Conditioning Creates a Climate Conundrum
“There’s this really interesting loop,” says energy and climate researcher Shelie Miller, from the University of Michigan. The more we run AC, the more electricity we use; more electricity releases more greenhouse gases, heating the planet and requiring even more AC to stay cool. “It’s both a response to what is happening and also a driver,” says Renee Obringer, an energy researcher from Penn State University.

Current AC technology incurs another climate cost: hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the industrial chemicals in AC units that cool our rooms. Once in the atmosphere, the five most commonly used HFCs absorb 150 to 5,000 times more of the sun’s energy than carbon dioxide does.
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OP's title is:
Do you think we've become like "hothouse orchids"?

should be:
Do you think some have become like "hothouse orchids"?

It's a Bell Curve with many of us living quite balanced with technology and media on the high end of that slope while others on the low end are NOT, especially many smartphone centric younger people that have not developed a mature ability to communicate with others face to face.
 
I don't know about the reliance on "things/tech" etc. but I do believe that there's a "delicate li'l hothouse flower" thing
going on with people getting offended over the craziest things. Doesn't take much to offend someone now. SMH 🤦‍♀️
 
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all the " new sciences" are already out there but hidden from our knowledge as yet ; to be discovered and "harnessed" for our future enlightenments and then what we use and marvel at now will seem but dross and only museum worthy?
 
I’ve seen young members of my extended family withdraw into their electronic cocoons of cell phone communications almost immediately at family gatherings, unwilling or unable to converse and interact with relatives physically present. It’s sad, really…

While technology has blossomed since my youth, there’s also a phenomenon of rising expectations for numbers of items which used to be shared in a household. My parents, for example, had one car, one tv set, and one telephone (corded, of course). Today, driveways are often crowded with cars, one for each member of the family, who also each have their own phones, tv’s, etc…
 
In some places, a car is a luxury. Like in NYC. Great mass transit system so, like in Seinfeld, to have a car is kind of special. But in 99% of the U.S., a car is not a luxury at all. It's a need.

Same with A/C. Heat kills more people per year than cold. Did you know that? The planet is hotter than ever and you're saying A/C is a luxury? The heat kills the old and the young, LIKE CHILDREN, faster than other ages. Not a luxury. Not at all.

The Internet is not a luxury either. Can't get a job without it now.
 
VintageBetter said:
In some places, a car is a luxury. Like in NYC. Great mass transit system so, like in Seinfeld, to have a car is kind of special. But in 99% of the U.S., a car is not a luxury at all. It's a need.
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It's not great. It's barely adequate, at least for long time users. It generally does the job. But great? No way is it great.

Since Seinfeld, we are actually overrun with personal vehicles. Especially since the pandemic. Even with parking spaces unavailable due to restaurant sheds which slow up all traffic. Several people in each family now basically have cars when during Seinfeld it was one per family.

It's a mess and today I will do battle in the war.
 
I’m referring mostly to first world countries in this topic when I say we are a lot like hothouse plants. Humans in many other countries are more like weeds trying to find a foothold wherever they can. We are privileged to even consider ourselves ’orchids’.

Also, I think one day the ‘orchids’ are going to realize they’ve lost so many of the skills it takes to survive. Will current and future generations know how to find and process food not already shrink wrapped in a grocery? The pandemic showed us how clueless some people were regarding basic cooking skills . Even now, I know people who haven’t a clue how to start a basic camp fire.
Having said all that — please don’t take away my internet! 😁 It is now become a basic survival skill in our society.
 
MountainRa said:
I’m referring mostly to first world countries in this topic when I say we are a lot like hothouse plants. Humans in many other countries are more like weeds trying to find a foothold wherever they can. We are privileged to even consider ourselves ’orchids’.

Also, I think one day the ‘orchids’ are going to realize they’ve lost so many of the skills it takes to survive. Will current and future generations know how to find and process food not already shrink wrapped in a grocery? The pandemic showed us how clueless some people were regarding basic cooking skills . Even now, I know people who haven’t a clue how to start a basic camp fire.
Having said all that — please don’t take away my internet! 😁 It is now become a basic survival skill in our society.
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How did you acquire the basic skills that you notice many people have lost or never acquired? Did you grow up learning them from the people around you, or did you deliberately learn them as you became independent?
 
