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"You don't have a SMARTPHONE, what's up with that?
That question is asked of me countless times by friends, family and neighbors. They act like I am completely insane for not having a SMARTPHONE.
I try to explain to them that while it would be nice once in a while to have access to the Internet while I am traveling or just out in about, it seems too expensive for what I would get. I don't text and while I would use the phone on and office, my old fashioned flip phone with time paid by the minute does just fine.
I tell them that I am philosophically against what SMARTPHONES have done to how people communicate today. I am against:
How kids and young adults will sit together at a social event and everyone is ignoring each other playing with their SMARTPHONE
How I go to a seminar or workshop or adult education class and people are ignoring the Instructor and playing with their SMARTPHONE
Going to a movie in a stadium style theatre, sitting high up and looking over a sea of SMARTPHONES lighting up a dark theatre.
What impact SMARTPHONES have had on young people's ability to talk to each other face to face.
YES, I think that SMARTPHONES have destroyed communication in America and non romantic relationships.
Simmer down now.
Wouldn't it be easier to simply say, "Sorry, smartphones aren't for me." It crystallizes your feelings on the subject, without having to explain or defend yourself, and your opinion and without teeing up a combative discussion.
Otherwise, yes, you're coming across as a get-off-my-lawn-type who is passing judgment on an entire concept you've never experienced and instead you are criticizing everyone else.
I have a smart phone, but can't imagine "ridiculing" someone for NOT having one. I have a few friends who don't. *shrug*
OP, if your family and friends are asking you "countless" times why you don't have one, you need to come up with a better response than whatever you've been using so far. Something that will stop all these odd people you associate with from badgering you.
OP...There are more important issues, but it is a pain for folks to hassle you about anything so I get you ...
Let them put their money where their mouths are.....Tell those nosy relatives..You've put the smartphone on your Christmas list, and you are waiting for one of them to gift you with it....Believe me, they will quit asking
My hubby and I traded up a couple of years ago to smart phones...Big deal. Other than taking pics..I don't see what the excitement is about. I sometimes miss my uncomplicated flip phone...Especially when I first got my smart phone...and tired to connect my my facebook, and wound up butt dialing facebook game friends across the world...LOL
Smartphones have MANY benefits! They can actually help you increase your productivity, organize your life, and communicate more effectively. Do people abuse them? Sure. But, the phone isn't the problem. When people make inane arguments like the OP's, I wonder if they think we should also reject all the technological advancements of the 20th and 21st century because they get abused. Maybe we should even get rid of the Internet. When we had encyclopedias, people didn't spend their time on anonymous message boards criticizing each other. SMH
If you're being ridiculed about smart phones, I suspect the people ragging on you do it just to get you foaming at the mouth about how smart phones are destroying the world ...
FYI, it's people like you who give us seniors a bad name.
Relax, people. You all would vent if people were badgering you for not having something that everyone else has.
really, why do all of you take this so personally? the OP isn't allowed to vent? Then you all should stop posting your own complaints on the forum. As a matter of fact, the forum should just close down if you think one shouldn't vent.
Relax, people. You all would vent if people were badgering you for not having something that everyone else has.
really, why do all of you take this so personally? the OP isn't allowed to vent? Then you all should stop posting your own complaints on the forum. As a matter of fact, the forum should just close down if you think one shouldn't vent.
...and if someone vents, no one should respond, or only the ones who agree?
YES, I think that SMARTPHONES have destroyed communication in America and non romantic relationships.
On a related note, at what age does your brain resist change such that you view anything new with great suspicion? I want to be able to recognize the warning signs early so I can actively counter this change.
IMO, the OP really doesn't get ridiculed for not having a smart phone. He/she gets ridiculed because he/she does the same thing that he/she did in his/her post: rant about them whenever he sees one. In fact, maybe the OP doesn't get ridiculed at all for not having a smart phone but simply wanted an excuse to rant about them on this MB.
I'm 63. I happen to have a smart phone (along with ereaders, computers, digicams, and lots of other digital gadgets) because I'm a techie, but many/most of my friends who are my age or older don't have them, partly because they are expensive (ordinary pre-paid cells are much cheaper) and partly because digital/mobile technology isn't part of their lives. They don't get ridiculed for not having smart phones or even for not having computers, but then they aren't constantly whining about people using them in public either.
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