But ask me about legalized weed ;]
So far I have managed to avoid getting a smartphone and am still using a flip phone. Every time I look into getting one it gives me a yucky feeling, but I’m still considering getting one at some point.
Of course I have a computer, a laptop, and also a small tablet that I have some apps and games on for amusement. But for a phone to carry around, all I care about is having a way to make a call if needed and send/receive texts, so I have no need for a smartphone. I have taken my tablet to a cafe and used their Wifi to access the internet a few times, but I rarely want to do that.
(edit to add): I can also use my flip phone as a wifi hotspot for my tablet if I really need to access the internet but I never do this as I usually don’t carry my tablet around.
Things that I can see a smartphone being useful for:
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GPS/maps, but I don’t really need that since I rarely travel that far away and I know my way around my city and nearby cities. However I can always download static maps of other cities to my tablet if I’m going to an unfamiliar place and/or look it up online ahead of time–like when I had to go to a funeral, I printed off a couple maps–one close up on the location area and one zoomed further out to see the route to the area.
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Weather app with radar.
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Signal app, which I’m not sure I’d use, but I think it would be nice to have in case I need secure messaging as we move into 2025.
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ummmm, can’t think of anything else 🤔
Things I’m glad I don’t have to worry about by not having one:
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Tracking, data harvesting, surveillance. Including via the phone’s mic.
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going around like a zombie everywhere constantly staring a screen, unable to sit or stand quietly for more than 15 seconds without whipping it out (the phone! you knew what I meant). This is really not healthy. Maybe I wouldn’t do that, but who knows, maybe I would start doing that, as it seems everyone else does, and (sorry, but) it looks pathetic and I think it’s not healthy.
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the constant beeping, dinging, vibrating, or whatever it’s set to do for notifications, from dozens of apps demanding attention. That would drive me nuts. My phone only makes a sound if I get a phone call or text, which is not often. If I ever started getting texts too often I might turn off sound for them.
Yeah you’re full of shit dude. You’re telling me you’ve never used the GPS on your phone at the VERY least? Even for walking in the city or something?
If you don’t find value in smartphones I can respect that
You’d have to pry my own from my cold, dead hands. I have a map of the entire world (mostly) in my pocket! That in itself I find invaluable. I use Google Maps all the time. To find places and to navigate to them. On foot, public transit, and car. Here and in other countries.
Sure, I used to manage before Maps was a thing but do I ever want to go back? Nope.
That is one killer feature for me
And yeah I definitely see how life changed for the worse because of them. I actively moderate my own behavior.
Sure, I used to manage before Maps was a thing
Remember keeping a stack of bus route maps in your bag? Ha ha ha, dumb times.
Printing out the MapQuest directions. Keeping the Thomas Guide in your car.
I’m not going back that’s for sure. I do feel kinda of dragged along though, I didn’t have a cell phone until my early 20s and only became a full adopter when smart phones were ubiquitous. I just can imagine a life that would be just as fulfilling without the existence of the “smart” phone, or more so.
I hear ya. I too was a late cell and smart- phone adopter.
If I couldn’t use them anymore I would be annoyed at first. But I would adjust and yes, would certainly lead a fulfilling life regardless.
I myself am in between both extremes. Here are some ways I remain old school even though I’ve bought into the smartphone era:
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I remain in a real sense anti-app and keep them to a minimum on my phone. I keep their permissions as locked down as I can and I review every update pretty extensively. It’s ridiculous how everyone and their brother wants me to install their app. No thank you. I’m quite content getting up to adjust the thermostat and don’t need a fully automated smart home.
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If I’m socializing with someone they get my full attention. If I need to look something up, respond to a text, etc I excuse myself.
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When I’m out and about I’m present in my environment. “Smartphone zombie” behavior is foreign to me.
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I take full advantage of the digital well being and bedtime features of my phone. I set timers for my addicting apps.
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Oh, when I do drive I am hands off with my phone. If I really do need to use it then I pull over.
Etc
You mean portable GPS devices that have been around for a decade before smart phones?
Seriously. Much much worse.
First you had to pay a fortune for a device, with which you may or may not get very limited map updates. Then after that you had to pay quite a bit to update. Even then it could take a year for permanent road changes to make it to the map updates, and temporary changes were never shown. Road construction, wrecks, and temporary closures were your problem. And God forbid your route took you through a closed area because there was no way to route around it. You had to find a place to park so you could look over the tiny little map to figure out your own way around the blockage, or else you could pick a direction and then yolo your route until you were far enough away from the problem area that the gps would finally choose a route that didn’t go through the problem area.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. For instance, all the above assumes that it accepted the address you were going to as a valid address. There was nothing like the joy of typing in an address and having the device tell you that it doesn’t exist.
You’ve obviously never had to read a shampoo bottle to keep you entertained while taking a dump before.
Having access to the sum of all human knowledge in your pocket hasn’t helped you in any way at all?
Either you’re too high to think straight, or you’re lying. Unless you’re young enough that smartphones have existed your entire life, so they are the baseline… 🤔
What does having it in my pocket vs at home on a desk change? Im never really in such a hurry to find something out that I can’t just look it up later. I actually prefer researching at my desk.
