3 ms·

"However, my iPad or iPhone will call for my attention every few minutes, which is not liberating at all." This feeling has been creeping on me ever since I su

"However, my iPad or iPhone will call for my attention every few minutes, which is not liberating at all." This feeling has been creeping on me ever since I succumbed to a smartphone for work a few years ago. Instead of releasing me from some of the lower-level tasks I deal with day to day, this phone, these devices, nag me to pay attention to all of my friends back home, all of my old classmates, former colleagues, and all of the things they're producing / forwarding / commenting on. I moved out of the US this summer and it took me a while to get a SIM here. I had roaming data on my work phone but couldn't use it much for the obvious cost. It's been liberating to just live inside my head and in my immediate environment these past months. When I finally got a local number, I put the SIM in a 20EUR Samsung flip phone. I find few issues with eventually just living with that phone.

hvidgaard 13y ago
You can turn all that nagging off, so the only notifications you'll get, will be calls and texts. I really think some people blame the smartphone for being a distracting element, and it's not wrong that it can be distracting, but it's because the user allow it to. You can turn off all notifications, so you decide when to see if there is something of interest. For instance, my phone does not tell me when a mail arrives - the little badge will show how many new mails if I choose to flip to the screen with the mail app. Facebook never notifies, not even with a badge - I decide when I want to see Facebook (which rarely is on the phone, that app is horribly slow). The same goes for most of my apps. Only when people try to contact me directly by call or text will it go off, and if I'm particularly busy I will set it to "do not disturb" and rarely be bothered by it.
- mattlutze 13y ago
  "You can turn all that nagging off, so the only notifications you'll get, will be calls and texts." Very true. I think what I've feeling, and trying to describe, is a rejection of expanding my consciousness into the Internet. A large portion of my social groups use those social networks as extensions of themselves, for communication and interaction. With immediate access to those channels it's difficult to ignore the draw of that technology. And not using those services regularly ends up being the same as not using them at all.
  - hvidgaard 13y ago
    I know it all too well. At some point I felt so annoyed by the smartphones intrusion in my life, that I began to ignore the notifications. It was great for a while, but I still felt a slight nagging. So I did the logical thing, and turned it off entirely. Haven't missed anything of significance, and I'm still in touch with the people that I want to be in touch with over the social networks.

hvidgaard 13y ago

You can turn all that nagging off, so the only notifications you'll get, will be calls and texts. I really think some people blame the smartphone for being a distracting element, and it's not wrong that it can be distracting, but it's because the user allow it to. You can turn off all notifications, so you decide when to see if there is something of interest. For instance, my phone does not tell me when a mail arrives - the little badge will show how many new mails if I choose to flip to the screen with the mail app. Facebook never notifies, not even with a badge - I decide when I want to see Facebook (which rarely is on the phone, that app is horribly slow). The same goes for most of my apps. Only when people try to contact me directly by call or text will it go off, and if I'm particularly busy I will set it to "do not disturb" and rarely be bothered by it.

mattlutze 13y ago
"You can turn all that nagging off, so the only notifications you'll get, will be calls and texts." Very true. I think what I've feeling, and trying to describe, is a rejection of expanding my consciousness into the Internet. A large portion of my social groups use those social networks as extensions of themselves, for communication and interaction. With immediate access to those channels it's difficult to ignore the draw of that technology. And not using those services regularly ends up being the same as not using them at all.
- hvidgaard 13y ago
  I know it all too well. At some point I felt so annoyed by the smartphones intrusion in my life, that I began to ignore the notifications. It was great for a while, but I still felt a slight nagging. So I did the logical thing, and turned it off entirely. Haven't missed anything of significance, and I'm still in touch with the people that I want to be in touch with over the social networks.