Ok, I'll admit up front that I'm a cranky, but nice, old man. In September 2012 I bought a new 55" Samsung LED TV. Opened the box, took it out, plugged it in, plugged in the cable box, turned it on and watched TV.

Almost everything is steamed these days so I bought a new Samsung 65" 'Smart TV'. I'm pretty sure it is way smarter than I am. The manual that comes with it is 3 pages, you have to down load the 'real' manual, 50+ pages. The damn thing talked to me, every time I pushed a button it would vocally confirm what I did and occastionally ask if I really wanted to do that. Working through the setup I had to open an account with Samsung and that required an email verification. Then it had to verify my phone number via text. After that there were several more text verifications for various things, almost none of which I understand or want. It took me hours to get the damn thing set up so I could actually watch TV, and that's not even counting the picture and sound preference. It is supposed to be voice controlled, by speaking into the remote, but I haven't even looked at that part yet. I finally found a way to turn off the damn voice, I was about to box the TV up and return it if I had to listen to that all the time.

Sometimes I think the 'good old days' were really better.

That's the part of "up-to-dateness" that I hate!

I haven't got a cell phone, nor have I got any intention of getting one, so I'm at a loss with anything that requires text notifications.

Much of what you describe is a function of the manufacturer, Samsung. I have not experienced what you describe with Sony or LG TV's. Of course with those brands it is possible to have the depth of involvement that you experienced, but it is not required out of the box.

It has take almost three years to get to grips with my LG CX TV. Picture settings, eARC sound, how best to connect DVRs, PVRs, 4K players, streaming sticks, apps...

The HDMI leads are no less complicated than computer cables for speed and compatibility. Networking: wi-fi or ethernet?

Got a great picture, though.

You're like my wife, The Luddite. Has a phone (that I pay for) but refuses to switch it on. Too complicated.

Apple wants to send you confirmation codes, all my banks send confirmation codes, credit cards want confirmation on large purchases.

I will die before my wife. She really needs to understand that. She won't be able to access her money. She won't even know where it is, because she can't switch on my iMac ( the button is on the back, dear).

Hmmm...

I have two Samsung smart TVs and it has taken close to two years to figure out how to use them. My wife never figured out how to use the controller. After a disastrous attempt to re-scan using a digital broadcast antenna, I figured out how to do a factory reset and . That said, it wasn’t until I disconnected the cable boxes and started streaming via Wi-Fi and an Apple TV everything settled down and is working as advertised, but I still hate the non-intuitive menus and settings.

Actually, I've got an iPhone, but pretty much only in the physical sense, because I haven't got a phone plan...anybody who needs me just has to wait 'til I get home and see my answering machine blinking. I bought it because I needed a camera, and even with its potential functionality it didn't cost me any more than a simple camera would have cost.

I get all my confirmation/verification codes by landline, and I thank whatever gods may be every day for it and email still being options. (There's one code that Apple kept pushing to my phone, but I deleted the phone from my profile, and I think I've beaten that plague.)

(I occasionally run into situations that can be dealt with only via a texted code, and I've so far been able to turn my back on them and walk away, but if I'm ever stuck, I'll use my daughter's phone as my mailbox.)

My wife says, "Well, we managed to live okay before cell phones."

I can't argue with that, but she doesn't admit that when she has a modern world problem, she gets me to sort it out.