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Old 03-14-2018, 07:16 AM
 
Location: Spain
12,722 posts, read 7,501,719 times
Reputation: 22628

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Quote:
Originally Posted by kevxu View Post
The smartphone puts people in another psychological space entirely. It is the world of the Digital Nipple.
Absolute nonsense. Everyone who owns a smart phone isn't one of those people who can't walk down the street, eat at a restaurant, or stand in line without their phone out constantly absorbing social media. Think about it... the people who own smart phones but aren't constantly focused on them, would you even know they own one? Nope.

I have a smartphone but don't do Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. whatever. Sure I email and text but I don't even have cell service so only check those when I have wifi back in the apartment. The only time I probably look absorbed in my cell phone is on long bus rides when I play video games to pass time.
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Old 03-14-2018, 07:28 AM
 
Location: Tricity, PL
61,217 posts, read 86,083,221 times
Reputation: 130935
Quote:
Originally Posted by lieqiang View Post
I don't think anyone is arguing that it's impossible to lead a full life without a smartphone, you seem to be so caught up in celebrating your ability to live life without one that you're inventing a counter-argument to rail against. There is a big difference between saying a smartphone makes travel easier and saying it's essential or inconceivable to not have one.
...

1. I'm retired, so clearly my smart phone has nothing to do with escaping from work.
2. I've not seen anyone claiming they can't do anything without a smartphone, that's your strawman.
I agree. I also "can" live without my phone. Not sure for how long (don't have landline anymore), but it happened numerous times that I forgot it at work (locked in my desk) on Friday and didn't retrieve it till Monday morning.
Obviously having it by me was not worth the 52 mile r/t drive, and few times I didn't even noticed it's absence. Evidently my phone is not attached to my hip...
And no, I didn't experience nomophobic symptoms either.
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Old 03-14-2018, 07:30 AM
 
Location: Spain
12,722 posts, read 7,501,719 times
Reputation: 22628
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian_M View Post
Sure, you can dig through menus of places to eat, but Only those that have a web presence (and that's probably not even Half of what's out there), the best places I've eaten still don't have a web presence.
Many places with reviews online and photos (or descriptions) of their menus don't have their own web presence. All it takes is for people to add a review to any of the many restaurant review websites, where you can often find reviews of some of the smallest little Mom & Pop restaurants in cities all over the world. We've found many a gem of a restaurant just from walking by, but also purposely headed a certain direction after reading that whatever local place on the corner is known among locals as the best xyz served in town.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian_M View Post
You can probably give yourself a tour of some place or another and get the gist of the place, but when I was in Italy and toured Herculaneum I spoke with the English guides (private people who do their own thing) and found a man who helped uncover and preserve both that site and Pompeii. And yes, the camera... that would be a good excuse if it weren't for the fact that very high quality pocket cameras can be had for less than the cost of a new "phone".
Having a smartphone doesn't preclude you from using that same guide at Pompeii, in fact I submit most people walking around with guides or on guided tours have smart phones that they aren't using to replace the guided experience they wanted.

Pocket camera can be bought yes but with the cell phone you also have a digital map, a communication device, a flashlight, a language translator tool, a notebook, a digital library reader, a research tool, etc. so it is kind of apples vs. oranges to just compare the two devices in cost.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian_M View Post
Yes, it's all personal preference. Some don't WANT to experience unknown, find no joy in it. I like it, even the difficult parts when things don't go right are things I remember later and can usually laugh about. When everything just goes well, the memories don't stand out quite as much. Maybe I like to challenge myself a little more?
Wow you really think that people who own and use smartphones when traveling don't experience unknown, find no joy in it, or don't like to challenge themselves as much as you? There are people who own smart phones that take the chicken buses from country to country, and people without smartphones who take an international flight. There are people with smartphones who use the public transportation and their two feet to get to the cool sites, and people without who sign up for a tour at their hotel. There are people with smart phones that visit a country on their own managing every aspect of it, and people without smartphones who sign up for the prepacked 15 day rout where they get herded around wearing name tags.

Owning or not owning a phone doesn't define you as liking more challenges or finding more joy in experiencing the unknown. It's just a another tool in the traveler's tool belt. I'm surprised at how many people who prefer not to use smart phones are breaking their own arms patting themselves on the back due to some fantasy that it makes them somehow more courageous or adventurous.
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Old 03-14-2018, 07:48 AM
 
Location: Tricity, PL
61,217 posts, read 86,083,221 times
Reputation: 130935
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian_M View Post
CD is a biased platform in regards to this, we're a bunch of old farts (mostly) who were around before the mass adoption of cell phones.

Yes, it's all personal preference. Some don't WANT to experience unknown, find no joy in it. I like it, even the difficult parts when things don't go right are things I remember later and can usually laugh about. When everything just goes well, the memories don't stand out quite as much. Maybe I like to challenge myself a little more? Or maybe they ARE God's Gift to human kind and I'm just oblivious to the euphoric joys of owning one, having made the decision that I'd rather spend that money on more travel.
... and some just see everything in black and white. (dependent and glued to the phone vs not using it at all, ever).
Interesting how many people tend to over-simplify stimuli in our social worlds - seeing things that could be conceptualized as complex and nuanced, as simple and categorical...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian_M View Post
Owning or not owning a phone doesn't define you as liking more challenges or finding more joy in experiencing the unknown. It's just a another tool in the traveler's tool belt. I'm surprised at how many people who prefer not to use smart phones are breaking their own arms patting themselves on the back due to some fantasy that it makes them somehow more courageous or adventurous.
... and definitely superior to the rest of us, the dumb phone addicts ...

