Could You Live Without Your Smartphone? (theglobeandmail.com) 157
Three-quarters of Canadians own smartphones-- and 94% of 15- to 34-year-olds. But this week the Globe and Mail profiled "digital refuseniks" who are "deliberately logging off -- and they say it's done wonders for their imaginations and peace of mind."
They are hidden among us, neither jobless nor friendless, and living quite happily. Cut off from Uber, yet somehow thriving. For example, Tony North does not live for his smartphone, because he's never had one. "I just didn't want to get into the habit of distraction," he says simply, in an interview conducted over landline from his home in Paris, Ontario. The high-school teacher spends about 20 minutes a day [on his laptop] on his one social-media platform, Facebook, which he uses to keep in touch with family back home in Australia. In fact, you could blame Australia for Mr. North's desire to be digitally unleashed: He remembers leaving home to travel overseas, and the wonderful feeling of being uncontactable that came with it. "It was such a feeling of freedom, and I guess I wanted to keep a bit of that."
As a teacher of English and drama, Mr. North, 53, is worried about the consequences of teenagers' near-constant devotion to their online lives (his own two children, 12 and 13 years old, do not have phones). In drama class, he makes his students put away their phones and engage in face-to-face exercises: "I'm basically forcing them to interact," he says. "When I ask for evaluations at the end of the semester, it's one of the things they most seem to appreciate...." Canadians between the ages of 18 and 34 spend nearly five hours a day online, according to a 2017 survey from Media Technology Monitor... "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?" the Atlantic magazine asked last year in a cover story designed to keep parents up at night, frozen in the blue light of further bad news.
North says in the extra time "he reads many novels and enjoys quiet moments of reflection and watching the world go by." And 18-year-old Bethany March is also severely limiting her phone use. ''I saw the way that people got so invested, not just in their phones, but in social media, and I didn't want to be that person," she says. "So many times people would be zeroed in on their phones. It was just rude, to be honest. I'd think, 'I'm here with you, talk to me.'"
71-year-old John Moir insists that living without a smartphone makes him really experience new locations, "rather than trying to be in two places at once," adding that "Whenever I tell people I don't have a phone, they say, 'Oh, that's so great. I wish I didn't have to have one.'" That's "one thing digital refuseniks never have to worry about," the article concludes: "Who is the servant in their digital relationship, and who is the master."
As a teacher of English and drama, Mr. North, 53, is worried about the consequences of teenagers' near-constant devotion to their online lives (his own two children, 12 and 13 years old, do not have phones). In drama class, he makes his students put away their phones and engage in face-to-face exercises: "I'm basically forcing them to interact," he says. "When I ask for evaluations at the end of the semester, it's one of the things they most seem to appreciate...." Canadians between the ages of 18 and 34 spend nearly five hours a day online, according to a 2017 survey from Media Technology Monitor... "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?" the Atlantic magazine asked last year in a cover story designed to keep parents up at night, frozen in the blue light of further bad news.
North says in the extra time "he reads many novels and enjoys quiet moments of reflection and watching the world go by." And 18-year-old Bethany March is also severely limiting her phone use. ''I saw the way that people got so invested, not just in their phones, but in social media, and I didn't want to be that person," she says. "So many times people would be zeroed in on their phones. It was just rude, to be honest. I'd think, 'I'm here with you, talk to me.'"
71-year-old John Moir insists that living without a smartphone makes him really experience new locations, "rather than trying to be in two places at once," adding that "Whenever I tell people I don't have a phone, they say, 'Oh, that's so great. I wish I didn't have to have one.'" That's "one thing digital refuseniks never have to worry about," the article concludes: "Who is the servant in their digital relationship, and who is the master."
Yes. (Score:5, Insightful)
No problem, EVERYONE can live without their smartphone. Next question.
First world problems (Score:3)
Re:Yes. (Score:3)
Re:Yes. (Score:2)
"Some people won't be able to find their way home, won't know who to call,..."
We usually call such people 'drunks'.
Re:Yes. (Score:2)
People can be retrained to become humans again.
Re:Yes. (Score:2)
Anyone who says that they can't live without their smartphone needs to seek medical attention immediately.
Re:Yes. (Score:2)
Can you live without a cell phone, then?
Live as in survive? Yes ... obviously.
But I for my part hated SMS ... super complicated to type something. My "smart phone" has like 6 messanging apps ... super easy. Ah, no ... I don't use my phone for phoning ... I don't phone.
Re: Yes. (Score:1)
No problem, EVERYONE can live without their smartphone. Next question.
This! I don't even use mine, and wouldn't be caught dead using it.
Sent from my iPhone.
Re:Yes. (Score:2)
Intentionally misunderstanding the question is not an option. Could I live without the scientific understanding of bacteria or virii? Sure. Could I live without a generalized scientific understanding, outside of my experience, about bacteria and virii? No.
Re:Yes. (Score:2)
Obviously it's possible. Life and civilization existed before them. And no one would drop dead of apoplexy if they gave it up. But why should we? Yeah... I know it's the hip and trendy thing nowadays... even on Slashdot for some strange reason... to hate on technology, the fruits of the same, and those of us, people and companies, who make our living creating it. But frankly: to hell with that. Your newfound luddist pseudo-spirituality doesn't make you any better than those of us who enjoy our modern conveniences.
