Smartphones: C or D?

flip phones blow treeship, don't get one, i had one for 9 years until i got an iphone last year and everything is way easier. i thought i was happier before bc i was less connected but it was more just a pain in the ass

like even if you text w/ friends more than once every couple of days you should at least get a phone w/ some kind of keyboard feature

Classic, despite people under-utilizing them. Being able to communicate with anyone anywhere in the world and having immediate access to the sum of human knowledge and information, it feels like magic.

i would still like to use my phone less especially in the evenings after work but overall i like having a smartphone more than not having one

it's so easy to just be looking at it all fucking day though

I like having one but I think it really is possible -- at least this is what I do -- to have a system of "when I'm out and about during the day the phone is with me in my pocket, but once I'm home the phone is elsewhere and I'm not staring at it." Best practice here is to keep your phone in your pants pocket and then remove pants for the night immediately upon entering the house. #lifehack

i think its power is paralyzing and it'll take a while for people to adjust

btw, despite the fact that I take smartphones to be basically classic, what's really dud is people who insist that the downside doesn't exist, and that if you find yourself checking your phone all day it can only be because checking your phone is actually and truly what is good in life

image of four friends at bar all staring at phones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR7_TbMIVnA

i mean on one hand, seeing a bunch of people out in public staring at their phones sometimes seems like a glimpse into dystopia. but you could also point to a long line of behavioral changes in response to tech advances in the past, so it's probably not worth freaking out

i really have come to resent smartphones, and to a lesser extent the internet itself, but part of this is obviously just a projection of anger with myself for squandering my time

i do think that the phone has eroded some of my coping mechanisms, like when i am anxious now i just go on the internet and distract myself and end up not dealing with the things that are bothering me

I've gotten pretty good at not taking my phone out when I don't need to.

before smartphones i just didn't leave my computer ever, and now i can go out and about with the knowledge that i can still get my fix if i need it

so, classic

my inclination is to want to throw my phone into a river, but only if everyone else tossed them in at the same time. ok everyone! one...two....

but i have to temper that by remembering that new communication technologies rarely represent a 100% improvement over the existing paradigm. smartphones can represent an improvement in quality of life for people while still making some things worse. i guess it's only with time that the balance becomes apparent, though. i mean i bet socrates would probably want to revise his thoughts that books would lead to the destruction of human memory

I had an iphone until two or three years ago when I lost it. I went around a year without a phone of any kind and didn't miss it at all. I had to get a replacement phone eventually after people insisted they wanted to be able to get hold of me, this induced high levels of anxiety as this is anathema to serenity and reverie. I went into EE in Rhyl and got the cheapest smartphone they had. I also got a stick-on-back-of-phone wallet which is for people who forget their cards all the time, which I think is a good idea for people who like phones and looking at them.

I dont like cards, wallets, phones or looking at them, however I do like that smartphones exist, especially when people look at them instead of asking me questions or disrupting reverie in other ways

http://i.imgur.com/5PmRX4a.jpg

xp karl i used to be all in with derrida in saying that the perennial tendency to disparage the various technological "supplements" people use to augment their limited abilities is the wrong way to go, that "supplementing" our limitations with tools of various kinds is just what human beings do. there was never really a "state of nature" as far as humans were concerned; there is nothing to long for.

i no longer agree with this position. i think our society bombards people with too much information for them to handle. i feel overwhelmed all the time, but i am also addicted to the stimulation.

ultimately, though, i think my general thought is that it's ok to look at yr phone but maybe don't do it when you're out with friends and it's conversation time (esp. not when you're out with grandma). and i also try to keep in mind that it's inevitable that some people will persist in staring at their phone all the time and it will be incredibly annoying, just like people will still do annoying things at all times everywhere, what else is new

grandma otm

chuck 'em

xpost to treeship

things to seem to be heading in a depressing direction, overall...but the other thing is: what can we do about it?

i have to admit that my last several posts have just been an attempt to recreate this

looooooooooooooooool

your earlier post, though - i think our society bombards people with too much information for them to handle. i feel overwhelmed all the time, but i am also addicted to the stimulation - is close my own views. i feel completely overwhelmed, and also recognize that i'm probably in the minority on that. the kids seem to be completely comfortable and i feel like a dinosaur complaining about it.

i feel this way and i am young though! i am 26!

when i was a kid i watched too much tv though... i think i just have a dysfunctional relationship to technology

Posting from my phone to say this q sucks

no way, it's a good question.

