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These stories crack me up. You think you have moral superiority based on a single snap shot in time.
A few months back my daughter and I went out to eat, we looked at our phones constantly, hardly talked at all. I am sure you would have felt super superior to us
Except, we had just spent a three hour drive talking to and from setting up the service for my best friends little sister. We were on our device, waiting for our meals, doing errands for the family who was not emotional up for notifying everyone and dealing with all the questions. But, from your POV, I am sure we looked just like the family you describe. But as long as it makes you feel good about your family, keep judging away, doesn't actually change anything but sure says a lot about the people doing the judging.
I have spent a lot of time in school these days, most with elementary and middle schoolers. You wouldn't believe what even some of these 4th graders are using their phones for! Snapchatting, Kik, etc... nudes to one another and sexting!! Kids as young as 12, 13, 14 feeling the pressure. If you think "oh, my kid would never do that" BS! Kids are smart these days, they know how to cover their tracks. A lot of kids are distracted by these devices, using them to bully others or demoralize themselves in order to fit it.
There have been numerous situations of child porn in my community that needed to be investigated by the police department, FBI and other agency's.
I recall that the last group involved 35 female students (age 10 to 15) who texted totally nude photographs & videos to their "boy friends" and other people. Access to the photographs got wider and wider as many of the nude photographs and nude videos were posted on addition media sites. Students involved with the case did not appear to understand that they were breaking any laws both by taking the nude photographs or by posting them on public sites.
There were similar sexting/porn rings found in about eight other middle schools in our part of the state. Police speculate that there are many more but they are hidden on the children's phones in apps like Snapchat, Kik, KeepSafe, PhotoVault, Secret Calculator, I-message, etc.
Exactly, dead-on correct. That could go for a lot of things, like a child being a brat for a moment and people are like "lazy parents and their bratty kids!" yet the entire rest of the day leading up to that the child had been fine. Or how about that ridiculous post a couple of years ago that was like "mom in the park, put down your phone and play with your child" well how do they know that the mother doesn't play with her child a lot of the time otherwise and they are simply seeing a moment where the mother is taking a mental break? Heck maybe her older mother is in a hospital and she's checking on updates about her condition. Who are you to assume that she is always ignoring her kids and is just doing something "silly" like playing Words With Friends? Yet posts like that one show that people do it all the time.
It puzzles me, and annoys me, how anymore people are so self-righteous about the phone thing. Who died and made them God? If someone likes playing on their phone, assuming they're not doing such while weaving all over the road or screaming in a library/theater, how is it any of their business anyway? Why does it matter so much to such a person? Moreover, why do people do this for phones but not other things? What about the person weaving all over the road from changing clothes while driving or eating? Why do certain bosses throw a fit over someone texting their babysitter but the person hanging out at the water cooler or taking a smoke break gets a pass? Does the woman reading a hardback book in the park get judged the same as the woman who was looking at her phone?
In the same way, do people go "in my day we 'got along fine' with no A/C in the car/online registration of college classes/having to mail a check to pay bills/riding in a station wagon with fake wood paneling/going on long trips without a DVD player for the kids/having to make all the meals from scratch and without a microwave/washing dishes by hand without a machine/medicine for treating head lice?" Yet people are SO FAST to do just that with smartphones, or cell phones period, when you don't hear anywhere near as much of that thing with the other examples. Frankly, I consider it a form of prejudice analogous to racism.
People don't "need" a lot of things--microwaves, refrigerators, paper cups, drinks besides water, air freshners for the cars, guns (really, what are the odds that you're going to be the hero who stops a burglar?), fishing gear, bicycles. So what? Big woop. The same arguments made about smartphones could be made about a lot of things. A lot of the hate I hear with respect to cell phones sounds a lot like the Salem Witch Trials of yore sometimes.
What positive attributes does a smartphone add to your life? Does it make you smarter, more caring, more wise, does it give you skills that you can sustain ONCE YOU PUT IT DOWN? Does it make you a better person?
Or do you watch tv, play games, post to FB, take selfies and hide behind it to avoid actual conversation? can you have a conversation that isn;t interrupted by, hey look at this? Or Wait let me look that up?
Smartphones have turned people into zombies. My BIL cannot be without his iPhone. Ever. He spent the entire Thanksgiving weekend staring at it, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, showing me animal pictures. He's 32. He's a 32-year-old zombie. A couple stayed with us a few days, same thing. They. Cannot. Function. Without. It.
What positive attributes does a smartphone add to your life? Does it make you smarter, more caring, more wise, does it give you skills that you can sustain ONCE YOU PUT IT DOWN? Does it make you a better person?
Or do you watch tv, play games, post to FB, take selfies and hide behind it to avoid actual conversation? can you have a conversation that isn;t interrupted by, hey look at this? Or Wait let me look that up?
Smartphones have turned people into zombies. My BIL cannot be without his iPhone. Ever. He spent the entire Thanksgiving weekend staring at it, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, showing me animal pictures. He's 32. He's a 32-year-old zombie. A couple stayed with us a few days, same thing. They. Cannot. Function. Without. It.
