Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The People Deciding to Ditch Their Smartphones
BBC ^ | 1/23 | Suzanne Bearne

Posted on 01/24/2022 1:06:47 PM PST by nickcarraway

In a world where many of us are glued to our smartphones, Dulcie Cowling is something of an anomaly - she has ditched hers.

The 36-year-old decided at the end of last year that getting rid of her handset would improve her mental health. So, over Christmas she told her family and friends that she was switching to an old Nokia phone that could only make and receive calls and text messages.

She recalls that one of the pivotal moments that led to her decision was a day at the park with her two boys, aged six and three: "I was on my mobile at a playground with the kids and I looked up and every single parent - there was up to 20 - were looking at their phones, just scrolling away," she says.

"I thought 'when did this happen?'. Everyone is missing out on real life. I don't think you get to your death bed and think you should have spent more time on Twitter, or reading articles online."

Ms Cowling, who is a creative director at London-based advertising agency Hell Yeah!, adds that the idea to abandon her smartphone had built up during the Covid lockdowns.

"I thought about how much of my life is spent looking at the phone and what else could I do. Being constantly connected to lots of services creates a lot of distractions, and is a lot for the brain to process."

She plans to use the time gained from quitting her smartphone to read and sleep more.

About nine out of 10 people in the UK now own a smartphone, a figure broadly replicated across the developed world. And we are glued to them - one recent study found that the average person spends 4.8 hours a day on their handset.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Society
KEYWORDS: braindestroyers; smartphones; technology; telecommunications
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-118 next last
To: nickcarraway

Here’s a simple trick to make your expensive smart phone a lot dumber. Hold your finger over each of the app tiles until you see the “uninstall” selection. Press this and the annoying apps will go away.

It’s kind of like the scene in “2001:Space Odyssey” when Dave starts disconnecting HAL’s brain. You can keep “Phone” and “Maps” and maybe your bank app, but the rest are just time killers. You don’t even need the email app but that’s a hard one to drop if you are severely addicted.


21 posted on 01/24/2022 1:26:12 PM PST by Dave Wright
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cgbg

I am grateful to still have my landline . . . have misplaced two tracphones in the last year that were supposed to be used for emergencies. You can’t find anyone in the phone book anymore. I think it was on purpose. I used it to contact people, send cards, etc. Don’t twitter, tweet, facebook, etc. and I manage.


22 posted on 01/24/2022 1:26:19 PM PST by Maudeen (PSALM 91 - GOD'S ANTIDOTE FOR THE CORONAVIRUS & VACCINE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

My answer : Location services off, vpn on, No email or financial apps on the phone, Only people in my contact list can make calls, all others to voicemail that tells any and all If you are trying to sell me something or tell me something political I WILL NOT CALL YOU BACK.


23 posted on 01/24/2022 1:26:34 PM PST by contrarian ( I am sorry, I was charging my phone and missed your call.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ben Dover

In the movie The Princess Bride, Peter Faulk’s character says to his grandson “In my day, television was called books”.


24 posted on 01/24/2022 1:27:18 PM PST by BiglyCommentary
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Rebelbase

>I finally switched from a flip phone to a smart phone when my carrier dropped 3G.

>The flipper was light and easy to carry. It’s a love/hate thing with the smart phone.

They’re back - https://sunbeamwireless.com/


25 posted on 01/24/2022 1:27:48 PM PST by nevadapatriot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Hey, I’m ahead of my time.


26 posted on 01/24/2022 1:28:10 PM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith….)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I was on my mobile at a playground with the kids and I looked up and every single parent - there was up to 20 - were looking at their phones, just scrolling away,” she says.

...

She plans to use the time gained from quitting her smartphone to read and sleep more.


So she will bury her head in a book while at the playground ...


27 posted on 01/24/2022 1:28:14 PM PST by TexasGator (UF)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BiglyCommentary

“There was a time when reading wasn’t just for fags. And neither was writing. People wrote books and movies. Movies with stories, that made you care about whose ass it was and why it was farting.”

-President Not Sure (Idiocracy)


28 posted on 01/24/2022 1:28:29 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Ben Dover

...or possibly interacting with their kids, having good oldfashioned fun?


