[Closed] Does any one of us really NEED a smartphone?

perchypanther - Member
finding the g-spot
You've got an app for that?

Apparently so.

[url= https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/understand-g-spot/id385779883?mt=8 ]Ooooh.[/url]

Woppit + 1
Yep smartphone is great to have a handheld pc in my pocket... fortunately I'm grumpy enough that no-one calls on it.
Sadly I can't find a decent contract with minimum tel calls & txt with max download. They all seem to think I want to use it to [i]communicate[/i] ❓ with people when I thought it's purpose was the exact opposite 😀

I had a call out of the blue to do a gig last week, they wanted sax and trumpet - I got the names of some trumpet players from a mate (from a phonecall on said smartphone), then found the name of a guy and facebook messaged him to agree availability, then got someone from the band to put the set list on drop box check the key of the songs and to listen to the tunes on youtube of the ones I didn't know, then found the venue via google maps

pretty useful things really

[quote=molgrips ]As for arranging meet ups - I remember many hours spent waiting for people at pre-arranged meet-up points, with no idea of what was going on, then going home again.

For which a conventional non-smart phone works fine.

I'm a late adopter here - have only had a smart phone for ~18 months, and agree with the OP to some extent - I could quite happily go back to where I was before. Yes it might be down to the people using the things, but then to do another analogy with things discussed on here, we don't generally suggest it's because Americans are somehow different that they have lots of gun massacres. The trouble with them is that they enable the sort of behaviour we dislike.

Personally the only reason mine comes out most of the time is to play CoC, and I don't play that very much. Useful to have the internet, a satnav, email with me all the time, but TBH I rarely use most of those and still browse STW from a normal computer (I get the impression most here now browse on their phones).

[quote=DaRC_L ]Sadly I can't find a decent contract with minimum tel calls & txt with max download. They all seem to think I want to use it to communicate with people when I thought it's purpose was the exact opposite

I never get anywhere near using my phone calls and use 0% of my text allowance* every month, but then I don't get close to my 500MB data allowance either! Currently with Virgin on their cheapest contract and looking to switch to Post Office PAYG as they have cheaper monthly bundles - they do a good selection of high data low call bundles if you need a lot more data than that.

* infinite texts

[quote=GrahamS ]Now you really are being silly. Do you remember what the BBC News site looked like before smart phones??

Substance over style?

Unfortunately people are generally sheeple. Yes phones are inanimate objects and people should be able to control themselves but they don't (in the main). Whether it's four round a table in a restaurant staring at phones, people wandering down the street staring at phones or texting during dinner at home, they're habit forming and people are easily led. The absolute worst for me is someone breaking off mid conversation to look, s****, reply and then re-engage. They can ferk right off.

I used an old Nokia 3110 for a few weeks a bit ago and it didn't really stop my world turning.

For which a conventional non-smart phone works fine.

Er yeah.. got my debates mixed up there 🙂

My smartphone comes out generally to look stuff up on the internet. I have a lot of thoughts and ideas, most of which I'll forget quickly, so I'll use my phone to check something out there and then and make a note (on One Note). Also, I look stuff up on Wikipedia a lot.

Wikipedia + smartphone = Hitchhiker's Guide

[quote=bikebouy ]It's only too clear now that this will become the the only way to communicate in the near distant future. It's happening now, I see folks actually text each other in restaurants, giggle, then carry on eating. But then if you have little to say to each other texting is the best way to communicate No?

Which is very sad. I realised that I get most of my social interaction on here, and it's not the same as interacting with somebody face to face which I wish I had more of - it seems daft to me that people are deliberately giving up such face to face interaction to spend time with their phones, it's not a choice I'd make given the option.

Which raises the fundamental problem, which is that because this stuff is still so new we don't have the correct social "rules" in place - rules which were handed down to us from our parents for other things. If we're having a face to face meeting with somebody, why is it acceptable to ignore them whilst we answer the phone - personally I normally turn off the ringer and let it go to answerphone? (and yes I know that's a non-smartphone thing)

Stop saying "hive".

That screen shot is not of the BBC website design that pre-dated the recent 'responsive' design, that screen shot is over 10 years old!! Mind at the time I seem to remember BBC used to regularly win website design awards.

I don't need it but a smartphone is about the closest I'm ever going to get to doing magic and I like being a wizard.