And that's what it is: convenient. Giving up my iPhone would not be the death of me. But it would sure be inconvenient. And it's not just being out of touch that would be a drag. Phone calls, and even texting, are a small portion of the use I get out of the thing. It's real value is in the various other things I used to own that the iPhone replaces. If I gave it up, I'd have to go back to owning (And carrying some combination of):
- An iPod (Does Apple actually even still make them?) for music on-the-go.
- A Kindle, for reading while commuting on MUNI
- A Switch or GBA for when I want something more interactive than a book.
- An alarm clock, which my iPhone has also replaces
- A sleep tracker. Yup, also on the iPhone now
- A GPS for the car
- A pager (Are these even still made?) for on-call duty.
- A WiFi hotspot, for when I have to respond to a page when I'm neither at the office or home.
- A camera
- A camcorder
- A garage door opener fob
- A city transit map
- A road atlas
- A city street map
- A kitchen timer
- A rolodex (Actually, I never owned one; but went straight to a Palm Pilot back in the day.)
- The aforementioned Palm Pilot (Oops. These don't exist anymore. So... rolodex.)
- Business cards
- All of the credit cards that I leave at home but use with ApplePay to maximize my points
- Remote control for my home lighting
- Remote control for my vacuum cleaner
- Remote control for my humidifier/aromatherapy
- And most mundane: a pen and notebook
And that's all just off the top of my head, without graphing the phone and going through my most-used apps. And why should I give up the convenience of a single device replacing all of the above? Because you've decided to adopt some pretentious "You're not really living if you don't unplug." ideology? Screw that. If you don't like them or want one; where's an idea: DON'T BUY ONE FOR YOURSELF. You do you. And stop trying to force your ideology on others who want no part of it.
Re:Yes. (Score:2)
Yeah, no kidding. What a dumb fucking question.
I'm a software engineer. Have been for over twenty years. I just turned 40. I've never had a smart phone. I have a cheap shitty flip phone and I use it *gasp* to make phone calls. That's it. I don't need to be connected to twitter and facebook 24x7 (or at all, actually). Shit can wait until I'm at a fucking desk or a laptop or ipad or something later on. Jesus christ.
Yes, this sounds exactly how a 40 year old professional would post, and nothing like a teenager in any way at all.
No (Score:5, Insightful)
I could live without "apps". I could live without social media. I could live without games. I could even live without a browser.
I cannot live without a map - I'd be forever lost or limited to what I could locate without getting lost.
Re: No (Score:3)
Re: No (Score:2)
Re: No (Score:2)
And you're equally adept at completely missing points. The rest of us are under no obligation whatsoever to give up our modern conveniences just because you've picked up some pseudo-spiritual "back to basics" Luddism and are such a self-righteous pretentious git that you feel the need fo attack people who don't share your newfound "insight". If YOU don't like smartphones, don't have a smartphone, don't want a smartphone; lovely. You're under no obligation to buy one. You do you. But that in no way makes you better than those of us who do like our technological convenience. Stop trying to force your decision on others who want no part of it.
Re: No (Score:2)
Re: No (Score:2)
I honestly don't use it much. What's the point? If it's near where I live then I know all the stuff already. If it's in a new town then I will use a map at home before I get there. I figure out what roads and freeways to take before getting in the car. I certainly can not legally use the phone while driving, so it is a necessity to plan ahead. If I am terribly lost I will pull into a gas station and maybe use the phone (my data plan is so small that this is unlikely); but before phones this is exactly what people used to do anyway.
Re:No (Score:2)
If you have problems getting lost, you should try a full size map. They are usually available in printed on paper format and they are foldable. You unfold them when needed and they give you a bird's-eye view of the whole area.
Re:No (Score:3)
It's not even close. A smartphone has the advantage of being able to guide you from wherever you are to wherever you want to go, using spoken turn-by-turn directions for safe, hands-free navigation. If you miss a turn, no big deal, it re-routes you from there.
There are plenty of worthless or "minor convenience" apps out there, but navigation apps are one of the absolutely killer features of smartphones. I've used plenty of paper maps over the first half of my life to know that they don't even come close to the utility of an app. A paper map is cumbersome enough that you either need to stop periodically, or have a navigator sitting next to you.
As you alluded to, though, one advantage paper maps have is for longer trip planning, as it's nice to spread the map out on a table and figure out where you want to go. A smaller screen just doesn't work as well for the "bird's-eye" view. Of course, these days, you can do that almost as easily on your PC monitor.
Re:No (Score:2)
If you have problems getting lost, you should try a full size map. They are usually available in printed on paper format and they are foldable. You unfold them when needed and they give you a bird's-eye view of the whole area.
Steven Wright has one of those...
I have a map of the United States... Actual size. It says, 'Scale: 1 mile = 1 mile.' I spent last summer folding it. I hardly ever unroll it. People ask me where I live, and I say, "E6".
Re:No (Score:2)
I have one of those in my car too (ring bound so no folding required) but it's not nearly as practical
Re:No (Score:3)
yeah, I do love having gps maps, live.
