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No, it isn't smoking, or drinking, or drugs, or gambling, or shopping, or pizza with 12 toppings.
It's your smartphone.
How many times a day do you check it? What if you couldn't check it? How painful would withdrawal be? Do you eat silently with friends or family...all of you on your phones? Do you cross a street without looking up? Do you miss an hour of sleep in order to check your Facebook page? To respond to a tweet? To send a photo of your bare feet on Instagram? Or some other bare part of your anatomy....??
Do you find that this distracts you from life? Or does life distract you from your phone?
Do you judge other people by the make, model, and cost of their phones? Is your phone a status symbol? Do you panic if you can't find it? Is your whole life pretty much on that phone? What do you think would have happened on 9-11 if everybody had their faces buried in the phones? What do you think will happen if there is another crisis, as bad or worse than that one, if everyone is busy with their phone?
When it comes to survival, could you survive without that phone? Can you think for yourself, without it?
Very true, but on the bright side, those that can't even find their way home without their smart phone will hardly be a threat and will expire quickly in a crisis.
I thought the thread might be about caffeine. If you drink copious amounts of coffee and caffeine everyday, the headache can be quite severe for several days if you abruptly stop. I also wouldn't want to live in a big city if the drugs (both legal and prescriptions) and booze and cigarettes ran out....
I agree that people are addicted to smartphones. I try to only use mine as a tool. I have to pray to the cell service gods (getting a booster soon) to even get a signal and a get slow internet (no videos, city data and craigslist are pretty much the only websites that I can load out here) so I think I'll be fine .
I will continue to have a smart phone. It's my connection to the outside world and I justify the pretty high bill to myself by not having home phone, cable or satellite TV or internet service. I would prefer never to go back to a flip phone because of the internet issue, but I would survive if it was necessary.
No, it isn't smoking, or drinking, or drugs, or gambling, or shopping, or pizza with 12 toppings.
It's your smartphone.
How many times a day do you check it? What if you couldn't check it? How painful would withdrawal be? Do you eat silently with friends or family...all of you on your phones? Do you cross a street without looking up? Do you miss an hour of sleep in order to check your Facebook page? To respond to a tweet? To send a photo of your bare feet on Instagram? Or some other bare part of your anatomy....??
I'm not exactly sure what a smart phone is.
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Do you find that this distracts you from life? Or does life distract you from your phone?
I don't turn my cell phone on unless I make a call or I need to receive a call. I probably make ten to twenty calls per year, but I can't remember the last time I received a call. I pay $2 for every day that I use my phone I can make unlimited calls, however. I must put $100 into my account once per year to prevent air time from expiring. That's a chunk , but it's worth it .
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Do you judge other people by the make, model, and cost of their phones?
I've only seen a few.
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Is your phone a status symbol?
No
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Do you panic if you can't find it?
No, because I've trained myself to check my pockets before I put my clothes into the washing machine.
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Is your whole life pretty much on that phone?
No]
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What do you think would have happened on 9-11 if everybody had their faces buried in the phones?
The same thing that did happen. The al-Qaeda folks would have been paying attention to the task at hand just as they did without smart phones.
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What do you think will happen if there is another crisis, as bad or worse than that one, if everyone is busy with their phone?
People will end their calls quickly if necessary.
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When it comes to survival, could you survive without that phone?
Yes
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Can you think for yourself, without it?
Yes
The whole smart phone phenomenon seems largely confined to certain regions and certain groups. It's apparently common among people from the Northeast and among Orientals as a group. I don't see it where I live and I have never seen it even in Billings, Montana or Salt Lake City except among the aforementioned Orientals.
There's a big world outside of New York City and its area of influence.
I agree that people are addicted to smartphones. I try to only use mine as a tool.... but I would survive if it was necessary.
I guess neither of you are in the same category as the phone-obsessed in the video.
What is important is this: our society is being distracted from their surroundings. They are oblivious to the people, places, and events around them. They cannot think for themselves, as everything they depend on is on their phones. It should be in their heads. They feel they need not remember anything, as the phone will do that for them. We will have at least two generations who cannot handle life without their phones.
It's a thin, flat thing that allows you to access the internet, as well as to make calls/texts. From what you describe regarding airtime, I don't think you have one (nor do I).
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Originally Posted by Happy in Wyoming
There's a big world outside of New York City and its area of influence.
I have no idea. It's about 12 hours away from northern Maine. I haven't been there in 2 decades.
If a person is having nicotine withdrawal or alcohol withdrawal or caffeine or heroin withdrawal, or incapable of functioning without a smartphone, RIP.
No. However, I didn't think that the smart phone phenomenon would exist where you live.
It's everywhere, even in rural TN. In Maine, it's tough to get some small businesses on the phone. My gravel dealer will only respond to texts, not calls. I went into a generator dealer and found 2 sales clerks at the counter - both playing with smartphones. No wonder American business is going down the crapper. Employees need to learn how to answer the phone by voice, and to pay attention to a customer when he walks in. They've lost a lot of my business.
I hope to retire at the end of June. The VERY FIRST thing I'm going to do is smash my cell phone (a flip phone) with a sledge. I don't want to cal anyone. I don't want to be called. I don't want the spies tracking my position. And if I need information, I'll go to the library and look it up in a book.
I've had new patients come to me in recent years saying they had been seeing younger doctors who don't even look at them, but sit there typing their interview into their tablets/smart phones/computers.
1984 anyone?
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