Out of the loop - don't judge me!

Legs.Eleven

I'm not getting a smart phone. Ever. Not unless normal run-of-the-mill phones become obsolete and I'm forced to buy one. The reason? I don't want or need one. I've got the most basic of Nokia phones and it's perfect for my needs. It's got Snake, a flashlight, a little calendar to note down birthdays and Shark Week and it can text and make phone calls. It also has a ringtone sounds like a baby giggling and who doesn't love a (cute not ugly) baby? I'm happy as Larry!

Recently people (friends and colleagues) have actually been scoffing at the fact that I don't own one. Up till about 2 years ago no one batted an eyelid but now people openly laugh at me and my phone and now they have a right auld gawk at it like I've taken out a tube of thrush cream to make a phone call on. I feel like I'm making some kind of one woman protest against smart phones when all it comes down to is the fact that I simply don't want one.

Am I the only one? Anyone else like me? Anyone else feel persecuted? And if you do judge, why?

Phoebas

Worse than Hitler.

fullgas

We don't care.

crazy cabbage

Dont get one so...

joetoad

How can you not have one? access email, facebook, browse the internet from anywhere, mp3 player, google maps with navigation, youtube whereever you are. Same as carrying a laptop around with you but on a phone

Legs.Eleven

Eh....okay.

lintdrummer

I thanked the op for the shark week comment.

Legs.Eleven

fullgas wrote: »

We don't care.

You cared enough to post! Ha!

Ilik Urgee

Hear hear!! Bingo all the way!!

Gummy Panda

But whatsapp makes it easier for girls to send me pics of their love kebab

Yitzhak Rabin

I can't watch high definition pornography on the LUAS on my nokia 3210.

Sure I can look at text message based porn such as ( . Y . ) and 8::::::: ) - - - , but I haven't been able to masturbate to that stuff for years.

LowOdour

Have you gone into a store to try one out, see how you it feels? A smart phone can do all you said above, but a whole lot more. Dont get an iPhone though...you will belong to a cult or something

Legs.Eleven

joetoad wrote: »

How can you not have one? access email, facebook, browse the internet from anywhere, mp3 player, google maps with navigation, youtube whereever you are. Same as carrying a laptop around with you but on a phone

I don't need to do those things though and didn't we all get by perfectly fine without them? I can wait 'till I get home. I have an mp3 player already. I'll admit the google maps thing appeals but not enough to fork out for one.


Doesn't it bug anyone else that many people seem to have their faces stuck in them most of the day even when talking to them? It's a bit rude, no?

Koptain Liverpool

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

Am I the only one? Anyone else like me? Anyone else feel persecuted? And if you do judge, why?

Yes I'm the same. Please don't use the baby giggling ringtone. If i met you and heard it I'd have to punch you.

I bought a new phone last week because my old Nokia (which was held together by sellotape) finally died. I bought a similar candy bar Nokia phone for €35. The main reason I don't want a smart phone is because I already spend too much time on the internet, and also because any time I've had an expensive phone I've lost it. I'm gonna hold out as long as possible but I'm sure in a year or two a smartphone will be a necessary not a luxury.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

we all got on perfectly fine without anti biotics too but they're still bloody handy to have around

Ficheall

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

I'm not getting a smart phone. Ever. Not unless normal run-of-the-mill phones become obsolete and I'm forced to buy one. The reason? I don't want or need one. I've got the most basic of Nokia phones and it's perfect for my needs. It's got Snake, a flashlight, a little calendar to note down birthdays and Shark Week and it can text and make phone calls. It also has a ringtone sounds like a baby giggling and who doesn't love a (cute not ugly) baby? I'm happy as Larry!

A flashlight? Well, lah di dah...

OneArt

joetoad wrote: »

How can you not have one? access email, facebook, browse the internet from anywhere, mp3 player, google maps with navigation, youtube whereever you are. Same as carrying a laptop around with you but on a phone

I don't have one either. The Internet is for when I'm sitting at home with a cup of tea or doing work. When I go out I go out to do things and socialise with people, not stare at my phone.

Legs.Eleven

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

we all got on perfectly fine without anti biotics too but they're still bloody handy to have around

In fairness, we didn't. We were dropping like flies left, right and centre. The fact that we're building up a resistance will eventually lead to pandemics. They're a little more than just being "handy".

fasttalkerchat

you probably get better battery life too

Legs.Eleven

I sound like an old fuddy-duddy when I say I think they're destroying face-to-ace interaction. I see every teenage person with their faces stuck in it constantly and I wonder what the future holds. There has to come a point when we say "enough is enough" and I think we're well beyond that point at this stage.

DeanAustin

Can understand if you don't want a smartphone because you just don't think you need one. If you're not buying one just to make a point then that's a bit silly.

I have two (one for work and my own HTC). I'm not remotely into phones or Facebook or any of that crap but Smartphones are impressive pieces of technology and I find them useful.

That said, I was away with three mates last weekend and two of them had their smartphones out most of the weekend. Taking pictures of every damn thing or checking their Facebook status constantly. That's the issue I have - no-one experiences anything anymore, they take pictures to put on their Facebook page but that problem wasn't caused by smartphones, they just facilitate it.

Legs.Eleven

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

you probably get better battery life too

My battery lasts about a week.

dark crystal

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

Doesn't it bug anyone else that many people seem to have their faces stuck in them most of the day even when talking to them? It's a bit rude, no?