Last edited by elnina; 03-14-2018 at 08:06 AM..
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Old 03-14-2018, 09:00 AM
 
21,382 posts, read 7,861,355 times
Reputation: 18148
Quote:
Originally Posted by cebuan View Post
Before there was GPS, people could find their way back to their hotel by dead reckoning. I've done it hundreds of times. You had to pay attention to how you got where you are.
Exactly.

People who depend solely on GPS scare me.

How can you plan a road trip and NEVER look at a map? Just Make Left Here. I don't understand it.
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Old 03-14-2018, 09:08 AM
 
16,350 posts, read 12,329,286 times
Reputation: 59364
Quote:
Originally Posted by newtovenice View Post
Exactly.

People who depend solely on GPS scare me.

How can you plan a road trip and NEVER look at a map? Just Make Left Here. I don't understand it.
Who said anything about depending solely on GPS. It's just much easier to use something that fits in a pocket and is automatically updated rather than carrying around maps that are limited by boundaries and can be very outdated.
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Old 03-14-2018, 09:10 AM
 
Location: Tricity, PL
61,217 posts, read 86,083,221 times
Reputation: 130935
Quote:
Originally Posted by hertfordshire View Post
Who said anything about depending solely on GPS. It's just much easier to use something that fits in a pocket and is automatically updated rather than carrying around maps that are limited by boundaries and can be very outdated.
I think (and hope) his response was sarcastic

Not to mention that someone driving a car would have first to find a parking spot (good luck with that in some big cities) to stop the car, unfold the map and study and memorize the direction ...
There would be no warnings about constructions, accidents, traffic jams, street closures or one way streets. And no time saving redirections.
Still doable? Sure! But stressful and time consuming.

What worked 20 years ago just doesn't work that well anymore.

Last edited by elnina; 03-14-2018 at 09:22 AM..
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Old 03-14-2018, 09:22 AM
 
4,499 posts, read 5,004,033 times
Reputation: 13334
When the wife and I travel, the phone is shut off at home before we leave and isn't turned on again until we are back at the home airport and use it to call a taxi. Never, ever have I turned it on during a vacation. Our home phone goes to an answering machine at all times and our cell phones are used only if one of us go somewhere alone otherwise they are shut off. Someday we may be important enough that the world has to be in constant touch with us but it hasn't happened in 75 years so I doubt that it will ever happen.
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Old 03-14-2018, 09:27 AM
 
Location: Cebu, Philippines
5,869 posts, read 4,169,309 times
Reputation: 10940
There was a time when the same discussion could have taken place with Lonely Planet at the center of the conversation.

When I first traveled Africa, there was no Lonely Planet, no guidebook at all except the amazing Michelin Maps (also I did meet a traveler who had a some paged of a mimeographed Africa guide, assembled by some students at Oxford). The map showed the roads, indicated if they were driveable in the wet season, and the dot for a town indicated whether it had sleeping accommodations or not. That was it. It got me from Cairo to Cape Town to Sierra Leone. Then, when we got Lonely Planet, we wondered how we could possibly get along without it.

My wife and I spent two years in South America, and started to wonder if we ought to throw away the handbook, we were letting us restrict ourselves, and it wasn;t really necessary. Twice, we accidentally left it in the seat pocket on a bus, and when the conductor came running after us with it, we were disappointed that it was returned, but we couldn't force ourselves to throw it away.

Then in China we had LP, and used it to find a very obscure back route from Hong Kong to Vietnam, which was nice, it took ten days, and we didn't meet a single traveler along the way. But the main value of the LP was to point to the Chinese names of towns we wanted to go to, and have somebody put us on the right bus. Once we were through China, we never used LP or any other guide book for the next seven months. (We had the thin SEA LP, which basically hit the high spots.) That was still 1996, there were still no online connections, but email could be sent from post offices. Anybody remember post offices?

All of which is pretty boring, but I mention it only to show that this is not the first time that travelers became dependent on an in-depth source, and then were afraid to deviate from it and turn themselves loose to find their own way through foreign lands. There will always be people from before you time to say Yes, it is possible to get around without the assurance of people who went before you. In fact, it's exhilarating, and I still prefer to go that way, much of the time, but I also still book my airport hotels through booking.com. I just compromise when it suits my immediate needs.
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Old 03-14-2018, 10:10 AM
 
Location: Harbor Springs, Michigan
2,294 posts, read 3,409,731 times
Reputation: 4654
We have a weekend cottage that has no internet/tv/phone nor cell coverage at all. Its nice to disconnect for a weekend, not sure I could do it for longer.

When we travel overseas we use our phones more with apps and gps, easiest way to find hotels and food etc.
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