I’m not going back that’s for sure. I do feel kinda of dragged along though, I didn’t have a cell phone until my early 20s and only became a full adopter when smart phones were ubiquitous. I just can imagine a life that was just a fulfilling without the existence of the “smart” phone.
Comment on I cannot tell you a way my life has genuinely gotten better since the advent of "smart" phones.
bradboimler@lemmy.world 2 months ago
If you don’t find value in smartphones I can respect that
You’d have to pry my own from my cold, dead hands. I have a map of the entire world (mostly) in my pocket! That in itself I find invaluable. I use Google Maps all the time. To find places and to navigate to them. On foot, public transit, and car. Here and in other countries.
Sure, I used to manage before Maps was a thing but do I ever want to go back? Nope.
That is one killer feature for me
And yeah I definitely see how life changed for the worse because of them. I actively moderate my own behavior.
Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 2 months ago
bradboimler@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I hear ya. I too was a late cell and smart- phone adopter.
If I couldn’t use them anymore I would be annoyed at first. But I would adjust and yes, would certainly lead a fulfilling life regardless.
I myself am in between both extremes. Here are some ways I remain old school even though I’ve bought into the smartphone era:
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I remain in a real sense anti-app and keep them to a minimum on my phone. I keep their permissions as locked down as I can and I review every update pretty extensively. It’s ridiculous how everyone and their brother wants me to install their app. No thank you. I’m quite content getting up to adjust the thermostat and don’t need a fully automated smart home.
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If I’m socializing with someone they get my full attention. If I need to look something up, respond to a text, etc I excuse myself.
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When I’m out and about I’m present in my environment. “Smartphone zombie” behavior is foreign to me.
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I take full advantage of the digital well being and bedtime features of my phone. I set timers for my addicting apps.
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Oh, when I do drive I am hands off with my phone. If I really do need to use it then I pull over.
Etc
Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Sometimes u just wonder if we, as a people, will set down the phone and say, “that was interesting.” And kinda move on. Not like throwing them away but maybe just realizing, this isn’t everything.
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theonlytruescotsman@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
You mean portable GPS devices that have been around for a decade before smart phones?
stevedice@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Do portable GPS also have a list of every single business near my location?
bradboimler@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I was content and managed just fine with paper maps and directions before smartphones. When I got my first one it rendered those devices obsolete for me.
lurklurk@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I had those. They were much worse.
Test_Tickles@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Seriously. Much much worse.
First you had to pay a fortune for a device, with which you may or may not get very limited map updates. Then after that you had to pay quite a bit to update. Even then it could take a year for permanent road changes to make it to the map updates, and temporary changes were never shown. Road construction, wrecks, and temporary closures were your problem. And God forbid your route took you through a closed area because there was no way to route around it. You had to find a place to park so you could look over the tiny little map to figure out your own way around the blockage, or else you could pick a direction and then yolo your route until you were far enough away from the problem area that the gps would finally choose a route that didn’t go through the problem area.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. For instance, all the above assumes that it accepted the address you were going to as a valid address. There was nothing like the joy of typing in an address and having the device tell you that it doesn’t exist.lurklurk@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I rented a car at some point where you had to input the address letter by letter using a little scrollwheel kinda thing.
Smartphones have issues, but the map thing is a killer feature in itself.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Remember keeping a stack of bus route maps in your bag? Ha ha ha, dumb times.
bradboimler@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Printing out the MapQuest directions. Keeping the Thomas Guide in your car.
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
Suddenly, printing stuff has declined in popularity when you could just have all the data with you in your phone. Don’t even have to be stored locally when you can access the cloud instead.