It's a hatefully privileged q imo shame on anyone blames incredible technology for anything ever

why are they so great?

is life better now that your computer is in your pocket all the time?

a few xps if it was the 1800s you'd probably be diminishing your relationship to the real world by reading too many books, heaven forbid

i think that is also an issue for me though

I love mine. I do not care much about what's happening on social media or on ilx or on planet earth so that's not a problem. I just hate that I'm so readily available/reachable, but this has been the problem since I first got a cell in the 90s.

the issue comes down to having enough willpower to regulate your attention in a way that is satisfying to you, personally. but some technologies can wear down willpower more efficiently than others.

rip van wanko otm about not wanting to be reached.... in high school and college i used to leave my cell phone at home on purpose all the time but i was also kind of a weird shut in then and resented getting texts from people

i held out w a flip phone for years and marcos is otm that they're just not worth what texting's like on them, and texting is great imo

also often nice to have a map in your pocket

the part that gets on my nerves about smartphone culture is everyone's immediate, reflexive googling at the first hint of ambiguity or confusion in conversation (from "who was that guy in that thing" to "when was the march on rome again") partly because i think of socrates' warning against writing -- that it would outsource memory and thought -- but mostly because nine times out of ten the conversation would really do better to stall (or to proceed untroubled)

but really the thing that does all the things smartphones/the internet/the information era are allegedly doing to me is definitely ilx.

like if i were banned from ilx i'd only touch my smartphone when it made a noise

I still carry a "feature phone" - mainly because I'm cheap and I don't want to pay for a data plan. It has other pluses though, such as the fact that it's a better form factor for actually making phone calls, and the battery lasts for weeks. Last time I went to Verizon to get a new phone, they only had one model in the entire store that didn't require a data plan, so selection was easy as well.

last year when i lost my 4th flip phone or whatever i actually was considering just buying another one, but iirc there wasn't even a huge savings over a smartphone

also often nice to have a map in your pocket

yea having a map is killer

There was a phone so bad in EE that it was free even on a Pay As You Go plan. I was briefly tempted but in the end i put down the £15 on the cheapest smartphone instead (£15 I could have spent on records or put towards a hat)

i used to have a gold-plated motorola razr which i'd bought cheap long after razrs of any metal had ceased to be luxurious. the buttons on this phone were unusuably elegant. at the time i was much mocked for my brokerish ostentation by radical leftists w iphones.

really i should have said a magic map! a piece of fairy-tale equipment.

Having the Internet/maps/books/music in my pocket at all times is the best.

I can see social media being draining and negative but the key there is to either not use them or use them peripherally. I have an Instagram account but I just browse chefs and food porn and travel stuff while I poop. Ditto Twitter, but with musicians instead of travel.

if you live in a big city and rely on public transportation then a smartphone is amazing, you can map your path to see what route is best, check on when the next bus will show up, see what track your train will be on, etc.

if you have a long commute on public transportation then a smartphone is amazing, you can goof around, deal with email, etc.

people who check phones while talking to people are jerks but imo so are people who look at watches or clocks during convos for the most part & we all do that sometimes so being a jerk = part of "modern "busy" life"

i was hoping to find more luddites on here tbh

jes' me

people walking around the city gazing at their cell phone and never looking up

This makes me angry too but then I keep having to remind myself that I was doing this with books way before smart phones

me too except my feet

Anyway, originally I did not get a data plan for my phone because I was cheap, now I'm thinking this has mostly saved me from smart phone addiction. I'm gonna try and stay without a data plan as long as possible.

update: I am very happy with this phone!

one thing not mentioned above(I don't think) is the fact it seems to charge very quickly (maybe they all do now, or its something to do with the usb-c charging?

I may have been equally happy with the other contenders too, but this is passing the test

USB-c can deliver a lot more power Than previous iterations of the standard. It depends on the phone and the charger but charging can be very quick.

yep thats a given with usb c

I also like I can charge with same charger as my macbook, one less cable to lose

the old type of usb seemed completely tempremental, though maybe that was using pieces of shit no name chargers and cables due to last minute replacements of previous pieces of shit no name chargers and cables.

