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  1. #1

    Were smartphones a mistake?

    They've made us less attentive, less focused, more sad due to social media and so on. Smartphones more like dumbphones. We should have stuck with nokias and stationary computers plus laptops.

  2. #2
    The Lightbringer
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    Kinda
    I only use a nokia because I seen way to many with their heads stuck in their smart phones. And the greed that is Mobile games will eventually end us all.

  3. #3
    Like most addictive things in life its great for those who can use them with moderation. The mistake is that everyone is free to use them. Kinda like how not everyone should be allowed to have kids but rather does.

  4. #4
    Smartphones have been a huge blessing for productivity in a lot of fields.
    In my case it doubles up as a data collector for field work, whereas prior to smartphones, you'd have to get batshit expensive proprietary data collectors.
    Having things like GPS and camera in the phone also means i dont have to those as seperate devices as well.

    Social media would have existed without smartphones, and for that sake did before they became something everyone had, so the pressure of SoMe would still be there.

  5. #5
    The Insane Acidbaron's Avatar
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    Addiction to social media can be disconnected from smart phones to a point, they have been engineered to keep you you scrolling. Plenty of documentaries on this and people filled with regret that they helped build that "monster".

    Not at all, it gave us a great many things. The access to information to just about anything anywhere you are is invaluable in a professional setting.

    Our focus was already greatly diminished without them, there are so many forms of entertainment out there to distract us and distraction is the opposite of focus, it is still however on you to counter that focus and discipline are skills that can be regained. Personally if i ever have kids i will try to make reading books a habit for them and i do find parents who give their kids smart phones at a young age just dumb, your kids don't need a top of the line smart phone at age 5 or even 10. That being said you can look up nonsense on your phone but there are also apps out there to read non-celebrity, tabloid articles. "Pocket" is a great example of that.

    The access to music, audiobooks, podcasts to me is also very valuable.

    I have one on my all the time and it doesn't decrease my quality of work, i however do have a minimal social media profile and don't feel the need to have updates for just about everything every minute.

    It's a tool, like a screwdriver you can use it to dismantle objects and repair things or you can use it to poke your own eyes out. Just keep it away from kids till they know how to to use them correctly.
    “My philosophy is: It’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.
    ― Anthony Hopkins

  6. #6
    Yes.
    Funny how it originally was sold on the idea of "in case of an emergency."
    I once stopped a fight by breaking a guy's phone. Big man turned into a big baby just like that.

  7. #7
    Having a smartphone is an option, not a requirement. But yeah.. the more technology in our hands, the less knowledge in our head.

  8. #8
    Is having access to the culmination of all human knowledge in the palm of your hand a mistake? No.

    Is corporations turning them into yet another opiate to keep the masses placated a bad thing? Probabaly.
    Tonight for me is a special day. I want to go outside of the house of the girl I like with a gasoline barrel and write her name on the road and set it on fire and tell her to get out too see it (is this illegal)?

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Saltysquidoon View Post
    Is having access to the culmination of all human knowledge in the palm of your hand a mistake? No.

    Is corporations turning them into yet another opiate to keep the masses placated a bad thing? Probabaly.
    If it were only just knowledge...

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Narwhalosh Whalescream View Post
    They've made us less attentive, less focused, more sad due to social media and so on. Smartphones more like dumbphones. We should have stuck with nokias and stationary computers plus laptops.
    smartphones are literaly the best possible thing that happened to humankind in last decades.

    just because stupid people missuse them its their problem.

    stupid people missuse a lot of things - smartphones are just one of many .

    smart people utilize them properly

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowferal View Post
    If it were only just knowledge...
    then it would be not fun.

    you need time to relax too in order to punction properly.

    some people find relaxation in browsing fb - other use that time and smartphone to for example utilize meditation or sports apps .

    its all up to you how you use it

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Narwhalosh Whalescream View Post
    They've made us less attentive, less focused, more sad due to social media and so on. Smartphones more like dumbphones. We should have stuck with nokias and stationary computers plus laptops.
    Was TV a bad idea?

    Was Radio a bad idea?

    Because you had all the same arguments regarding them.

  12. #12
    Were smartphones a mistake? Absolutely not. Not by any metric.

    Was Social Media a mistake? Yes. By almost all metrics bar marketing.

  13. #13
    The Unstoppable Force PC2's Avatar
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    Having a multi-purpose supercomputer/phone in my pocket is not a "mistake". There are Luddites in every generation who say new tech is harming our way of life. It's just nonsense because all technology is doing is giving us more options to do whatever we want.

  14. #14
    Over the past two years, I have begun to think the internet being open to anyone is a mistake.

  15. #15
    People's brain power has assuredly dropped.

    I remember memorizing a map going from from point a to point b roughly 120 miles away. Those relying on gps...and phone were invariably late...

  16. #16
    Merely a Setback PACOX's Avatar
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    Definitely not. It's all how you use them and people over blow the "bad" stuff.

    The amount of power and utility in that little device in your hand is incredible

    Resident Cosplay Progressive

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowferal View Post
    People's brain power has assuredly dropped.

    I remember memorizing a map going from from point a to point b roughly 120 miles away. Those relying on gps...and phone were invariably late...
    That's not how it works.

    Navigation by map and directions is an acquired skill that you develop through practice.

    If it's a skill that if you don't need you don't learn or practice, but that doesn't mean you cannot learn it.

    In exchange you acquired skills like using productivity apps on your smartphone. If someone handed you a smartphone 10 years ago you'd be exponentially more lost on just how to use it than your average teenager would be if you handed them a map and a compass.

    That because using a smartphone is actually a harder skill than navigating a road map. (Topographical map navigation is a different skill set that was exactly as rare 50 years ago as it is today as it's a niche skill very few people need).

  18. #18
    The Lightbringer Cæli's Avatar
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    smartphones are a great addition, now everyone has a common device, it enables things like payment or automatic protection of a person (auto calling for help), real time translation
    what is bad is things that are also accessible through a pc
    also it tends to be used for meaningless things, but it's up to people to be organized and not fill their life with bloat

    one thing I like about it is that it generates a lot of interest and resources for abysmally bad games, which decreases the amount of good games that would otherwise be potentially created, which makes it more realistic to play the wanted games during a lifetime without being overwhelmed
    Last edited by Cæli; 2020-11-15 at 05:00 AM.

  19. #19
    Pit Lord smityx's Avatar
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    It was inevitable to happen. The future will be wearable then implanted retina augmented reality. Google Glass was just ahead of it's time. People just are not accustomed/ready for glassholes yet. Next generation will have no issue with it. Like the current generation that gives 0 F's about personal privacy.

  20. #20
    It is one of the best inventions ever tbh.

    You don't need to buy a GPS, dictionary, calculator, MP3 etc smartphone can include them all.

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