Do you still regularly use the phone?

[darkash]

not anymore I guess
my cellphone do better lol
even the bill is better

[Mystes]

Misogi, what you say has a certain truth to it. Yet, with the reasons you gave and without any judgment against you personally, I still must pause and question whether these things are needs or even necessary at all. Obviously, humans were able to get by without smartphones and the like for the past x number of millennia. So, why the "need" all of sudden within the past century? Sure, one could argue that the "need" has always existed, but surely the answer does not need to lie in the smartphone and technology in the form that it exists today. Is it not ironic that the more we try to communicate with each other, find ways to keep ourselves entertained, obtain access to information, etc. the more we become socially dysfunctional and enslaved to what we made to make our lives easier?

Well, the Romans didn't need guns to go to war, but it doesn't mean that armies shouldn't use them because you can pass on them in war. Same with smartphones. You can always carry a map with you,ask directions to people passing by, read a book on the train, go check your mails with a computer, but that doesn't mean you can't do it with a smartphone. If it's more convenient and gives you more advantages, you choose it.

hocchan, you more or less just gave further evidence to my point. No insult intended here, but it seems that the "smart" phone makes people into bigger idiots than they ever were or could have been. How many traffic accidents have been caused by cell phone and smartphone users? Yeah...real smart, people, real smart...Such things cause me to wonder if we could and/or should be using our time in a "better" manner such as reading books, making productive things to help society, actually talking to people face-to-face , etc. Frankly, is it worth the $xxxx for the smartphone that I could spend $0 on for a fun time just hanging out with friends?

You can't take the example of traffic accidents to justify that. They can be caused by simply looking off the road. Just like you can't ask yourself why do the countries still pierce everywhere for oil if it causes pollution, global warming and risks like BP's.

Smartphones are made to ease your life and such. If it makes people lazy, then it's up to one to decide what they want to do, buy it or not.

[Misogi]

I think that smartphones are made to help people with some of their useful functions. (And I'd like to have the BakaReader in my new phone, to read by myself some light novels.)

Yet, I agree that a lot of people are either boasting or relying too much on their smartphones. This happens while new technologies are developping, they become a trend and a "necessity".
I don't mention the case of those who are sending messages while driving, it's just dangerous and any phone can be used in this case.

You can easily get lost in Paris (exception of the subway). I took the wrong exit, and I went out of the small map I planned. Without a way to find where I was, it was hard to be on time at an important meeting.

[ainsoph9]

Well, the Romans didn't need guns to go to war, but it doesn't mean that armies shouldn't use them because you can pass on them in war. Same with smartphones. You can always carry a map with you,ask directions to people passing by, read a book on the train, go check your mails with a computer, but that doesn't mean you can't do it with a smartphone. If it's more convenient and gives you more advantages, you choose it.

kira, I think that there is HUGE difference between a weapon that could mean the saving or destruction of a life and a smartphone. While a smartphone may be able to do both of those one way or another, the main and general use is for convenience. Also, weapons still require training to use them properly and do not change the ability of the user to behave intelligently, despite some misuse; smartphones can and sometimes do.

You can't take the example of traffic accidents to justify that. They can be caused by simply looking off the road. Just like you can't ask yourself why do the countries still pierce everywhere for oil if it causes pollution, global warming and risks like BP's.

Smartphones are made to ease your life and such. If it makes people lazy, then it's up to one to decide what they want to do, buy it or not.

kira, smartphones and cell phones given to people on the road who are ADD in the first place is like giving a knife to a child. Sadly, information overload from the internet and the use of smartphones, etc. has helped aggravate such behavior. Sure, you can just look off the road, but people are more likely to look off of the road while trying to navigate their cell phone/smartphone than they are without one while navigating traffic. One of the problems of the internet age is that people have forgotten or simply do not know how to relax and enjoy themselves away from the internet and function without it. Smartphones are just another accessory to such behavior.

Your comparison between smartphones and the world's energy, economic, ecological, and other problems is irrelevant. I understand that both have risks, but I can go without a smartphone without significant threat to my life. It is much more difficult to live in a world that goes without electricity, sewage, water, heating/cooling, plastics, etc. by cutting off the world's oil supply cold turkey. I can go and have gone cold turkey without a smartphone. Funny how fine I am doing without it.

I hear you guys talking about maps on your smartphones. I remember using paper maps and atlases as a child and staring at them for hours. I learned a lot from doing that. It would not surprise me that, if a survey was done, it would be found that smartphone and internet-age people do not know their geography as well as those who studied paper maps and atlases alone. Not to say that I am better, it is just that the instant access and gratification kills the joy of work and its rewards.

[Mystes]

kira, I think that there is HUGE difference between a weapon that could mean the saving or destruction of a life and a smartphone. While a smartphone may be able to do both of those one way or another, the main and general use is for convenience. Also, weapons still require training to use them properly and do not change the ability of the user to behave intelligently, despite some misuse; smartphones can and sometimes do.