I'm with you OP. I don't have a smartphone, not do I have any desire for one.

Maybe if you need one for work, I could understand, but the whole obsession with pointless apps and having the internet everywhere you go - I just don't get it!

My fella has one and he's never off the flippin' thing. It's a pain in the ass.

LowOdour

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

I sound like an old fuddy-duddy when I say I think they're destroying face-to-ace interaction. I see every teenage person with their faces stuck in it constantly and I wonder what the future holds. There has to come a point when we say "enough is enough" and I think we're well beyond that point at this stage.

Bit odd coming from a person who just went on line to complain about irrelevant stuff about phones

Legs.Eleven

LowOdour wrote: »

Bit odd coming from a person who just went on line to complain about irrelevant stuff about phones

I'm sitting here at home planning my classes for the week for work. I was online anyway.

snubbleste

The Nokia 3200 is the coolest phone. It looks like a colouring book. Phone of the year 2004.

Conway635

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

Am I the only one? Anyone else like me? Anyone else feel persecuted? And if you do judge, why?

I feel your . . bewilderment.

I too am viewed as something skin to a serial killer for making a domestic-technology choice that most other people don't agree with.

Now, unlike you, I do have a smartphone. Love it. Wouldn't be without it. But absolutely and totally accept anyone else's choice to love/hate do with/without whatever. If your current phone is right for you, it's right for you.

I got rid of my television a year or so ago, after I found myself watching it less and less over the years. i gradually got to the point where I would only use it every three weeks or so, and eventually the benefit of decluttering won over the small amount of utility I still got from the TV.

Now, I'm not a media-phobe. Far from it. I get a lot of news and current affairs from radio and the web, and entertainment from books and the odd DVD on my laptop. But I just fell out of love with live TV as a device.

You would think I had announced a career as a kitten-killer from the reaction I got from colleagues at work.

People insisted that I must have decided to get rid of it because I had an addition to it from which I was trying to free myself. Others asked how I managed to "cope" when visiting other people who had a TV. Did I asked them to turn it off? Was I offended? Did I just stop visiting people?

(the answer to all the above being No - makes no difference to me if other people watch TV, just as it makes no difference if they have a Black & Decker Workmate, a Renault Laguna, or a deep wool carpet, all things which I similarly do not desire myself, but don't object to others enjoying.

So, OP, I know how you feel.

C635

Three Seasons

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

I don't need to do those things though and didn't we all get by perfectly fine without them? I can wait 'till I get home. I have an mp3 player already. I'll admit the google maps thing appeals but not enough to fork out for one.


Doesn't it bug anyone else that many people seem to have their faces stuck in them most of the day even when talking to them? It's a bit rude, no?

You will have one, give it time. Everyone I know who had your exact attitude now has a smartphone and "don't know how they lived without one". You'll join that group, it's just a matter of time.

Legs.Eleven

Three Seasons wrote: »

You will have one, give it time. Everyone I know who had your exact attitude now has a smartphone and "don't know how they lived without one". You'll join that group, it's just a matter of time.

Begone you harbinger of doom! Begone!! :eek:

krudler

dark crystal wrote: »

I'm with you OP. I don't have a smartphone, not do I have any desire for one.

Maybe if you need one for work, I could understand, but the whole obsession with pointless apps and having the internet everywhere you go - I just don't get it!

My fella has one and he's never off the flippin' thing. It's a pain in the ass.

No all apps are pointless, right now I can pull out my phone, transfer money to my credit card, search and book a flight over to my parents place, book a rental car if I need one and pay the toll price to get up to dublin before I leave, and arrange a hotel and transport to the airport.

on a phone.
That's mad no matter what way you look at it, I find it funny that the people who decry smartphones the most are the ones who don't own or want one. Course there's pointless uses for them but nobodys forcing you to do anything, you can get a perfectly good android phone for 100 quid and do tons of stuff that's really handy to have if you're stuck, yay for options.

Legs.Eleven

Conway635 wrote: »

I feel your . . bewilderment.

I too am viewed as something skin to a serial killer for making a domestic-technology choice that most other people don't agree with.

Now, unlike you, I do have a smartphone. Love it. Wouldn't be without it. But absolutely and totally accept anyone else's choice to love/hate do with/without whatever. If your current phone is right for you, it's right for you.

I got rid of my television a year or so ago, after I found myself watching it less and less over the years. i gradually got to the point where I would only use it every three weeks or so, and eventually the benefit of decluttering won over the small amount of utility I still got from the TV.

Now, I'm not a media-phobe. Far from it. I get a lot of news and current affairs from radio and the web, and entertainment from books and the odd DVD on my laptop. But I just fell out of love with live TV as a device.

You would think I had announced a career as a kitten-killer from the reaction I got from colleagues at work.

People insisted that I must have decided to get rid of it because I had an addition to it from which I was trying to free myself. Others asked how I managed to "cope" when visiting other people who had a TV. Did I asked them to turn it off? Was I offended? Did I just stop visiting people?

(the answer to all the above being No - makes no difference to me if other people watch TV, just as it makes no difference if they have a Black & Decker Workmate, a Renault Laguna, or a deep wool carpet, all things which I similarly do not desire myself, but don't object to others enjoying.

So, OP, I know how you feel.

C635

I don't own a tv either. I understand completely. It's the genuine scoffing I can't abide.