btw, despite the fact that I take smartphones to be basically classic, what's really dud is people who insist that the downside doesn't exist, and that if you find yourself checking your phone all day it can only be because checking your phone is actually and truly what is good in life
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:24 (eight years ago) link
image of four friends at bar all staring at phones
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:26 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR7_TbMIVnA
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:30 (eight years ago) link
i mean on one hand, seeing a bunch of people out in public staring at their phones sometimes seems like a glimpse into dystopia. but you could also point to a long line of behavioral changes in response to tech advances in the past, so it's probably not worth freaking out
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:30 (eight years ago) link
i really have come to resent smartphones, and to a lesser extent the internet itself, but part of this is obviously just a projection of anger with myself for squandering my time
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:32 (eight years ago) link
i do think that the phone has eroded some of my coping mechanisms, like when i am anxious now i just go on the internet and distract myself and end up not dealing with the things that are bothering me
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:33 (eight years ago) link
I've gotten pretty good at not taking my phone out when I don't need to.
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:34 (eight years ago) link
before smartphones i just didn't leave my computer ever, and now i can go out and about with the knowledge that i can still get my fix if i need it
― ciderpress, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:36 (eight years ago) link
so, classic
my inclination is to want to throw my phone into a river, but only if everyone else tossed them in at the same time. ok everyone! one...two....
but i have to temper that by remembering that new communication technologies rarely represent a 100% improvement over the existing paradigm. smartphones can represent an improvement in quality of life for people while still making some things worse. i guess it's only with time that the balance becomes apparent, though. i mean i bet socrates would probably want to revise his thoughts that books would lead to the destruction of human memory
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:41 (eight years ago) link
I had an iphone until two or three years ago when I lost it. I went around a year without a phone of any kind and didn't miss it at all. I had to get a replacement phone eventually after people insisted they wanted to be able to get hold of me, this induced high levels of anxiety as this is anathema to serenity and reverie. I went into EE in Rhyl and got the cheapest smartphone they had. I also got a stick-on-back-of-phone wallet which is for people who forget their cards all the time, which I think is a good idea for people who like phones and looking at them.
I dont like cards, wallets, phones or looking at them, however I do like that smartphones exist, especially when people look at them instead of asking me questions or disrupting reverie in other ways
― saer, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:43 (eight years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/5PmRX4a.jpg
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:45 (eight years ago) link
xp karl i used to be all in with derrida in saying that the perennial tendency to disparage the various technological "supplements" people use to augment their limited abilities is the wrong way to go, that "supplementing" our limitations with tools of various kinds is just what human beings do. there was never really a "state of nature" as far as humans were concerned; there is nothing to long for.
i no longer agree with this position. i think our society bombards people with too much information for them to handle. i feel overwhelmed all the time, but i am also addicted to the stimulation.
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:47 (eight years ago) link
ultimately, though, i think my general thought is that it's ok to look at yr phone but maybe don't do it when you're out with friends and it's conversation time (esp. not when you're out with grandma). and i also try to keep in mind that it's inevitable that some people will persist in staring at their phone all the time and it will be incredibly annoying, just like people will still do annoying things at all times everywhere, what else is new
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:48 (eight years ago) link
grandma otm
chuck 'em
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:50 (eight years ago) link
xpost to treeship
things to seem to be heading in a depressing direction, overall...but the other thing is: what can we do about it?
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:50 (eight years ago) link
i have to admit that my last several posts have just been an attempt to recreate this
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:51 (eight years ago) link
looooooooooooooooool
― marcos, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:53 (eight years ago) link
your earlier post, though - i think our society bombards people with too much information for them to handle. i feel overwhelmed all the time, but i am also addicted to the stimulation - is close my own views. i feel completely overwhelmed, and also recognize that i'm probably in the minority on that. the kids seem to be completely comfortable and i feel like a dinosaur complaining about it.
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:54 (eight years ago) link
i feel this way and i am young though! i am 26!