Sick sick sick.
It will be very difficult to get most anyone to agree with you or to even understand a smidgin' of what you're saying. Why? Because most everyone has become the very 'zombie' that you refer to. Can you imagine the state of the world (re personal interaction) in 50 years time? I won't be here to witness this inevitable breakdown of society, thank God.
What positive attributes does a smartphone add to your life? Does it make you smarter, more caring, more wise, does it give you skills that you can sustain ONCE YOU PUT IT DOWN? Does it make you a better person?
Or do you watch tv, play games, post to FB, take selfies and hide behind it to avoid actual conversation? can you have a conversation that isn;t interrupted by, hey look at this? Or Wait let me look that up?
Smartphones have turned people into zombies. My BIL cannot be without his iPhone. Ever. He spent the entire Thanksgiving weekend staring at it, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, showing me animal pictures. He's 32. He's a 32-year-old zombie. A couple stayed with us a few days, same thing. They. Cannot. Function. Without. It.
Sick sick sick.
Cars lead to automobile accidents due to DWIs and people blowing through stop signs at full speed, or crossing the center line. Yet I don't see anyone decrying the evils of cars.
The Internet can contain child porn, but I don't hear anyone advocating the abolition of the Internet.
People use guns to commit crimes, but you still have gun enthusiasts, and the police use them.
People can choke to death on food, but I don't see anyone advocating for alternatives to food.
"Catcher in the Rye" is a classic book that many enjoy, and it turns out Mark David Chapman who murdered John Lennon was a huge fan of it. Does that make the book "tainted" in our eyes?
The point--it isn't the device, it's how it's misused.
I don't misuse my devices that way, and I don't need to justify my usage of them to ANYBODY.
Cars lead to automobile accidents due to DWIs and people blowing through stop signs at full speed, or crossing the center line. Yet I don't see anyone decrying the evils of cars.
The Internet can contain child porn, but I don't hear anyone advocating the abolition of the Internet.
People use guns to commit crimes, but you still have gun enthusiasts, and the police use them.
People can choke to death on food, but I don't see anyone advocating for alternatives to food.
"Catcher in the Rye" is a classic book that many enjoy, and it turns out Mark David Chapman who murdered John Lennon was a huge fan of it. Does that make the book "tainted" in our eyes?
The point--it isn't the device, it's how it's misused.
I don't misuse my devices that way, and I don't need to justify my usage of them to ANYBODY.
So, when people are sitting together, why is every single person on their smartphone? Are they all using them... for what purpose? Why did they bother to get together since they are ignoring each other? What is the point?
What PURPOSE does the smartphone serve for someone who uses it for hours every day?
So, when people are sitting together, why is every single person on their smartphone? Are they all using them... for what purpose? Why did they bother to get together since they are ignoring each other? What is the point?
What PURPOSE does the smartphone serve for someone who uses it for hours every day?
Zombie robots.
The people I choose to spend my time with don't do that. That sounds like a you problem.
Eh at 14, I would get them phones. Look for a family plan.
My 10-year-old *10* is asking for a phone. She said the same thing to us no flip phone because no one uses those and it's embarrassing. To top it off she specifically requested an iPhone or Galaxy Note. She isn't getting a flip phone or any kind of phone until she learns how to take care of her belongings.
So, when people are sitting together, why is every single person on their smartphone? Are they all using them... for what purpose? Why did they bother to get together since they are ignoring each other? What is the point?
What PURPOSE does the smartphone serve for someone who uses it for hours every day?
Zombie robots.
It would be nice to be able to apply the trimmed mean principle here on CD and eliminate the most extreme responses, like this one.
So, when people are sitting together, why is every single person on their smartphone? Are they all using them... for what purpose? Why did they bother to get together since they are ignoring each other? What is the point?
What PURPOSE does the smartphone serve for someone who uses it for hours every day?
Zombie robots.
Ah, a lone voice of reason in a plastic world of phone crazies and the beginnings of mass societal mental illness. So, don't despair when other 'zombies' attempt to put you down, newtovenice. Time will undoubtedly show that you were correct. Just remember that society is getting dumber and dumber by the day and that isn't your fault.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strawflower
The people I choose to spend my time with don't do that. That sounds like a you problem.
Well, good for you and your acquaintances. However, do you live in and meet with your friends in a cave? That must be the case if you don't know what newtovenice is talking about. I can go to very few places on Planet Earth without seeing people glued to their 'smart' phones. The phones might be 'smart' but I could hardly say the same for the majority of their users.
Anyway, here's some food for thought:
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental illness. It's made up of two parts: obsessions and compulsions. People may experience obsessions, compulsions, or both, and they cause a lot of distress. Obsessions are unwanted and repetitive thoughts, urges, or images that don't go away.
Take away the smart-phone of the average smart-phone user and you will soon see symptoms of the above illness. Is this really a good thing for your precious kids and for society in general? Or, have the majority of today's parents lost the ability to actually 'think' for themselves?
No need to respond. I already know the answer.
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