# Anyone here still not have a smartphone? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 17, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428 "2025-02-17T19:50:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/141 "2026-06-15T17:23:51Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > my local landline provider (Pacific Bell, owned by AT&T) is getting out of the landline business next year. That’s amazing (thoiugh not in a good way)! I assume that alternatives are available. There are two reasons I have a landline – for redundancy in case of emergency, and for convenience – I love my desktop speakerphone. I realize that there are ways to interface your entire house phone system with your cell phone. In fact I even have such a gadget that connects to my cell phone via Bluetooth. But it still leaves a single point of failure in case of emergency. I have a heart attack and drop my wonderful amazing smartphone into the toilet. Then what? ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/142 "2026-06-15T17:34:04Z")
Most smartphones are waterproof these days, assuming you’re willing to reach in. 😉 But point taken, a smartphone can break or run out of batteries. In my house, I have a phone, my wife has a phone, my Apple watch works as a phone (and will automatically call 911 in the event of a fall!) and either of our laptops or tablets can be used for wifi calling. I have more redundancy now than I technically had when I last had a landline, maybe 20 years ago or more. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/143 "2026-06-15T17:35:58Z")
I definitely still have a desktop. I even just bought a new one a few years ago after my old one finally died after a dozen years. If fact I am one of those, “Important purchases/online transactions must be done on the desktop” types even though that makes less and less rational sense with every passing day. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/144 "2026-06-15T18:15:09Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > If fact I am one of those, “Important purchases/online transactions must be done on the desktop” I share your disdain of complex work on a phone. But my tablet w keyboard is the complete equivalent of a desktop from 10 years ago. How does a big box under a desk do anything for you just because it’s a big box?. And especially if the big box is 10 years old and slower than a modern wristwatch? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/145 "2026-06-15T18:24:20Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > If fact I am one of those, “Important purchases/online transactions must be done on the desktop” types even though that makes less and less rational sense with every passing day. Could you explain what the difference is? Is it just that you have trouble reading the screen or hitting the keys on a phone? That’s totally understandable, but just in terms of making online purchases I don’t see why the size of computer you do it on makes _any_ difference. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/146 "2026-06-15T18:37:43Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I have a heart attack and drop my wonderful amazing smartphone into the toilet. Then what? Fish it out and make a call. It would have to be underwater for over 30 minutes to brick unless it’s very old. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/147 "2026-06-15T18:39:03Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > But point taken, a smartphone can break or run out of batteries. …I have more redundancy now than I technically had when I last had a landline, maybe 20 years ago or more. Back when I had a landline, I had a mix of wired & cordless phones in the house. While a cordless was _usually_ in the appropriate base, I always knew where the wired devices were if I had an emergency where seconds count. While I rarely need to search more than one minute, I frequently don’t know exactly where my cell phone is in the house at any given point in time. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > How does a big box under a desk do anything for you just because it’s a big box? A large internal HDD for photo storage. As a photographer/videographer, I have many TB of storage, which means I need a commercial/business plan to store all of that in the cloud, which gets to be expensive. Backed up to multiple drives, including one off site in case of some disaster at the house. From the moment I take a photo on the camera, it’s a minimum of two places at all times because the memory cards are set to mirror. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/148 "2026-06-15T18:50:19Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > I have a heart attack and drop my wonderful amazing smartphone into the toilet. Then what? > > Fish it out and make a call. It would have to be underwater for over 30 minutes to brick unless it’s very old. So I’m going to rely on the alleged waterproofing of Chinese manufacturers to save my life? No thanks. Nor, in an emergency, do I want to rely exclusively on a cell phone that I may have misplaced somewhere, or forgotten in the car, or had been eaten by the dog. The idea of telephones in every room was invented more than half a century ago and it’s not obsolete, IMHO. > [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > But point taken, a smartphone can break or run out of batteries. In my house, I have a phone, my wife has a phone, my Apple watch works as a phone (and will automatically call 911 in the event of a fall!) and either of our laptops or tablets can be used for wifi calling. I have more redundancy now than I technically had when I last had a landline, maybe 20 years ago or more. Lacking the redundancy of wives and multiple cell phones and Apple watches, my point stands. In my current situation I would have limited means of communicating for emergency help. It’s very very good to have a cell phone. It’s not so good, in my situation, to have it as your **only** means of emergency communication. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/149 "2026-06-15T20:06:59Z")
