I don't text/talk on the phone when I drive or walk but I am guilty of this when I'm by myself. I mean, it's the world at your finger tips. Personally, I can't stand small talk. Hate it, it's so fake. So I much rather be on my phone than to fake talk with a stranger I don't care about. If I'm with company, than it doesn't come out.
I've done my fair share of travels. Western and Eastern Europe. I have family in most countries that were in former Yugoslavia. (Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro) This cellphone "culture" is one that destroys cultures. There seems to be way too many people that favor technology moving faster than we can handle than not. That's why I made this thread because there has to be a balance. I've had the same flip phone for years. People in Croatia pull out there flip phones and act all self important. And to the person that said "adapt or get left behind," no I don't. You have to adapt to an extent, I'm on a computer, but there is a difference between having a simple computer at home and having one on you at all times. It easily distracts people from performing everyday tasks like driving or something as simple as walking. You can't tell me that this modern art is better looking than this The first one is supposed to be "groundbreaking" lol. Just take a look at ugly, cold, modern buildings compared to the amazing craftsmanship of an old building in Rome or New York. There's no comparison. Usually when you look at history, there is a logical progression to everything. From architecture, to literature, art, music, etc. Over the last few decades there has been a huge leap to stupidity. Just look at how much our speech has changed. Shud i menshun spelin' n' stuf 2? damn yal jus dont b knowin wutz up. Sorry for the long post by the way.
This is exactly what I'm talking about. For you, your phone is an easy way out of a tough situation. How is small talk "fake"? Sometimes it's good to talk to someone, you might actually make a friend that isn't virtual.
To me small tall is so fake because I really don't care what some stranger thinks of the weather. You say I'm using my phone as a way out of a tough situation ? I disagree. Its not tough at all to pretend i care what some guy is saying. I believe people small talk because they are not comfortable or feel akward with silence or being alone. I'm very comfortable by myself and I enjoy and beauty of silence in this day in age. And I dont have any virtual friends. All my friends I've grown up with or went to school with and interact with them on a weekly basis, in person. So I don't have any interest in making new friends with the randoms I fake small talk with to help him feel less akward while waiting in line. Not saying I'm an *******. If someone starts talking to me, I'll engage in the conversation with them. But just know inside, I don't care what cute thing your son did this morning and I want to shoot myself in the head from your boring, uninteresting story. :grin:
We are in the first steps of the evolution of a bionic human. The next 50 years will change exponentially faster than the last 50. Going from the invention of television to wireless computer will seem quaint. *spoiler alert* Unaltered human beings will become obsolete. The population explosion will become a population contraction when old people live independently with the aid of their machines in place of families. But GODAMMIT! quit looking at your phones and drive. And I mean everybody. Every damn person I pass is looking at their phone.
i find it funny/annoying/etc/etc/etc when I'm at a concert or outdoor festival like lollapalooza or acl and girls will look at a cell phone it seems like every 45 seconds for no reason. almost like a nervous twitch. over and over again.
I find these gripes very alarmist to be honest. I find it very easy to be in touch with my physical and virtual surroundings all day. When my physical surroundings matter, I pay attention to them. If my smartphone beeps, I check it out. If my physical surroundings don't matter, I do something on my smartphone. I never play games on my smartphone, doesn't interest me for some reason. I only watch TV if someone else is watching and I'm interested. 99% of my smartphone useage is twitter, reddit, informative youtube and speaking to my siblings on whatsapp. I use it to listen to music while I work out. I also use it to make phone calls and send text messages obviously. IMO this new phenomenon should be seen as massively positive. I can communicate with people all over the world for any reason. I don't have to be at a computer to reliably find the answer to something. I don't have to waste one hour standing in line at the movies. I don't have to call if I want to tell give someone a short message. I don't have to actually be in another country to receive images and video in real time. I don't have to hope a specific person shows up on TV to enjoy their message - I can watch all their videos on youtube. On books vs tv, this is another thing I find silly. There is no reason to think reading books is better than watching video. Some people prefer it. But you can listen to audio books, you can read blogs, you can read tons of websites, you can watch videos on a variety of topics with varying levels of depth, you can watch the news, you can dig out opinion pieces, you can read statistics. Books contain just as much bias, error, disadvantages as any graphic medium. TV is becoming obsolete, mainly because you are not choosing what to watch except out of the options provided. Books and internet video on the other hand is completely at your discretion, you choose out of an the entire larger database. This is a great feat of technology IMO. It is not rational to think people who read books are necessarily reading better stuff than someone who just watches/listens to stuff on his/her smartphone. IMO today the only thing reading a book indicates to me is that the person is "old school" and they prefer a medium where a larger part of the message is left to the imagination - something which I find more relevant to fiction than non-fiction. Is it any different than posting here? Why not only discuss this with the people physically surrounding you? Because by posting here, the people who are interested will come in and have an intelligent conversation. Without smartphones, we go back to people in small towns relying on each other. Believing each other. Doesn't make sense. People in poor countries would only be able to transmit things through the filter of the peopel causing their problems. Journalists in the Middle East for example have their work scrutinized by Americans if their work is about America. People can take pictures of things without having to carry around a camera all the time. Some question whether protests/revolutions consisting of thousands and millions of people would have happened without access to social media on smartphones. These are examples of things that have become more easily and more frequently accesible because of smartphones. If what we give up is some interaction with our immediate physical environment, it's completely worth it IMO. I constantly say to people I ultimately want to live in a naturally beautiful place without any technology except a smartphone with decent internet speed. I think it's the most important piece of consumer technology over and above dishwashers, tv's, DVD players, cars, laptops, gaming consoles, stand-alone phones, stand-alone cameras, home theater, etc. It has turned comapct digital cameras, watches, calculators, maps, mail, physical newspapers and much more into items of luxury rather than relative necessity. It has certainly saved a lot of our time, which is more time to interact. I think we're just finding that a lot of times there are better, more interesting, and more important elements to interact with on our smartphones than with the physical environement 100% of the time. Time to turn your flip phone in. It is incredibly important that you have a smartphone. The more peope "in" the better everyone is connected. For example, it's only when people like yourself join this revolution that dissatisfaction with the quality of e-books, audiobooks, news transmissions, social media connectivity, etc will increase and lead to an improvement in the product. Just don't fall prey to the games and obsessive facebooking and instagramming, don't keep getting a new model just because of social pressure and you'll have plenty of time to interact with the parts of your physical environment that you should.
