Who Else Is Bucking the Smartphone Trend?

[Ned Weasel]

I hate those damn things!  Especially when they all have touchscreens, and that's the only way to use most of them.  But it's not only that.  The internet was supposed to be this thing that you just do at home in your spare time, or at an internet cafe, or maybe use at school when you're too lazy to get off your ass and go to a library to research stuff, or maybe use at work if your job involves sending data and/or emails back and forth.  But nowadays, people are putting it in their pockets and taking it everywhere they go, and it's really bloody annoying.  It costs enough for a cell phone with a talk and text plan.  Having a data plan is a pretty significant expense on top of that.  Sure, you can use WiFi on a smartphone instead, if you're someplace that has an open WiFi network.

I used one of those damn things for four years until I finally said enough is enough.  I sort of had to get it in order to do a silly project in computer science school, because we had to make smartphone programs (some people prefer the monosyllabic "apps"), and using an Android emulator on my PC only had so-so results.  But I'll admit, when I finished that degree and got my dream job as an over-the-road trucker, I did find the thing really damn useful.  Especially because the TruckerPath application tells you which truck stops are where, how many parking spaces they have, and whether they're full at the time.  And it was nice for browsing Twitter or instant messaging with friends when I was getting loaded/unloaded.  But after I had to leave because of personal reasons, the smartphone became a lot less useful.  I dropped the data plan because I was no longer making a lot of money.  And earlier this year, my smartphone got so slow, that it was a pain just to bother trying to use it.  And it wasn't even that old; I had replaced my first one less than three years prior, when I accidentally dropped it on the pavement one too many times.

So I switched my phone plan back to a flip phone, and when I want to use the internet, it's right here at my PC, which is the better way to do internet anyway.  But I resent all these "apps" that you can only get for Android or iPhone.  Fortunately, you can get BlueStacks for Windows, which lets you run any Android program on a PC.  But I honestly worry that society is giving too much power to tech companies and letting them try to create a computer-dependent society, much in the same way car companies did over half a century ago.  I refuse to participate in tech culture, and I think ditching the smartphone was a good step toward getting away from it.

Anyone else here had enough of the smartphone craze, or never bothered with it in the first place?

[Max Rockatansky]

I actually turned my phone off during a recent vacation and flat out told people at work to not bother trying to reach me.  I like being able to read things on the fly on the internet but I absolutely hate the sense of almost always being reachable.  As of late the latter has been a problem for me personally given I work with people that are increasingly indecisive and have poor boundaries.  It got bad enough that I had to talk to my boss about the unnecessary work calls chipping into my personal life.  Fortunately I think that I had some valid arguments and got the approval to shut down when I'm on vacation or on a scheduled "not on call"  time period.

So I guess you can say I can see the benefits of having the technology for my personal purposes but work makes me want to throw my phone in a large body of water. 

[interstatefan990]

Smartphones aren't really a trend anymore. Coming from someone who also lived many years without one, they're basically a necessity now. While I may regret it, I simply can't run my life smoothly and have a deep connection to the outside world without it. I'm sure many would agree (and with no doubt the younger generation as well).

[Rothman]

Not sure what having a smartphone has to do with being able to actually take a vacation.

[oscar]

I was a slow adopter, and didn't have a smartphone until about three years ago. But it didn't help that until my fifth eye surgery four years ago, I couldn't read a smartphone screen without a magnifying glass.

Even a flip phone, I didn't get one until after my second road emergency. One of them, the county police had an APB out for me, until I was able to reach pavement (I had gotten stuck in a mudhole on a remote unpaved road) and get a lift into town.

That said, while I'm not a smitten as some other people, I appreciate the convenience. Especially when I can use my smartphone as a hotspot for my laptop, when my router goes gonzo or if I'm in a place with no wi-fi. I can also make or adjust lodging reservations from the road.

I've been to places proud of their lack of cellphone coverage. The excuse one used was that you'll be attacked by bears out to steal your catch, if you pay too much attention to your phone. But that was probably also a selling point for executives anxious to slip off the electronic tether to the office. Some of my friends who left the Federal Government for private law firms complained that with the higher income came partners and clients who demanded 24/7/365 access.

[Scott5114]

I don't mind the concept of smartphones all that much but I absolutely hate that there's no way to access them without using corporate software. If I could have smartphone hardware that ran some flavor of Linux with a desktop environment designed for touchscreens and I could use an open-source program to access the phone and SMS network, I'd be happy as a clam, since I could then control the hardware to my liking. But alas, Breckinridge G.B. "Breck" Honechilton VII, Senior Superiority Officer at AT&T, has decided he'd really like a yacht the size of the Ever Given this year.

[jeffandnicole]

Saying you're tired of the smartphone trend is like saying you're tired of the computer trend, and would prefer to handwrite everything.  If people have a use for it, they'll use it.  If not, they'll manage without it.

