I've Freaking Had It With Smart Phones! (business)

[Minervah]

I have a stupid phone. It'a clam sell phone that doesn't take pictures or has WiFi. It's supposed to get onto the Internet but all I get is the weather and not even that sometimes. It's three years old and my twenty something year old niece tells me it's outdated.

Outdated at age three? Then I won't tell you how old the phone was it replaced.

I had to use a phone extensively for work for nearly forty years. I hated the phone. People called and yelled at me because they were mad at my company. I hated coming home and talking on the phone even to friends and family because of this. I never liked chatting on the phone. Come visit if you wanted to talk.

So now I am retired. I always dreamed of spending my days in a semi phone-free existence. But then came cells phones, Iphones, Smart Phones all kinds of phones. They're all around me, everywhere. I must be being punished for something horrible I have done in a previous life.

I want to be one of those people who gets to go to the moon or Mars or wherever. Anyplace where there are no phones all around me. Heaven is an unlisted number.

[Who Dat]

LOL, my wife and friends complain that I never answer the phone.

I am quick to inform them that I pay for it as a convenience to me (in case I want to call someone), not a convenience for you to be able to reach me at the drop of a hat.

Social media also drives me nuts, does anyone really care if you're eating at the Outback with Jennifer and her high school BFF?

Not me, that's for sure.

[catdad7x]

Originally Posted by Who Dat

LOL, my wife and friends complain that I never answer the phone.

I am quick to inform them that I pay for it as a convenience to me (in case I want to call someone), not a convenience for you to be able to reach me at the drop of a hat.

Social media also drives me nuts, does anyone really care if you're eating at the Outback with Jennifer and her high school BFF?

Not me, that's for sure.

That's the way I feel about them too. I have a 9 year old cell phone that's usually turned off unless I'm on the road or otherwise away from my home & land line, and I rarely give out my cell number. My family members can still reach me if needed, and I don't have to put up with needless phone calls (except at home).
I've always considered phones to be an invasion of my privacy, but unfortunately, they're a necessary evil in today's world. I have no need for all the wireless/social media craze, despite what the wireless providers would like me to think. I'll give them credit though, they have figured out how convince people they can't live without it, and will reap the profits for decades to come. I'm just glad I don't have to pay their phone bills.

[Minervah]

It always cracks me up when I'm on the bus which is quite often since I don't drive, to hear people on the phone tell the person on the other end, "I'm on the bus."

This is after I heard that those same people at the bus stop not more than five minutes earlier on the phone telling someone, maybe the same person, "I'm waiting for the bus."

I wonder if when they get off the bus do they phone and say "I got off the bus."

On my land line at home, if I recognize the ring tone I have assigned friends and family and people I want to talk to I'll pick up. If I don't hear the ring tone, I'll check caller ID. If I don't recognize the number or I get one of those "unavailable" displays I'll let it go to voicemail.

My voice message says, "Leave a message and I'll call you back;don't leave a message and I won't. If you're a robot, don't even bother.

I don't really have a problem with Smart Phones per se, I can see where they can be a handy item. It's when people go to extremes with them or use them to the point of being rude, I have do have a problem with those who are using them.

[shyguylh]

Originally Posted by ATG5

I'm glad some of you that aren't tethered to your phone are doing more important things, such as being nosy and worried about what other people do in their personal space, lol.
...
One thing I love is the assumption that people think since we're buried in our phones, we must be doing mind-numbing tasks in our mundane and boring lives.

Yeah, because people like me don't use their smartphone/devices to:...[any number of PDA functions--calendar, reading article, getting directions to a place, texting your child's social number to your spouse at the doctor's office]....

Now if you're with a SO or a child or whatever, and they're buried in their phone, playing a game or laughing at snapchats while you're trying to have a conversation, that's one thing. But if they aren't bothering anyone, then I'm not sure why it's so bothersome to the anti-smartphone crowd.