They're constantly seeking external validation from their peers for everything rather than making an internal decision and risking being seen as different.

Well, that's never happened before has it 😉

[img] [/img]

I don't have a smart phone, life goes on!
I don't want to be one of those people the OP mentions, plus my current mobile is only 8yrs old so is still going strong!

Smartphones are a useful tool that are misused, or used pointlessly most of the time.

I don't want to be one of those people the OP mentions,

You must realise that having a smartphone in your pocket doesn't MAKE you into one of 'those people', surely?

If we're having a face to face meeting with somebody, why is it acceptable to ignore them whilst we answer the phone

It's not, nor is it acceptable to chew with your mouth open or talk to other people whilst serving someone in a shop. Still happens though, just like bad manners have always happened since forever. All you moaners about things going to hell in a handcart these days must realise that people have always wanted to do the same things, it's just the means that's changed.

You must realise that having a smartphone in your pocket doesn't MAKE you into one of 'those people', surely?

Unfortunately I believe they are habit forming and addictive, so I think they do.
I don't own a TV, don't like watching lots of TV, yet put me in a pub with a TV on and I find myself constantly distracted by it.

I know plenty of mobile phone users that are not constantly glued to their phones.
I do not know plenty of smartphone users that I can say the same for.

They're developing a hive mind mentality where nobody is confident enough to make their own decisions or organise their own lives.

They're constantly seeking external validation from their peers for everything rather than making an internal decision and risking being seen as different.

Not like this place eh?

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There used to be a joke that some folk couldn't dress themselves in the mornings without seeking advice on here.

Then someone really couldn't 🙄

i thought you just bought a smartphone, snapped away and posted on instagram and that made you a photographer?

Photographers are as relevent as typists, lamp lighters, town criers...

I've only had a smartphone for about 3 months. Whatsapp to organise rides and Instagram/Snapseed are the only things I really use on it. I've tried to fiddle with it in the pub when everyone else is fiddling with theirs instead of speaking but I've not worked out what I'm supposed to be doing on it yet.

I do not know plenty of smartphone users that I can say the same for.

How do you know if someone has a smartphone in their pocket when they are talking to you?

Maybe you're just not interesting enough?

I do not know plenty of smartphone users that I can say the same for

I do. Most of the people I know actually.

Hardly ever see anyone on their phone within my group of friends, everyone has smartphones. They get used for the odd picture when we are out, but other than that they are hardly seen.

Maybe you aren't holding people's attention very well 😉

molgrips - Member

How do you know if someone has a smartphone in their pocket when they are talking to you?

I spend most of my time in pubs.
Most people will enter a pub and put their phone on the table and check it regularly.
People walk down the streets, constantly checking their phones.

I don't have to be in a conversation with someone to observe this behavior.

Maybe you're just not interesting enough?

See above.
There really is no need to be such a prick all of a sudden molgrips.

There really is no need to be such a prick all of a sudden molgrips.

That was absolutely 100% meant to be a joke. I apologise if it offended.

People checking their phones in the street isn't antisocial, unless they are with someone else.

When me and my group of friends are all out together, we designate a smart phone user for the evening.

This is one person who's been nominated to update their social media with live photos and excerpts from our night out:

"Boy, does Tim know how to banter! The girls weren't impressed though...."

[img] [/img]

If we catch anyone else using their smartphone other than the nominee, they'll have to do a crazy forfeit like downing a shot of alcohol.

of taking selfies in front of monuments instead of actually looking at the monument.

Previously what would you do? Hand your camera to a random stranger and hope something useful came back, like (a) your camera and (b) a photo not entirely of your shoes, legs, and a lot of ground.

Smartphones are awesome.

The problem here is w*nkers (with a smartphone).

And they're everywhere.

As a gazillion(*) threads on STW will attest.

* possibly fewer than a gazillion.

molgrips - Member

That was absolutely 100% meant to be a joke. I apologise if it offended.

No worries.

People checking their phones in the street isn't antisocial, unless they are with someone else.

No, but it is an example of how dependant people are on their phones.

No, but it is an example of how dependant people are on their phones.

I'm not sure it's dependence; distraction would be a better word.