I check personal email, but not work email (work email is not 'safe' since they insist on using exchange and that forces me to use a client that grants their admin WAY too much privs (full wipe ability!) on my *personal* phone.)
I rarely do anything web based. even with a rooted adblocked phone, the web sucks badly on phones, for many reasons. I can usually wait until I'm on my safe linux box to do web things.
sometimes I take photos, but for things that matter, I use a proper camera.
the installed apps I have are probably less than 5. I don't believe in how the apps ecosystem works; its too privacy invading for my taste, so sadly, I force myself to avoid almost all apps. I'm the opposite of the classic millennial, I gravitate away from apps, not toward them. knowing that each app is likely trying to fuck me over in some way, just ruins whatever fun the app might bring.
an unrooted un ad-blocked phone? never. if that was my only option, I'd probably not own one. its why I won't own an apple phone, very few true user options and I don't typically play by anyone's rules when it comes to computing; I insist on having the thing do my bidding, not yours.
I was recently in an eye dr's office and every single kid there was playing with his phone. I guess that's ok, they are not running around and bothering anyone ;) and most adults are glued to their phones, too. amazing. I was the only one who did not have that 'press on glass surface' gadget out. it really was not a problem to sit there and wait. the world did not come to and end by not having that glass thing to poke at and stare at.
the worst thing, though, is seeing people walking around (on streets, no less) with all attention to the phone and so little to what's going on around them.
overall, I do think we lost more than we gained with the current state of 'phones' and how they embedded themselves into our culture. and we won't really find out until this generation grows up and we see what they are like over their lifetimes. I don't think this attention-span limiter device is going to be a good thing in peoples' lives. long-term, I bet we will conclude this and future generations will not use the portable devices like we do.
Re:No (Score:2)
>"I was recently in an eye dr's office and every single kid there was playing with his phone. I guess that's ok, they are not running around and bothering anyone ;)"
However, it is NOT OK when the phones are making noise, which seems to be extremely common now and that sure as hell bothers ME. I can't even enjoy dinner in a restaurant without some parent allowing their kid to either watch video with the audio BLASTING or playing some annoying game with sound. It is utterly amazing to me that the parents don't realize just how rude and annoying that is to everyone around them.
Parents- please discover the concept of earphones.
Re:No (Score:2)
I must admit that I’ve been having this debate with myself for a while. Basically, I do feel like, at times, I spend too much of my free time playing “apps”, browsing Slashdot... all the things having a smartphone or tablet make trivial to access on a whim. But have I done anything about it? No, not really... at least yet.
There are certain things I really would not want to be without. GPS-based live maps have been mentioned already. There’s also the calendar - smartphone calendars are superior, by far, to the old “syncs your flip phone with your computer” version (although that was still handy). And it’s nice having immediate access to my contacts... well, flip phones more or less did that too.
I’d probably add playing music to the list as well, since I had an iPod (and, before that, some Creative player) back in the flip phone days. But music is often a background thing - it doesn’t have to be all-engrossing. I like to have music going when I’m doing dishes or cooking [youtube.com], for instance.
Re:No (Score:2)
My workplace pays for my phone, in order for me to receive email on the MS Exchange based system. I access my personal email with a distinct application, precisely to avoid conflating them or confusing them, and avoid personal applications like FaceBook or LinkedIn except for work activities. If I gave up the phone, it could mean losing the job, since I am frequently on call or a high leval escalation point for technical issues.
Re:No (Score:2)
Re:No (Score:2)
How did you live before smartphones? Were you constantly waving down police to ask them for directions?
Re:No (Score:2)
I got lost, a lot. I'd forever be pulling over, checking maps, asking directions. It was rather comical. Still do but at least it tells me to to a u-turn quickly.
Re:No (Score:2)
Interestingly, if I want a more "deep dive" into consuming media, I'm not using a smartphone, even my iPhone X. That's better suited for my iPad Pro 10.5", especially reading e-books and watching Netflix/Amazon Prime Video.
Re:No (Score:2)
I could live without "apps". I could live without social media. I could live without games. I could even live without a browser.
I cannot live without a map - I'd be forever lost or limited to what I could locate without getting lost.
Since getting a smartphone about six years ago, the only thing I have never gotten used to is real time, turn-by-turn directions. I much prefer to look up directions ahead of time and write them down or commit them to memory if brief enough. It makes me feel like I can focus on driving and not on listening to the stupid voice.
Social Media is the celeb magazines of the 80's (Score:4, Interesting)
In the 80's we had lots of celeb and other magazines along with shows like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. In the 90's we had America's Funniest Home videos.
All this blended into social media and Youtube
Even then the whole point of magazines was to put advertising in front of your eyes. The content was secondary. And the subscription prices never covered the costs of running the magazine.
Re:Social Media is the celeb magazines of the 80's (Score:2)
The question was not "do people enjoy having entertainment in front of their eyeballs 24/7?". It was, and this is important, could you really say you are alive, without a smart device giving you the information to which you have been accustomed?
I get lots of information via phone, if it were cut off against my will, I would not be "alive". It's like cutting out your own eyeballs. Do you really want to live that way? Most people don't. Some people actually really want to.
People ask surgeons to cut off body parts all of the time. It's rare, but it's probably happening now. Those people are noise in the statistics.