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:55 (eight years ago) link
when i was a kid i watched too much tv though... i think i just have a dysfunctional relationship to technology
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 18:57 (eight years ago) link
Posting from my phone to say this q sucks
― Ecomigrant gnomics (darraghmac), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:10 (eight years ago) link
no way, it's a good question.
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:12 (eight years ago) link
It's a hatefully privileged q imo shame on anyone blames incredible technology for anything ever
― Ecomigrant gnomics (darraghmac), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:16 (eight years ago) link
why are they so great?
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:22 (eight years ago) link
is life better now that your computer is in your pocket all the time?
a few xps if it was the 1800s you'd probably be diminishing your relationship to the real world by reading too many books, heaven forbid
― lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living (Merdeyeux), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:23 (eight years ago) link
i think that is also an issue for me though
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:24 (eight years ago) link
I love mine. I do not care much about what's happening on social media or on ilx or on planet earth so that's not a problem. I just hate that I'm so readily available/reachable, but this has been the problem since I first got a cell in the 90s.
― fappy bird (rip van wanko), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:24 (eight years ago) link
the issue comes down to having enough willpower to regulate your attention in a way that is satisfying to you, personally. but some technologies can wear down willpower more efficiently than others.
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:25 (eight years ago) link
rip van wanko otm about not wanting to be reached.... in high school and college i used to leave my cell phone at home on purpose all the time but i was also kind of a weird shut in then and resented getting texts from people
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:26 (eight years ago) link
i held out w a flip phone for years and marcos is otm that they're just not worth what texting's like on them, and texting is great imo
also often nice to have a map in your pocket
the part that gets on my nerves about smartphone culture is everyone's immediate, reflexive googling at the first hint of ambiguity or confusion in conversation (from "who was that guy in that thing" to "when was the march on rome again") partly because i think of socrates' warning against writing -- that it would outsource memory and thought -- but mostly because nine times out of ten the conversation would really do better to stall (or to proceed untroubled)
but really the thing that does all the things smartphones/the internet/the information era are allegedly doing to me is definitely ilx.
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:31 (eight years ago) link
like if i were banned from ilx i'd only touch my smartphone when it made a noise
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:32 (eight years ago) link
I still carry a "feature phone" - mainly because I'm cheap and I don't want to pay for a data plan. It has other pluses though, such as the fact that it's a better form factor for actually making phone calls, and the battery lasts for weeks. Last time I went to Verizon to get a new phone, they only had one model in the entire store that didn't require a data plan, so selection was easy as well.
― o. nate, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:32 (eight years ago) link
last year when i lost my 4th flip phone or whatever i actually was considering just buying another one, but iirc there wasn't even a huge savings over a smartphone
― marcos, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:37 (eight years ago) link
yea having a map is killer
There was a phone so bad in EE that it was free even on a Pay As You Go plan. I was briefly tempted but in the end i put down the £15 on the cheapest smartphone instead (£15 I could have spent on records or put towards a hat)
― saer, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:41 (eight years ago) link
i used to have a gold-plated motorola razr which i'd bought cheap long after razrs of any metal had ceased to be luxurious. the buttons on this phone were unusuably elegant. at the time i was much mocked for my brokerish ostentation by radical leftists w iphones.
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:42 (eight years ago) link
really i should have said a magic map! a piece of fairy-tale equipment.
― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:43 (eight years ago) link
Having the Internet/maps/books/music in my pocket at all times is the best.