I have a date tonight, and will have my phone face down on the table, just in case I receive an important message, or want to reference something that I can pull up on my phone. And I don't give a Massachusetts if anyone has a problem with that.

and

Originally Posted by Drake744

I can never go anywhere without my phone (and charger if I'm gone awhile) and am rarely not using it in some capacity..........and couldn't care less what anyone thinks of it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I concur completely.

I use my phone all I want, when I want, how I want, and BECAUSE I want (and not on the road where I'm crashing into everybody). If I wanted other people's opinions, I'd beat it out of them.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by shyguylh

and



Thank you, thank you, thank you. I concur completely.

I use my phone all I want, when I want, how I want, and BECAUSE I want (and not on the road where I'm crashing into everybody). If I wanted other people's opinions, I'd beat it out of them.

Well, see, that's just fine as long as other people don't have to listen to your opinions while you are talking on the phone in public, or at work or in a crowded restaurant or bus or other place where they are a captive audience to your phone conversation and can't escape. But I am sure you don't do that.

That's one of the really annoying things other people do with their phones.

[JustMike77]

At 63, it would be easy to be curmudgeonly about all of the mindless phonebots I see wandering mindlessly from place to place with their eyes glued to their phones, HOWEVER, I do find that they are very helpful in my business. I am on the road most of the day and the ability to check email, accept new orders, send/receive texts and make phone calls really does have a positive effect on my productivity and hence my life. I don't use 99% of the apps that are on the phone, but when someone is a half hour late to an appointment, it's nice being able to turn on the Slingbox app and watch my home TV or read the news or check stock prices.

I do still refer to it as my "car phone" though. Old habits I guess.

[LiaLia]

For the second time this summer, had a house full of people over for a few nights. One evening I commented on the number of devices - phone, pc's, tablets, cameras - in use in the house, all simultaneously, by every single person except me. Two college enrolled adults and three children were doing schoolwork online. Others were just fooling around. One morning my daughter and I noticed someone had plugged their tablet into the outlet next to a bathroom sink, for charging. Even she was startled. With all the kids in the house, that could easily have been the end of the tablet. But it wasn't. The kids showed a higher reverence for digital hand helds than anyone else. Later I realized that the owner of the tablet had charged it up at the sink that night because there wasn't one other outlet easily available anywhere in the house. But to your point, there was still lots of interaction and conversation among us and no one ever touched their phone at dinner thank heaven.

[RomulusXXV]

Originally Posted by RomulusXXV

A "Double Amen" from me. I don't have any form of a mobile communication device. Don't need one. Refuse to have one. They were designed primarily for ignorant people whose lives are as mundane as those they communicate with.

Originally Posted by ATG5

This had to be one of the more ridiculous statements I've heard in a long time.

Well, perhaps ONE of the most ridiculous statements you've heard in a long time. If you want persistent ridiculous statements check out the constant status updates that one empty-headed 'drone' is sending to another. This is school-kid stuff that adults have become caught up in and addicted to. Similarly so with Facebook. I never before realized that my friends could so easily revert to becoming morons until I signed up to Facebook. I was told that "everyone is on Facebook ...it's great!" It was so great for me that I resigned my account within several days. I found the conversations so embarrassingly juvenile and unbelievably meaningless. When a friend posted, "my young'uns got the hiccups" and received about 150 "likes" ...it was time for me to leave. Mindless stuff!

Originally Posted by ATG5

Lol, gotta love the, "I don't own a smartphone, so I'm better than you" delusional crowd.

No, not better than anyone else. Delusional crowd? You said that, not me, but there's probably more of an element of truth in that than you realize. I don't need a smartphone to affirm my status to others. I hate the damned things and I hate what they have done to society. I'm just giving my opinion on a public forum. I've said what I said, I mean it and, as far as I'm concerned, case closed!

[blanker]

I don't have one. I have no use. I have a CELLAR PHONE. It doesn't take pictures, but I can text. I don't carry it around. I go to work, it stays home. If I drive some distance, I take it, in case of car problems. That's the main reason I have it really because pay phones don't exist.