I can also take othe examples. Dishwasher? Oven? All these are humans invention. You can do the dishes by hand, cook something by making a fire. But does that necessarily make people less intelligent?
"despite some misuse". So smartphones can't be used "intelligently"?

kira, smartphones and cell phones given to people on the road who are ADD in the first place is like giving a knife to a child. Sadly, information overload from the internet and the use of smartphones, etc. has helped aggravate such behavior. Sure, you can just look off the road, but people are more likely to look off of the road while trying to navigate their cell phone/smartphone than they are without one while navigating traffic. One of the problems of the internet age is that people have forgotten or simply do not know how to relax and enjoy themselves away from the internet and function without it. Smartphones are just another accessory to such behavior.

They may cause accidents. But there's the LAW that says you must not check your phone while driving. If someone does not respect the law, you can't do anything about it. And if some people can't even attach their safety belt, this is to be expected from the people.

Your comparison between smartphones and the world's energy, economic, ecological, and other problems is irrelevant. I understand that both have risks, but I can go without a smartphone without significant threat to my life. It is much more difficult to live in a world that goes without electricity, sewage, water, heating/cooling, plastics, etc. by cutting off the world's oil supply cold turkey. I can go and have gone cold turkey without a smartphone. Funny how fine I am doing without it.

OK, I'll ask this: is there really the need to pierce oil everywhere? At a point, it becomes unreasonable. It multiplies the damage done to the planet and multiplies to possible human errors. So why don't we take care of the most important issues first? Telling people to pass from smartphones because it's not absolutely necessary while the government does the opposite and spends a lot on trivial stuffs is kinda contractidicting.

I hear you guys talking about maps on your smartphones. I remember using paper maps and atlases as a child and staring at them for hours. I learned a lot from doing that. It would not surprise me that, if a survey was done, it would be found that smartphone and internet-age people do not know their geography as well as those who studied paper maps and atlases alone. Not to say that I am better, it is just that the instant access and gratification kills the joy of work and its rewards.

If people don't know geography well, it's mostly because they didn't learn enough at school.
Again, the Smartphone maps are there to facilitate your life, not to yeah you geography. Each have their own uses, and the smartphone's sure isn't to teach you how to live.

[ainsoph9]

I can also take othe examples. Dishwasher? Oven? All these are humans invention. You can do the dishes by hand, cook something by making a fire. But does that necessarily make people less intelligent?
"despite some misuse". So smartphones can't be used "intelligently"?

No, it does not make them less intelligent. It just tends to make them lazy. My point is that we wind up creating more work and problems for ourselves when we try to make things more "convenient."

They may cause accidents. But there's the LAW that says you must not check your phone while driving. If someone does not respect the law, you can't do anything about it. And if some people can't even attach their safety belt, this is to be expected from the people.

Umm...yeah...about that...

OK, I'll ask this: is there really the need to pierce oil everywhere? At a point, it becomes unreasonable. It multiplies the damage done to the planet and multiplies to possible human errors. So why don't we take care of the most important issues first? Telling people to pass from smartphones because it's not absolutely necessary while the government does the opposite and spends a lot on trivial stuffs is kinda contractidicting.

I think this is getting OT to a certain extent. At the same time, I could counter-argue that smartphones would not exist without oil, since plastic is made from oil. Likewise, all of the silver, silicon, copper, gold, etc. that goes into making a smartphone has a much more limited resource supply than oil. The waste and potential toxic by-products created from the PCB alone at the factory and after use is relatively high, even if you do manage to recycle it properly. So, while you are giving up the barrel of oil, you might want to dump your cell phone, smartphone, PC, laptop, and anything that uses a chip off somewhere. Yet, I get the feeling that you will not do that...

If people don't know geography well, it's mostly because they didn't learn enough at school.
Again, the Smartphone maps are there to facilitate your life, not to yeah you geography. Each have their own uses, and the smartphone's sure isn't to teach you how to live.

You say that the smartphone is not meant to teach you how to live. Why are there so many religious and philosophical apps and books available via smartphone?

[Rajikai]

Well I would be sad If I don't use my phone regularly. I started to reread light novels on them from time to time.

[Mystes]

Damn, Rajikai. Where did you pop out from?

[ainsoph9]

The alpha version of a smartphone app?

[Mystes]

Ainsoph, this is the best attempt I've ever seen to stay on topic.

[ainsoph9]

Anyhow, does anyone here think that the best method of communication varies when the thing that needs to be communicated changes?

[Mystes]

Anyhow, does anyone here think that the best method of communication varies when the thing that needs to be communicated changes?

As in?

[ainsoph9]

For example, some things are better said in person versus via text message. Only a schmuck would tell their sibling that their pet died via text message because it gives such an impersonal feeling. However, using a text message to ask for directions to a party when it is noisy around you might be a good idea. In other words, depending on the situation around you or the content of the message, do you find yourself debating how to communicate with someone often?

[Mystes]

Should return that question to misogi, since I never use text messages.

[ainsoph9]

However, I assume that you do the below or a combination thereof:

1. Talk face-to-face
2. Talk on the phone
3. IM
4. E-mail
5. Fax
6. Facebook, mySpace, or other social networking site
7. Skype
8. Other that I am not thinking of at the moment.