I can see social media being draining and negative but the key there is to either not use them or use them peripherally. I have an Instagram account but I just browse chefs and food porn and travel stuff while I poop. Ditto Twitter, but with musicians instead of travel.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:49 (eight years ago) link
if you live in a big city and rely on public transportation then a smartphone is amazing, you can map your path to see what route is best, check on when the next bus will show up, see what track your train will be on, etc.
if you have a long commute on public transportation then a smartphone is amazing, you can goof around, deal with email, etc.
people who check phones while talking to people are jerks but imo so are people who look at watches or clocks during convos for the most part & we all do that sometimes so being a jerk = part of "modern "busy" life"
― droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:52 (eight years ago) link
i was hoping to find more luddites on here tbh
― Treeship, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:53 (eight years ago) link
jes' me
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:54 (eight years ago) link
ipod touch + flip phone was actually not a bad combination for me a long while, but it got frustrating enough trying to find wifi w/ the touch that getting a smartphone became a much better option
― marcos, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:54 (eight years ago) link
people misunderstand my lifelong mobile-phone avoidance as some kind of Luddite-elitism. if i had a smartphone i'd have it out all the time; that's what i want to avoid.
― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:56 (eight years ago) link
― saer, Thursday, March 31, 2016 6:43 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this
Have no need for a smartphone but cool if other people do. Have no need for a pocket sized map/book/internet either.
― pandemic, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:57 (eight years ago) link
but then again i don't live in the city or take public transport
― pandemic, Thursday, 31 March 2016 19:59 (eight years ago) link
You Luddites are an inspiration. I hate my smartphone.
But does anyone else see possession of it as a kind of evolutionary advantage over those who don't? Difficult to give concrete examples, but the mobile communication abilities + Google knowledge + personal assistant functions might equal something substantial.
― calstars, Thursday, 31 March 2016 20:04 (eight years ago) link
Im not a luddite, Im a developer and take my laptop with me most places to write code, I just think phones are an invasion of privacy and dislike the feelings of entitlement that people have about my time, and that I must somehow always be reachable. Its a concerted attack on reverie by the forces of capitalism and traditionalism, by people who don't understand the need for the dreamstate, and want to nail down every fleeting second of respite, and know where you are. The smartphone is an abomination, its only use to distract people and give them something to occupy themselves while i look out the window dreaming I was somewhere else
― saer, Thursday, 31 March 2016 20:04 (eight years ago) link
treeship this is the post you've been looking for ^
― marcos, Thursday, 31 March 2016 20:06 (eight years ago) link
nationalize tech obv.
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 02:51 (five years ago) link
like this-- this development was actually an advance-- seems as reductive as a panglossian view of smartphones. more power, new dangers. what has to be maintained even as our tech improves is listening to each other and thinking about what we say.
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 02:56 (five years ago) link
(it's true tho that i don't really consider interrupting a conversation to nail down what year the lion king came out a sign of creeping authoritarianism. it's just annoying.)
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 02:57 (five years ago) link
1994
― findom haddie (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 03:00 (five years ago) link
lol
i guess what's newly creepy about web2.0 that wasn't creepy about papyrus is that the latter is v clearly, for better or worse, a guy telling you how it is; but the former has the appearance of infinitely multidirectional and endlessly renewed dialogue but is arranged in such a way that it keeps reducing to nothing but profitable noise and passivity
i think a lot about a passage of john reed's where he enthuses about the omnipresence of political argument in petrograd 1917-- couldn't take a tram ride without excitedly discussing kerensky with strangers. he'd never seen anything like it. nor had i the first time i read it. now i feel like i live there and it's hell. but only because so much of the discourse is so disconnected from anything like actually wielding power. power, when it comes, is still exhilarating.
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 03:15 (five years ago) link
anyway treesh wish we could hang
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 03:27 (five years ago) link
u could text
― lumen (esby), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 03:32 (five years ago) link
i'm a rly bad correspondent
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 03:42 (five years ago) link
people walking around the city gazing at their cell phone and never looking up
This makes me angry too but then I keep having to remind myself that I was doing this with books way before smart phones
― silverfish, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 15:00 (five years ago) link
me too except my feet
― deemsthelarker (darraghmac), Wednesday, 1 May 2019 15:04 (five years ago) link
Anyway, originally I did not get a data plan for my phone because I was cheap, now I'm thinking this has mostly saved me from smart phone addiction. I'm gonna try and stay without a data plan as long as possible.