Depends on your age (Score:5, Insightful)
Those who have been alive longer than smartphones, cellphones or pagers will have an easier time going without such things as they have done it before.
Those who have never known a life without them, not so much.
It would be akin to denying a heroin addict their daily fix I think.
Re:Depends on your age (Score:3)
You're likening smartphone users to heroin addicts.
I see that likeness too, and it is one reason why I don't have one.
The drug/the phone, comes first before anything else.
The singular event for me why I don't have a smartphone was maybe a decade ago, before iPhone and Android -- but when texting had already commonplace. I saw a woman immersed in her phone walking slowly out onto railroad tracks on a railroad crossing right as there was an oncoming train. I saved her from danger but not once did she look up from her fucking phone! It was not the danger that scared me as much as her behaviour. After that, I swore to myself that I was not going to become like that.
In recent years, I get reinforced in my belief several times each day in encounters with smartphone zombies in streets, shops and public transport. What would have been considered rude, antisocial behaviour twenty years ago has been the norm for many years now.
Re:Depends on your age (Score:2)
I think I like my plan better:
1) Get a smartphone
2) Don't become a slave to the damned thing
All of the benefits, and none of the downsides. Win-win.
Re:Depends on your age (Score:2)
Personally I know plenty of people who don't pull out their smartphone at every occasion they may get bored. And pretty much all of them are Millennials (if that term is even appropriate for people outside of the US). Anyway, most of them owned a cellphone in middle school already.
A smartphone is basically a hand-held personal computer with a terrible (but under the circumstances practical) user interface, that can also take photos and record videos with sound. If you do not become a zombie when you sit in front of your PC at home, odds are that you can manage that with a smartphone as well.
Only if you don't think you can pull that off when given the possibility to be constantly exposed to a computer, staying away from it might be the rational choice.
Re:Depends on your age (Score:2)
For the record, I've been calling out a lot of idiots here, and this response is the only non idiotic one so far. The question is about *YOU* and this answer pretty much summarizes the expected responses of a very large number of people.
Anyone hating me for my response to them below should ponder the above response.
Re:Depends on your age (Score:2)
age has nothing to do it. When I was in high school, we did not even have calculators. we did have mechanical adding machines. computers were big old mainframes and had to keypunch cards for it to read. Now my apartment is nothing but tech - alexa, google home, computers, tablets and more. so could I live without my smartphone, maybe but as I said in another post, as long as I had my tablet. need something for two factor authorization and read my newspaper subscriptions :-)
Yes of course, but. (Score:1)
One of my favorite stories to tell is about the phone book.
A long time ago (almost 15 years) I was supposed to visit a customer about their home computer and needed to reschedule, the phone number was not recorded on the work order, I tried looking it up in our databases, no joy, tried finding it online, nope, so I didn't call.
Of course the next day he calls angry that I didn't show up and didn't reschedule, I spoke with him and said I didnt' have his phone number and he quickly replied 'its in the phone book', I had completely forgotten about that (yes its not a thing anymore) and was firmly in the headspace of, 'if it wasn't on the computer it didn't exist', boy did I feel dumb.
I believe that I have pulled my head out of the sand ever since then and at least try to look at the real world on a regular basis, so much going on out here.
Regularly put the phone down and walk away, its an adventure to see what happened a few hours later, give it a try.
Why didn't he call? (Score:2)
It was probably good to be apologetic in that case but... why didn't he call around 15 minutes after the appointment was set to check on if you were coming?
Not that he should have had to do that, but it's what U would have done in his place instead of getting mad and calling the next day... I'd personally be very understanding of someone having lost a number.
Re:Why didn't he call? (Score:2)
"It's in the phone book"
Can you put yourself in the place of someone who has a published number, who didn't get a call, whose response is "It's in the phone book"?
IT'S IN THE PHONE BOOK
Why wouldn't someone have his number if it was in the phone book? The number that is in the phone book?
And how do you surmise it's what OP would have done? He didn't know about the phone book. Or didn't remember at the time, which is not knowing.
And last, this guy had an appointment, no one showed up. How to you not get mad at that?
Re:Yes of course, but. (Score:2)
"put down the phone" is not the same as "never use it".
"Never use it" is not the same as "never have used it".
I hate my smartphone. (Score:3)
Re:I hate my smartphone. (Score:4, Insightful)
yup, same feelings here.
we control so little on the phone (the os, the hardware, the radio).
they track us, they spy on us, we can't even know if the mic and camera(s) are live. truly, we cannot know, and that's something that should scare everyone. yet, we ignore it completely.
apps are 'free' since they fucking SPY on you. you can't trust them.
the whole system is fucked up beyond fixing. needs a whole new re-do. new business model, new freedom policy, new encryption-by-design policy, new user-has-full-control policy. we NEED this. but I doubt we'll ever get it. the current broken model is too embedded in the culture. its quite sad what it could have been, but its now a spy, advertising and tracking tool for THEM.
I gave up on phones years ago. I use only the very bare minimum and even then, I feel unclean using one, knowing that each layer of hardware and software is actively working for SOMEONE ELSE, not me. bugs the crap out of me.
Re:I hate my smartphone. (Score:2)
webpages have MBs today, you know... (I feel sorry for our data plan!)