29 posted on 01/24/2022 1:28:36 PM PST by miserare ( Respect for life--life of all kinds-- is the first principle of civilization.~~A. Schweitzer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: hillarys cankles

That’s the only reason I switched.
I looked around and could not find another carrier.


30 posted on 01/24/2022 1:29:21 PM PST by Lurkinanloomin ( (Natural born citizens are born here of citizen parents)(Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Lurkinanloomin

Nokia has a 4G 6300 phone, like the old style candy bar phones.

https://www.amazon.com/Nokia-Unlocked-Hotspot-Assistant-Charcoal/dp/B08SV2Y7J6/ref=dp_fod_2?tag=aadls-20&pd_rd_i=B08SV2Y7J6&th=1&geniuslink=true


31 posted on 01/24/2022 1:29:26 PM PST by sloanrb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Lurkinanloomin

You can’t. With cellphone carriers turning off 2G and 3G networks, old phones are useless. In fact, even old iPhones older than the iPhone 5 are useless now.


32 posted on 01/24/2022 1:30:43 PM PST by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's Economic Cure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Lurkinanloomin

I still have our Motorola Star-Tacs.
I once accidentally backed over mine with a Toyota 4Runner and it was just fine.

/plus, the X Files factor


33 posted on 01/24/2022 1:30:55 PM PST by Salamander ("Salamander has barbaric tendencies" /Gundog)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I have found working with the younger generation they are VERY MUCH lacking in the personality department all of them just seem SO FLAT!! I feel sorry for them!!


34 posted on 01/24/2022 1:32:20 PM PST by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bob434

I like a smartphone when I need directions in a city/place I’ve never been before. I find the directions are usually outstanding and I can plug in my phone to my truck and see the map as well.

Once in a great while I use the browser. And I can get good weather information - when will the 25 mph winds drop to 10, or when should the rains hit/end.

But I’d be very happy with a good PHONE with text for 95% of my use. Save the iPhone for when I travel. I just haven’t found any SMALL but easy to use minimalist phones.


35 posted on 01/24/2022 1:33:44 PM PST by Mr Rogers (We're a nation of feelings, not thoughts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I’ve noticed the phenomenon - almost all people are unable to be alone with themselves, and need the feedback and confirmation from the electronic device.

I admit the need and convenience of having one’s personal portable telephone, and the ability to text, available at all times. As a safety issue, the portable phone is a live-saver.

But it looks like millions are using the portable device to escape from interacting with people around them. This is not normal. Homo sapiens is the one species that owes its survivability to its ability to talk with other humans and to exchange highly detailed information with those it interacts with.

The need to escape from the humans that surround one says a lot about the deterioration of our civilization.


36 posted on 01/24/2022 1:34:22 PM PST by I want the USA back (Government is to be feared much more than the chicom virus.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Maudeen

I still have only a land line. I sit on the end of the couch...all cozy...and we talk and talk and that’s the way we like it.


37 posted on 01/24/2022 1:36:03 PM PST by Sacajaweau ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: cgbg

Modern cellphones are full time tracking devices with government accessible audio and video .


38 posted on 01/24/2022 1:36:06 PM PST by A strike (Public Health 21st century murder by government. DoktorFauxiMengeleGates to a TerreHaute gurney now)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: sloanrb

Thanks for the link.
The price is right, I paid double that for a new iphone 6s last year.


39 posted on 01/24/2022 1:36:18 PM PST by Lurkinanloomin ( (Natural born citizens are born here of citizen parents)(Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

A couple of years ago, shortly before all of this Covid cr@p, I met some friends at a restaurant for dinner. I forgot my phone; I had left it on the charger at home.

We got talking about a barbecue we’d all attended about a year before and one of my friends asked me if I still had the pictures I had taken that day. I said I did, but they were on my phone which I’d left at home.

Another one of my friends was shocked. “You forgot it and didn’t go back to get it??” he asked. “Aren’t you freaking out?”

I laughed. “Not at all. I forget it all the time.” (The only way I would have gone back for it was if I hadn’t known where the restaurant was. My sense of direction sucks.)

It’s sad how some people are so addicted that the can’t walk away from their phones for a couple of hours.


40 posted on 01/24/2022 1:37:25 PM PST by Allegra
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-118 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson