Are you up for a challenge?

Well, if it’s OFF, how do we know if work calls, or there is an emergency?

I am not sneering when I say I could, but I won’t participate. Now, if I still had a land line phone, with an answering machine, then sure. Everybody just gonna have to hang on to their emergency until I get home….like we used to do. Everybody also had neighbor’s numbers for back up.

I actually have a possible emergency brewing, and I’m also waiting to hear back on a couple of jobs I applied for.

Other than that, the only calls I get are from the mortgage company, nagging me to make my house payment. I can live without that. I know I’m late.

So yeah. I could. But our society is not set up the way it used to be where you had back up.

This isn’t really a question. It’s a rant – one that is based on a complete misunderstanding of what a mobile phone is, what people use it for, and what addiction is.

I think this will speak more for people who use their phones to stay “connected” on the internet. That can be an addiction. It can interfere with family, friends, etc. Just think of all the people walking around, unable to use their phones? They might have to actually watch where they’re going.”

My cell phone has been off for the past two weeks. I use it for traffic accidents, ordering pizza if I’m on the road, and that’s about it.

I can go days without turning it on.

Always on. Family needs to reach me. Having it off, in my case, would be totally irresponsible.

I get very few calls on my cell. Mostly I get texts, and with the exception of a job (where it’s all text), I don’t get that many texts either. Maybe an average of one a day, or less. I keep it on because hubby and I share a car. If he needs me he has to call or text me on my cell.

I just went 4½ days with out my phone.

I was out hiking in the Rockies on Saturday and got caught in a thunderstorm. Did my best to keep my phone dry, but when I got back to the car it was dead. And it took too long to get back to where I had rice to do the rice trick. Technician figured I fried the battery right away anyway.

Couldn’t get a replacement phone until Wednesday evening.

What @DoNotKnow says.

Do you also assume I am addicted to my bathroom mirror because I look into it a few times every day for grooming purposes?
Or my car because sometimes I drive it to frivolous events?
Or my radio because I have it on for reasons not pertaining to absolute necessity?

And does this mean that instead of using my landline to call people I should simply drive to their homes to make arrangements to meet at a different time?

Maybe you are always with everyone with whom you wish to converse, I am not.

I, on the other hand, have to agree that there is some addiction going on, for what seems to be the majority of people. When a person comes to visit, and spends 9/10ths of their time texting some unknown 3rd person, or checking in on FB, that’s a problem.

When a person is out walking with their 2 year old, and is so engrossed in their phone they don’t bother to notice the kid is wandering out in the street, there is a problem.

When a person crosses in front of an often used back alley, without looking up from their phone (and I saw this just the other day) there is a problem.

When a person yells through the bathroom door to another person that they got a text, that’s a problem.

It may not be addiction, but it’s close to insanity for some people. But…that’s what addiction is, isn’t it? You forsake manners, friends, kids, whatever, to plug into your phone.

As for me personally…I don’t have that much going on. I’ll be camping this weekend in an area that has no reception, and it won’t bother me at all. (Unless I get a day old message that The Emergency has come to a head. Then I would expect my daughter to call my son, or her other sister, to bring a message out to the lake.)

US Cellular disrupted our service Monday morning for nonpayment (they want a bazillion dollars.) Not having the phone ring has been nice, but I haven’t been able to speak to my Dad since he lives an hour away. We usually speak a few times a week. It was also the worst timing because our daughter was away at camp for the entire week. Luckily my husband had his work phone on him incase there was an emergency.

Wait a sec. A lot of us use the thing to participate here. What’s to become of us?

Well, I ain’t one of, @stanleybmanly. If I’m not at home, with some very rare exceptions, I’m not here.

I answered this question at home using my cell phone and home wifi.

Soon we are heading out to go camping. You won’t hear from me until Sunday night.

Some people don’t understand how I could just walk away. How I can stand being unconnected. I’m glad to be sometimes. I find so many other things to get my attention.

I think when people expect that if they text, you are reading the text, then I really can’t turn it off. I can go half a day without looking at it, and people know my home phone number if they need to reach me, but I don’t think I could go the whole weekend without looking at it. I also don’t think that I am addicted to it. It’s useful, but I don’t think going a weekend without looking at it is proof of being addicted or not being addicted.

(I havent’ read the previous answers)

What would keep me hooked most is Fluther. I do talk to friends using my phone, but they all have my e-mail address and home phone number.

I just went without Fluther for five days last week. I was fine.

Posting rants about technology on the internet is a little ironic.

@SQUEEKY2 Reality has shifted the ground from under what we consider “normal”. This is the one thing rearing kids forces you to contemplate. My kids were around before cell phones, but adapt quickly and well to every innovation confronting them. The grandsons, have never known a day when they weren’t around, and would rather go to school naked than be caught without a phone or tablet.

When I was little, the average person did not have an answering machine. Look how far we’ve come. Now nobody has an answering machine but it’s not because they’re not available – it’s just that they’re outdated.