I wouldn't say I "need" one, but they are becoming such a cultural norm, it would be difficult not to have one now.
I didn't even have a basic mobile phone til I was 30, but not sure I'd manage without. So many services assume you have Internet and immediate access to the Internet. I use it to book train tickets, concert tickets, store addresses and other info that I used to scribble on scraps of paper, I use it to access FB and STW, and as an encyopedia.
My son has just started university and he was amazed when I told him that when I was at university, no one had mobiles or laptops, the Internet hadn't been invented. We had one pay phone between 32 people in our hall of residence flat. Yet we still managed to have friends and a social life!

Unfortunately I believe they are habit forming and addictive, so I think they do.
I don't own a TV, don't like watching lots of TV, yet put me in a pub with a TV on and I find myself constantly distracted by it.
I know plenty of mobile phone users that are not constantly glued to their phones.
I do not know plenty of smartphone users that I can say the same for.

My local used to have a big TV on the wall, which was quite often left on, and the continual moving image was very distracting, your eye would be constantly drawn to it, even with the sound off.
There is no TV on the wall now.
Most of the regulars I see there have smart phones, and it's only occasionally that anyone has a phone out, and that's usually just to show someone a photo, or to check info on a website during a conversation.
Which is what happens with mine, most of the time I'm in the pub I'm with a mate talking about all sorts of random stuff; music, films, books, science stuff, tanks, aircraft, cars...
When I'm out for a drink with another friend, when she's back home, my phone gets dragged out to refer to places on the OS maps I have in Viewranger, as she works in YHA hostels, currently in Conwy, and does lots of hill walking, so we spend ages talking about places she walks, and she can show me on a 1:50 or 1:25k map for anywhere in the UK.
We never struggle for conversation.
Many people, on the other hand, can barely think of anything other than bloody footy.
Yesterday, it was 9.00pm before I realised I had a voicemail message from my account manager at my bank, I hadn't looked at my phone until then; however, while at work, I'm banned from having a phone or any other electronic device in my work area, so I'm used to not having it during the day, and even when I'm out on my own, maybe having a coffee or a beer, it's used for reading a book, and seldom anything else; it's a useful tool, I'm not a slave to it.
🙂

No, but it is an example of how dependant people are on their phones.

I would agree more with footflaps. People are hungrier for distraction, which might be music, social media, news, sport, and so on.

Being addicted to distraction is a bad thing, but using it possibly isn't. A lot of good things can happen in your brain when you're bored and forced to daydream, but similarly good thing can happen when you've got time to kill and a smartphone.

I have a colleague, same age as me, every time I go round his house (to socialise, we don't get our phones out) he always ends up asking some historical question that ends up with me giving him a history or science lesson. He asked me how come I know about such a broad range of subjects; it's because when I'm bored I read Wikipedia pages on history or science. I'll randomly wonder say how come Russia is so big, and start reading about it on my phone.

But not when I'm with anyone 🙂

There are so many convincing articles on the web regarding giving up the smart phone for good. I did promise myself that I would give it a go especially when my kids told me that I spend too much time on it.

I decided to root out my old Samsung qwerty phone which was the last non-smart phone I had and give it a go. It died on day 2 so I went back to the smartphone temporarily...

This was a week ago now! You can pick up a basic Nokia for less than a tenner so I'm going to give it another go!

Need, probably not but it makes my life much easier

I work from a remote office and after that I'm travelling a lot, rather than carrying a public transport map and steet atlas for every city I go to I just use my phone, live public transport updates. I can update e-mail when I'm in a taxi or train rearrange meetings quickly and easily.

I work with people from 7 different time zones so I can check or update somebody on something important with a few quick taps of the screen rather than lugging the laptop out.

Throw in the useful look ups, live mapchecking on things like trailforks when at a confusing junction on the trail or looking up where that interesting looking trail goes (complete with pics, condition report and an idea what the technicality is)

I can video chat with friends and family across the world from wherever I am so no it's not needed but it's probably one of the best tools I have these days.

I have a landline at home and a front door. If I don't feel like it I don't answer either.

I find my iPhone useful when I'm out and about though I use very few apps - email, weather, a bit of facebook and browsing, radio and music from iTunes. It's also always on silent so it doesn't beg for my attention every 2 minutes.

Mine is very often on Do Not Disturb - any time I feel like I owe someone who is with me my undivided attention, or I don't owe anyone else mine. And I very rarely mess with it while I'm trying to do something else.

But the advantages of having a powerful, internet connected computer in my pocket are huge.