In all honesty, some folks take it too far. Sit at any airport bar for example, and nobody's BSing with each other anymore. They have their pint of beer or glass of wine, and are just firing away on their phone. The good thing, however, is that the smartphones eliminated the need to carry print media while going to work. I'm on the bus in the morning and everyone's checking emails or reading the Wall Street Journal on their phones. In this instance it's a tremendous productivity tool.
Importance and greatness as now ascribed and not observed. Anyone seeing the second picture can appreciate its greatness People have to be TOLD the 1st one is great A group are a bunch of self proclaimed experts dictating to the masses what is great and what is not great. They are met with the ANTIs who simply react to them . .. the rest of us . . .simple observe and make opinions independent of either. As for sell phone . .. . . I think of it like this. . . . This is the JOHNNY 5 generation [Short Circuit reference] They are constantly seeking input .. no matter what it is . . . they are addicted to it . .. they/we have lost our ability to be still Rocket River
I avoided geting smart phone for a long time, as I didn't want to become dependent on it. Then work forced me to get one when my old phone died, and of course, within a month I had it on me at all times. When I left my last job, the first thing I did was buy a new phone. My problem isn't so much internet use, it's when people talk on the phone on a bus, or worse, use the phone in middle of conversation with someone in front of them. I think it's extremely rude and I rarely do it unless I have to and I always apologize. I also silence my phone a lot and don't answer it if I'm talking to someone. When people complain about me not picking up calls I say, "The phone is for my convenience, not so the rest of the world can keep me on a leash."
@OP I disagree. People misuse the technology. My cell phone tells me the name of a composition I hear on the radio. I get home and ask my fiancée if she knows it. She usually does, but will search the internet for sheet music if not. I put my phone on silent and then I'll then lay back on the couch to watch her play it on the piano. I give her all my attention when she's playing. Because she's cool, she'll also store her performance so the piano will play it for me when she's not at home. It's one of the many things I love about her. Thus, technology can be great for socializing. But it's a tool which others mishandle. Everything in moderation, as they say. I used to be against smartphones, but eventually caved in when I learned what they do for info/news junkies like me. If I'm waiting in line or for someone to pick me up for a ride, I'll read Wikipedia articles. If I'm in a social setting, I make it a point not to check my phone every minute, and I usually surround myself with people who think likewise. If I'm using public transport, I just sit and observe what others around me are doing (though some times I'll be reading the news too). This pseudo-mediation is very calming, and it's interesting to see how detached people become from their surroundings. Like RR said, many people are addicted to seeking input. However, I'd argue that we receive input every second we breathe, but it's healthy to diversify the kind of input. I like to travel to isolated places to meditate and observe nature. When night falls, I'll gaze at the celestial bodies millions of light years away. I love that kind of input. In the end, moderation and getting different forms of input is key. There's always a time for looking at funny animal videos, reading about religious conflicts killing people far away and how that affects the bond markets, how good your favorite sports team really is, and so on. However, often you should just exist in the moment and absorb whatever is in front of you. It can be a gorgeous face, someone sculpting a vase, or an incredible movie like 2001. Technology can help you find these different inputs and learn about them. It becomes unhealthy when you forget the tech was just a middle step for you to obverse the phenomena. The phone may help find the party, but it's rude to be texting and not talking while you're there. I don't think it's as bad when you do it at the DPS lol. Have fun at UH! I hear the school has improved tremendously in the last 10 years. The girls that are usually on their phones tend to have low self-esteem and are vain. Avoid them if you want a relationship.
^^ Pics of your fiancee playing piano in lingerie, or it didn't happen. http://www.ieplexus.com/studies-stats/2563-study-technology-does-not-hinder-social-interaction/ "It’s not that people of [this] generation and the next are less social – just that [they] pursue our social interactions in a whole new way." Can't deny that it doesn't affect face to face social interaction though. For instance, instead of asking the pharmacist which cream to buy for the frothy yellow puss around my genitalia, I'd rather look it up on the phone. and such
I hear what you're saying, and I don't like the kids on my lawn either, but the art example is not a particularly good one here. I can name things about the two where both, neither, or either have merit, and no one has to "tell" me. As an embodiment of truth and some form of beauty intertwined with some amount, or lack of, function, both can be... well... wait a second. Maybe your example is great, but for the wrong reasons. Get off my lawn.
Good grief, Mathloom. Do you seriously believe all that? I hope you're an outlier, with all due respect. I have a sudden urge to go back to reading my paperback copy of The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi, and to put Itchycoo Park on my turntable. It's all too beautiful.
I teach at a university and I observe the same thing; it is like everyone wants to be somewhere other than where they are, and talking to some one else instead of the person in front of them. It is so insane as to be inexplicable. They do walk around like zombies and run into each other and doors, walls, etc. People eating out don't talk to each other, they are texting someone else. At sporting events which are expensive, "fans" are texting throughout the entire game. I have seen them never look up for over three hours. Why go?