I understand Squeeky’s question though. I too have this nagging sense that “something” is not quite right. But then again, the miracle the cell phone has performed for the 3rd world is so stark that it can’t really be stated nor appreciated by us. I just sit in sort of a trance as every few days another old fogey like myself announces that they’re dumping their land line. The other day, when the satellite tv provider announced that my 1 year “introductory period had expired, and my monthly rate would jump to $128, I took great joy in announcing that my kid had given me this roku thing with so much stuff available from it that I would no longer be susceptible to their particular extortion. It was a happy moment in an otherwise gruelling week.

@stanleybmanly: I really want to look into getting a Roku box. I want to minimize my cable bill.

So much for this challenge lol.

I can’t participate in your challenge. I don’t have a cell phone. Never have.

@kritiper If I didn’t need the thing for work I wouldn’t have one either.
I realize cell phones have a place in society these days,the same with texting I just think and seen that for a great many people the use of this technology has made them detach from the real world, like seeing people at a restaurant not even enjoying each others company because they got their nose stuck in their phone.
Or the time on the ferry when we saw a huge navy submarine and a whole bunch of people couldn’t even be bothered to look up from their phones.
I have come across very bad accidents because someone was on the cell phone.
I have a sister inlaw that says I spend way to much time on my computer but whenever she is visiting us she is texting someone else,and I am the one with the problem?
I like the internet for entertainment but again we gave up cable TV a few years ago, and again a few weeks ago visiting a friend his wife had to go to work and we were going golfing and in the course of 2 hours she sent him at least thirty texts,I thank GOD Mrs Squeaky doesn’t text, even though I love her greatly that would drive me crazy.

Like @kritiper, I too have never owned a cellphone.

@jca Get one. You won’t believe it!

@stanleybmanly: Costco had them. They’ve had them several times. I’m very tempted.

@SQUEEKY2: The cell phone is almost a necessity now for many people. I was not into texting but it’s very convenient for transmitting and receiving info when a phone call is unnecessarily intrusive sometimes. Some friends told me yesterday that the brother of one of my good friends was sick and taken by ambulance to the hospital. My friend and her brother have not spoken for a few months. As I got updates throughout the day, I texted them to my friend. Phone calls would have been inconvenient for her and for me. As she was traveling, her home phone was not the correct way to get in touch with her and her cell number is stored in my cell. Texts (and therefore looking at the phone to see if there are texts back) were and are the way to go. It’s not an addiction, it’s a necessity. I’m not one to always stare at the phone, but I’d say I look at it once every 20 minutes.

jca I have admitted that texting does have a place l still don’t understand a full conversation in text, but again you have explained that,but as I have said in my examples for a great deal of people it is an addiction,and news clips as well as YouTube videos proves that as well.

Now people take a few seconds and look at this video, and tell me what ya think,don’t worry it is non violent, just like your thoughts then tell me we don’t have a problem…....
https://youtu.be/Z7dLU6fk9QY

^ That video is well done, but very biased. Too much fear-mongering, for my taste. It just re-states your original point.

But isn’t for a great deal of people my original point true???

^ My point was…the video does not add anything new. Anyone who agreed with you before will continue to do so, I presume.

@SQUEEKY2 – I think you’re struggle here is not unique, and older generations have always found something to blame for [whatever they determine is the decline of civilization]. When I was younger, people railed against video games, PCs in the home, Walkmen/portable cassette radios, heavy metal, lyrics in music, pornography, TV, the home telephone, the invention if email, etc. Each one was seen as destroying society, and youth in particular. Moral panics have been incessant. And each one was presented in a predictable formula:

incorrect info or oversimplication of something new
+
a myth about how things “used to be”, which was entirely inaccurate
+
fear

But in all of these cases, it was always just people attempting to understand that which was different from what they had known and grew up with. Change. It’s inevitable, and needn’t trigger an instant panic.

Does change pose challenges as well as opportunity? Of course. Do we generally have periods of adjustment as we try to find a balance? Sure.

There are so many things that have drastically changed everything about human behavior and interaction throughout history (written word, electricity, artificial light, telephone, TV, plastics, fossil fuels, schools, agriculture, etc). It’s not new. And the fear that some people have of change is also not new. But we’ll get through it and be ok.

As to your concerns that some people are just staring at a screen all day. Sure. But not everyone. And these are the people that would not have been thriving in rich face-to-face relationships prior to the invention of the smartphone. Humans vary (and always have) in their needs and ability to interact with people constantly. Introverts find it odd that some people believe that smartphones are hurting their ability to form meaningful relationships and have real interactions. This is just not true in any way.