Before i bought this my old phone just wouldn't charge then i was in a phone shop in the airport looking at phones and there was a cable sticking out. i put my would not charge anywhere dead phone on it, and it started charging. i had to tell the man sorry its charging now so i wont be buying that other phone, I'm going to buy something else I'm just going to take a long time about it so my phone charges enough that i can get an uber at the other end of this flight. he said ok

I spoke too soon

The phone is still good but the power supply I used for the macbookno linger works (or maybe the MacBook forsnt)?)

I went to get another power supply but it doesn't charge the MacBook and charges the phone at like 1 pet cent a day this is terrible. Cheap pieces of CRA agai. 54 euros ffs

Oh wow types Ng on a phone is notgood

I don't quite understand what's happened but the xaomi is now dead and so is the MacBook

I am nowthe proud owner of a 70 euronokia and a 299 lenovotbinkpafindteax

Thisspac varproblenIsannoyingad fick

This Nokia is straight up garbage!

I have now replaced the Nokia (it kept turning itself off and was just generally straight up garbage, as they say when talking about phones)

I have a Motoroller G7. It is good, it was cheap. It doesn't feel like I am going to drop it at any minute. Lets see how long this one lasts before blowing up

I use a first gen Moto G, which has been a very solid if unremarkable phone. It's frustratingly slow nowadays though, so I'm thinking of moving to whatever of the newer iterations I can afford.

I am on my second Moto G (over 5 years). The first was ~$80 and the second was ~$100. The first one was the first phone I ever cracked the screen on and i just put some tape over it and kept using it for another year until it stopped charging.

people walking around the city gazing at their cell phone and never looking up

This makes me angry too but then I keep having to remind myself that I was doing this with books way before smart phones

― silverfish, Wednesday, May 1, 2019 3:00 PM (five months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah it me.

Y'all are really mad about phones though. May I suggest that the kids are all right? They'll speak a language of split-second images and sub-sub-sub text in like a year from now and we oldsters can keep our "Roman alphabet" that requires speaking a discrete language in order to communicate. In the meantime I'm so happy to have infinite books and news and vehicles for social connection in my pocket at all times, I would never willingly give up a smartphone now.

An irl friend once said that one of the things he liked most about visiting NYC was the high percentage of ppl on the subway who were quietly READING--a book, a newspaper. I just prefer to assume that a significant amount of time ppl spend on their phones is reading/writing/communication time, all of which I think are general goods!

i am skeptical

stunned

I have some version of this argument with my father every few years.

Him: How come the kids today are always staring at a device instead of doing real stuff and interacting with real people?

Me: Ah but they _are_ doing stuff! Lots of stuff! And interacting with people constantly! Every time they look at a device they are interacting with people all over the world. The device is more than anything a window with people on the other side. They are playing games that were created by people. They are watching videos made by people. They are chatting with people. They are experiencing art and literature and music, all of it made by... people.

Him: Okay yeah but why don't they just interact with people directly?

Me: Aha, so says the guy who is a professor of literature and reads BOOKS so that he can communicate with Shakespeare and Austen and Cervantes. This is like that.

You can't call your wish to commune with people who are distant in time is an exalted pursuit, while also saying that communing with people who are distant in space is a lowly pursuit. That is some Boomer bullshit.

they're playing games or scrolling thru endless memes and lookit me posts on facebook/snapchat/whatever the new shit is. if someone pulled out a book during a lull in conversation that'd be pretty gauche.

After a certain hour (8pm?) my parents are as glued to their devices or TV as any millenial might be.

a recent fave is the people who take forever to get on/off the elevator because they're looking at their phones. and by fave i mean i've considered killing them

Ban smartphones and vaping and those chunky dad sneakers zoomers wear.

Parents are worse than their kids. At least kids drive better and can function. Parents are more apt to be rude.

That said, I get strange looks when I'm at a bar reading. Admiring ones too, to be fair. Bartenders usually ask what I'm reading and offer a variant on, "Wow, I wish customers wouldn't just play with their phones."

If I play with my phone at all, I'm on ILX.

mookie otm

see also the subway, from stairs to train doors and everywhere else

This DOT study failed to take into account that if i am behind you on the sidewalk, you may get kicked up the ass.