[Max Rockatansky]

Not sure what having a smartphone has to do with being able to actually take a vacation.

In my case I'm the Emergency Management person at my place of employment.  A lot of people have a bizarre sense what a "emergency"  really is and won't hesitate to call for stupid shit that isn't important or can wait.  For me, I was tired of being told by people outside my chain of command to be available while on vacation since it had become disruptive by people crying wolf too many times. 

FWIW I didn't even have a cell phone until I was assigned one by my job in 2009.  I question sometimes if I would have one now since I purposely didn't back then due to concerns about the above happening.

[kphoger]

Going three months strong, brother!

When smartphones started becoming popular, I knew I would become addicted, and so I put off getting one.  Three months ago, I realized I didn't have the self-control to get out of that addiction, and that it was interfering with my family life.  So I dumped the proverbial bottle down the drain and never looked back.

Everything I need the internet for, I do on a PC.  On the rare occasions I need to look up something while out and about, chances are like 95% that I'm with my wife and she can look it up for me.

About a month ago or so, I finally got so sick of being addicted/married to my smartphone that I took the plunge.  I downgraded to the phone shown below.  I keep my old smartphone in my desk drawer at work, because I use it for a mobile VPN pass, which I can access via Wi-Fi to the company router.



I wanted a flip phone, but my periodic travels in Mexico require me to get a phone that can roam on GSM networks.  This was the only GSM-capable dumbphone sold by Verizon that isn't a piece of crap.  And actually, it's made really well.  It was built with construction workers in mind:  it's waterproof, dustproof, solid construction.  It's big and heavy enough that I bought a leather belt-clip holster for it.

The only downsides are that it's difficult to view pictures on the smaller screen, and that I'm back to texting in T9.

The convenience of a smartphone is life-changing.

The best approach is to have one for the convenience, but then not spend your whole life on it. That's a challenging balance.

Yep.  It's a balance I knew ahead of time I wouldn't be able to manage, and I resisted getting a smartphone in the beginning.  Then, recently, I found myself addicted to YouTube and news articles, found myself ignoring my family in the evenings.  I tried setting "rules" for myself, but I failed to keep them.  So I got rid of the darned thing.  My family time has improved, I'm no longer half-irritated by the news, I no longer feel the urge to pick up my phone every few minutes.  It's great.  That is what has been life-changing.

[kphoger]

I simply can't run my life smoothly and have a deep connection to the outside world without it.

I have a deeper connection to the people in my life, now that I've ditched my smartphone.  The outside world be damned, I care more about my inside-my-own-home world.

[thspfc]

Older people can get away with being anti-smartphone. But if you're under the age of 40, you basically have no chance in 2021 society without a smartphone. Sorry to burst any bubbles.

[kphoger]

Older people can get away with being anti-smartphone. But if you're under the age of 40, you basically have no chance in 2021 society without a smartphone. Sorry to burst any bubbles.

I'm under 40.

[Max Rockatansky]

Older people can get away with being anti-smartphone. But if you're under the age of 40, you basically have no chance in 2021 society without a smartphone. Sorry to burst any bubbles.

I disagree (I'm 38).  Aside from being on here and browsing eBay listings for signs I can't think of what I would need a Smart Phone for.  My work functions could just as easily be fulfilled via a watered down flip phone.  I rarely download applications, so much so that I don't even remember what my password is for the Apple store.  Then again I haven't bought a video game since 2009 and have been in general losing interest in gadgets as I get older.  I guess that most of my free time is spent doing other things like exercising, hiking, reading and driving.  I'm also married which tends to occupy a lot of free time I had in the past for things at home like video games and my computer.

Then again my misgivings above aren't necessarily aimed at smart phones but the concept of being attached to a cellular device as a work function.

[Bruce]

I've had a smartphone for about half my life and it's made things so much easier. I can't imagine trying to travel without modern maps (with transit information) and entertainment to keep me occupied (or at least able to listen to music instead of outside noise). My last two jobs were solely reliant on smartphone access, as was my ability to keep in touch with my friends during the pandemic.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I've heard from a few people that paper maps are a red flag for investigating authorities/customs agents in this day and age for some stupid reason, so with that in mind it might be smart to at least look like I'm "normal" using a GPS to get around.

[OCGuy81]

I love my iPhone but not as much as I loved my old Blackberry!! I held onto it, and resisted the jump to a smartphone, until it died

[gonealookin]

Almost nobody has gone to a live sporting event or concert for over a year now, but way back in 2019-early 2020 digital-only ticketing was becoming a thing.  None of this business of printing out a paper ticket.  A barcode or QR code was sent to your smartphone, and that's how you got in to the event.  Don't have a smartphone?  Go stand in that long line over yonder and we'll figure out a way to get you in by the second set.