JBR said:
How did you acquire the basic skills that you notice many people have lost or never acquired? Did you grow up learning them from the people around you, or did you deliberately learn them as you became independent?
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Good question. I would like to hear @MountainRa if possible. In the mean time. I do have some conditioning in my childhood. I think through camping. Plus, I liked it. Some people do not like camping, and don't want to take part in it. Then I learned by being poor. I had to fix as much as I could. Then joining a community that basically tries to be self-sufficient.

So, in the ways of survival, if our American dream fades, I am ready to adapt. But there are many who never acquired those kind of lessons, or didn't like them for one reason or the other. I think it is probably a good thing to study and employ ways that are not "made to order" products. DIY projects are cool. Even creative art is a tool to expand our imagination....What is it "Faith without works is dead"? :)
 
It's funny anyone should mention this because I've been called a hothouse orchid. I never considered it an insult of any kind but rather someone's interpretation of my delicacy? :giggle:
 
JBR said:
How did you acquire the basic skills that you notice many people have lost or never acquired? Did you grow up learning them from the people around you, or did you deliberately learn them as you became independent?
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I grew up in a rural farming area so learned by being taught by and observing my elders. But I have some regrets that I did not pay closer attention to some things.
And I know how really physically hard they labored to be self sufficient.

I admit to being conflicted- I want coming generations to retain these skills , at the same time I am thankful that I can run to the store to grab a bag of flour or cornmeal without working sun up to sun down to raise the crops.
 
I've lived without a car for almost 20 years now, something I used to think I'd never want to do. Right about the time I had eye surgeries my car got totaled when my husband parked it where I told him not to and someone hit it. I decided not to buy another one, so we had one car. It worked out well for me, because I would have had to be "taxi driver" for his family members who needed rides when his car was out of commission. Also I live close to several bus lines, which I don't even bother with anymore due to the readily available Ubers and Lyfts.

My phone is much more than just a phone, so I can't see living without that anymore and my tablet is just a valuable, especially since I can use it when my computer starts acting up. @hollydolly You're right. It's hard not to have computers these days. People are being asked to go online to apply for benefits from various agencies. So much is being handled now via the internet.
 
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MountainRa said:
I’m referring mostly to first world countries in this topic when I say we are a lot like hothouse plants. Humans in many other countries are more like weeds trying to find a foothold wherever they can. We are privileged to even consider ourselves ’orchids’.

Also, I think one day the ‘orchids’ are going to realize they’ve lost so many of the skills it takes to survive. Will current and future generations know how to find and process food not already shrink wrapped in a grocery? The pandemic showed us how clueless some people were regarding basic cooking skills . Even now, I know people who haven’t a clue how to start a basic camp fire.
Having said all that — please don’t take away my internet! 😁 It is now become a basic survival skill in our society.
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I don't know where you have lived your life, but I spent most of my life in California. All I have ever seen in my immediate circle of peers and in society in general is people who are "like weeds, trying to find a foothold wherever they can". Eventually, many do get embedded in the systems of capitalism here, which are ALL corrupt in one way or another, IMO. But many thousands never make it.

There is no easy path in California unless you are a Nepo-baby (nepotism). There's a ton of that in CA, as there is on the East Coast. If a person is exceptionally skilled at something they also MIGHT have a clear path, but again, depends on what race they are, and what season of politics the state is in. A degree from one of the Ivy Leagues or Stanford might also make a person's path more clear too. But what percentage of soceity attends those?

Everyone I know who has found safety in CA, they give up something to get it. MIght be some integrity, might be they have lied their way in and are lying to stay there. (My ex-spouse's path.) Might only be that they are extroverts in a state that loves extroverts. Oh, and the state loves youth! Cannot get enough young people! Hates old people and expects all of them to move away as quickly as possible.
 

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