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-dot-report-distracted-pedestrians-20190902-fwlzxg6rlzhzhh3imotu3ll3l4-story.html

I also read in bars but it tends to be on my phone

I just read the bartenders' tats

My phone is somewhere inside an airport X-ray scanning machine. I have a replacement sim and bought a cheap set for now to put it in. But its locked to the network (EE). I didn't know this was a thing that they were able to do

I have another flight in 90 minutes.

Has anyone jailbroken a phone so they can switch networks? How difficult is it?

I just read the bartenders' tats

Unlocked phones are widely available for 60-100 usbux

I don't want yet another one! I want to unlock the one in my pocket!

switched to black and white.

deleted every inessential app, including email. i just have text and maps.

keep it in my bag.

so far so good. i missed a lot of calls and texts yesterday, but that is for the best.

good luck, I think about doing that all the time

hero

I need another number. I used my phone to get my son onto UC and now I'm getting migrated onto UC myself and cannot use the same phone number as a base for my application. Is there any way to get another number on the same sim? Fuck it there probably isn't!

Do Google Voice numbers exist in the UK?

eSIM ? or just ask your provider?

Yeah esim. Just add another number to your account and then use an eSIM to access it on your regular phone

eSIMs sound good but I've got an android phone with a physical sim card contract on 02. I'll ring them, no doubt they will be useless and say the only option is ANOTHER one.

I've got a galaxy A12 which apparently supports eSims. Are they reliable? Like could the number be permanently deleted if I only used it occassionally or just when required a few times a year. I did find a provider that does rolling contracts for £2.50 per month.

recently been coming to terms with how much these things have fucked my brain up. concentration, memory, being able to be in the moment, the constant feeling of restlessness, the inability to really engage with music in a deep way, the decline in the quantity and quality of my reading, my ability to think.

otm

deleted social media apps and turned off notifications for all other apps this week

still too much on the fucking thing but its a start

I only got my first smartphone about 6-7 years ago, the only apps I use are twitter and flagging and not really much else. Never really got too addicted to it to that point of concern.

the latest read max has a nice perspective on smartphones https://maxread.substack.com/p/platform-temperance

My phone is pretty locked down in terms of notifications and other aspects that draw my attention. Though I do have a simmering anxiety that the proverbial powers that be will one day just shut down or seriously limit access to the internet and we will all be fucked.

just shut down or seriously limit access to the internet and we will all be fucked.

would we?

the latest read max has a nice perspective on smartphones https://maxread.substack.com/p/platform-temperance

― 龜, Tuesday, November 4, 2025 8:24 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I also want to be clear, I wasn't making a political point or a larger point about social media, politics, society, etc. I, personally, am very certain that my current relationship with my phone has made me flat out less intelligent that I was before. My attention span is worse, I have more difficulty reading, I'm more anxious, more restless. To be honest, I'm having trouble getting through Max's essay right now. I know for a fact that wouldn't have been the case 10 or 15 years ago.

I know I am not the only one who feels this. I've started doing simple math on paper again just to see if I can still do it. Or - and I have no idea why I do this - using Google Maps in the car to places I've been a million times. I think these "conveniences" slowly eat away at your cognitive ability in ways that are hard to perceive at first but accumulate. With generative AI, god knows how bad this is going to get. Like I saw a fucking commercial where a woman asked her phone what the weather was like and then it said it was 58 degrees out and then she asks "How should I dress?" and it said "You might want to pack a light jacket", like no shit sherlock

oh yeah i wasn't saying you were - linking because i think the view that smartphones are literally hazardous for your health is one that landed with me, at least the way max presents the argument.

it took me about 5 years of incremental steps to wean the phone from my hands. i just deleted zing and instagram a few days ago, which were the last social media type apps on my phone that i check. i still go to ilxor.com in the browser even though the font is really small and scrolling all the way down to the end of a thread is annoying. but it's good that it's annoying.

on amtrak yesterday and noticed a guy in front of me had his phone set to black and white. that's a common tip people give to try and lessen smartphone addiction. but i think most people just get used to it, the phone being in black and white.

To be honest, I'm having trouble getting through Max's essay right now. I know for a fact that wouldn't have been the case 10 or 15 years ago.

I weirdly have a hard time reading through any kind of longform thing on a screen, but still have no issues with actual books (whether real or on an e-reader). I think it's just too tempting to play around with things on a screen, check out another tab, etc.