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I was thinking about purging the technology poison addiction from my system starting with my smart phone. Do I really even need a smart phone? To look at my email and the internet ALL of the time? I was thinking about switching back to a small phone with no internet that can text only. It would also save me money. I can also pay to download a $50 GPS app before shutting down my smart phone which could then be used for GPS without needing cell phone service/internet. What difficulties did you have unplugging?
I am basically in the situation you describe. Basic cell service but, I have a 3G card for my mini laptop as I spend a lot of time in my vanpool so using the internet to goof off and look at traffic is pretty nice.
Unplugging completely is not going to happen for me. The internet is just too useful to discard.
If it's a cost issue there are ways to get the iphone and other smartphones to work on pre-paid services where you pay by the minute/MB. You're not dropping $60+ a month and it would encourage you to use it more sparingly. As far as smartphone "addiction" I can't address that since I do not have that problem.
Only reason I have a cellphone (pay as U go)now,is because of needing a phone while in the hospital. it was long distance to call anyone from where I was, so housemate insisted I have one to talk to him...otherwise I probably wouldn't have one...
I use my housemates computer for connecting with CD forum, or occasionally to look up stuff...I probably wouldn't use one if it wasn't available...
housemate got cable/satellite for the tv while I was in the hospital,
before that we just watched whatever channel(s) we got locally...
may go back to that setup when the contract expires, I have other things I can do instead of sitting in front of the tv all day and night and usually
do do other things to occupy my time...
don't own an I-phone, I-pad, mp3 or whatever the latest gadgets are,have no interest or desire to own any of them...don't do on-line banking or shopping either...
I have a phone that calls and texts and it cost me $29.95 for 1200 minutes and 3000 texts and 100 mb of data (that I rarely use).
Originally, I did not have a phone that had a camera, but it is handy to have in case you have an accident or see a crime or something, so I upgraded to a phone that has a camera. It cost me $35.
Smart phones never interested me. The apps are, for the most part, useless and I detest touch phones.
While I could do it (and should, it'd save me quite a bit of cash and ATT told me I'm in the top 5% so they're throttling me, which makes me extremely angry at them), I would find myself more inconvenienced than anything else.
What do you want to eat? Lets see what's around...
Where was that store at? Let me look it up!
What time does that movie play at all the theaters around us? Well lets just see.
Far too useful to give it up. I live for new tech, it's absolutely mind-shattering how amazing these things are, and how many people take them for granted. Think about it...right now, as you're reading this, you're looking at billions of ones and zeroes fly across your screen, and if you're on a phone, you're doing it without any moving parts. Incredible to have the world at your fingertips.
I can't wait to see what 50 years in the future will be like. Can you believe the web is only 20(ish) years old? Look at how much we've advanced! It's insane. I love it. If that makes me an addict or whatever, so be it. Using the tools that I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to possess is something I rarely take for granted.
Just earlier today I heard a lady yelling at her phone because she was trying to pull something up and it was loading slow... in the words of Louis C.K. - "Give it a second, would ya?? Could you give it a second? It's going to SPACE! Could you give it a second to get back from SPACE?"
take a Caribbean Cruise. Awesome not being connected for a week.
We went hiking in Arkansas for a week (16 miles, super hot and humid out there...PHEW) and it was pretty sweet to not really have any connections to anything.
I think there are two scenarios for me here. If we get a solar flare and it destroys all of our telecom and all of our gadgets, it wouldn't be a problem for me to go outside, start farming and do manual labor. Of course I'd have to re-adjust, but it wouldn't be something that I would be in detriment by (other than knowing that all that money has gone out the window :P)
However, in my post above, the scenario assumes that technology is still relevant and is around you as much as it normally is, and "unplugging" would simply mean leaving your phone or what have you at home or getting rid of it.
I was thinking about purging the technology poison addiction from my system starting with my smart phone. Do I really even need a smart phone? To look at my email and the internet ALL of the time? I was thinking about switching back to a small phone with no internet that can text only. It would also save me money. I can also pay to download a $50 GPS app before shutting down my smart phone which could then be used for GPS without needing cell phone service/internet. What difficulties did you have unplugging?
Every chance we get and always take tech free vacations overall. We do keep the cell phones with us however, we have children and elderly parents who are also handicapped.
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