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Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

pam-moore.com

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Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#41

Post by WalterSear »

mooreds wrote: post #22
koolba wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a Luddite by any stretch and I’ve had smart phones since they were quite dumb, but your reasons don’t ring for me: > I can communicate with my fiancee even when she's in another country (international sms = fail). It facilitates instant communications. Email across the planet has been around since day one. > I can have a fiancee who's in another country. I can assure you this was possible pre-smart phone. > W…

What do you mean by "peak photo"?

They mean the Photomeggadon. The Photocalypse. The Big Kodak Moment.

IMNSHO, the parent is simply behaving reactively to the threat of new paradigms.

Email does not convey the emotion of a phone call, let alone a video call.

Easy access to information fosters discussion - by ending pointless, heated debates over nothing.

Only teenagers, and I now presume, older people, fuddle with their phones instead of talking to the person in front of them.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#42

Post by culot »

ryl00 wrote: post #25

I've got a Windows phone, and sometimes I feel like the gradual decay of its ecosystem is a blessing in disguise. Since app support is spotty, I'm relegated to sticking to the core features only (Edge, maps, music player, texting, camera, Office), which are good enough for most of my needs. (At least for however long until Edge falls behind the other browsers, or maps/traffic gets shuttered, or...) It's already distr…

That's precisely the reason I stick with Windows Phone as well. Even with a flagship-level phone Windows Phone is super slow, so, on top of what you mention, it makes me not want to use it as much.

Being so limited is rather freeing.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#43

Post by mehrdadn »

johnpowell wrote: post #30
mehrdadn wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if this is different based on the culture, but I feel like commuting on a train is the time when having a phone to keep your mind occupied might actually have some of its highest usefulness. In a lot of other social situations you can hope to strike up a conversation with someone you actually might interact with again instead of constantly staring at your phone, but when commuting, people just want to work o…

When I was a kid we used books for this. And I still do since I am to cheap to pay for data on my phone.

Books are obviously fine too! I was just trying to say the phone is handy here due to the inability to socialize, not that there aren't other things that you could do.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#44

Post by boterock »

prolikewh0a wrote: post #17

I obliterated one of my smartphones last year after dropping it on concrete while getting off the bus. I freaked out, had no clue what to do since I was low income and couldn't afford anything for quite awhile. For a few days it was like I was an addict, constantly feeling my back pocket vibrating, constantly reaching to check my phone. After a few more days, I felt very liberated. I felt very free. I started enjoyin…

that reminded me of how I decided to play Zelda BoTW.

Zelda has a 'Pro' mode where it hides all UI but the health. I was fully decided on using it through the whole game and I think it is the best way to play the game.

The absence of minimap is the biggest change. When you have your minimap is like when you drive with gps. You only wait til the map says you to turn, and after some turns staring at the minimap you get to your destination missing all that was in between. If you don't have the minimap you actually need to understand the map, know more or less where you are, where the landmarks are, and how to get through to your destination. In the end, the absence of minimap makes you learn better the world and the map, instead of relying on the digested info that the minimap gives you.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#45

Post by RandomInteger4 »

I don't travel much, but when I do, having the ability to not give a flip about knowing directions ahead of time is mentally quite relaxing.

Anyone else remember the days of printing out map quest directions only to find that they were out of date or really really wrong?

Everything else that comes with a smart phone is an added bonus.

EDIT: As far as notification anxiety. I mean, there's a simple way to deal with that without handicapping yourself: Turn off notifications except for the most crucial items.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#46

Post by dqv »

WalterSear wrote: post #29

I'm mystified by the number of people who think that they've solved the fundamental problem by getting rid of their phone: being that unable to control one's immediate impulses, is worthy of attention.

Sure, but if you're using it only to fill a gap of time because it's there, it's worth evaluating whether you really need all the enrichment smartphones offer.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#47

Post by jurassic »

I’ve felt a similar urge recently to turn off the noise. I was feeling especially burned out by the never-ending work pings over email and slack. Deleting a few apps I couldn’t moderate and disabling ALL app notifications except Messenger (which I use with close friends and family only) has provides a huge improvement in my mental health. There’s also an app called Moment I’ve been using to track my phone use and try to move toward more intentional ways of usint devices; I had pretty shocking numbers when I first started tracking. We should use the technology, not let the technology use us.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#48

Post by pavanred »

squiggleblaz wrote: post #10

Life with a smart phone is so much better than life before a smart phone. It's hard to realise how recently they came around. I've probably only had the internet on my phone for five years (I've had a smart phone for longer, but I couldn't get the data to work and data was expensive enough at the time I didn't care). I can communicate with my fiancee even when she's in another country (international sms = fail). I ca…

Its about 10PM here. I got back from work 3-4 hours ago and my phone just beeped and I could read the email with simply a flick of a finger and saw that it was a work related email though I was having dinner at that time. Now, though I am at home that's running on a thread at the background in my head since then.

This is perhaps just one use case but it's hardly surprising that people now want to go back to way it was before. I still use my smart phone because it makes my life a lot more convenient in many other ways but I definitely understand if someone would find it compelling enough to stop using a smart phone.

But, it does make me think, if I just want to connect to the internet, play music/podcasts, click a pic once a while etc. do I really need a device that's GPS enabled, bluetooth enabled, has NFC, accelorometers, face recognition, multicore processors etc. and costs a fortune ;)

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#49

Post by rpearl »

pavanred wrote: post #48
squiggleblaz wrote: post #10

Life with a smart phone is so much better than life before a smart phone. It's hard to realise how recently they came around. I've probably only had the internet on my phone for five years (I've had a smart phone for longer, but I couldn't get the data to work and data was expensive enough at the time I didn't care). I can communicate with my fiancee even when she's in another country (international sms = fail). I ca…

Its about 10PM here. I got back from work 3-4 hours ago and my phone just beeped and I could read the email with simply a flick of a finger and saw that it was a work related email though I was having dinner at that time. Now, though I am at home that's running on a thread at the background in my head since then. This is perhaps just one use case but it's hardly surprising that people now want to go back to way it wa…

don't put work email on your phone

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#50

Post by Maakuth »

dchuk wrote: post #39

I feel like if I could have one device that lets me take really nice pictures (like portrait mode on iphone) and only do texting and phone calls and maps, I would be a pretty happy person. Maybe airline apps for boarding passes and stuff. I can survive without email/slack/all the other bullshit. Life goes on, if it's an emergency I'm sure someone will get a hold of me somehow. But I want to take pictures of my wife a…

Social media apps are easy to uninstall, and that's what I've done. For the occasional Facebook event / messenger use case I need (some people insist on communicating through these), I use mbasic.facebook.com, which I think is the mobile web FB for the developing world. It's very fast, very barebones, but has all the features you really need.
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