- For the vast majority of us there is no empirical foundation to the idea of phones as essential to our security. That myth depends on something psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky call the "availability heuristic."
Our minds focus on unusual, dramatic possibilities: the broken-down car on a dark and lonely highway; a health emergency where immediate contact is essential. But in reality those scenarios are extremely rare — rarer, no doubt, than accidents while texting or muggers preying on distracted phone users.
Focusing on them leads to biased assessment of risk, which, in turn, contributes to a biased assessment of smartphones' utility.
I appreciate the discussion, but the argument is disingenuous. Here's a man who: - carries an iPod Touch - relies on a Garmin when he's out and about - forces his running group to email him separately ...but argues for the virtue of "being alone with your thoughts." My wife used to deliver babies for Hasidic Jews in Hollywood. They were pretty strict about the "no electricity during the Sabbath" thing. Which didn't mean they didn't take phone calls or use electric light; it meant they went to the neighbor's house and asked them to make phone calls for them, or got bystanders to flip the light switch, or asked people to look stuff up on the Internet for them. If you wanted to see them, you had to come to them because they couldn't travel by car. So really, the pain in the ass of not using modern technology was externalized to the friends who will put up with your shit - it doesn't go away. I've had a smart phone since 2002. I got it because if I was going to be forced to lug a bullshit piece of tech around with me, it would at least check email and run Excel (which they did back then). But I didn't get it for me, and I didn't get it because i wanted it - I got it because my friends were getting physically angry at me that they couldn't get ahold of me to coordinate unless I was at my house or my desk at work, and I didn't spend a lot of time at either location. To me, getting a phone was a concession to the people around me, whose lifestyles had evolved into permanent connectedness. I could either go along or be the Hasidic Jew that makes other people flip lightswitches for them, and that isn't my style. Honestly? My phone is an iPod, a fitness tracker and that thing I look at useless shit on while watching Netflix. I make few calls on it and text little. but it can do all that shit without having to be on WiFi... 'cuz if you're going to carry around an iPod Touch while talking about how you don't have a smartphone, I'm going to call bullshit on your argument. It's not that you're avoiding technology. It's that you're making your friends carry it around for you.
The difference being that Hasidic bore their neighbor, while people using your phone give purpose to your phone. Burrowing a phone enhance the usefulness of your device to your own eyes. People are so happy to show how useful their phone is... It's weird. It make them feel so great, it's almost like cheating at interaction with unknown people. But usually nobody use others phone. Not every Saturday like you're implying.
I came here to say the same thing. the main reason why phones have become so popular are that they are replacing the need for multiple gadgets (unless you are greed -> savvy). this is a good thing definitely and also he is not talking about the multiple trips he had to make because of lost phone, the situations where he met the friends late because they could not locate where he was. what if you both do not know the place you are meeting well enough, good luck not having a phone however, i completely agree with the texting while driving and always texting to stay in touch part. i never understood how texting to stay in touch works, you refrain from acknowledging the reality in front of you for this!?
I agree it's not a necessity but it's certainly convenient (maps, gps, looking something up on google). It doesn't have to be one extreme or another. I certainly don't spend 4.7 hours per day on my phone (I don't believe that could possibly be an accurate stat), or spend $1000 on it. Buy a cheap phone and plan, turn off all notifications except calls and you get the best of both worlds.
Yeah my mother and my dentist are very adamant about how it help them. They're both old and lived for decades without any type of gadget. And cant even bother to learn how to use the remote control of the TV (very convenient to check the program, or the time of stuff, change channel, etc ) I wonder if it's a testament to how useful the device is, or it is just addictive as a drug. I tend toward the drug.
Wait, car troubles are a rare problem for most people ? I really need to upgrade. I find just having a basic plan with enough data as a just in case works best for me. Many people can have a phone and have a life as well it just takes some discipline. I've noticed a lot of people seem adverse to owning a phone because they think it means they have to be available all the time. Well apparently I'm a dick because I couldn't care less about always answering my phone. I think they add a lot of convenience to life but as with most things people need to be aware the affect it has on their life. Like with social media, for some people it's great but others should not be on it. Alcohol, gambling, shopping, eating, video games, anything really.
I have a cell phone, but I don't have a service plan for it. I use Google Voice to make my not-quite monthly phone call. It lets me send sms messages to my mom and dad, who are the only people I know who prefer to communicate that way. I also use it to snap chat my sister over my home wifi, but otherwise, that is pretty much it. My LG Volt spends most the time on a usb cable or lost in the couch. Heck, half of my sms messages are sent via my laptop. When I upgraded to this setup after having used my cheap flip phone for so long, I was excited to have a GPS I could use with Strava. That lasted a month before I gave up on the idea. It didn't really add anything for me, it was just another bit of routine I needed to remember to do before I went anywhere. This is a solution that works for me, but wouldn't work for most people. It works because of how I've managed to structure my life. The only bits of electronics I might grab when I leave the house are bike lights. I'm lucky enough to live within walking distance to all my common destinations. If my bike pops a part, it is easy enough to walk it to my destination. I am lucky that my social circles are all accessible through irc gateways. I can walk up to any computer, point a web client to my znc server, and talk to whomever I need to. The only complaint that I have heard about my using this setup is that the call quality from my phone is shit. I'm not sure that if that is due to the phone's mic or google voice. Probably some combination of the two.