Published on 12, July, 2020
So as of this last week I no longer own a smartphone. I have decided to go fully old school. I have an old LG phone that looks like a Blackberry and just texts and calls with a basic VGA camera and no internet. I have even bought myself an old cassette walkman and I am going to put some of my favourite albums onto cassette so I have something to listen to
I tried all this a few years ago and it helped my mental health so much, made my head so much clearer not having the visual stimulation and endless sensory overload of having the internet in my pocket all day and endless apps and social media sites. After a couple of years I ended up getting a smartphone again, mainly cos of work and the fact that everyone there talked on whats app. Im not at work anymore now though, at least not in an office full of people at least
Might even get a camera and develop photos!
Feels like everyone is living their whole lives through these little screens in their pockets and I just want to get away from it and feel alive again. Also, society keeps saying its impossible to live without one these days so kinda makes me want to try!
Billy you won't look back. I got rid of mine in 2019. For whatwver stuff i miss out on its made up for with peace. I don't have whatsapp. I don't have to spend time replying to nonsense pictures or deciding which emoji to use. This forum is the only "socisl media" I use. In those 4 years I haven't missed anything important and have stayed in contact with everyone who matters. If we go anywhere I enjoy the moment and if we want a picture my partner uses his phone. I'm not expected to answer work emails and can reply to personal emails in my own time (isn't there something on whatsapp with ticks so people can see if you have read it but not replied?). Theres often something quite smug in myself when I'm asked to "just download the app" and I say I don't have a smartphone :-) (old school emoticon)
Remember it's only in the past 20 years or so even smart phones have come in. Not much longer for normal telephones really in the grand scheme of humanity.
out_of_step said:Theres often something quite smug in myself when I'm asked to "just download the app" and I say I don't have a smartphone :-)
Yes I love that feeling too!
out_of_step said:Remember it's only in the past 20 years or so even smart phones have come in
Exactly, thats what I think too! I would go further and say its only in the last 10 years that they have become commonplace with everyone having one. And yet the whole world acts as if they are an essential to live and its impossible to live without one. Human beings managed for thousands of years before they were invented. Even in our childhoods we had a perfectly happy simple time without them
Also it's like we have willingly entered into 1984 without any of this being imposed on us. Big Brother? Everyone's got a camera phone now.