5 ms·

Maybe they just want a phone to be a phone?

dasil003 11y ago
More power to them. I'm just saying that for me, it's throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If I have a feature phone it means I no longer have access to useful information like maps, business information, documents I may need when running errands, etc, etc.
- morganvachon 11y ago
  Ask your parents how they ran errands in the late 90s/early 2000s, before the rise of the smartphone. You might be shocked to realize that pencils, notebooks, and standalone GPS units aren't myths, they actually existed. Every new generation seems to wonder how life on Earth existed without the technology they were raised with. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
  - dasil003 11y ago
    LOL, my parents. You mean ask them how they ran errands in the 70s when I was born? I moved out of my parents house in 1994. I didn't get a cell phone at all until 2003. You think I'm some kid? You're entirely missing the point.
    - morganvachon 11y ago
      We're the same age then...but you came across as a technology-obsessed teen. My bad. I get it, modern conveniences are great, I just shudder to think how dependent so many people have become on it, to the point that one would feel crippled without their toys.
      - Grishnakh 11y ago
        I'm the same age as the other guy. Modern conveniences are great, so why should I go without? Just because some hipster complains "how dependent so many people have become on it"? People are pretty dependent on cars too. Our great-great-great grandparents did just fine with horses and buggies. Are you going to abandon your car now and get a horse? People used to get along just fine living in mud huts or lean-tos. Are you going to try living like that too, so that you don't feel dependent on modern conveniences like houses with running water? Why on earth would I want to go back to the days when it was easy to get lost, and I had to mess around with crappy paper maps, and had to try to find businesses using phone books, and you could only talk on the phone at certain points like your house and otherwise your spouse had no idea where you were? The rest of us abandoned all that crap for good reason: it was a pain in the ass.
        morganvachon 11y ago
        > Just because some hipster complains "how dependent so many people have become on it"? > Are you going to try living like that too, so that you don't feel dependent on modern conveniences like houses with running water? What's with the ad hominem "hipster" crap (this isn't Reddit, so please take your childish insults back there), and when did I ever say that I was living like that or insist that everyone else should? I'm a technophile, as much as anyone else here. I'm not saying we all need to go back to the stone age, I'm just saying that total dependence on any technology to the exclusion of self reliance is a bad thing. Putting words in my mouth to prove a point that doesn't exist makes zero sense, dude. To put it another way, sure I can call AAA when I'm on the side of the road with a flat tire, but what happens if I'm out of range of a cell tower? I still need to know how to change that tire. In other words, don't get so dependent on modern luxuries that you forget how to handle the necessities of life without them.
        Grishnakh 11y ago
        You're the one complaining about being "dependent" on technology, which sounds exactly like something a hipster would yap about. If the shoe fits, wear it. Every time you get in your car and drive any significant distance, you're "dependent" on technology. Are you going to try to walk 100 miles so you don't have to be dependent on technology? Cellphones are no different. AAA is not "technology", that's a service. Please try to learn the difference. Someone coming and doing something for you because you're too lazy, ignorant, or disabled to do it yourself (the last one is excusable, the others not so much) is not "technology" any more than a business having a telephone number is a "tech company". Changing a tire isn't hard, it even tells you how in your car's owner's manual. What this has to do with cellphones, I have no idea. If you don't have a cellphone with you because you're a hipster moron who doesn't want to be "dependent" on technology, and you're on a rural road and just had a car wreck, what's the "handling the necessities of life" method of calling an ambulance, smoke signals? Technology allows us to do things we couldn't do before, and turning your nose up at it because of some hipster ethos is just stupid and shortsighted. And no, you're not a technophile, or else you wouldn't have even come up with this idiotic argument.
      - dasil003 11y ago
        Here's the thing though: I'm not dependent on it. If I had to operate without it, no big deal. My point was simply that I don't want to make that decision based on a feeling of powerlessness against the bombardment and distraction the device creates. We have the power to choose how we use these devices, it doesn't have to own you.
        morganvachon 11y ago
        > We have the power to choose how we use these devices, it doesn't have to own you. Indeed! It's just so sad that there are legions of people who do allow their toys to own their lives, who would be lost without their modern conveniences. That's all I'm saying.