Re:I hate my smartphone. (Score:2)
I hate the whole Ap software culture, where what a web browser can do has been split into 1,000 diferent programs.
Other people hate the web application culture, where a web browser will automatically download and execute unvetted JavaScript and WebAssembly software written by who knows whom.
Does no one have self-control any more? (Score:2)
I find this puzzling. I ignore my mobile most of the time. I've disabled most notifications (and rely on email notifications for the most part, and check at my leisure.) Even with text messaging, thanks to the new Android app, that's in a browser for me, and I respond at my own convenience. Although to be honest that's pretty low traffic as well.
I can't be the only person who has one of these, and can go several hours without attending to it....maybe adopting an attitude more along these lines would help.
For me, the main thing is convenience and safety, and playing music. It's not something that gets a lot of my attention otherwise.
Re:Does no one have self-control any more? (Score:2)
You're obviously not in the majority. And, the question was not about "minimal usage". It was "not at all usage". You find it puzzling because you are waaaaaaay far away from average. Not that it's a bad thing, but you are NOT AVERAGE AND NOT REPRESENTATIVE.
It's just a tool! (Score:2)
he reads many novels and enjoys quiet moments of reflection and watching the world go by.
Hey you know what - I do that too! Only I'm generally reading on my smartphone. And while I might grab a picture once in a while, I too love to just sit sometimes and watch the world.
It's fully up to you how much and just plain HOW you use a smartphone. But it seems incredibly short-sighted to get rid of them because you lack self-control - that is a value that can be self-taught, and brings benefits to all areas of life.
No way would I go without a smartphone if I could help it because I find it very useful. What I don't find is that it uses *me*, because I do not let it.
Re:It's just a tool! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's just a tool! (Score:2)
Exactly. There's a negative view of using smartphones regardless of how you are using them. If you are sitting quietly reading a paper book or newspaper, people think you're spending quality time. However if you are sitting quietly reading a book or newspaper on your smartphone, they think: "Oh great, he's glued to that thing again". Same if you have a few minutes at the bus stop or on the train. Use your cell phone, and older folks will shake their heads in disapproval. Whip out a book and they'll smile in approval.
Yes, exactly.
I don't think it makes much sense to lump the time I spend on a computer learning a second language in with "screen time" like watching cat videos.
Re:It's just a tool! (Score:2)
If you are reading a paper book they can see that you are reading a paper book, and (if they can see enough of the cover) what book you are reading.
One of the advantages of books on shelves is that they tell you a lot about people's tastes and interests, and from that become a starting point for conversation etc.
It may not look like a big difference from the readers point of view, but from others point of view a paper book is very different.
Re:It's just a tool! (Score:2)
Well that was easy (Score:5, Insightful)
That means 25% of Canadians are living without a smartphone. Meaning that yes, you could in fact live without a smartphone.
Next question please?
Re:Well that was easy (Score:2)
Sure, are you an idiot or a fucking idiot?
You read the headline and nothing else, and responded to the literal meaning, without considering any context.
Could the 75% of Canadians who have experienced smartphones live without them?
I assume you will have a hard time parsing that, so do pause for a moment.
How do you define "live"? If you mean "Know that a technology is not available and be denied using it" then almost everyone on DashSlot would say no. If you mean "Voluntarily give up" for any reason, then obviously yes, for very small values of "yes".
If you intentionally misunderstood the entire topic to prove how much smarter you are than everyone else is, then you are what's wrong with humanity. Read that again if you are unsure.
Problem is with people who don't use smartphones (Score:2)
is that they harass those of us who do.
Unfortunately, the world has gotten to a place where you really need one to survive.
I was out with my dad for dinner (who absolutely refuses to own one) the other night and he wanted to know:
- What did the Dow Jones ended off at
- Read the article about the guy in England who saw and photographed Air Force 1 when Trump was going to Iraq on Christmas day
- Use the scientific calculator on the phone to figure out the angular width of Air Force 1 when it is 25 miles away and flying at 31,000 feet (it's 0.08 degrees if you care)
- Confirm that the angular width of the moon and the sun was 0.5 degrees (actually it's just over 0.5 degrees)
- If a Facebook friend had replied to him
- Check the status of my wife's aunt who was in the hospital
There are two things you can conclude from this:
1. We're a geeky family
2. Too much of modern life has moved onto mobile platforms to make not having a smartphone a realistic proposition
I can respect people who only want a dumb phone - personally, I primarily use my iPhone for phone calls and texts but it's nice to have a browser available and a lot of apps do make our lives more efficient and allow us to be more mobile.
Re:Problem is with people who don't use smartphone (Score:2)
Problem is with people who don't use smartphones is that they harass those of us who do.
[...]
it's nice to have a browser available and a lot of apps do make our lives more efficient and allow us to be more mobile.
I would respect that if all the smartphone users agreed to actually look and listen to other people. Seriously, when I'm talking to someone, eye contact and a real conversation is what I expect. Smartphone users have decided instead to opt for "mhmm..." as they stare at their phone scrolling through their social media feed and then at a break they ask questions about information you just provided ago seconds ago. These smartphone zombies are the worst people because they aren't really there.
TL;DR: [dis]respect is a two way street.
Re:Problem is with people who don't use smartphone (Score:2)
I actively use a faked "smartphone zombie" mode to avoid conversations on the bus. I'm not interested in spending my commute getting to know some homeless dude with no edit button. I find being intent on my phone and telling him "sorry, I'm texting my girlfriend." tends to shut that down early.
And if it doesn't I feel free to just tell him to fuck off out of my face.
Re:Problem is with people who don't use smartphone (Score:2)
I actively use a faked "smartphone zombie" mode to avoid conversations on the bus. I'm not interested in spending my commute getting to know some homeless dude with no edit button. I find being intent on my phone and telling him "sorry, I'm texting my girlfriend." tends to shut that down early.
And if it doesn't I feel free to just tell him to fuck off out of my face.
Truly, a hero for our times.
Re:Problem is with people who don't use smartphone (Score:2)
What kind of harassment are you referring to? That was missing from your post. You also did not post anything that could be considered necessary .
[i]Sitting down[/i] and looking up things on a device with Internet access is not something that people tend to have an issue with.
Issues are with people who have in effect become tethered to their phones, who have developed disruptive manners.
no the problem is you (Score:2)
All that stuff, if it really mattered, could be looked up when you got home. Meanwhile, what non cellphone addicts see is the person across from them, who they only have a few hours with, having their head down, eyes and ears zombiefied, reflected in the ghostly glow of their tiny sun (that their lives seem to revolve around). Instead of talking and being present with them in the moment. Most people don't care what you talk about, especially family, but that you are there and present and talking with them.
You know, conversation isn't all about having the facts at your fingertips. I can see your UID is low, so you obviously remember the world before smartphones.
Those of us without phones survive fine, as we have for countless millennia. It only took 10 years for 3/4ths of canada to be brainwashed into the necessity of an always on spy device in their pocket. Its quite sad.
Tool (Score:2)
1) I save ~ $1000 (pretax) per year on the cellular service bills. (That's $10,000, or a brand new, cheap car, every decade.)
2) I don't have to worry about losing it.
3) I don't have to worry about it being stolen.
4) I don't have to worry about being robbed for it.
5) I don't have to worry about whether its battery is charged.
6) I don't have to worry about its software updates and whether they broke anything.
7) I don't have to worry about, and spend time researching and buying, the next one.
8) I don't have to worry about spying apps/ID theft via it.
9) I save money on what would be each new phone purchase.
10) I don't have to worry about breaking it.
11) I don't have to worry about it being hacked/malware.
12) I am never bothered by people or robots via it.
13) And when the space ants come to enslave me in their sugar mines, they won't be able to find me via wireless tracking.
I am well aware of what cellular phones are capable of; they are amazing machines. But they are tools, tools I don't need right now. I don't knock anyone for having one - I would like the same courtesy.
Re:Tool (Score:2)
I don't knock anyone for having one - I would like the same courtesy.
Who is denying you that courtesy? Who even knows you exist?
Re:Tool (Score:2)
Obviously you know I exist, or you're just posting to yourself. Now who's the crazy one?
Re:Tool (Score:2)
SMS roadblocks (Score:2)
$1000 (pretax) per year
My cell phone cost me $120 to buy, and it costs me less than $50 per year (on average about $4 per month) to run. This is because I chose a plan with few voice minutes or text messages and no data.
2) I don't have to worry about losing it.
3) I don't have to worry about it being stolen.
4) I don't have to worry about being robbed for it.
5) I don't have to worry about whether its battery is charged.
[...]
10) I don't have to worry about breaking it.
11) I don't have to worry about it being hacked/malware.
Instead, you have to worry about the six of these with respect to your non-phone pocket computer, non-phone digital media player, or non-phone portable satellite navigation device.
12) I am never bothered by people or robots via it.
If your employer required you to carry such a phone (with such a plan) in order to take elevated support calls after hours as a condition of continued employment, would you quit?
What do you do when a web application requires you to receive a code through SMS in order to begin or continue using the web application? For example, some users of the Twitter microblog host report that Twitter locks an account for alleged automated violation of its rules after a certain amount of use until the user provides an SMS number and enters the code in a text message sent to that number. Some such services can make a voice call instead of SMS, but Twitter allows only SMS, not voice. Do you instead choose to give up all the relationships that you maintain through that web application on the first such roadblock that you hit?
Re:Tool (Score:2)
Anyone paying more than 50/mo per plan is being robbed. That's $600. Family discounts add up. How in the holy fuck did you get $10k?
Seriously, show your work here or shut the fuck up forever.
Re:Tool (Score:2)
Delete, done (Score:2)
>""Whenever I tell people I don't have a phone, they say, 'Oh, that's so great. I wish I didn't have to have one.'" That's "one thing digital refuseniks never have to worry about," the article concludes: "Who is the servant in their digital relationship, and who is the master."
This is just silly. You don't have to NOT have a smart phone to prevent being rude, unsafe, or being obsessed. Smart phones are great for so many other things- news, easy texting, hotting down a note, maps and directions, flashlight, finding a store, calculator, listening to a podcast or music, weather, calendar, looking up word definitions or encyclopedia pages, playing an occasional casual word game, easily taking photos, etc.
