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Life before smartphones (2020)

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Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#401

Post by redisman »

travisr wrote: post #295
woko wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue that I've been watching this play out in real time among other... parents. It is actually sad when you go outside and start noticing that people are glued to their phone screens, including parents who would rather look at their smartphones rather than their kids. I can tell you that little kids notice that they lost the attention war to their parents' smartphones.

I agree this is sad. However, as a child of the 90s, I lost the attention war to my parents' TV. Maybe I just had absent parents, but I feel like most parents haven't been interested in their children for a while now.

Probably never were. It’s only lately that parents are expected to watch their kids every step until they turn 18. Back in the day you’d just tell them to go throw rocks in the well with the other village kids and come back at sundown

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#402

Post by irrational »

My teenager doesn’t have use of his phone right now. He was complaining that he had no way to contact his friends. I pointed to the landline and he said that wouldn’t work since all their numbers were on his phone. Plus they would never actually answer a phone call - who answers phone calls? I suggested email. None of them check email. I suggested riding his bike to their house and talking to them in person. He was aghast at the thought. If smartphones went away, I think there is an entire generation or two that really wouldn’t know how to go on living.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#403

Post by irrational »

deckard1 wrote: post #256
woko wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue that I've been watching this play out in real time among other... parents. It is actually sad when you go outside and start noticing that people are glued to their phone screens, including parents who would rather look at their smartphones rather than their kids. I can tell you that little kids notice that they lost the attention war to their parents' smartphones.

I've made this argument before, but in relation to dating. You'll never be more interesting than a smartphone. It's virtually impossible. You're a single human, and that device contains the entire world. If you meet a woman, she has her friends on there. She has her instagram account. Snapchat, TikTok, whatever. You are instantly contrasted against the entire world (against only the highlight reel) and you don't matc…

I am so thankful I met my wife before smartphones came out. Heck, I met her the year before the WWW came out. I’d so hate to be in the dating market today.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#404

Post by jsjohnst »

ghaff wrote: post #253
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…

There's been a complete shift in mindset. As a kid during the summer in a semi-rural area, I'd be away for hours. My grandmother had no idea where I was and my mother was at work. At one point, I had a fairly bad fall out of a tree but was able to get back to the house. In a similar vein, if you were in the wilderness you were on your own. If you were in a group, you could send someone for help. If you were on your o…

> Now, the default assumption is you can call for help--which isn't always the case.

Exactly. I had an emergency situation where I needed to be taken to the hospital over a decade ago. I had a satellite phone on me, yet it was still difficult to get help due to a combination of satellite coverage (Iridium phones would have periods of no coverage due to satellite orbits) and just having a number to call (great thing about 911 is that it works from almost any phone in the US, except satellite phones).

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#405

Post by brewdad »

koolba wrote: post #391
hughrr wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My ex wife was like that. One reason she's an ex wife. I lost a job due to her once because she phoned the office after I didn't respond to an SMS while I was in a very tough meeting with a client. I now have my phone on do not disturb 24/7. I will choose when I participate in messaging. I also disable iMessage on my Mac. If someone comes up to me and talks to me, I may not even respond immediately. I took this to ex…

> If someone comes up to me and talks to me, I may not even respond immediately. Maybe I’m too old fashioned, but there’s world of difference between ignoring someone contacting you through an async communication channel like SMS and them literally standing next to you and speaking to your face.

I agree, though I certainly will finish my thought, typing a sentence or two, before stopping and saying something like "I'm sorry, what were you asking?"

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#406

Post by random_kris »

aalam wrote: post #280
random_kris wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What to do to fix this?

I got mileage out of replacing habits of checking social media with reading longer-form articles. I picked up the idea from books on habits (Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg, Atomic Habits by James Clear). To replace a habit, it helps to understand the prompt that causes it. When I feel tired, or worried about something, I found myself opening social media apps. Behaviour-wise, following the prompt, I've replaced checking Redd…

Nice. I am battling this problem the same way as you. I replaced reddit/fb with Hackernews / curated Twitter but I think it is slowly getting too toxic as well..

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#407

Post by vmception »

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…

You can still do that if you want. Some people like the limitations and finality.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#408

Post by q-base »

anthk wrote: post #327
qwertox wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you visit Reddit?

I switched from visiting Reddit from the web/phone client to a Gopher proxy with Lynx (in order to view the submitted sites in the posts): gopher://gopherddit.com Also, my NNTP list: alt.ascii-art alt.folklore.computers alt.os.linux.slackware alt.sys.pdp10 comp.infosystems.gopher comp.lang.forth comp.lang.perl comp.lang.perl.announce comp.lang.perl.faq comp.lang.perl.misc comp.lang.perl.moderated comp.lang.perl.modul…

Haha you have to help me here. Could you please help me understand what gopher is and NNTP? I do not know whether I should feel dumb, too young or too old for not knowing :)

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#409

Post by patrickdavey »

furstenheim wrote: post #394
dwighttk wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason I take my phone with me on hikes is for the camera. One day I’d like to get a dumbcamera and leave my phone behind more. I don’t take a ton of pictures but do like to have the option.

Until you have an emergency and you need to call the helicopter, been there

I have a personal locator beacon (PLB) for that. Works even when there's no reception as it's satellite based. 10 year battery life...

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#410

Post by jcul »

i_am_proteus wrote: post #262
oceanghost wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 don't answer texts while I'm driving because I literally got in an accident texting (it was a freak circumstance, but these things do happen) I'd like to address this in a non-judgemental way: not answering texts while driving should be the norm. It's not possible to operate a vehicle in motion and text simultaneously in a safe manner.

Where I live, Ireland, it is illegal to operate a phone while driving and you will get a fine + penalty points on your license if you are seen. This includes holding the phone up to your ear on a call. I assumed it was the same in most countries, at least I'd expect so for other European countries.
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