Smart/cellphones And Modern Life..

[JRS]

I found this very well done short film,
that really shows how bad our cellphone craze sometimes has gone:

http://youtu.be/OINa46HeWg8

Has this ever happened to you or to your friends maybe?
Do you think it is rude to be on the phone in every situation and so on?
Where do you draw the line, if any?

I do not own currently a smartphone nor cellphone myself,
I just did not buy new one when my old one broke.
I have been in this situation and seeing this film made me realize that it is in fact quite rude to chat/text when you are having breakfast or lunch with someone.

Can you close your phone for hour or two?

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

I do have a smartphone, but make a point of not using it when I have friends over. Mostly, they do not reciprocate however. If you actually take the time to observe the behaviour, it's actually quite fascinating, and yes, quite rude. More often than not, it's an obsession with checking social media sites, or posting to them. I felt I was slipping into this trap, and mainly for that reason, I've disabled my Facebook account. I haven't even logged in since February, and you know what, I don't miss it in the slightest - and it actually feels empowering and freeing.

 

[trekkiedane]

I found this very well done short film,
that really shows how bad our cellphone craze sometimes has gone:

http://youtu.be/OINa46HeWg8

Best comment on there: "we forgot how to human."
(Sure it's by a non-native English-speaker, but even then it captures the situation in perfect English imnsho).

Has this ever happened to you or to your friends maybe?
Do you think it is rude to be on the phone in every situation and so on?
Where do you draw the line, if any?

I have a friend who's always texting (or whatnot*)... maybe not always, but it's the impression one gets when in her company... I find it terribly rude that she's not fully present when I'm actually right there in the room with her. Lately I've brought my Kindle when I go visit her; reading makes me feel able to ignore her right back

Yes, you should be in the here-and-now when you have people you'd consider friends around you, forget Friendface, Scrabble, T-BBS and the people that aren't in the room with you, those things will still be there when your friends have gone home!

I should mention that I'm not immune to answering an SMS, even when I'm in the company of other people, but it's either one message or something I can involve the people in my physical presence with, when I do it.


-----------------
*) I once heard her (teenage) son shout from his room: "Oh no! you didn't!" because my friend had just beaten him in some game or other while I thought I was having a conversation with her! Not that I'm in any way against kids and parents playing on-line games with each other, mind.

 

[Toxteth O´Grady]

I noticed in the comments of that video that a lot of people are showing pride at either not owning a cell phone at all, or they still own their flip phone from 10 years ago.

To me, the problem doesn't have anything to do with that. I have owned a smart phone for the past 2 years. Love it and get a lot out of it, but I never have it out when I'm with company. I remember one time I was with three or four other people, all family, and at one point all of them were looking down at their phones. Like the woman in the video, the socialization just stopped and I was left sitting there in silence. It doesn't happen often, but it does get irritating when it does.

I think my older brother has an addiction. I see him checking his phone more than anybody else I know. I work with him and my other brothers at our dad's business and he is constantly getting texts. For some reason he doesn't want to put his damn phone on vibrate, so we all have to hear his ringtone every 5-10 minutes when he gets a new text.

We get together every week to watch TV shows, and every time there is a pause in between episodes he whips out his phone and plays a little bit of a game. The pause usually lasts under 2 minutes so I'm just wondering why is that pause so unbearable that you NEED to do something during that time? He's in his late 30s so he knew a time when cell phones didn't exist. I'm just surprised when I see older people glued to their phones.

 

[FPAlpha]

The one scene where everyone was initially talking and then turn to their smartphones with a lone person sitting there silently was eerily familiar.

When my colleagues and me are on our lunch break it's often enough quite similar. First we eat and then most of us turn to their phones and start their business. Sometimes if there is an interesting enough topic so we talk and the smartphones are left on the table but most of the time there isn't.

We have a cell phone ban in the office but i regularly see people checking their phones(including my teamleader who should be enforcing the ban and is usually a stickler for rules) and i honestly don't get it.

What is so damn important that they feel the need to break the rules (as idiotic the reasoning is) just to see if someone posted something on Whatsapp or Facebook? Can't people go a few hours without being constantly updated?

