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Life before smartphones (2020)

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Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#201

Post by FroshKiller »

varjag wrote: post #125
dilap wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

smoking on a plane sounds like simultaneously the most wonderful and most terrible thing ever similarly it was amazing to smoke in bars, but it's great to not have smoke filled bars

I mean it does sound crazy to me now. But back then it was just a fact of life that both smokers and non-smokers didn't spend much thought on. I flew before I picked up smoking myself, and it didn't really feel something unusual, precisely because it was common everywhere. There have to be other daily habits now that going to be seen as disgusting in a few decades too. Maybe things like eating non-cloned meat.

I assure you non-smokers spent plenty of thought on it.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#202

Post by swayvil »

oceanghost wrote: post #192
rapnie wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And he doesn't even mention that you could just be outside, and be unreachable and not able to reach other people too. As a kid I used to play outside a lot, and my mother had no clue where I was, nor could she easily find out. I could be outside all day without her worrying that I'd be abducted or involved in an accident. Now that all has completely changed, and my mother has too. Some years ago when I walked into t…

I wanted to say this. I hate how small the world has become and how we're supposed to be "reachable" all the time. Some of my friends will freak out if I don't text back in as little as 5 minutes. A particular needy friend once tried to get me to "promise" that I would always return her texts within 10 minutes. I said "hard no" explaining that it meant that it meant that I could never watch a movie uninterrupted, rea…

Soon they will replace the "phone ring" with an electric shock. Mark my words.

Like in 1984. People who want to "spend time alone" are deviant, diseased and antisocial. And must be stopped.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#203

Post by random_kris »

pugets wrote: post #142

What I miss more than anything else is having an attention span. Years of abusing social media has left my brain pinballing all over the place. I am a collection of unfinished thoughts. Even as I write this, I can feel my mind needing to latch onto something new.

What to do to fix this?

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#204

Post by varjag »

FroshKiller wrote: post #201
varjag wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean it does sound crazy to me now. But back then it was just a fact of life that both smokers and non-smokers didn't spend much thought on. I flew before I picked up smoking myself, and it didn't really feel something unusual, precisely because it was common everywhere. There have to be other daily habits now that going to be seen as disgusting in a few decades too. Maybe things like eating non-cloned meat.

I assure you non-smokers spent plenty of thought on it.

You don't need to assure me, I had a chance to experience it first hand both as a non-smoker and as a smoker.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#205

Post by kshacker »

oceanghost wrote: post #192
rapnie wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And he doesn't even mention that you could just be outside, and be unreachable and not able to reach other people too. As a kid I used to play outside a lot, and my mother had no clue where I was, nor could she easily find out. I could be outside all day without her worrying that I'd be abducted or involved in an accident. Now that all has completely changed, and my mother has too. Some years ago when I walked into t…

I wanted to say this. I hate how small the world has become and how we're supposed to be "reachable" all the time. Some of my friends will freak out if I don't text back in as little as 5 minutes. A particular needy friend once tried to get me to "promise" that I would always return her texts within 10 minutes. I said "hard no" explaining that it meant that it meant that I could never watch a movie uninterrupted, rea…

> I have purposefully started training my friends by being erratic with my texts/messages/e-mails

I would very much like to do what you say but with a million interrupts a day, it is now or never. If I neglect / defer something now, I would likely get back to it next week. Even for work. I do find time to focus 4 hours on some work activities but those are just the high priority visible stuff otherwise maybe if someone did not remind and make it a priority maybe it was anyways not a priority. But then things slip through the crack once in a while.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#206

Post by harperlee »

freshdonut wrote: post #187
paxys wrote: post #171

The second paragraph is funny to me: > I memorized phone numbers, jotted things down in notebooks, had conversations with taxi drivers, talked to random people at bars, wrote checks, went to the bank, and daydreamed. I did all of these (except the phone number one) in the last week. More than technological advancements or anything else, all of this nostalgia is really just about getting old. "The human civilization p…

Have you been to a college campus in the last two or three years? There is a serious smartphone addiction problem. It is seriously worrying to see so many of my peers craning their necks, starting at their phone for hours on end. On the bus, in class, while hanging out, it is an observable fact that everyone is almost always on their phone. I personally believe we are in a watershed moment for human civilization. The…

Have a look at this counterargument: https://www.sadanduseless.com/evil-iphones/

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#207

Post by theyellowkid »

ectopod wrote: post #129
KineticLensman wrote: post #19

A couple of things not mentioned: * Half of the population watching the same episodes of the same programme simultaneously. If you missed an episode, it was gone forever * Inane arguments in pubs about facts that couldn't be instantly googled.

My local had the Dunlop Book of Facts as an inane argument ender. Although some people considering it cheating.

Something like that has the value of leading everyone down an interesting path while looking up something else.

I'd probably just veer off by mentioning that Sissy Spacek is Rip Torn's cousin (wait! who is Rip Torn? who is Sissy Spacek?)

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#208

Post by PragmaticPulp »

pugets wrote: post #142

What I miss more than anything else is having an attention span. Years of abusing social media has left my brain pinballing all over the place. I am a collection of unfinished thoughts. Even as I write this, I can feel my mind needing to latch onto something new.

As a parent, I've been watching this play out in real time among other peoples' children.

Most parents I know are deliberate about limiting screen time and ensuring their children don't substitute screen time for other activities. It's actually not that difficult to do so as kids are really good at finding entertainment in their environment even without electronics.

However, some parents give their kids all the tablet, TV, and phone time they want. As they grow up I can see them failing to learn how to play with others their own age because they'd rather reach for a screen than make an effort to do something. They can be frighteningly grumpy when separated from their electronic devices and can even throw tantrums until their parents cave in and give them more screen time.

FWIW, I've also watched parents reverse this trend by slowing weaning their kids off of screen time and substituting other entertaining activities. It doesn't take a whole lot to nudge people in the right direction, but putting that phone down and doing literally anything other than stare at a screen can be a difficult first step to take.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#209

Post by elwell »

krylon wrote: post #57

Now I feel old. I remember vividly running around with my first camera, looking for objects worthy of being photographed. The film cost money, so did developing it into pictures. I really had to weigh the pros and cons of taking a particular picture. And in a class of ~25 kids, I was one of three who owned a camera. Not that it was such a luxury item, but most people weren't into that. These days, (nearly) everyone c…

> but I have never been this old before, so for me it's all new

How poetic

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#210

Post by theyellowkid »

krylon wrote: post #57

Now I feel old. I remember vividly running around with my first camera, looking for objects worthy of being photographed. The film cost money, so did developing it into pictures. I really had to weigh the pros and cons of taking a particular picture. And in a class of ~25 kids, I was one of three who owned a camera. Not that it was such a luxury item, but most people weren't into that. These days, (nearly) everyone c…

Old is owning a PlayTape Music Machine.
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