If smart phones disapeared how would you cope?

Wordsmith said:

by being blasted back 15 or more years (before the likes of Musk and Bezos gained such a stranglehold

Indeed! I used to enjoy GeoCities and there didn't seem so much dissing on chat sites.

I think I can manage without my phone. I had a look at my weekly report, and it says I only use my phone for about 25 minutes a day 

I have to admit, though there are other ways to see the time, contact people, play games etc I would be rather lost without my phone. I mean one time when I was at my nans flat, there were no chargers for my phone and my phone had died to I had to contact my mum via emails using my laptop. I think the beauty of the phone is that it’s convenient and light for me! 

My brain would never manage this. I'm terrible with directions. I'd remember the first one and then be clueless.

Postcodes occasionally cause issues with sat navs e.g. taking you to the back entrance rather than the front. But I've never had an issue putting a specific address in. Even in real country side areas.

Does 2G still work? I had to get a 4G dumb phone earlier in the year as 3G was being switched off.

I like my kindle too, but I used to manage with the library just fine and still would if its funding hadn't been cut to the bone and all sorts of hoops put in place to stop you from using it on anything but an occaisional basis.

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What did you do before smart phones? I'm guessing that you're old enough to remember what life was like before them? Do you back up all your lists in case in lose your phone?

I’d be fine. To be honest, I don’t use my smartphone much – emails, text messages, Whatsapp, and calls to/from my wife when out of the house. I keep anything financial strictly separate from the phone. It was originally purchased because a photography course I was doing included a section on smartphone photography (but since then I have found a much better everyday carry camera – the Fujifilm X70).

I do find AI useful. But you have to remember that it is a servant (a very fast, but unreliable servant) not a master (oops! I nearly wrote hamster). I mostly use it for creating quick subject overviews and literature searches – the sort of thing a research assistant would do if I were fortunate enough to have one (one of my lecturers once described academic research – particularly on the Continent – as a system of megaminds who get the credit and brain slaves who do the donkey work). AI is my brain slave.

The internet (and particularly social media) would benefit immensely by being blasted back 15 or more years (before the likes of Musk and Bezos gained such a stranglehold).

I'd be fine. I do have one, and we also have a 2g "dumb" mobile phone, but often go out without either. I don't do online banking on the smartphone and don't have payment cards saved on it. 

I would be fine with mobiles just doing calls and texts, and no social media would be great. I do like being able to stream TV programmes when I want to watch them though, rather than having to set a recording device. I also like Kindle books, so I'd want to keep those.

I’d barely cope lol. If I didn’t have a cell phone I’d have heaps of notebooks, and I’d anxious as hell that anyone would read them

I quite like meeting strangers as I have met so many characters over the years, amazing people whom I would have missed out on had smart phone been around at the time. I do understand your love of the anonymity. 

I plan my route on a map and can memorise it, if I was travelling a long distance then I'd memorise it in sections, when I stopped for a break. I nearly missed my sons wedding because of a road closure and the sat nav couldn't cope, we ended up n the wrong side of the county.

I actually like maps, especially old ones.

I regularly have to stand outside my house and wave at trades people or delivery drivers, my house is the first in our post code and the sat nav dosen't seem to recognise it and sends people to the other end of the street. This is much better than when I lived right out in the sticks as sat navs often either didn't know we existed at all and dumped people in the nearest village 3 miles away, or told them they'd reached their destination at the crossroads in our hamlet.

We also have a problem with some systems insisting we're in Gwynedd not Anglesey or using both, it makes it a nightmare filling in delivery detail online as they keep getting bounced back as not existing. Some form will have a menu of counties and they don't include Anglesey at all.

TheCatWoman said:

I still use a map, I prefer a map to a sat nav

It is illegal as a drive to be holding a map while driving or even waiting at traffic lights now (even eating an apple while driving has been made illegal) so you woud have to park up in order to be able to do this.

With sat nav and voice activation you can change the destintation etc much more safely while on the go.

TheCatWoman said:

post code area can be quite big and the sat navs can't cope

I've never had this issue before. You normally enter an address (eg 151 High Street, Cardiff) and it will literally take you to the door or show you parking failities nearby if you ask. If the house has a name then so long as it is in the Postal Address FIle with the Post Office then it will show when you enter the house name and postcode.

