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Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

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Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#261

Post by s0rce »

dale_glass wrote: post #155

Personally I find modern technology to be very liberating. When I was a child, even going around my own city was a stressful thing. What if I get lost? What if I run out of money for the train? How do I know I got the bus in the right direction? (the darn things didn't announce stops at all). The first times I traveled involved printing a stack of papers including names, addresses, and maps. Getting to a hotel in a c…

I moved to the SF Bay area and it was great being able to use the GPS + map app to see where you are on the BART. Its impossible to understand the announcements if they are even made at all.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#262

Post by Disruptive_Dave »

dale_glass wrote: post #155

Personally I find modern technology to be very liberating. When I was a child, even going around my own city was a stressful thing. What if I get lost? What if I run out of money for the train? How do I know I got the bus in the right direction? (the darn things didn't announce stops at all). The first times I traveled involved printing a stack of papers including names, addresses, and maps. Getting to a hotel in a c…

Some of what you described I believe to be very healthy discomfort. The type that is needed for growth. The type that can often lead to unexpected adventures. The type that you become thankful for years down the road. "It's all a breeze" is my biggest fear re: how society seems to be optimizing itself right now. Truth be told, a breezy life doesn't feel that interesting to me.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#263

Post by evocatus »

Baeocystin wrote: post #247
dale_glass wrote: post #155

Personally I find modern technology to be very liberating. When I was a child, even going around my own city was a stressful thing. What if I get lost? What if I run out of money for the train? How do I know I got the bus in the right direction? (the darn things didn't announce stops at all). The first times I traveled involved printing a stack of papers including names, addresses, and maps. Getting to a hotel in a c…

Well said. It is disappointing to see such black and white thinking in discussion of the role of technology in daily life. Do I think there is a real problem with how social media brings out the worst in society? Very much so. But that is almost entirely orthogonal to how I use the (frankly amazing) pocket supercomputer I now carry with me every day. When I was a kid, mail back home when we lived overseas was a three…

Would you make the same argument for amphetamines? Wonder what Erdős would have to say about this.

As far as communication goes, frankly, I regard large swaths of the internet as hostile and cognitohazardous. I'd rather be cut off. Though, fortunately the choice has already been made for me - there is no escaping assimilation.

The psychological dependence is already taking root; the societal dependence is next to come. Cash is dirty. There are no taxis to hail on the road. You require a COVID app to gain entry to this venue.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#264

Post by procarch2019 »

In my…not too old, but not young years I am finding that I will quite often forget my phone at home. I find this to be of almost no consequence. I still carry a “wallet”, which is really just a stack of few cards. I live in a city, so if I really needed some info or had to make an emergency call I would just ask a neighbor (most people in my neighborhood are super nice). Most importantly, when I stop for a drink at a bar or I am at the playground with the kids I am forced, and this is a good thing, to not be checking social media/news aggregators/email.

I don’t think I could do without it during business hours because of the nature of my work, but it’s certainly fine for me to go without off hours.

Side note, I recently had a bunch of cash on hand for some reason. It is super convenient to grab a beer and just throw down a bill instead of waiting for a check. Digital pay services are great when splitting a check and are nsuper helpful when you are out of cash, but remember that cash, almost always*, works.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#265

Post by eyelidlessness »

Invictus0 wrote: post #10
eyelidlessness wrote: post #7

I feel uncomfortable leaving without my phone, for one simple reason: I’m typically leaving with my pup, and if anything happens to either of us I want to be able to call for help. Pay phones are basically non-existent, people understandably don’t like to let strangers use their phone. It’s just a basic precaution.

> people understandably don’t like to let strangers use their phone Sounds like you're projecting here. What's your data for this?

Only anecdata, but I’ve experienced it directly, and I’ve also helped other people out when I saw them experiencing the same. I’m a little surprised by this response to be honest?

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#266

Post by gambiting »

dale_glass wrote: post #155

Personally I find modern technology to be very liberating. When I was a child, even going around my own city was a stressful thing. What if I get lost? What if I run out of money for the train? How do I know I got the bus in the right direction? (the darn things didn't announce stops at all). The first times I traveled involved printing a stack of papers including names, addresses, and maps. Getting to a hotel in a c…

I went to Canada on a work trip some years back, and there was basically no way for me to get mobile internet in any way - roaming would have been absurdly expensive, like several euro per MB expensive, I couldn't get a local sim card that would work with my phone(and even if I could all offers were weirdly expensive and not worth it for just a week long visit) - and yeah, I felt super uncomfortable travelling anywhere. It was difficult finding places to go or even calling a taxi.