If you have ZERO self control, then try this, I know it is a new concept: Delete the social media apps and disable/block them from sending any type of notifications/Email. Done. THOSE are what seem to drive people to be so totally obsessive with their phones. Delete Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. If you want to participate on those, allocate some time to use them on your home desktop/laptop, perhaps once a day for an hour or something. Then get on with your life!
Easily (Score:5, Interesting)
I live my digital life on my desktop computer with a 30" screen
My smartphone sits unused on the desk unless I'm on the road
I'm rarely on the road
Re:Easily (Score:2)
Ditto. I rarely use my iPhone 4S and go out. I do go online with the Internet a lot at home though!
Re:Easily (Score:2)
I'm rarely on the road
Others' habits differ. For example, they may have a bus commute of an hour each way to and from work.
How it was done (Score:2)
Needed to call a person? They had a answering machine, a secretary.
Games? That was a desktop computer, board games.
Wanted to see the new tech? Printed catalog.
To meet someone/sell something? A classified magazine/contact magazine.
Read something? That was a library, a book shop. Microfiche.
The world worked before walking around with tracking, games, maps and ads on a "smartphone"
Re:How it was done (Score:2)
Paper maps don't include your current location or directions. They're also incredibly unwieldy to use when walking about.
Who makes phone calls anymore?
Eh. I don't game on the phone apart from Pokemon go.
Printed catalogs are woefully out of date.
Yea. Classified ads are dead. that's not coming back.
Libraries around here are where hobos hang out. I once read a book when I was a kid that described a device that a kid could carry around that was an encyclopedia and any book or reference that could be accessed. I liked that idea. I still do.
Yea the world worked, but now it works better. Better, contextual information to DATA is a great thing. Don't get me started on social media though.
Re:How it was done (Score:2)
All that "free" "current location or directions" is paid for by the users. The user is the product.
The idea was to remove the smartphone, not the internet.
So the person would have the best maps that could be printed on the day
The only thing that is "better" now is ads have sound and location tracking
Re:How it was done (Score:2)
You're focused on the bad parts. The question is, could someone (not necessarily you, but feel free to answer) who owned a smart phone up to this moment, suddenly find a way to live without it.
You probably don't have one. Fine, you're not part of the question. Don't feel special.
Re:How it was done (Score:2)
The answer would be yes.
Its almost a cargo cult but products and services do exist to fill in "free" services like the loss of real time maps.
Honestly! (Score:3)
Re:Honestly! (Score:2)
I now have a rule at my home that when someone comes over for dinner or to watch a movie, everyone's phone goes gets left in their car or put in the drawer by the door until the evening is over. Nothing is more rude than someone who must reply or smiley or upvote something as mundane as someone's pic of new socks on facebook. They might as well just pull pull out a book and start reading.
Interestingly, most people so far have been OK with this,
Re:Honestly! (Score:2)
Until the movie ends and you discover that your manager has been sending you increasingly irate texts and/or voicemails asking why you haven't addressed an URGENT!!!!11 issue with whatever system you are paid to maintain.
Re:Honestly! (Score:2)
The amount of possible on-call time is limited by law
An opinion letter from the Wage and Hour Division of my country's Department of Labor [dol.gov] states that on-call time is not compensable unless it is determined that the employee cannot "use on-call time effectively for personal purposes". It drew a line between a medical equipment repair tech who gets paged about five times a week and a firefighter who gets paged about five times a day, each of whom was required to remain sober and show up in 20 minutes. The opinion letter gives an illustrative laundry list of U.S. case law.
Re:Honestly! (Score:2)
I think my new year's resolution this year is to ditch the smart phone. I'll buy a printer so the few times that the few times I need directions, I can just print them out. Hells, maybe I'll just buy a used hardware GPS.
I did buy a hardware GPS, but the only way it can get live traffic data is through a smartphone app, lol
The rich can live without a smartphone (Score:2)
I mean it. Did you notice refugees have smartphones? It is not because they are rich, it is because they can't afford to do without.
First thing. Can you live without internet access nowadays? Difficult, if not downright impossible if some administrative procedures can only be done online. Now, how do you access the internet? For the hardware, you can use a smartphone or a computer, but the computer is usually more expensive and less portable. For the access, you can use a land line, which is also (usually) more expensive and less portable than an entry level data plan. You may find computers with free public internet, but even then, getting there may not be free.
Next feature of smartphones: navigation. Again, you can use paper maps, and again, they will probably end up getting more expensive and less portable than smartphones.
Of course, a smartphone is a phone, a way to communicate. I mean, try to find a job without a phone. And sometimes, strangely enough, data communication (VoIP, IMs, etc...) is cheaper than phone calls. And if you have only a dumb phone, you still need to pay for it, and you still need to deal with your lack of internet access. Considering the price of entry level smartphones, especially used, you might as well get one.
Speaking about internet access, you probably noticed that it is useful in order to find good deals and compare prices. Without it, you will probably end up paying more, not a good thing if you are poor. And it is a case where a semi-permanent connection (i.e. not just a public library) is nice to have.
Also: access to knowledge and entertainment, camera, notepad, calculator, alarm clock, etc... I mean, besides food and shelter, if you are only allowed one thing to live in the modern world, that would be it.
How many GB/mo? (Score:2)
but the computer is usually more expensive and less portable.
