Posted on 02/12/2016 1:41:11 PM PST by nickcarraway
I don't like being bothered or bossed around. I hated that anyone, for any reason, could interrupt my life, and I could interrupt my life just the same
The phone rings: it's my friend checking to see if I can pick her up on the way to a dinner party. I ask her where she is and as she explains, I reach as far as I can across the countertop for a pen. I scribble the address in my trusty notebook I keep in my back pocket. I tell her I'll be at her place in about 20 minutes, give or take a few. Then I hang up. Literally.
I physically take the handset receiver away from my ear and hang it on the weight-triggered click switch that cuts off my landline's dial tone.
I take my laptop, Google the address, add better directions to my notes and head outside to my 1989 pick-up truck (whose most recent technological feature is a cassette player) and drive over. If I get lost on the way, I'll need to ask someone for directions. If she changes her plans, she won't be able to tell me or cancel at a moment's notice. If I crash on the way, I won't be calling 911.
I'm fine with all of this. As you guessed by now, I haven't had a cellphone for more than 18 months.
I didn't just cancel cellular service and keep the smartphone for Wi-Fi fun, nor did I downgrade to a flip phone to "simplify";he first night of a vacation.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Honey, if you think your smartphone is ruining your life and you just gotta get rid of it, do it! However, if you lack control that causes the addiction in the first place, you have bigger psych problems than the dang phone.
I am now a single husband. My wife is on hers constantly.
I think she understands that, and admitted it.
I have an iPhone, but the only sound I have activated is for actual calls. I check texts and emails when I get around to it-3-4 times a day, maybe. Otherwise, it drives me crazy.
But...but...how can you Freep when you are waiting on an oil change or new tires?
My concern with cellphones is their impact on youth. They are completely and utterly addicted to them, so much that often their attention spans have contracted and it is almost impossible for them to slow down and read a book. I drove across a college campus the other day. While stopped at a stop light, I watched as the students walked by. I did not see one single student without a phone, either talking on it, texting on it, or fooling with it. In the classroom, asking them to turn off their phones is tantamount to turning off their oxygen supply. Many of them will tell you that they don’t have to read a book. If they need to know something, they just look it up on the web.
Laptop.
My eyes are too bad to use a phone.
***When was the last time anybody got a cell phone call and it was good news?***
I just checked mine to see. 8 days ago, my son called to say hi and ask how I was. He didn’t ask for money or anything, but said he was just thinking of me while on his way home from work. It pretty much made my day that day!
How did you know I was at Firestone waiting for a ride?
We have a new desk top, an old lap top and a ten year old flip phone that’s not compatible with the Bluetooth on either of our vehicles.
And we are perfectly happy.
I cringe everytime my cell phone rings. It’s never anything good. Always somebody with a problem and because I answered, I’m now roped in and responsible for helping them solve it.
^ This + 1 Same with the mail. It’s never good news when you own your own business.
What a load of rubbish. If your smartphone controls your life, it is because you let it.
If my phone rings or a text message comes in, I feel completely comfortable simply ignoring it.
I use it when I want, and how I want.
I would have had the person text me the address. I would have put it in the GPS when I got in the car. Done. I think person still doesn’t use technology right.
I have an IPhone 6 as well and waiting for appointments and shopping for groceries (waiting in line) has become quite pleasant since the iPhone. I don’t mind waiting anymore.
I don’t get it either. Stupidity.
Who cares about the addiction? It is simply another string that ties us to being slaves for the FedGov, that’s all they are. I don’t own a cellphone. Like this writer, I used to. Used to be quite the tech savvy type, which is exactly what turned me to the luddite side. I don’t like being found. I don’t like being spied on, and I just don’t like people in general. If it’s really that important, I’ll find you. Lol.
“I don’t mind waiting anymore.”
Anyone that gives up all that utility because they can’t ignore calls they don’t want... well I would not listen to their opinion. How did this cave-person figure out how to blog? In my pocket I have what amounts to the most powerful communications device ever built by man. Why the heck would I give that up for nothing but a smug sense of self righteousness? If I want a smug sense of self righteousness I can pull out my phone and see what all the morons on the internet are saying!
“”I am now a single husband. My wife is on hers constantly.””
You could be my son in law EXCEPT, he’s on his all the time also. Fun to visit them or invite them here for dinner (s). Our grandson (7) comes to spend a day and they say he is NOT to spend ALL HIS TIME on my computer!!! Pretty ironic.
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