But more importantly, everyone I know uses smartphones in the following way…
– I am able to be more present in my daily life – with my kids and wife, and in general – because it frees me up to just be here right now.
– I live a busy, scheduled life (full-time job, 3 kids, etc). I don’t want to be taken out of the moment of playing with my kids to try to figure out if I have an appointment or have to be somewhere. I just am. Outside and enjoying life. My phone tells me if I have to be somewhere and when I have to leave – even taking current traffic conditions into consideration.
– If I’m driving down the street on my way home and I remember something I have to do when I get home. Rather than spend my whole ride home repeating “you have to remember, you have to remember”, I just speak out loud, “Ok Google, remind me to pay electricity bill at home”. When I arrive at home, my phone tells me to “pay electricity bill”. I have a personal assistant that frees my mind from rumination and busy work.
– When I’m out and want to take a photo, I always have my camera with me, right on my phone.
– If my wife says, “The next time you’re at Whole Foods, can you get [x]?”, I don’t need to try to remember. It could be days before I’m back there. All I do is put it in my phone. When I arrive at Whole Foods the next time, it will know and pop up that reminder for me.
– If I’m out with the kids and we need to get some place, I simply speak to my phone, “Ok Google, navigate to [place]”, and it finds the closest route for me – taking traffic into consideration.

To repeat – I am more present and less distracted, despite the fact that my life is more complicated, because of smartphone technology. I don’t remember the last time I used the thing for making a phone call. I don’t – and nobody I know – sits there texting or social networking all day long. We’re adults, and these are tools. The phones work for us, not the other way around.

So, it concerns me that you see a teenager playing with his/her phone and interpret it as an impending apocalypse. I don’t think you have too much to worry about.

Look I have witnessed a lot and I do mean a lot of stupid things done by people that for some reason can’t look up from their cell phones.
If you want to sit in a chair I don’t care if you ever look up, but as the video pointed out life is screaming by and your missing it,but that’s fine if that is your choice but so many text and walk into things, or even think they can drive , so that part of this wonderful technology does scare the shit out of me,I always think what if one of these technology junkies text and drives into Mrs Squeeky .
So many of you scream it’s just a tool to keep connected and I agree, but a lot of you don’t seem to know how to use this technology safely when out in public.
News clips, and videos plus what I have witnessed proves just that.

As for just teenagers think again, I have seen Cops texting and driving ,and remember this one about the bus driver.?
https://youtu.be/n6wMGomtLzg

^ Those are unrelated issues, though. None of us are advocating for the combination of texts and driving.

You have a phone, too. You manage to use it safely. How did you learn to do this?

By turning it OFF while driving!

@SQUEEKY2: Nobody is “screaming that the phone is just a tool.” Most people are saying that and jellies are acknowledging that you made good points but most cell phone users are not that way. Yes people do stupid things while texting but the majority do not.

@jca actually @DoNotKnow was saying that they are just tools and we are adults and don’t misuse or abuse them.
And really for me it is,when I have a breakdown or stuck behind a bad accident I can let people know.
And I will acknowledge that a lot of people do use them responsibly , but a screaming lot do not ,like my friends wife who texted him thirty times in the course of 2 hours,or the bus driver I pointed out 3 posts up.
Maybe I am frustrated by these people who do not use them safely ,that I see doing it on a daily basis.
They say education is the key to get these peoples attention and start using them safely, but when I bring it up everyone screams it aint me I always use mine in a safe manner,then I ask how do we get through to these people, that are not only endangering themselves but everyone else around them?

@SQUEEKY2: There are education programs about distracted driving. Other than that, you can’t change people’s behavior and if you obsess over it, you’ll only make yourself angry, frustrated and anxious.

A lot of the questions you post seem to be around topics of negative people, the downfall of society, etc. My recommendation is try to enjoy life more and worry and obsess less.

Your probably right after all they didn’t choose to be a brain dead moron,they can’t help it.

Are they ignoring the social pressures to quit being a brain dead moron?

Brain Dead Morons, unite! !!

Uh…untie what?

Untie my leash!

* Texts * “No, that’s unchain my heart”....as I TRIP over the curb. But my text was real important, see.

For what it’s worth, we were primitive camping for 3 days. I had my phone, had to go outside the RV for reception, and I used the phone to communicate with my son, as him and his family were coming out, and thought they might come out again the next day.

I guess, in the olden days, we would have just hung out and if they showed, they showed. It was kind of nice to know what to expect tho.

The word primitive does not belong in the same sentence that has the words camping and RV.

LOL! I know that! It was about as unprimitive as you can get, whilst still having a flush toilet, electricity, lights and AC! But it’s “primitive” in that we weren’t hooked up to any city stuff.

I’ve been truly primitive camping, though. That’s how we’ve camped the last 12 years. Made a toilet out of a 5 gallon Rubbermaid water cooler so I could have something to sit on. Cut the bottom off, dug a hole, and set the cooler over that.
All cooked meals were over the fire.
No showers.

Those were fun days, but the RV certainly was nice. It’s the first time we’ve taken it out. It wasn’t the same, really. Not as close to “nature,” but it was nice. And we were hidden.

Primitive camping with phone, RV with toilet, power and AC LOL! Untie me now! :)

LOL! I know it is not really primitive! But…it was out of the way, in a secluded spot. We gave a friend of ours directions, but he passed us right by because he couldn’t see the RV. He was thinking “How the hell do you miss an RV?!”