I don't feel the need to check my phone on an hourly basis. People know that when iÄm at work i'm doing my job and most things can't be that important to warrant an immediate reaction.. if i'm expecting an important message or call i tell so but that's rare (and i usually give my office phoen number so people can be sure i pick up immediately).

Another thing is a coworker whom i pickup up in the morning and drive home after work because it's on my way and he doesn't own a car. As soon as we are in my car he whips out the phone and checks for messages.. everytime. I'm not annoyed by it in any meaningful way but it's interesting to see how dependent some people have become to their phones and the constant need to check things which are for the most part very trivial (things like videos or funny pictures).

It baffles me most of the time.

 

[Mr. B]

I have a couple friends like this, but I generally have to look at strangers to see the sorts of scenes you see in the video. It's sad. Just living life is a dying art.

 

[scotpens]

I noticed in the comments of that video that a lot of people are showing pride at either not owning a cell phone at all, or they still own their flip phone from 10 years ago.

To me, the problem doesn't have anything to do with that. I have owned a smart phone for the past 2 years. Love it and get a lot out of it, but I never have it out when I'm with company.

Of course, the problem isn't the technology. There were jokes (as well as serious concerns) about teenagers spending too much time talking on the phone back when phones had rotary dials, weighed 5 pounds and plugged into the wall.

It's not the tool that's the problem -- it's the tool who uses the tool!

EDIT: This is my 8000th post! You're all invited to celebrate my promotion to Vice Admiral.

 

[Smellincoffee]

When scenes like the above happen, I feel insulted, angry, and nasty. I have to stop myself from getting riled up. When people yank out a phone and start yakking or doodling away, I just walk off. I'm not playing spectator to a machine.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Normally I try to tune out obsessive smartphone users but when they are customers in my store, unfortunately I have to deal with this. It really pisses me off when they're jabbering away on their damn phones at the same time I'm trying to help them. Oftentimes they hold up the line while they're doing this. It disrespects everyone in the store - employees and fellow customers alike.

Of course this would be illegal but it's at times like this when cellphone jamming devices would be a godsend.

 

[propita]

I like my iPhone 4 and don't feel a need to upgrade for the foreseeable future.

Being 50 now, I can clearly remember life without cellphones. I'm happy having one, as it's come in quite handy at times I would otherwise worry. In fact, recently when driving to LA, I called 911 (yes, while driving) and reported, in a highly emotional voice, witnessing a car assuredly having gone through a guardrail on the freeway--because I heard a "BOOM!" and saw a car flying through the air, off the freeway where there was nothing under him as he epbegan falling the 20 or so feet to the ground. No, I didn't stop, because I saw a big rig and a couple of cars stopping. Since I witnessed it (enough), they decided the call and said they'd send people immediately.


And I'm sticking with AT&T, despite not always being thrilled with them, because I got "unlimited data" grandfathered in, though I seriously don't use it all that much.

 

[Lindley]

Having a data plan is one of those things you think you don't need, right up until you get one. It's just too useful to give up easily.

That said, I think it's a shame the telecoms have found a way to charge per megabyte (effectively). They missed that boat the first time around, but with cellular data they have consumers pretty well cornered on that one.

It'll be interesting to see if projects like Google Fiber can break that paradigm.

 

[tomalak301]

Having a data plan is one of those things you think you don't need, right up until you get one. It's just too useful to give up easily.

That said, I think it's a shame the telecoms have found a way to charge per megabyte (effectively). They missed that boat the first time around, but with cellular data they have consumers pretty well cornered on that one.

It'll be interesting to see if projects like Google Fiber can break that paradigm.

If there was one thing I didn't like it was when I bought I new phone, I wasn't grandfathered into an unlimited or a nice data plan. I'm on a 2 gig plan, and I think that psycologically has forced me to not use the phone as much as I did last year. Even if I'm no where near 2 gigs, I don't even get over 1 gig because I'm afraid I will overuse it.

As for the whole ethical thing, I admit I do use my phone when I'm with a friend, but he does as well. When I'm with other groups of people I don't but I do know that they might. It's a shame that the whole "social" interaction thing seems to be a dying breed. People would rather be on their phones or text than actually talk to a person.