― silverfish, Wednesday, 1 May 2019 15:06 (five years ago) link
update: I am very happy with this phone!
one thing not mentioned above(I don't think) is the fact it seems to charge very quickly (maybe they all do now, or its something to do with the usb-c charging?
I may have been equally happy with the other contenders too, but this is passing the test
― cherry blossom, Sunday, 12 May 2019 11:45 (four years ago) link
USB-c can deliver a lot more power Than previous iterations of the standard. It depends on the phone and the charger but charging can be very quick.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Sunday, 12 May 2019 11:49 (four years ago) link
yep thats a given with usb c
― deemsthelarker (darraghmac), Sunday, 12 May 2019 12:02 (four years ago) link
I also like I can charge with same charger as my macbook, one less cable to lose
the old type of usb seemed completely tempremental, though maybe that was using pieces of shit no name chargers and cables due to last minute replacements of previous pieces of shit no name chargers and cables.
Before i bought this my old phone just wouldn't charge then i was in a phone shop in the airport looking at phones and there was a cable sticking out. i put my would not charge anywhere dead phone on it, and it started charging. i had to tell the man sorry its charging now so i wont be buying that other phone, I'm going to buy something else I'm just going to take a long time about it so my phone charges enough that i can get an uber at the other end of this flight. he said ok
― cherry blossom, Sunday, 12 May 2019 12:22 (four years ago) link
I spoke too soon
The phone is still good but the power supply I used for the macbookno linger works (or maybe the MacBook forsnt)?)
I went to get another power supply but it doesn't charge the MacBook and charges the phone at like 1 pet cent a day this is terrible. Cheap pieces of CRA agai. 54 euros ffs
― cherry blossom, Sunday, 12 May 2019 18:24 (four years ago) link
Oh wow types Ng on a phone is notgood
I don't quite understand what's happened but the xaomi is now dead and so is the MacBook
I am nowthe proud owner of a 70 euronokia and a 299 lenovotbinkpafindteax
Thisspac varproblenIsannoyingad fick
― cherry blossom, Sunday, 12 May 2019 21:53 (four years ago) link
This Nokia is straight up garbage!
― cherry blossom, Sunday, 12 May 2019 22:48 (four years ago) link
I have now replaced the Nokia (it kept turning itself off and was just generally straight up garbage, as they say when talking about phones)
I have a Motoroller G7. It is good, it was cheap. It doesn't feel like I am going to drop it at any minute. Lets see how long this one lasts before blowing up
― cherry blossom, Tuesday, 15 October 2019 10:33 (four years ago) link
I use a first gen Moto G, which has been a very solid if unremarkable phone. It's frustratingly slow nowadays though, so I'm thinking of moving to whatever of the newer iterations I can afford.
― brain (krakow), Tuesday, 15 October 2019 10:42 (four years ago) link
I am on my second Moto G (over 5 years). The first was ~$80 and the second was ~$100. The first one was the first phone I ever cracked the screen on and i just put some tape over it and kept using it for another year until it stopped charging.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 15 October 2019 12:53 (four years ago) link
― silverfish, Wednesday, May 1, 2019 3:00 PM (five months ago) bookmarkflaglink
Yeah it me.
Y'all are really mad about phones though. May I suggest that the kids are all right? They'll speak a language of split-second images and sub-sub-sub text in like a year from now and we oldsters can keep our "Roman alphabet" that requires speaking a discrete language in order to communicate. In the meantime I'm so happy to have infinite books and news and vehicles for social connection in my pocket at all times, I would never willingly give up a smartphone now.
An irl friend once said that one of the things he liked most about visiting NYC was the high percentage of ppl on the subway who were quietly READING--a book, a newspaper. I just prefer to assume that a significant amount of time ppl spend on their phones is reading/writing/communication time, all of which I think are general goods!
