I couldn't agree more, I have a cellphone with no internet or texting.
It's used exclusively for the purpose of keeping in contact with family members.

I have an internet connection in my home and a laptop...that's all I need. This constant bombardment of media is turning are brains into slush.

I like keeping my brain exercised with real life.

I just looked up what "minutiae" means on my smart phone, kinda ironic.

Originally posted by Sovvy
I don't like to generalize and call all people who are hooked to their smart phones/tablets stupid, or judge the whole smart phone thing in general as stupid

I'm not calling anybody with a smart phone stupid. I have a cell phone. I said right up front that I'm not condemning technology or gadgets. I use them too.

I saw some people playing a game of checkers on a pad in a restaurant one time and I thought that was awesome. I played smart phone Uno with someone in a waiting room as well. There's nothing wrong with that because there is no safety issue.

When there's a safety issue involved, then it IS stupid.

I'm not generalizing; I didn't say that everybody with a phone was stupid--only the people that do stupid things with them.

I carry a book with me in my pocket whenever I'm out and about. I pull out my book in waiting rooms etc. I don't read my book while driving (Oh dear, but I did see someone doing this one time ) If I get the sense that there is potential for a conversation, I will put my book back in my pocket.

And people shouldn't try to read/write texts while driving. People shouldn't be fiddling with their phones in theaters and at funerals. I don't like when people are bumping into other people in public because they're not watching where they're going!

I didn't pick on anybody who uses them to play games on the bus or anything like that. There is an appropriate time for stuff like that, but I'm talking about the people who have no tact, no conscientiousness for those around them.

I have the most priceless photograph to illustrate what I'm saying about cell phones distancing families and communities. I was diagnosed with a very aggressive and advanced cancer when I was a teenager (I'm fine now.) There is a photograph of me in a hospital bed right after the cancer was discovered. My grandmother is holding my hand and kissing me on the cheek. And there is my older bro and two of my cousins of similar age all facing away from the camera, looking out the window, each one of them looking at their cell phones.

Originally posted by Serdgiam
I had an argument with a teen a couple years ago that really illustrates the mentality behind this.

Essentially, his claim was that dealing with people face to face was obsolete.

Yes, that IS scary. And I have heard that before as well. Why pay attention to those around you when you could text jargon to someone whose face you don't have to look at?

We are (supposed) to be very social creatures. To hear that socializing is obsolete is ridiculous. I mentioned that I went to a concert the other night? It was mostly an older crowd there because it was a classic rock band. I went by myself and expected to just enjoy the show by myself.

It was great though! I had to park about a half mile away from the venue and walk there. I had all kinds of great conversations before, during, and after the show with the older crowd. People were asking me what street the venue was on. People in line were talking about how they went to see this band back in 2007...or way back in '79 etc. Before the show started the people next to me were talking about music and all kinds of stuff. The show was accepting donations to cancer research. So the lady next to me said her step-daughter had cancer. That opened up another conversation for me (being a survivor myself.) I even danced with the lady next to me! And after the show that lady's husband shook my hand. They were great people. It was fantastic!

Whenever I'm around people my age, they NEVER just make random small talk trying to get a conversation going. And when I try to make jokes or small talk, it is never met with acceptance.

I wouldn't say socializing with strangers is obsolete, I'd say it's a dying art.

I wouldn't say socializing with strangers is obsolete, I'd say it's a dying art.

Fine by me, I dont really like people that much anyway.

Originally posted by ObservingYou
I'm a smart phone addict, and just as anti-social as you described.

I can't help it, my brains is a sponge that wishes to absorb.

Frankly, my phones smarter than the people around me, so I pay more attention to IT, lol.

Again, I'm not cracking down on people who own them and use them. BUT are you using them in dangerous situations like driving? Are you using them at inappropriate times like a funeral or smack-dab in the middle of a real conversation? Because that's the problem I'm ranting about.

Originally posted by jude11
I drove across Canada 2 years ago and got so tired of the cell ringing that when I got to my final stop I threw it over the bridge just before entering town.

Haven't looked back.

I have also hired and fired many people for using their cells at work. I tell them when I hire them that no cells are allowed while at work. One warning and then gone.

Surprising how many put their phones ahead of their job.

Peace

Bravo and bravo again! I have destroyed my flip phone after I got about five calls from the same person in like a 2 hour period. I was euphoric after seeing it broken apart!

Good job on enforcing a 'no cell phones policy' in the work place too. When I was an assistant manager, I'd tell my coworkers not to bring it out onto the sales floor. Since they were all older than me, they never listened. I got 2 people fired for multiple write-ups of cell phone usage on the sales floor. It went against company policy, and it's rude to the customers, to me, and to the manager who wished to enforce the policy. It's simple...just don't do it.

I recently received my stepdad's old smartphone (LG Optimus V) but I mostly use it for texting and calls. Sometimes I watch the news, or browse Twitter occasionally.

I'm not overly attached to my phone like some people are (aside for the music player), but I do have to admit, people have gone way overboard, with all those millions of apps.

I've only added 4 since I had the phone from October.

I have no faith in humanity anymore.

Sadly the art of face to face conversation and the correct usage of language has long since died for most, the use of txt speak and mobiles has pretty much destroyed the noble art of chat.

Mobile phones are now a deadly bit of technology used by the masses to communicate and run their daily lives, mostly by people oblivious to the outside world, I watch women take their life in their hands walking along transfixed by this little object while crossing the road, not so much a look either way for traffic, the world must stop and look out for them.