🙂

So, in summary, what we are saying is this:

" There's you and there's your smart phone. One of those is a complete tool. Try and make sure it's not you " 😀

No a smart phone or even any sort of mobile isn't a need. We need food,master and shelter. Would I downgrade my smart phone for a normal mobile, absolutely not.

Don't need them, no. No one does. They aren't food, clothing or shelter, after all.

But they are useful, fun and relatively cheap. "Distraction" for children may well be giving them useful skills (fine motor skills for example). I don't think they are harbingers of the end of society.

i'm not sure i could live without cheese, sometimes i even dream about it. With a little chutney, and some of those peppery water biscuits.

so yes, i'd say that i really need cheese.

we are talking about cheese, right?

I don't think they are harbingers of the end of society.

Nope, that role was taken by Thatcher 😉

Which raises the fundamental problem, which is that because this stuff is still so new we don't have the correct social "rules" in place - rules which were handed down to us from our parents for other things.

I disagree, the rules are already there - I'm sure as a kid you weren't allowed to bring a book/magazine/toy to the table at meal times, you're there to be with other people not be engrossed in whatever else - it's just no-one gives a shit anymore and breaking off to check your social media has seemingly somehow become widely accepted. That's not really a smart phone issue, more of an arsehole/self obsessed issue, but the phone is the [i]enabler[/i].

When they have meetings at my mrs' work everyone is supposed to do "jazz hands" at the start to show they aren't fannying about with their phones (which my mrs finds incredibly insulting and refuses to do) but presumably it was enough of a problem that someone came up with the idea.

I've ditched my work smartphone altogether. If people need to get hold of me they can do so through Lync Audio or they can email - if I'm not in work it's never going to be mission-critical if I don't respond for a day or two.

I do have my work email on my personal phone - but set up on the default mail app which is set to "fetch" email only when I check it... so no constant buzzes to tell me a new mail has arrived.

My personal email is on an outlook app and again set up to "fetch" only so it's not constantly annoying me with email alerts. I've got my work calendar on my personal phone but when I'm on leave it gets deleted and work email is turned off altogether so I don't see any calendar appointments coming in - Exchange just accepts them for me whilst I'm offline and when I'm back from Hols my diary is pretty much up to date.

The biggest change in the way I use my smartphone is that I pretty much have the "mobile" bit turned off all the time. Wifi / Wifi Calling is turned on which means when I'm in a building phone calls come through as normal but the moment I leave work the phone bit doesn't work - so no interruptions cycling home, whilst driving or when out with mates unless I've logged into wifi first.

I've had this set up for 6 months now and not being "always on" provides many more opportunities for some basic mindfulness stuff when out walking / out on the bike etc.

i dont have a work smartphone...not getting paid enough and frankly my role doesnt require one. if they did give me one it would be a shitty iphone...(cant stand them) and would end up in the bin.
i have to admit that i'd struggle without the use of one.
it get used mainly for social media stiff and organising bike rides, navigation, finding stuff on google when out and about, pictures and videos, accessing emails etc.
should i need to do any work related stuff, it also has MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint installed as well

Need no.

Want - yes.

They're bloody useful things as mentioned - camera, music, internet, Google, banking, sat nav all available when on the move and in a single place. They're great for killing time waiting for trains etc.

They can be distracting though - I have a separate work phone and I do find myself checking emails if I walk past it. I tend to leave it in my work bag now though. I generally try not to use it though because its a Windows phone.

At home, we have a no technology rule at the dinner table and if we have a night in now, we leave the phones and tablets elsewhere to stop looking at them. That's the biggest drawback - fiddling and being distracted when we should be paying attention to each other.

They're great for killing time waiting for trains etc.

Okay, I understand this, but what happened to carrying a book with us, or people watching, or just sitting and thinking?

I am genuinely inclined to think that these things have been sorely affected by the ubiquitousness of the smartphone.

Okay, I understand this, but what happened to carrying a book with us, or people watching, or just sitting and thinking?

I can still carry a book if I like, but the one I'm reading is on my phone at the moment. My phone is smaller than a book. I can similarly just sit and think/stare out the window if I want.

Okay, I understand this, but what happened to carrying a book with us, or people watching, or just sitting and thinking?

Since I got my first Palm I've always had a handful of books worth in my pocket. Unless you constantly carry a bag or have some amusing garment with stupidly big pockets then books aren't usually to hand when you have a few minutes/hours to kill.