I’m no longer working. But my home office has my desktop with a 43" monitor. I also have a laptop for when I’m just fooling around, like now. That stays upstairs. All on WIFI of course. No docking stations to fool around with or exta plugs. I also have two tablets. I mostly use those for hand writen notes. My wife also has a laptop which is her go to device. But I like my desktop and 43" screen. It’s rare that I don’t have 10-12 connections. It can handle it. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/150 "2026-06-15T20:55:23Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Although they eventually relented, possibly due to looking bad after the story went viral, the Dodgers wouldn’t even make an exception for a 50-year season ticket holder who only had a flip-phone & no home computer & therefore, [needed paper tickets](https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/dodger-fan-paper-tickets/3877946/). And the quality of news editing continues to decline: > Segal, 81, has owned a flip phone for the last five decades I highly doubt that, considering 50 year ago cell phones were the size of a brick and were brand new very expensive technology. I assume they meant that he has a flip phone, and has been a season ticket holder for the past five decades, but that’s not what they actually said. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/151 "2026-06-16T04:15:56Z")
I really can’t explain it. It just feels wrong to, say, buy plane tickets or upload my taxes from my phone. Things like that need to be done on my PC. I freely admit it makes no sense but here we are. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/152 "2026-06-16T05:36:14Z")
I’m much the same but it mostly comes down to being able to do more stuff quicker on the PC than my mobile devices. Like opening new tabs to check other information before purchase, saving information in a document, saving it to a folder and easily re-accessing it. It’s all things that you CAN do on a mobile device, I just find it faster, easier and more responsive on a PC due to both the hardware and UI. Plus stuff like saving a copy of my taxes I would rather do on my PC which I know probably isn’t going anywhere versus my phone which might be lost, stolen, damaged, etc. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/153 "2026-06-16T12:09:57Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I really can’t explain it. It just feels wrong to, say, buy plane tickets or upload my taxes from my phone. Things like that need to be done on my PC. I freely admit it makes no sense but here we are. It makes lots of sense. I would never do any of that from a phone and it’s little tiny keypad and small screen. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/154 "2026-06-16T12:28:04Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I would never do any of that from a phone and it’s little tiny keypad and small screen. Agree completely. That is _the_ central shortcoming of phones as git-admin-shit-done machines. And it’s a significant shortcoming. But once the keyboard is full size and the screen is, say, 1500x2000 pixels at a font size I can (still) read, I’m done. e.g. TurboTax works just as fine on my tablet’s ~8x11" screen as it does on a 43" diagonal screen. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/155 "2026-06-16T12:56:41Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > It then gives you a QR code to display at customs. Having the QR code does speed up processing through customs. They have kiosks to scan your own passport and verify the information. They take your picture then after you get your luggage, you can go through an automated gate. You don’t have to have a smartphone, you could print out the QR code if have access to a printer, but having a smartphone makes it easier. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/156 "2026-06-16T13:04:29Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I really can’t explain it. It just feels wrong to, say, buy plane tickets or upload my taxes from my phone. Taxes for sure, those are done on my laptop. But buying plane tickets I’ve done on my phone for several years. The United app is way easier than the website IMO. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/157 "2026-06-16T14:45:08Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I really can’t explain it. It just feels wrong to, say, buy plane tickets or upload my taxes from my phone. Things like that need to be done on my PC. I freely admit it makes no sense but here we are. I’m the same way. And I’m not that old or a technophobe. It might actually be that my utter comfort with a desktop computer (been using them daily since I was, like, 10) makes it feel like the absolute best tool for the job. I see it joked about sometimes on the GenX subreddit, so I don’t think we’re alone in the sentiment. I have a friend who’s 10 years younger, a Millennial, and he says he does everything on his phone. One night we were at dinner and he needed to buy some ads on Facebook and in the blink of an eye he spent $300 using his phone. We had a good laugh about how he thought that was so cool and convenient and I was horrified. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/158 "2026-06-16T15:33:28Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > It’s very very good to have a cell phone. But not necessarily a smartphone. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/159 "2026-06-16T16:22:48Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > But buying plane tickets I’ve done on my phone for several years. The United app is way easier than the website IMO. I would say that’s true if it’s a company you’ve dome business with in the past and they already have your contact and payment information. In that case, yeah, a well designed app can be just as good if not better than the desktop website. I’ve found ordering stuff from Amazon on my phone to be just as easy as their website, but that’s because I’m logged in and they already have my shipping address and credit card. Where buying stuff of a smartphone breaks down IMO is when you have to enter you address and payment information (Although I know sometimes they can autofill some of that for you). ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428/160 "2026-06-16T16:35:31Z")
I use Chrome on my laptop and my phone. All of my autofill and password information transfer between the two. I personally find most things just as easy on the phone and laptop but there are a few exceptions. None come to mind right now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-still-not-have-a-smartphone/1014428.md?page=9)