Yearning for our low-tech past?

[Terechu]

There was an article by Rafael Torres in yesterday’s La Nueva España about the long lines of people outside a down-town Madrid store waiting their turn to buy “alpargatas” (espadrilles, or canvas slippers with hemp/rope soles).

It is often said that Spaniards have gone straight from the rural alpargatas to the mobile phones, DVDs and cars with GPS, without a transition period. Cutting-edge technology has no secrets for young Spaniards, many of whom however have not learned to express themselves correctly and with a minimum decorum in their mother tongue.

Nonetheless people are starting to tire of the flood of expensive, short-lived high-tech junk and the journalist wonders if this massive return to the simple and effective things (like dirt-cheap, washable canvas shoes that won’t make your feet sweat) is not somehow a sign of the times, a yearning for our simple low-tech past where the value of things was not ephemeral.
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La Nueva España de ayer traía un artículo de Rafael Torres sobre las colas que hay estos días en una zapatillería de Madrid para comprar alpargatas.

Se suele decir que los españoles pasamos directamente de la alpargata al teléfono móvil, el DVD y los coches con GPS sin un período de transición. La tecnología punta no tiene secretos para los jóvenes españoles, muchos de los cuales sin embargo son incapaces de expresarse correctamente y con un mínimo decoro en su lengua materna.

Sin embargo la gente se está cansando del aluvión de carísimos cachivaches de alta tecnología y corta vida que nos ahoga y el periodista se pregunta si este retorno masivo a las cosas simples y eficaces (como la baratísima y lavable alpargata en la que no te sudan los pies) no será un signo de estos tiempos, la añoranza de la simpleza de baja tecnología de nuestro pasado reciente donde el valor de las cosas no era efímero.

[Bob]

There was an article on alpargatas in the New York Times travel section a few weeks ago.

I think the desire to return to simpler times is real and exists here in the EEUU as well as in Spain, but it's coupled with an unwillingness to give up the benefits of certain modern gadgets and conveniences. Age may also hyave something to do with our attitudes. I note for example that my students (mostly ages 17 to 22) seem to use their cell phones far more than I do (age 61), and for idle conversation, not just for necessary calls.

The value of the old and that of the new are not necessarily incompatible. We use a digital camcorder, a digital still camera, and a digital sound recorder to preserve the voices and images of the older generation, as well as our own and those of our children and grandchildren.

Still, I far prefer real food to fast food, inexpensive casual clothes to suits, live music to music downloads, locally grown produce to that produced by American factory farms, etc.