Only because manufacturers killed entry-level 10.1" laptops in fourth quarter 2012. In addition, good luck training for (say) a programming job using a phone unless you dock it to an external keyboard and monitor, at which point you might as well buy a low-end 11.6" laptop, such as a Dell Inspiron.
For the access, you can use a land line, which is also (usually) more expensive and less portable than an entry level data plan.
Even after you pay overage fees? It's a lot harder to get into overage fees on an entry-level cable data plan, which provides 1000 GB/mo (source: Xfinity by Comcast) than on an entry-level data plan from a cellular carrier in the United States.
You may find computers with free public internet, but even then, getting there may not be free.
Walking to and from the public library during regular hours is free unless you have a substantial mobility impairment.
Re:The rich can live without a smartphone (Score:2)
I do use my smartphone a LOT for navigation. Programs like Waze and Google Maps are very useful looking for most new places. And Waze's ability to crowd-source traffic information is very useful, especially during commute hours.
A What? (Score:1)
Ha, ha, ha, the younger generations are so much like sheep.
Nobody needs a smart phone.
I could (Score:2)
I could live without my smartphone with absolutely no problems - as long as I have my tablet :-)
Easily. Why do you ask? (Score:2)
I'm 60. Smartphones came out 11-12 years ago. If you're 71 years old and need a smartphone to experience new destinations then I'm guessing you have bigger issues in your life than lack of a phone.
What gets me are the surveys "do you sleep with your smart phone". Guess what? Soon as they were available I got a wireless phone. Think '82 or so. I slept with that phone. Fast forward 35 years, wireless handset got replaced with a smartphone. Guess what? I slept with my smartphone for years. Then dad died, and I realized I was the 3rd or 4th person anyone would call in case of emergency. Now my cellphone charges in the living room while I sleep with my cat in the bedroom.
Re:Easily. Why do you ask? (Score:2)
From the actual article, and you're really too old to qualify to answer. I'm sure my 90 year old grandparents are fine, and can live, without a cell phone. They still have AOL. They sleep with their phone because it's by their bed.
Anyway, here's the non read bit you dork:
John Moir is another refusenik, although he is quick to say, with a laugh, that he is not sanctimonious about it. He does have e-mail and Skype, after all, and a basic flip phone. However, the 71-year-old Vancouverite has the phone only because his cycling group requires it, and he has âoeonly ever used it to make sure it works.â Like Mr. North, he likes the freedom of being disconnected, especially when he is travelling. It means he is really experiencing a new location, âoerather than trying to be in two places at once.â
I've never owned one and don't plan on it either (Score:2)
Re:I've never owned one and don't plan on it eithe (Score:2)
If you claim you can't exist without a smartphone then you need to take a hard look at your life and your priorities.
And for anyone who develops smartphone applications for a living, being able to test the application you're developing is likely to beat having to find a different job.
Re:I've never owned one and don't plan on it eithe (Score:2)
Re:I've never owned one and don't plan on it eithe (Score:2)
"Could You Live Without Your Smartphone?"
Response: "I've never owned a smartphone"
Oh, you don't count here. Your smartphone never existed. You don't have a relevant opinion. You think you do, but no, you did not answer the question. You don't understand the question.
You actually don't understand people, but let's just start with words on a screen. You should understand them.
Re:I've never owned one and don't plan on it eithe (Score:2)
bleah (Score:2)
North says in the extra time "he reads many novels and enjoys quiet moments of reflection and watching the world go by."
Well, I read novels on my smartphone, so there ;)
Yes! - because I don't have one (Score:2)
Yup - I'm already doing that. I can't stand them - wouldn't want one if someone bloody paid me to have it. I enjoy being able to get up and walk way from my job (a Network Analyst/Engineer) and be off the grid. There is no need for anyone to be connected all the time, other than addition.
I am about to find out... (Score:2)
I forgot it at mom-in-law yesterday :(
Probably, but I'd inconvenience others (Score:2)
I'd say that it would be very hard to live without a phone at all. It's become a way to verify identity, and not having one would mean I could lose access to some important stuff.
Beyond that, the only reason I went back to a smartphone (I was an early adopter, but went back to a Nokia S60 phone) is because my wife wanted me to have access to Whatsapp. And really, that's something that a lot of people expect these days (I imagine other message apps, depending on your region), so although I could theoretically drop out, I think it would be rather anti-social. Even my 70+ mother is on Whatsapp, and she's struggled with tech her entire life.
So I treat a smartphone like I treat Facebook: it's a tool that's occasionally useful, and worth keeping for when it is.
Nothing that new (Score:2)
I lived the first 30 years of my life without a smartphone, so yeah, no problem. But since the age of ~10, I've always had a computer and television. I don't really think I'm any more addicted to the phone than those things from years ago.
The only real change is how much information advertisers have about us these days. For me personally, not a big deal. I plan my budget months in advance and I'm not all that affected by advertisements. Getting ads for things I actually want isn't that big of a deal.
Necron69
Easily. I think of getting rid of it all the time (Score:2)
I mostly use it for a phone.
In some respects, it's worse than my old flip phone.
I can't see it in sunlight. I cannot feel the keys. I cannot just open it to answer. It's bigger, and more expensive.