Rant About Technology Use

[thesummerqueen]

I'm really sick of seeing this sort of attitude:

http://cubiclebot.com/comics/time-before...icleBot%29

"Time Before Smart Phones"

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I'd like to take a minute to explain that if you're having problems having meaningful conversations with people, it's not the technology. It's you. We're going to take this panel by panel.

Panel 2: First of all, I'm generally alone when I'm going somewhere on public transportation. And generally, I don't want to talk to strangers. When I'm with someone I do know, it is quite easy to happily have a conversation you're both interested in. On the other hand, maybe you don't feel like talking. What's wrong with playing on the phone then? I could just as easily ignore all you fuckers with a book or magazine. I'd rather do it with a phone, because then it's harder for you to read over my shoulder and try to talk to me.

Panel 3: Part of my lasting relationships involves phones that can text, e-mail, take pictures, etc. You know what destroys my friend time? School and work. I'm not allowed to use my phone then.

Panel 4: I hate it when my imagination wanders and I have nowhere to record my insanity. Nothing kills relaxation like realizing I'm going to forget a great idea.

Panel 5: ...being able to have knowledge at your fingertips in minutes or seconds is not the same as not being able to work through a problem. In fact, it often helps you do so, instead of you coming to a bad conclusion.

Panel 6: There were people who were shut-ins before smart phones. There are those of us who carry them who love being in the world.

You control the machine, not the other way around. Quit blaming the fork for making you fat, and the phone for your shitty social and creative skills.

Nostalgia is a bitch. As a friend of mine on FB said (to paraphrase), life wasn't fucking peachy before smart phones either.

[Rhizomorph13]

Well, I would argue that before cell phones, just the regular phone ones that weren't smart, I had a lot fewer people breaking off a talk with me to pull something out of their pocket and turn away from me. No matter how great a conversationalist you are, people will still pull thier devices out to look at them or, in my case, to tell me that my pocket is buzzing and I should check my phone! I always tell these people, "I'm already in a conversation, why would I stop this one to maybe engage in another one? I have an answering service for a reason."

I love my smart phone and feel that it helps me a great deal so I can off-load a lot of important information so I can focus on what is really important to me, but there needs to be some training regarding their proper use in social situations. I agree that when not engaged they are just as viable a distraction as a newspaper or book, but they quite often allow people to disconnect when they should be looking to connect. I'm talking about famliy gatherings or parties. Cell phones are often used to shield people from the very healthy interactions that we all should be seeking out. I understand that it is a matter of choice and I would certainly not advocate their removal from the marketplace through laws or economic sanctions, but I do feel that they do more harm than good. This is where etiquette comes in; which is something lacking all around in our society today.

There used to be a whole body of etiquette to guide us in proper social interactions and while I feel many of them have become outmoded I've grown to view most of them as good ideas in general. Like saying please and thank you for everything. Etiquette needs to be revised though to add proper cell phone use.

[The Grand Nudger]

Those same people were politely and surreptitiously ignoring you (and your "conversation") before they had smart phones, you just didn't realize it.

[Minimalist]

The cell phone will be the end of humanity.

[thesummerqueen]

That's an etiquette issue though, and there are always going to be rude and distracted people. Some seem terribly OCD and can't deal with leaving a message unchecked. Again, this is a matter of people realizing that the phone doesn't rule their life - they do - and that you letting it rule your actions makes you the bad person.

On the other hand - and this could be just a personal thing - many of my circles of friends are managers or have odd hours at work or things they get updates on (science-y things) and thus will check their phone if it buzzes and then put it away if it's not dire. The only one I know who HAS to respond is already a rude bitch who only listens with half an ear no matter what. My boyfriend manages a photography studio and frequently gets calls, but politely excuses himself and leaves the room so he can take it, then comes back with phone pocketed. It's how they manage these things that makes the difference.

[Rhizomorph13]

Those same people were politely and surreptitiously ignoring you (and your "conversation") before they had smart phones, you just didn't realize it.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FUCK YOU!

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The cell phone will be the end of humanity.

Yeah, but you don't like humanity that much anyways so why would you care?

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By the way I feel the same way about personal music devices. They are great for what they are, but they are often used as a distraction when they should not be. I do not agree that people would have found something else to distract them in the situations I was talking about. I remember family gatherings back in the day and if you wanted to tune people out you had to do it with beer and sports! Oh crap I guess I'm making points for your argument aren't I? Well at least back then we got to make fun of those people for the boors they were being rather than have to act jealous about my cousins new i-whatever-piece-of-shit-distraction-generator.

[thesummerqueen]

see that's the thing - I often hear parents complaining about their kids not talking to them because they're glued to their iphone. Dude, I didn't have a phone until I was 18. I didn't have a game-boy. I had a walkman for a long time and eventually moved to iPod, but that was after I was 17. I studiously ignored my parents because they were BORING and EMBARRASSING.

No, that's not a kid complaint. That's an honest assessment. And I see it in a lot of parents nowadays too. You're fucking boring. You don't want to talk to your kids to actually hear what they care about or have to say, because you don't give a shit about those sorts of things anymore. You're not in that world - you have other worries. You only want to make sure they're not in trouble. So you ask ridiculous shit and say stupid boring things and the conversations are nowhere near as rich or entertaining as what's going on in the iPhone (to them).

Before I had the Android, I FOUND ways to avoid interaction with boring or stupid people - usually in a book, but daydreaming is really great too.

[Rhizomorph13]

Hey, my kids think I'm awesome and tell me daily OR ELSE THEY GET THE LASH!

[IATIA]

I got my first computer when I was thirty and my first cell phone when I was forty. I do not have a facebook account nor do i twitter.

If i had possessed a computer when i was a kid, my life would have been totally different. I was an outdoors guy and television had little to offer. My parents were cool and interesting, but seemed to always be working. (supporting 6 kids.)

I think that the smart phones, even cell phones, have created a 'new etiquette'. People have allowed technology to isolate them. For the 'rude' people that answer their phone while in conversation with me, it is apparently 'not rude' in the smartphone circles.

This forum is a distraction and not my life. i like talking to people, not machines. Technology is good, but I am not ready to give up people.

[thesummerqueen]

Just stating a different position here - while I now have a much larger circle of friends thanks to the local atheist group, I work and go to school. It's hard to have social interaction when you work at a very small company and your classmates are strangers. Internet social interaction - especially of the type some of us have developed on this forum, is most beneficial.