― There's more Italy than necessary. (in orbit), Tuesday, 15 October 2019 16:53 (four years ago) link
i am skeptical
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 15 October 2019 16:54 (four years ago) link
stunned
― i'm not a government man; i'm a government, man. (m bison), Tuesday, 15 October 2019 22:19 (four years ago) link
I have some version of this argument with my father every few years.
Him: How come the kids today are always staring at a device instead of doing real stuff and interacting with real people?
Me: Ah but they _are_ doing stuff! Lots of stuff! And interacting with people constantly! Every time they look at a device they are interacting with people all over the world. The device is more than anything a window with people on the other side. They are playing games that were created by people. They are watching videos made by people. They are chatting with people. They are experiencing art and literature and music, all of it made by... people.
Him: Okay yeah but why don't they just interact with people directly?
Me: Aha, so says the guy who is a professor of literature and reads BOOKS so that he can communicate with Shakespeare and Austen and Cervantes. This is like that.
You can't call your wish to commune with people who are distant in time is an exalted pursuit, while also saying that communing with people who are distant in space is a lowly pursuit. That is some Boomer bullshit.
― Sayonara, capybara (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 16 October 2019 14:44 (four years ago) link
they're playing games or scrolling thru endless memes and lookit me posts on facebook/snapchat/whatever the new shit is. if someone pulled out a book during a lull in conversation that'd be pretty gauche.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 16 October 2019 14:51 (four years ago) link
After a certain hour (8pm?) my parents are as glued to their devices or TV as any millenial might be.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 16 October 2019 15:38 (four years ago) link
a recent fave is the people who take forever to get on/off the elevator because they're looking at their phones. and by fave i mean i've considered killing them
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 16 October 2019 15:45 (four years ago) link
Ban smartphones and vaping and those chunky dad sneakers zoomers wear.
― treeship., Wednesday, 16 October 2019 15:47 (four years ago) link
Parents are worse than their kids. At least kids drive better and can function. Parents are more apt to be rude.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 October 2019 15:48 (four years ago) link
That said, I get strange looks when I'm at a bar reading. Admiring ones too, to be fair. Bartenders usually ask what I'm reading and offer a variant on, "Wow, I wish customers wouldn't just play with their phones."
If I play with my phone at all, I'm on ILX.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 October 2019 15:50 (four years ago) link
mookie otm
see also the subway, from stairs to train doors and everywhere else
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 16 October 2019 16:44 (four years ago) link
This DOT study failed to take into account that if i am behind you on the sidewalk, you may get kicked up the ass.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-dot-report-distracted-pedestrians-20190902-fwlzxg6rlzhzhh3imotu3ll3l4-story.html
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 16 October 2019 16:50 (four years ago) link
I also read in bars but it tends to be on my phone
― groovypanda, Wednesday, 16 October 2019 17:42 (four years ago) link
I just read the bartenders' tats
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 16 October 2019 17:52 (four years ago) link
My phone is somewhere inside an airport X-ray scanning machine. I have a replacement sim and bought a cheap set for now to put it in. But its locked to the network (EE). I didn't know this was a thing that they were able to do
I have another flight in 90 minutes.
Has anyone jailbroken a phone so they can switch networks? How difficult is it?
― cherry blossom, Wednesday, 18 December 2019 15:35 (four years ago) link
― Jazz Telemachy (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 18 December 2019 15:36 (four years ago) link
Unlocked phones are widely available for 60-100 usbux
― Hereward the Woke (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 18 December 2019 17:11 (four years ago) link
I don't want yet another one! I want to unlock the one in my pocket!
― cherry blossom, Wednesday, 18 December 2019 17:15 (four years ago) link
switched to black and white.
deleted every inessential app, including email. i just have text and maps.
keep it in my bag.
so far so good. i missed a lot of calls and texts yesterday, but that is for the best.
― treeship., Friday, 16 July 2021 13:05 (two years ago) link
good luck, I think about doing that all the time
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 16 July 2021 13:19 (two years ago) link
hero
― calstars, Friday, 16 July 2021 13:58 (two years ago) link