But then I went just before the pandemic hit and I managed to get a card with like 2GB of data on it, and oh my god it transformed the experience entirely, for the extact reasons you said - it was just liberating. I could suddenly summon an uber, find places to eat, look up opening times at nearest attractions....my stay was about 100x more enjoable thanks to that.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#267

Post by ghaff »

whathappenedto wrote: post #219
dale_glass wrote: post #155

Personally I find modern technology to be very liberating. When I was a child, even going around my own city was a stressful thing. What if I get lost? What if I run out of money for the train? How do I know I got the bus in the right direction? (the darn things didn't announce stops at all). The first times I traveled involved printing a stack of papers including names, addresses, and maps. Getting to a hotel in a c…

Not only that, but having a camera with you at all times is fantastic. Besides the typical selfies with friends and random shots, it's a way to capture some proof that you gave someone money, or that your car was hit from the side. Then there's the ability to take notes without worrying about losing a pen and paper. Basically, it's a "digital recording device" that we've taken for granted.

It took me a while to internalize "Just take a picture." And arguably it's still not an automatic reaction. Sure, most of the time you don't need it but it's essentially free.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#268

Post by eyelidlessness »

axg11 wrote: post #15
eyelidlessness wrote: post #7

I feel uncomfortable leaving without my phone, for one simple reason: I’m typically leaving with my pup, and if anything happens to either of us I want to be able to call for help. Pay phones are basically non-existent, people understandably don’t like to let strangers use their phone. It’s just a basic precaution.

I have had this same thought in the past. I came to the conclusions that it’s a psychological trick we’re playing on ourselves. The mitigation against such a low risk event is not worth the price we’re paying. - sent from my iPhone

I mean, what price? It’s just a little extra weight in my pocket. I’m not using it while I walk my pup. It’s always on silent and I seldom notice the occasional buzz.

- Sent from my iPhone, on my porch

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#269

Post by dividedbyzero »

rglullis wrote: post #226
dale_glass wrote: post #155

Personally I find modern technology to be very liberating. When I was a child, even going around my own city was a stressful thing. What if I get lost? What if I run out of money for the train? How do I know I got the bus in the right direction? (the darn things didn't announce stops at all). The first times I traveled involved printing a stack of papers including names, addresses, and maps. Getting to a hotel in a c…

Unless your day-to-day is so extraordinary that you don't have any kind of routine, it seems that you are using the exceptional cases to justify the rule?

Before working from home I had a routine that would be pretty regular till end of workday, but evenings were often as not totally spontaneous affairs, especially in summer. Without a smartphone a lot of that wouldn't have happened since we wouldn't realistically have planned those things in advance, and I'd have been lost in parts of the city I don't know well quite a few times, late at night and all. With my smartphone, I can just rent a bike (can't do that here without an app) and have the phone navigate me home. I'm old enough to remember quite well how difficult and frustrating these situations could get before smartphones.

I used to carry a real camera around (and I got tons of super spontaneous shots out of it that I'm very fond of), now the iPhone will do that too. It's become a bit like the small pocket knife I always carry, a minimal one with just blade, bottle/can opener, screwdriver, I feel naked without it because it's been so very handy hundreds of times. Same with my smartphone, I use it so much for things that would be a hassle otherwise that not having it on me is a real impediment.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#270

Post by mlyle »

quantified wrote: post #19
sysadm1n wrote: post #11

Well not that I live in a bad neighborhood or anything like that, but you really don't know what could happen at any given moment, and need to phone emergency services. This is not paranoia (well maybe it is), but paranoia doesn't work retroactively, you have to be proactively paranoid. If you're concerned about privacy buy one of those cheap Nokia dumbphones that old people use. Keep your smartphone at home, and swa…

Pre-phones, it just wasn’t something you thought about. If you came up with a phone, you just may not be able to get it.

Pre-phones, you had functional payphones, etc, around to summon help with. People were more likely to be understanding and to make a call for you if you knocked on their door.

I had to hike to a payphone a couple of times when I was stranded. That wouldn't work anymore.

To reach the level of security that I had as a teenager, I need a mobile phone.

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