Posted on 04/01/2018 4:47:33 AM PDT by C19fan
Can a low-tech phone replace a smartphone for less-essential tasks and times – and peace of mind?
‘$85 later I was up and running … and then my excitement was stopped cold, with a stern smack back to 2003.’ Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian My wife and I have two young children. On a good night, we’re lucky to get a couple of hours together. More often than not, you’ll find us on the couch, in silence, each staring into a phone. And yet, one night not so long ago, a handful of my enslaved brain cells sparked unexpectedly to life. I looked up from Twitter. “Is this how it all ends?” I wondered out loud. “Is this what we’ll do for the rest of our lives?”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
I’ve had an IPhone (and every new model) since the first release.....
I just ignore it until I’m ready to look at it.....
I don’t jump at the first “ding’ for a new text, I don’t jump at the buzz for a new email or facebook message....
I barely glance at it for a phone call.....let most go to voicemail.
It’s there for my convenience not everyone elses....
When it’s time to use it I’ll get on it for 5 minutes and answer the collected emails and texts...
Then back in the pocket for a couple of hours....
NEVER, do I allow them at the dinner table regardless of the circumstances.
Considering phone fasts.
The best phone of my life was a Nokia 3310, which came out in the fall of 2000. It was virtually indestructible, and was just a plain regular cellphone...no bells or whistles. I noticed last year that Nokia came out with a rebuilt 3310...with maybe two or three upgrades. One of the upgrades was the ability to handle dual sim cards...so you could combine your work phone with your private phone. I think I had that original 3310 for about six years.
I have had a flip phone exclusively since cell phones came out. It serves one function and one function only - to make phone calls. Any other function is unnecessary.
BTW! My flip phone doubles as a communicator. “Beam me up Scotty.”
+1
I miss my bag phone.
I had a little black and white screened Nokia candy bar phone in the '00's that was great. I think I paid $15 for it and it lasted for years.
I have a Facebook account and check a few interests of mine maybe once a week but never post. I don't even have a Twitter account.
I'm a retired expat living in Asia. I use Skype a few times a week to talk to family only. I use LINE a few times a day to talk to my wife while she is at work: not ten minutes a day. I have a good 2017 model Samsung which takes great pictures and I enjoy sharing those with friends but typically after I get home and upload them on my desktop. I use that desktop to check web sites like this and read articles I enjoy, but it's not my whole life.
I hardly ever take my phone out of my pocket when I am out or at home but it's there in case I need it. I see people walking around entranced by their phones but I'm not one of them. There is so much of life you are missing when you walk around with your head down. Liberate yourself.
- Always have a good quality camera ready. For example, when the car in front of you throws a rock and hits your car, you can document the results on the spot.
- Can check my email on the go. But don't really need to get those Trump emails asking for money as they come in.
- I have a Magicjack Phone #, I am connected world wide. My sister was able to call me while I was walking around a park in the middle of Bangkok.
- My social media is “Line”. I am getting my Army buds on it as it makes communicating so easy, exchanging pics and even video talking, all for free.
- Very convenient to find not only your location, but where the closest Burger King is located in Bangkok.
- And lastly Facebook, I don't use it. Too many people with their noses buried in the phone.
Bottom line to me is that a smartphone is a great asset to my daily life. But I don't obsess over it, I easily put it down and not check it for hours.
I combine a ten year old Motorola W318 flip phone with fat battery pack with an iPod Touch for Wifi only. It has worked out well, especially since I turn off texting, and often don’t carry the phone with me (share with wife and kids).
I "easily" put my Smartphone down, then can't find it. The LG got a good drenching outdoors last month, and is still functioning perfectly.
FTA:
More often than not, you’ll find us on the couch, in silence, each staring into a phone.
Nothing on TV?
I couldn’t do it. And I don’t even have any friends.
Me too, and have an AT&T fixed annual rate of $ 100 {tens cents per minute, and I use less than two hours per year}.
When I was in business and during the early years of cell phones, my monthly bill often exceeded 2-3 Thousand Dollars a month.
Today I may answer it 2-3 times a year, {but, I do check the very rare message that I get, since all of my friends know that I will not answer it}.
The one exception is when I am on a trip, I will check to see who is calling, and if I decide it is urgent, I will answer it.
I have friends with smart phones, and they are literal slaves to those things, checking baseball scores about games that no one gives a rats ass about.
Who cares about a third inning score in spring training? Or even in the endless, pointless 1,450+ regular season innings {per team}.
I want a phone that is one step above a flip phone. I want a phone with a little keyboard that I can use to text. I tell people not to call my cell but to text me, because I have great difficulty understanding speech over a cell phone, but I can always understand text.
It is surprisingly difficult to find a simple phone with a keyboard. Either you have to get a flip phone, or a “smart” phone with dozens of features that I don’t want and will not use.
I have an iPhone for work. I think the work situation is a little different, since I can check my email on the phone when I am away from my computer. Otherwise, I receive texts on it.
I used a flip phone for a long time and probably would never have purchased a smart phone, if I had been “smart”. My brother wanted to get me into the modern age and having purchased a state of the art smart phone, gave me his Samsung Galaxy 5 phone. One thing I can say, its far more complicated to use, far more expensive for what is really needed. Is it worth it? Probably NOT!
I miss my Razr.
A neighbor and I walked into a Carls Jr a couple months ago. I looked around and nearly every dang person there who were at tables were sitting staring into their smart phones. Even families. We were nearly the only ones who sat down and talked to each other while having our lunch.
We both have flip phones.
I have a smartphone, but I have it configured for phone only. No text, no email, no internet and you can’t even leave a voice message. It does record the phone number of anyone who calls though (caller ID).
Drives my boss nuts, not being able to text me.
You’re like Hillary—you want your Blackberry back!
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