I resisted any mobile phone for a long time, until pay phones started disappearing rapidly.  I could do without the smartphone but have faced the fact that it's becoming necessary to have one to fully participate in modern society, and occasionally it's nice to look something up on the Internet, for example when sitting on the beach, are those just some clouds approaching or is a significant storm heading this way?

[OCGuy81]

Almost nobody has gone to a live sporting event or concert for over a year now, but way back in 2019-early 2020 digital-only ticketing was becoming a thing.  None of this business of printing out a paper ticket.  A barcode or QR code was sent to your smartphone, and that's how you got in to the event.  Don't have a smartphone?  Go stand in that long line over yonder and we'll figure out a way to get you in by the second set.

I resisted any mobile phone for a long time, until pay phones started disappearing rapidly.  I could do without the smartphone but have faced the fact that it's becoming necessary to have one to fully participate in modern society, and occasionally it's nice to look something up on the Internet, for example when sitting on the beach, are those just some clouds approaching or is a significant storm heading this way?

My wife finally got her folks no longer printing their boarding passes!  Granted, they haven't flown over the last year but much like a concert ticket, I feel boarding could go exclusively QR code

[Ned Weasel]

So I guess you can say I can see the benefits of having the technology for my personal purposes but work makes me want to throw my phone in a large body of water. 

I feel you on that.  Being constantly "connected" 24/7 is a burden no one should have to deal with.  Computers were fun back in the 90s, when they were like toys with fun, colorful graphics.  Now they feel more like a noose around our necks.

I wanted a flip phone, but my periodic travels in Mexico require me to get a phone that can roam on GSM networks.  This was the only GSM-capable dumbphone sold by Verizon that isn't a piece of crap.  And actually, it's made really well.  It was built with construction workers in mind:  it's waterproof, dustproof, solid construction.  It's big and heavy enough that I bought a leather belt-clip holster for it.

The only downsides are that it's difficult to view pictures on the smaller screen, and that I'm back to texting in T9.

That phone looks badass!  Probably better made than the Alcatel flip phone I got.  But yeah, now I text by pressing the number keys X number of times, and I usually tell people I'd rather chat on instant messenger, via my PC (which I've always preferred, anyway).

I resisted any mobile phone for a long time, until pay phones started disappearing rapidly.  I could do without the smartphone but have faced the fact that it's becoming necessary to have one to fully participate in modern society, and occasionally it's nice to look something up on the Internet, for example when sitting on the beach, are those just some clouds approaching or is a significant storm heading this way?

My wife finally got her folks no longer printing their boarding passes!  Granted, they haven't flown over the last year but much like a concert ticket, I feel boarding could go exclusively QR code

That right there is symptom of the very problem I'm talking about.  As members of a society, it is irresponsible of us to give so much power to tech companies that they can dictate that we have to purchase X gadget in order to perform activities W, Y, Z, A, B, C, and so on.

Seriously, to bring things back to a more road-related topic, look what happened to North America in the 1950s and 60s when we let General Motors decide our transportation policies.  Streetcar lines got ripped up, bus lines shut down, Interstate highways torn through disadvantaged neighborhoods only to fall very short of engineering standards 50 years later and needing millions (billions?) of dollars in investment to either overhaul or tear down, neighborhoods became less and less walkable, etc.  Am I an anti-car activist?  No, not really.  I have a car, I like driving it, and if I had a lot of money, I'd spend $5000 on repainting it so it wouldn't be a boring gray with scratches all over it.  But, as I'm sure many folks here are aware, there is a growing movement where people who have the means to live in walkable, bikable, transit-friendly cities are ditching cars in favor of bikes and streetcars (and probably paying outlandish housing costs per square foot), in part because they're fed up with car companies imposing car dependency on North America.  (I hear it's less of a problem in Europe and Southeast Asia, but those places have suburbs and lots of cars, too, just not at the exact same scale and not with the same level of car dependency North America has.)

What do you think the future will look like if we let tech companies have this kind of power?  It's already happening.  Am I anti-smartphone?  If you want a smartphone, have fun, play Candy Crush to your heart's content, and post as many photos of your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and cats on Instagram as you like.  I'm not shaming you for it!  But don't impose that on me when I don't want one of those annoying, short-lasting, crappy touchscreen things riding around with me all day.

I can't imagine trying to travel without modern maps (with transit information) and entertainment to keep me occupied (or at least able to listen to music instead of outside noise).

I always look that stuff up before I leave home and print out or write down whatever information I need to take with me.  And I hate listening to music through headphones, but that's just a personal preference not relevant to the topic, and I could just get a Discman if I wanted to.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I don't have a smartphone. Does that make me a hero of some sort? 

