Luddites united...

HALLIE: I must be one of the last people on the planet...or in Boston at least...who still uses a date book. It has a still spiffy red cover and fits in my purse. Every year for $6 I buy a new calendar to go into it and retire last year's calendar with my tax records. I know I've been using it a long time because the address book has phone numbers of people who I would swear to you are complete strangers.

There are early adopters and then there are those who upgrade only when other options run out. I just traded my 2001-vintage cell phone (with an aerial) for one that flips(!) open (someone who'd upgraded to an iPhone gave it to me). We still watch an unwide TV. Our twin Honda Civics just got their 100,000-mile tuneups.

When a local repair shop was going out of business we bought a dozen needles for our turntable. We're still going through them and picking up vinyl at yard sales -- like one featuring the Andrews Sisters (the album cover shouts * MICROGROOVE * LONG PLAY 33 1/3 RECORD * UNBREAKABLE) singing Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and the original Broadway cast album of "The Pajama Game." Last year I finally got an iPod but mostly I listen to podcasts.

So do you have the latest eReader, Bluetooth smartphone, widescreen or other compound-word reason to throw away something else in perfectly good working order.

JAN: Now, see I consider myself the world's biggest Luddite. Not because I don't adopt new technologies, but because once I get them, I can't make them work

I thought of myself a relatively late technology adopter, but compared to you, Hallie, I think I might be on the vanguard. Mostly because of my husband. He's a gear head. Plus, he used to be in the computer business, So, yes, we have the biggest HD TV ever, also the latest Mac (also big screen -- are you seeing a pattern?), one iPhone, another on the way. We didn't have cable TV until 2004, though, and that was only because the Red Sox had made the playoffs and we had to see them win the World Series.

RHYS: I still have a date book that was given to me by my publisher in the 1980s (that was back when publishers still gave authors presents). I have all my contacts etc on my PDA and iPod but I keep a backup on paper in that book, just in case the world runs out of electricity. I also write a year plan at the beginning of every year and examine it on New Year's Eve to see what worked and what didn't.

I guess I don't adapt to change if I don't have to. I don't want a Kindle but I'm glad people buy my books for it. I'm quite savvy with my computer, but I don't choose to play with it when I don't have to. I've never played a computer game in my life. I do have an Ipod to keep me sane at airports. I have a cell phone but only for letting my husband know that my plane has touched down.

And Hallie, you should talk to John, who still has a stack of vinyl LPs. He has just bought something that will turn them into CDs or MP3 fils and plans to work his way through them. (I can't wait as it will keep him out of my hair for many months. And after that... cassette tapes to CD! Yipee)

HALLIE: I've had my eye on one of those vinyl-to-digital transformer thingies but never would I want to be the first on the block. That's how so many people ended up with Betamax technology when VHS would be the one to catch on. But if you report that it works great, I might have to get one.

ROBERTA: Nope Hallie we can't compete with that description! I'm in Rhys's camp--I pretty much know what I'm doing on the computer but I don't want to spend extra time on it. I may have said this before, but I don't understand why we need 5 remotes to run our TV/dvd/etc. If something dreadful happens to my John, I'll just have to watch TV upstairs where things are simpler.

I do know another fellow like you Hallie, my brother-in-law Jeff. He has a TV that belonged to his grandmother. It weighs about six thousand pounds and has a tiny screen. We razz him about it all the time:).

HALLIE: Tell your brother-in-law to throw a yard sale and invite me! Sounds like my kind of guy.

HANK: I have a paper date book! So funny. I get the same kind every year. They're small and flat and work perfectly. Sometimes I carry around this year's and last year's so I don't have to rewrite all the names and phone numbers in the back.

Which now, thinking about it, is silly, since the phone numbers are all in my cell phone,I suppose. But then, I hardly ever use my phone. When it rings, I freak. I think--what is that?? (My ring tone for Jonathan is the theme from Charlies Angels, I admit.)

I don't want an iPod because I don't want things in my ears. Although everyone who has one loves it.

And our basement is full of vinyl records. Another blog for another day.

Oh, Roberta! I'm so with you. I work in TV, and know all about the most elaborate of technical stuff. But know how to turn on our TV at home? Oh dear, no.

HALLIE: Yes, why do remote controls breed. It's almost like one appears every time a sock disappears.

Please, let us know - do you adopt early, late, or only under duress?

And by the way later this week...
Delia Ephron pays us a repeat visit to talk about her new powerful novel of truth, beauty, and the secrets about family and friends that lie beneath perfection.
Becky Levine joins us with her insightful "Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide.