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> One can live in a city and not own a smart TV, nor a smartphone I believe parent's point is: no, one cannot. One cannot live in a (modern Western urban) soci
by shadowgovt 2y ago
> One can live in a city and not own a smart TV, nor a smartphone
I believe parent's point is: no, one cannot. One cannot live in a (modern Western urban) society and not have a smartphone.
The people who do are now living in a different society, where, among other things:
- they have to plan to stop at a bank to take out physical cash
- they have to schedule their days in an entirely different method from their peers with smartphones
- they are less connected to opportunities and access to government and private services because those services come via smart devices and assume smart device ownership
Not to put too fine a point on it: there are restaurants that give you a QR code instead of a paper menu now. Are you and I living in the same society if I can order food there and you can't?
- ryandrake 2y agoYou just enumerated some of the things people can do to live without a smartphone, demonstrating it is possible (albeit difficult). I think we need to stop calling things "not possible" just because they take effort and lifestyle changes to accomplish.
- shadowgovt 2y agoI mean, one can live without a house too. Perhaps we are just quibbling on definitions if we're arguing about whether being homeless counts as living in the same society as those with a permanent address. The meta point is: government regulates housing because it's something "everybody" (modulo outliers) does: live in a house. If "everybody" (modulo outliers) owns a smartphone and smartphone ownership is assumed for full societal participation... We probably need to regulate it.
- pixl97 2y agoAlso this take is not great because your privacy is also dictated by the people around you that have smartphones and are listening to you.