Good luck finding the Gulf of Mexico 
It’s truly a modern wonder that I’m constantly in awe of.
Try to explain it to your young self in say 1975. I wouldn’t believe me.
Yeah yeah, I know I know. Fortunately I don’t often need directions to the Gulf of Mexico.
The smartest and hippest people on the planet should all have a handheld computer. (Us dipshits have them)
It’s an amazing device. If you can get past the bells and whistle, fast moving images and bright colors, you’ll love it.
If you want to.
I have the same access to all the world’s knowledge available to me as I sit at my desk in front of my 24" monitor with IPS technology that can display that knowledge in many different windows and access it at nearly 1 Gb/s. I don’t have a smartphone (or at least, as I indicated upthread, I reluctantly have one but only use it to make voice calls and occasionally for texting).
The need for 24/7 connection to the internet is not a benefit, it’s a plague on our society and demonstrably detrimental to the mental health of our youth.
I have a tablet and a flip phone but no smartphone. I get along just fine without it since I don’t like to be tracked, and can very easily avoid the “download our app!” bullshit. Rarely do I use my phone for calls, and most often for texts or 2FA to log on to sites.
It also saddens and disturbs me when I’m in public and look around only to find everyone looking at their screens instead of what’s around them. They’re missing the world.
I rarely use my phone for web browsing (and no facebook or xwitter), but being connected to do things like boarding passes, street parking, listening to music (Pandora) checking the weather, etc., is not a plague for me. But I haven’t been a youth for many decades.
I also like the ability to open my garage doors from anywhere if needed (or confirm they are closed). I like to access my security cameras and adjust my thermostats. I track my exercise, and my weight. I can find my friends (family), and check the status of my car charging. I don’t need to do most of these things, but it’s really nice.
I agree with this.
and I have no beef with anyone who doesn’t want a smart phone. It doesn’t bother me one bit. But I love having mine.
As I said,
Yeah yeah. That wonderful world of inside the subway or sitting in a room waiting to do something. Wow such wonder.
Or that wonderful or city parks or national parks, or even just watching the scenery while riding in a car. Instead, be glued to a screen. Can’t miss a text or tik-tok!
Or the wonderful world of, really, any wonderful experience from a romantic getaway to a great sushi bar, where these nitwits spend more time texting and pixing (is that a word? It is now!) than enjoying the real world. Believe me, I’ve seen it. Over and over again.
I can see that…conveniences are good. It’s the sentiment of “How did I ever live without it?!” I don’t get (along with other things, but I won’t hijack the thread).
No, they actually aren’t necessarily. Every technological ‘advance’ has a shadow side, a black or even evil side. Convenience is refined sugar and nicotine for the brain. 98% of the time it just makes you lazier and more stupid and oblivious. It cheapens and makes meaningless what was what once earned and precious.
I am always bewildered by people who are awe of technology. Why not be in awe of the infinitely more complex actual world? And I think infinitely isn’t an intensifier but more like a measurement in this case. I don’t find technology even very interesting, much less awe inspiring. Not compared to a leaf.
I should’ve qualified my statement by saying, “Conveniences can be good.”
They’re not mutually exclusive. I am in awe of the natural world, from learning about atoms and quantum mechanics to cosmology. I’m also in awe of technology and engineering. How someone designed the machine that makes paper clips for example.
But what if you needed to identify that leaf?
Ok, so you know your leaves. Not everyone does.
Having access to a way to find out, quickly, on the spot, is nice.
Just like reviews for that “wonderful” park setting. That might be beautiful but rattlesnakes have moved in or the trail is blocked. And a website could warn you to stay away.
No, they are seeing the parts if the world that interest them, not the parts of the world that just happen to be around them at the moment.
I can be in a gondola in the Grand Canal in Venice and instantly send a photo to my kids in Seattle. It’s not world-changing, but compared to how we did it in the 60s and 70s, it’s freaking awesome. Last week I watched a Seattle court hearing live from an airport bar in Cincinatti. (and I could have watched it from my airplane seat if the timing was different). I like being able to text my friend who moved to Portugal, or get daily videos of my grandson in California. And, to your point, I’m amazed that I can do all these things on a smartphone.
FWIW, most cell phones and cell providers allow calling via WiFi (you might have to check…I use Verizon and they allow this). If your phone is connected to a WiFi network it will route all calls and texts through the internet connection and not the cell connection (again, assuming your phone and carrier supports this feature). Indeed, the cell service you use prefers this method rather than using limited space on a cell tower. It’s no extra charge to use (at least for Verizon).
I happen to have very poor cell service in my place (just worked out that way…I live in a big city with plenty of cell coverage). Works great. No problems at all.
None of those things move me at all. Taking pictures and videos is a way of separating yourself from the present moment. Pictures of other people’s vacations was boring in the 1960’s and it’s still boring. I listened to the entire Watergate hearings on an a.m. radio that everyone in the office I worked at was listening to – we did this every day of the hearings. We weren’t enclosed in our own private newsworlds, we were listening to what every American was listening to that day.
I like writing my friends who live far away, on paper, with ink, and waiting for a reply weeks later. The delight of getting a fat letter in the mail from a friend is nothing like getting a daily update of their mundane life. That’s the part all that convenience destroys – making something carefully, slowly, and waiting a long time to receive something similar back. The waiting is part of what makes it sweet. No one has to wait for anything, not the first strawberries of spring, or the breaking of a Lenten fast, or until you have saved enough money for something that will last through thirty years of use, gathering patina and memories. Just buy something cheap that will break soon and you’ll throw it in the landfill. Like your last smartphone.
I understand what you’re saying. I just don’t feel that way. I had a friend in the UK in the 1980s. We wrote frequent letters back and forth until he died too young. I agree, it was different than what I do with friends now who live far away. (although we don’t just give daily updates of our mundane lives). Something is lost. However, for me, the benefits far outweigh what we’ve lost. (and we are still free to write letters if we wish).
When I left home for college, I lost almost all contact with my parents except a 10-minute phone call once or twice a month. That continued through the rest of their lives. I’m okay with that, but I vastly prefer the almost constant contact I can have with my kids, wherever they may be. (and no, I’m not smothering them or keeping them from living independent lives).