If there is one pet peeve I have (And my friend does this all the time and I hate it), it's when I leave a message for someone and they write back to me on Facebook. It just sucks that I took the time to leave a message and they just wrote back on facebook and didn't even call. That just seems a little rude to me.

 

[Lindley]

If there is one pet peeve I have (And my friend does this all the time and I hate it), it's when I leave a message for someone and they write back to me on Facebook. It just sucks that I took the time to leave a message and they just wrote back on facebook and didn't even call. That just seems a little rude to me.

 

[marillion]

I'm an unabashed smart phone junkie... I have one for my personal phone and one for work... Because I'm in emergency services, I have to be on pretty much 24/7, which, thanks to my smartphone, makes it incredibly easy for me to be... That said, it does cut into my personal time and my wife has threatened to take a hammer to it more than once.. I tend to give myself breaks and let my boss know that unless it's an emergency, I'll be out of pocket from time to time...

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I understand that people who work in emergency services of all kinds and people who are self-employed need to be on their smartphones frequently. But, in general, it drives me crazy when people are more interested in their phones than the live human beings right in front of them. As others have said, it's rude.

I love the convenience of a mobile phone. Mine is a cheap smartphone, just because it was the best buy when I needed a new phone, but I don't use it as a smartphone. Why pay for a data plan that I don't need? Same reason I gave up my landline. Sometimes, if I'm probably going to have time to kill alone, like waiting for a doctor's appointment, I take my iPad instead of a book.

EDIT: This is my 8000th post! You're all invited to celebrate my promotion to Vice Admiral.

Congrats!

 

[Lego Thrawn]

I don't have a smartphone, nor do I want or need one. I have a crappy pay-as-you-go TracFone. I can't afford a monthly plan, and all I want or need is simply something to talk on, period.

That being said, I have seen some people do some remarkably silly things with their cellphones. I have seen women horseback riding while talking on a cellphone, walking their babies in strollers while talking on a cellphone, etc. I'm like WTF... you don't want to just put the damn phone away and enjoy the experience?

I remember once when I was working at a supermarket years ago, a woman had her baby in the top section of a grocery cart, and she was yakking away on her phone like her stupid life mattered that much. Well, while she was yakking away, the cart tipped over the side of the curb, and fell over onto the ground, yes, with the baby still in it. All of a sudden her stupid babbling wasn't so important, and she started freaking out that her baby was hurt. Well guess what, lady? If you'd actually been doing your job, and paying attention to your kid, instead of flapping your useless lips, your kid wouldn't have been hurt.

It also irks me when I see very young children with smartphones. Really? WTF is so big and complicated in their little lives, that they have to have access to a smartphone all day? If I were a parent, I would forbid my child to own a cellphone until they were 15, and even then, it would be a talk-and-text only phone, pay-as-you-go, for emergencies. If they want a smartphone, they'd have to wait until they're 18, and they'll have to buy it and pay for the plan themselves.

 

[FPAlpha]

That's going a bit too far in the other direction. The problem is people using their smartphones when there are other people around with whom they could talk face to face.. if i'm at a table with someone talking and at one point they pull out their smartphone and start hacking away i take that as extremely rude and disrespectful.

Smartphones are an awesome way to get mobile information if you need to check something.. a friend of mine who uses a normal cellphone was impressed when we went to another city and needed directions so i pulled out my phone and started the navigation app which directed us perfectly.

They are very handy tools but you need to be careful and pay attention to your surroundings.

 

[RAMA]

There are times you shouldn't have the phone on, simple as that, however the protocols for what is rude and not rude has probably changed over the years especially with the functions of the phones and apps.

 

[Tribble puncher]

I think smartphone addicts like that they can control what they see...now they never have to feel uncomfortable again...it's the lens through which they view the world and force the world to view them through...

 

[MacLeod]

There are times you shouldn't have the phone on, simple as that, however the protocols for what is rude and not rude has probably changed over the years especially with the functions of the phones and apps.

Maybe but not by much. If I were out with someone I wouldn't answer my phone unless I absolutly had to. And I would still be polite enough to say excuse me for a minute but I need to take it. If I'm at the cinema I switch it off completely. Sure using an app to naviagte is little different from using a paper map.

One wonders how we managed before mobile phones.