More power to them. I'm just saying that for me, it's throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If I have a feature phone it means I no longer have access to useful information like maps, business information, documents I may need when running errands, etc, etc.

morganvachon 11y ago
Ask your parents how they ran errands in the late 90s/early 2000s, before the rise of the smartphone. You might be shocked to realize that pencils, notebooks, and standalone GPS units aren't myths, they actually existed. Every new generation seems to wonder how life on Earth existed without the technology they were raised with. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
- dasil003 11y ago
  LOL, my parents. You mean ask them how they ran errands in the 70s when I was born? I moved out of my parents house in 1994. I didn't get a cell phone at all until 2003. You think I'm some kid? You're entirely missing the point.
  - morganvachon 11y ago
    We're the same age then...but you came across as a technology-obsessed teen. My bad. I get it, modern conveniences are great, I just shudder to think how dependent so many people have become on it, to the point that one would feel crippled without their toys.
    - Grishnakh 11y ago
      I'm the same age as the other guy. Modern conveniences are great, so why should I go without? Just because some hipster complains "how dependent so many people have become on it"? People are pretty dependent on cars too. Our great-great-great grandparents did just fine with horses and buggies. Are you going to abandon your car now and get a horse? People used to get along just fine living in mud huts or lean-tos. Are you going to try living like that too, so that you don't feel dependent on modern conveniences like houses with running water? Why on earth would I want to go back to the days when it was easy to get lost, and I had to mess around with crappy paper maps, and had to try to find businesses using phone books, and you could only talk on the phone at certain points like your house and otherwise your spouse had no idea where you were? The rest of us abandoned all that crap for good reason: it was a pain in the ass.
      - morganvachon 11y ago
        > Just because some hipster complains "how dependent so many people have become on it"? > Are you going to try living like that too, so that you don't feel dependent on modern conveniences like houses with running water? What's with the ad hominem "hipster" crap (this isn't Reddit, so please take your childish insults back there), and when did I ever say that I was living like that or insist that everyone else should? I'm a technophile, as much as anyone else here. I'm not saying we all need to go back to the stone age, I'm just saying that total dependence on any technology to the exclusion of self reliance is a bad thing. Putting words in my mouth to prove a point that doesn't exist makes zero sense, dude. To put it another way, sure I can call AAA when I'm on the side of the road with a flat tire, but what happens if I'm out of range of a cell tower? I still need to know how to change that tire. In other words, don't get so dependent on modern luxuries that you forget how to handle the necessities of life without them.
        Grishnakh 11y ago
        You're the one complaining about being "dependent" on technology, which sounds exactly like something a hipster would yap about. If the shoe fits, wear it. Every time you get in your car and drive any significant distance, you're "dependent" on technology. Are you going to try to walk 100 miles so you don't have to be dependent on technology? Cellphones are no different. AAA is not "technology", that's a service. Please try to learn the difference. Someone coming and doing something for you because you're too lazy, ignorant, or disabled to do it yourself (the last one is excusable, the others not so much) is not "technology" any more than a business having a telephone number is a "tech company". Changing a tire isn't hard, it even tells you how in your car's owner's manual. What this has to do with cellphones, I have no idea. If you don't have a cellphone with you because you're a hipster moron who doesn't want to be "dependent" on technology, and you're on a rural road and just had a car wreck, what's the "handling the necessities of life" method of calling an ambulance, smoke signals? Technology allows us to do things we couldn't do before, and turning your nose up at it because of some hipster ethos is just stupid and shortsighted. And no, you're not a technophile, or else you wouldn't have even come up with this idiotic argument.
    - dasil003 11y ago
      Here's the thing though: I'm not dependent on it. If I had to operate without it, no big deal. My point was simply that I don't want to make that decision based on a feeling of powerlessness against the bombardment and distraction the device creates. We have the power to choose how we use these devices, it doesn't have to own you.
      - morganvachon 11y ago
        > We have the power to choose how we use these devices, it doesn't have to own you. Indeed! It's just so sad that there are legions of people who do allow their toys to own their lives, who would be lost without their modern conveniences. That's all I'm saying.