[interstatefan990]

Don't smartphones nowadays have screen time tracking features to help you manage how much attention you give to your phone? I heard Apple came out with a dedicated function that lets you set time limits or restrict certain unnecessary apps, etc.

I have a deeper connection to the people in my life, now that I've ditched my smartphone.  The outside world be damned, I care more about my inside-my-own-home world.

I'd still say having a connection the outside world is important in 2021. You never know what kind of crazy sh*t is happening these days. I miss when the news cycle wasn't something that people felt like they had to pay daily attention to.

[jeffandnicole]

That right there is symptom of the very problem I'm talking about.  As members of a society, it is irresponsible of us to give so much power to tech companies that they can dictate that we have to purchase X gadget in order to perform activities W, Y, Z, A, B, C, and so on.

So you visit a travel agent to book airline tickets, hotel rooms, and rental cars?

[Ned Weasel]

So you visit a travel agent to book airline tickets, hotel rooms, and rental cars?

I almost never fly and/or rent cars.  If I didn't have a PC with an internet connection to go to the hotel chains' websites to book rooms, I'd simply call the chains' 800 numbers to do it.

[Scott5114]

That right there is symptom of the very problem I'm talking about.  As members of a society, it is irresponsible of us to give so much power to tech companies that they can dictate that we have to purchase X gadget in order to perform activities W, Y, Z, A, B, C, and so on.

A few friends of mine had a business and expected their employees to clock in and out by visiting a certain page (or maybe it was through an app?) on their phone. Granted, everyone who worked there had a smartphone so it wasn't a problem, and I'm sure if someone didn't have one they would have found a way to make it work (since one of the owners only got phone upgrades for a while by my wife gifting him her old ones whenever she upgraded, so I doubt he felt strongly that everyone had to have a smartphone).

[index]

Phones are a necessity for me and most others in the world today. For most people today, using a flip phone and trying to move around in the world would be like trying to do all the tasks in 2021 that require any computing power at all on DOS. When it becomes necessary it's less of a trend and more of just a facet of society, like electricity was, then motorized transport, so on and so forth. People have always been criticizing new technology like this, back in the ancient times it was "Why do these idiots need clay tablets? Isn't memory good enough? Soon nobody will remember anything!", and back when cars were developing, people said the same with horses and buggies versus cars.

Some of the things I do require it, and the college I'm going to routes all their account verification and two-factor authentication over a phone app, as one example. I'd be fairly handicapped in society if I didn't have one. I'm not very big on content sharing or games or mobile social media but I still use it to keep myself occupied. I don't view it as a bad thing. Being able to manage my prescriptions from my phone is also a breeze and I wouldn't give that up. Not having to call facilities for every single thing, such as my prescriptions, waiting for a human, waiting on a line to free up, waiting for menu options to be listed, inputting who I am, blah blah blah, is so annoying. Just pushing a button in an app is an objectively better, and time-saving experience. Less time running errands, no need to constantly go all over the place, means more time to be productive doing other things, more leisure time, etc.

However, I cannot stand something only being available on mobile. I like my phone and all but doing work on it? Filling out forms, typing a lot (like chatting), documents, payments? Absolutely not. Give me a desktop version. The only activities worth doing for an extended amount of time on a phone are things like using it as a GPS, entertainment, reading, etc. Things that don't require all that much concentration or input. If I want to type a lot or do work or fill out forms or type a lot, all that stuff, I need a keyboard and a mouse and a big screen. Twiddling my thumbs on a little shard of glass and silicon won't do, way too annoying and uncomfortable and inergonomic.

And earlier this year, my smartphone got so slow, that it was a pain just to bother trying to use it.  And it wasn't even that old; I had replaced my first one less than three years prior, when I accidentally dropped it on the pavement one too many times.

Be glad it's not the 90s where you could buy a computer and it would become obsolete in three months, already replaced with something five times more powerful. Personally I try to upgrade as little as possible, I only budge when I absolutely need something new. I apply this to clothes, shoes, etc, you name it, not just technology. The shoes I wear now I got for 15-20ish bucks at a shopping outlet in Fredericksburg, VA, in Summer 2018 and they still hold up to this day. The only reason I did replace them is because my old ones literally fell apart right then and there during a trip I was taking.


This was the case with my current PC. Its earliest components were from 2009 and the whole system might've been absolute top of the line, couldn't-get-any-better-than-this in like, 2012 or 2013 or so. But, time goes on and technology progresses and I eventually had to upgrade to a new PC which I just set up this week. This one is almost near top of the line for its day, but not quite there. I'll probably replace this one no earlier than at least 5 years down the line.

Also, it is true that auto manufacturers shaped the modern world in their vision which causes sustainability issues and other problems but that's a whole different animal than personal, portable computing today.