Even if that doesn't work in extreme situations then the map will not show you to any greater detail either, so it is of no more help than the satnav. In the sat nav you can at least zoom into the map, identify the shape of the building you think it is and "stick a pin" in it and navigate to it directly and with some accuracy.

On balance I would say maps are much worse as they are out of date as soon as they are printed, cannot adapt to changing traffic conditions and are not aware of things like road closures.

I threw all my road maps out about 20 years ago as I they were less than helpful.

I think I'm one of about 6% of people who don't own a smart phone, my Mum dosen't either. I wonder how many people who do have smart phones actually know how to use them though? I've seen lots of confused people in carparks not knowing how to use a parking app, or how to download one, especially when you end up on an Irish network instead of a British one. I've seen people so fed up with app based parking that they turn round and go somewhere else, that must lead to a fair bit of lost business?

I still use a map, I prefer a map to a sat nav, sat navs are still a bit useless round here out in the boonies, post code area can be quite big and the sat navs can't cope, many can't cope with house names with no numbers, some of our little lanes are unnamed too. Not that I really go anywhere that requires a sat nav.

I did try and use the NHS app thingy, but the link didn't work, so I still use the phone and go and drop off repeat prescription forms in person. I have to be careful with the automated check in thingy in the surgery as once I crashed it and it hadn't registered that I was there and I waited about an hour before realising the doctor wasn't running late.

Obviously now things are so integrated that many things wouldn't work with out all the tech, but I do wonder how people would cope?

LucyLandRover said:

I suspect people would interact more instead of staring at a phone

Do you think this would be a good thing for all those autists who don't like having to interact with people though?

Think of all those stares (rather than them looking at their screen) and the attempts at social interaction, often from complete strangers.

I kind of like the increased anonymity it allows us.

Yeah, I definitely think I could manage without one.

I would purchase a sat nav, because I'm so poor at finding places, and also something like an iPod for my music.

I did used to own both of these BTW. I think I may still have my iPod somewhere actually.

I would use my laptop more I think too.

I would be fine for most things. Before I got injured I used to go on a lot of hiking trips including some where there was no service- it was very nice- I felt so free and being cut of from everything was also quite freeing. It also made me feel more independent and more able to do things. However I do think I would struggle without one as I am currently studying abroad in Asia, my friends are spread all over the globe and I rely on things like WhatsApp or messenger to stay in touch with them. I don’t make friends easily and my friends are very important to me so I would struggle if I couldn’t stay in touch easily. I don’t have any friends where I am now. From a practical side, where I am living now it is ridiculous how reliant people are on their smart phones- you can barely even pay without one (cards are often not accepted and everyone uses their phone). When I first arrived it was a huge issue as I didn’t have a local phone number and it was really hard to even buy food… And so many other things seem to require a phone, like getting groceries or claiming for the medical insurance… I don’t like how reliant this makes us on smartphones. 

I do think that life might be nicer and simpler without a smartphone. In general I feel like life has become so complex with so many options which is in part due to technology- this is not necessarily bad but it does make everything more complicated. I used to dream of becoming a hiking guide and even considered enrolling in a 2 year program to become one before I sadly got injured. I love the simplicity of life when you are out hiking, away from everything. There are fewer choices- life is simple, everything you need is in your pack, you go from A to B each day (you may sometimes have to consider alternative routes and weather) and that’s about it- It makes me feel more alive and so so free. 

Oh, I agree with you, life would be so much better. I suspect people would interact more instead of staring at a phone. I see it all the time when in a cafes, couples ignoring each other while on the phones. I do not use a smart phone nor a land line and cope well enough. The issue is when trying to explain this as people can not get past the concept of not having one. 

I would go back to reading books, I have a whole library.  I don't need GPS and online mapping. I can read a paper map and physical directions and street signs.

I'd be the same as I did before they were invented. The camera is awesome. It's great for researching. There are features to make your life easier, but it's also a thing that can be replaced. If they no longer existed then people would be more in person community oriented again.

I have a smart phone, but I often forget to turn it on or take it with me when I go out. I really only have it for emergencies when driving (not that I drive much). I use it abroad for checking emails and that's about it. I think they are far too fragile, easily lost, stolen or electronically hijacked for me to entrust with anything to do with money.

You are welcome!