The Smartphone's Role In Dumbing Down America (dollars, government, programs)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't have a smart phone. do i miss having one.... no. i don't miss being tethered to a phone because i have to answer a phone call or text immediately when summoned, dependent on it for my schedule, etc. i'm grateful to not have a smart phone impinge on my life anymore. it is annoying that no one believes me when i say i don't even have a cell phone.
i'm considered a dinosaur by many, but i don't think so. i'm a rebel.
I do have one. But I rarely touch it. It sits on my table at home and waits for a text message or a call, which are quite infrequent. The main reason I even have it is because it takes the place of a landline at a fraction of the cost (mine is prepaid and last year cost me about $120 for the entire year--so about $10 a month). Generally speaking, I find smartphones annoying as hell and they do very little that I care to do--mostly text messages. I could easily live without any sort of phone at all if not for work needing to get ahold of me once in a blue moon.
For the record, I had a "dumbphone" cell for many, many years until the cell company told me it would no longer function with the new towers. If it were up to me, I'd still have that flip phone from over twenty years ago. Better yet, a landline phone on the wall. As I said, the only advantage from my point of view of a cell phone is lower cost.
As for the OP and smartphones "dumbing down" America, that is obvious to me. It goes without even saying. All I have to do is look around me.
I will also say that smartphones are the biggest waste of labor costs that companies have ever had to face. Those "phone zombies" staring at their smartphone screens when they are supposed to be working may as well just be sleeping on the job--makes no difference from a productivity standpoint. I wonder how many billions of dollars are flushed down the toilet each year in wasted wages (being paid to dink on the smartphone all day)? I see it ALL the time everywhere I go.
Dumbing down America? You say this as if it's a US phenomenon. Smartphones are prevalent all over the world. China has 4x more smartphones than the US and India has twice as many.
Smartphones are just another invention. Every generation has advanced our world with new technology. In one way we are becoming smarter but in another way we are being dumbed down because we rely on these inventions do tasks that we would normally do.
Very few people see the internet as access to the biggest library you could ever imagine.
Good call.
I have always described the Internet thusly:
"Imagine the greatest library in the history of mankind, where every single piece of knowledge thus far available is within your grasp after only a minute or two of searching. Now bury that library deep underground, and have only one entrance/exit stairwell. Put a cover over that stairwell, then camouflage the cover. Then build a giant circus/carnival/brothel/opium den/red light district around that point that extends out in a 100 mile radius. and after that, enclose that circle with a 500 mile wide moat of poison, sewage, broken glass and various dead things.
It's teaching them that they don't need to actually learn anything because Google.
Which brings up another issue with "smartphones" and google...
It's putting technology in the enviable position the Catholic church was in during the dark ages. At that time the Church controlled nearly all "knowledge" (in the form of authority, government, worship, and printed matter). Whatever the church "experts" decided was the truth... it was the truth.
Now we have government and big corporations with that same power. Who do you think programs "Google" to tell you what it tells you? And how in the hell do you KNOW it's the truth? Because "Google told me so"? Well let me tell you something: that is no different than saying "because my priest and magistrate told me so." It's exactly the same kind of control of knowledge and suppression of anything the "powers that be" deem undesirable. We used to be called a "sinner" or "witch" if we disbelieved the words of the "authorities." Now we are simply canceled. There is a very grave danger in unquestioningly accepting "truth" as told you by an all-powerful central "authority."
So, the next time some old person feels all "this generation is stupid" because they don't do things the way that they do...maybe consider that you're still digging with a shovel while they're using a backhoe.
Nope, they are getting dumber.
In fact, studies have shown by 5 IQ points less per generation since WW2.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