There was a recent UK news story about a girl who walked in to a canal because she was texting her boyfriend, for some god awful reason a tv channel actually interviewed this idiot who sat on the couch waxing on about how silly she felt but you could actually tell that for some reason she loved the attention yet failed to grasp that it was because she was a complete fool.

Most women I have seen get a phone in their hand and the world is switched off, they get off a bus or a train and stop dead the second the foot hits the pavement and the phone is brought up in to 'text mode', people behind her are forced to try and get past her without knocking in to her while she stands hunched over this little box object pouring her entire life force into it.

Young males are no better these days, the phone is their prime focus while sat down, constantly being played with and paraded around like some trophy of their manliness.

Girls sit next to each other and text one another, the air is filled with the annoying noise of Blackberries pinging while people doing this sit mere feet away. Do they talk, no, that's old and out dated, texting is the new talking and boy are they enjoying this new technology while grumpy old farts like me sit and use our vocal chords like we used to in those days long gone.

Now your whole life is mapped out on twitter and Facebook, how ever did we manage before it?

Now you can have 10,000 'likes' and tweet about what type of bowel movement you just had because you know the waiting world needs to know such information, you are doing the planet a great service by passing on such valuable words. Should I pop around to a friend who has come back from holiday and look at his or her pictures over a cup of tea or a glass of wine, no, look at them on Facebook, much easier and saves all that walking.

Sigh.....

People, we need to revive the lost art of conversation and meeting real people, we are becoming DIM LIFELESS SHELLS who tweet and not talk face to face, we shorten words to abominations like C U instead of actually seeing the person or typing see you, its dumbing us down, language and people are such amazing things, stop leading a totally virtual life, nip around to see a mate, sit down and have a face to face chat, use real words and not some moronic babble...CHAT.....

Use that mobile for what its there for, important unavoidable messages, if you must use it then stand or sit out of the way of people getting on with their lives and for goodness sake, look around if you must walk with it stuck too your ear, also if you wish to stay on this planet alive a little longer then don't text and walk..

Death is but a mere footstep away....

wat a bull# tread is this you are all complaining about cellphones smartphones and # you wan to talk face to face why te hell do you all sitting and texting behind your pc pc s do kill social contact to get off your pcs and trow away your phones and kill yourself but com not complaining on a internet forum about texting wat are you doing richt now he hahahahaha i got you you are self stupit # off pleas

Originally posted by tracher999
wat a bull# tread is this you are all complaining about cellphones smartphones and # you wan to talk face to face why te hell do you all sitting and texting behind your pc pc s do kill social contact to get off your pcs and trow away your phones and kill yourself but com not complaining on a internet forum about texting wat are you doing richt now he hahahahaha i got you you are self stupit # off pleas

Tracher, you had a point, BUT, then you lose the argument with your non-existent grammatical skills, coupled with some of the most atrocious spelling of the English language, probably due to laziness (although for the future of said language, I am hoping that you were either drunk or stoned).

You were, after all, connected to the W.W.Web.

How long does it actually take to check the correct spelling of any words in whichever language you wish to write?

It´s not all bad though. You do, in fact, walk away with top marks for the correct spelling of, 'f*#k off".

well i got to speak up here, i have a smart phone and before that i have had a variety of cell phones going right back for many years. i love having a cell, i love being able to do things like take a quick picture and put it on facebook to show my friends where i am or what im up to. i love being connected to information, news, friends. i use upwards of 3000 txts a month yet only approx 30minutes of calling. it's a big part of my life and i wouldnt be without it. i dont txt while driving - why ? because i cant use the bloody touch screen keypad when driving thats why lol oh and its illegal here.
i really take a dislike to people who think these are the end of the world or claim it is destroying face to face contact etc etc blah blah blah probably as much as you dislike people like me who live with their phones beside them at all times and have mild moments of panic when i cant find the bloody thing.
basicly if you dont like it shut up and move along and get over it, i dont hassle people for not having a phone or only using theirs on rare occasions.

Originally posted by NarcolepticBuddha

Originally posted by lonewolf10
i know what you mean.

i see teens at the movies and they are txting during the whole film that they just paid $7 for!?

ill be glad when a solar flare comes and sends us back to the stone age.

You and me both, brutha! I paid $150 dollars to go to a concert yesterday...kids sitting right in front of me playing on their phones missing the entire show

And movies here cost $14 a ticket!!!

edit on 3-2-2013 by NarcolepticBuddha because: (no reason given)

And this affects you how?
They didn't spend YOUR money. They spent their OWN money... So how is YOUR problem exactly?

$7 is not a lot of money
$14 is not a lot of money.
$150 is not a lot of money.

So yeah.. If you consider any of those amount a lot, then maybe you should be spending your time somewhere other then the internet or at concert and movies.

I rather not have a solar flare knock out power. I really rather not deal with the majority of people I don't know. Also rather not live like a 3rd world miserable society.

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What drives me nuts is people who see that I'm using my phone playing a game, texting, reading a book, watching a movie or whatever, and they try to start a conversation with me. NOW THAT'S RUDE!
If I wanted to be bother with you I would say so.

I had a experience a few months ago with some dumbass who got upset because was trying to talk to me on the train and I wasn't paying him any attention(he was sitting next to me). I didn't know the guy. He was just randomly talking. The guy decides he wants to try to knock the phone out of my hand, and I promptly give him a elbow to the side of his face.

As he's getting escorted off the train he's doing some random rant about our generation and his generation. I'm sure it will be found on youtube somewhere as the new rule is to record stupid people for the world to see.