5 ms·

Honest question: how do you stay in touch with friends?

simoncion 3y ago
I'm not the OP, but for me it's email, phone calls, instant messaging, paper mail sometimes. Surely your pocket computer isn't your only computer? Like, you do own a computer with a physical keyboard, right? Pre-COVID, when I made plans to go out with folks, we arranged a time and place to meet, and, like, arrived at that place roughly around that time. It's pretty easy, really.
- Dalewyn 3y ago
  >Surely your pocket computer isn't your only computer? Like, you do own a computer with a physical keyboard, right? More and more people, particularly the younger generations, don't have anything besides their smartphone because what's the point? It's additional expense, additional maintenance, additional clutter, additional mess. They can do everything they need on their phone.
  - flir 3y ago
    I know they're out there, hell my wife doesn't turn her laptop on from one week to the next, but I still find it hard to fathom. This is the gulf UX design is supposed to cross, I guess. Designing for people who engage with tech in utterly different ways to me.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      There certainly is a gulf. On the one hand, I rarely use my smartphone at home because I have computers. On the other hand, I hear stories from parents at work whose kids don't want a computer because "Why would I need one? My phone works fine."
  - _w1tm 3y ago
    > More and more people, particularly the younger generations, don't have anything besides their smartphone because what's the point? It's additional expense, additional maintenance, additional clutter, additional mess. I’m 40 and if I wasn’t a software engineer I wouldn’t own a desktop / laptop computer. As you say, what’s the point? Everything except for software development can be done on a smartphone. Why even bother installing an instant messaging application on the computer when you can just take the phone out of the pocket instead of walking to the room where the computer happens to be? Even when I’m working at the computer I use the phone for music, messaging and news.
    - albert_e 3y ago
      > Everything except for software development can be done on a smartphone. That sounds like a little too broad a generalization. A typical office worker who creates or consumes documents, presentations, accesses corporate apps (half of them still 90s tech with lipstick), submit proposals to clients, review others' work, attending multiple hours long zoom calls with screenshare, etc ... are still using at least 13" laptop screens to do a lot of their day to day work. Sure a sales executive or a senior manager might get away by just typing one liner commands to minions on their smartphone, hitting approve buttons on expense apps, and just listening into team calls, etc. -- but lower in the hierarchy where the real numbers and usage are ... we still have physical keyboards and mice, and decent sized screens (often multiple monitors) to help us stay productive.
    - singleshot_ 3y ago
      Wait until you’re fifty and you can barely see the stupid thing.
- ghaff 3y ago
  I'd be far more inclined to assume someone didn't have a computer--or at least ready access to one--than didn't have a smartphone.
- vel0city 3y ago
  I know several households which don't have a traditional laptop or desktop computer. Smartphones and maybe a tablet. Maybe a work-issued laptop, but usually that stays at the office and isn't for personal use.
ThinkingGuy 3y ago
e-mail and my work phone. I'm a married man, so my wife does most of the social arrangements anyway. Recently I got a JMP.chat number so I could send and receive text messages, and have been very happy with it. When I leave my job and have to give up the work number, I'll probably break down and buy either a Pinephone or Librem (maybe there'll be other options by then).

I'm not the OP, but for me it's email, phone calls, instant messaging, paper mail sometimes. Surely your pocket computer isn't your only computer? Like, you do own a computer with a physical keyboard, right? Pre-COVID, when I made plans to go out with folks, we arranged a time and place to meet, and, like, arrived at that place roughly around that time. It's pretty easy, really.

Dalewyn 3y ago
>Surely your pocket computer isn't your only computer? Like, you do own a computer with a physical keyboard, right? More and more people, particularly the younger generations, don't have anything besides their smartphone because what's the point? It's additional expense, additional maintenance, additional clutter, additional mess. They can do everything they need on their phone.
- flir 3y ago
  I know they're out there, hell my wife doesn't turn her laptop on from one week to the next, but I still find it hard to fathom. This is the gulf UX design is supposed to cross, I guess. Designing for people who engage with tech in utterly different ways to me.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    There certainly is a gulf. On the one hand, I rarely use my smartphone at home because I have computers. On the other hand, I hear stories from parents at work whose kids don't want a computer because "Why would I need one? My phone works fine."
- _w1tm 3y ago
  > More and more people, particularly the younger generations, don't have anything besides their smartphone because what's the point? It's additional expense, additional maintenance, additional clutter, additional mess. I’m 40 and if I wasn’t a software engineer I wouldn’t own a desktop / laptop computer. As you say, what’s the point? Everything except for software development can be done on a smartphone. Why even bother installing an instant messaging application on the computer when you can just take the phone out of the pocket instead of walking to the room where the computer happens to be? Even when I’m working at the computer I use the phone for music, messaging and news.
  - albert_e 3y ago
    > Everything except for software development can be done on a smartphone. That sounds like a little too broad a generalization. A typical office worker who creates or consumes documents, presentations, accesses corporate apps (half of them still 90s tech with lipstick), submit proposals to clients, review others' work, attending multiple hours long zoom calls with screenshare, etc ... are still using at least 13" laptop screens to do a lot of their day to day work. Sure a sales executive or a senior manager might get away by just typing one liner commands to minions on their smartphone, hitting approve buttons on expense apps, and just listening into team calls, etc. -- but lower in the hierarchy where the real numbers and usage are ... we still have physical keyboards and mice, and decent sized screens (often multiple monitors) to help us stay productive.
  - singleshot_ 3y ago
    Wait until you’re fifty and you can barely see the stupid thing.
ghaff 3y ago
I'd be far more inclined to assume someone didn't have a computer--or at least ready access to one--than didn't have a smartphone.
vel0city 3y ago
I know several households which don't have a traditional laptop or desktop computer. Smartphones and maybe a tablet. Maybe a work-issued laptop, but usually that stays at the office and isn't for personal use.

ThinkingGuy 3y ago

e-mail and my work phone. I'm a married man, so my wife does most of the social arrangements anyway. Recently I got a JMP.chat number so I could send and receive text messages, and have been very happy with it. When I leave my job and have to give up the work number, I'll probably break down and buy either a Pinephone or Librem (maybe there'll be other options by then).