In all honesty, this sort of opinion is overreacting a bit.
Here's the thing: People havent gotten stupider because of this. Instead, already-existing stupidity is now more obvious, thanks to these devices.
I can think back over the course of my lifetime, and really, there were just as many damn stupid idiots and jerks as they are nowadays. It's just that now, social media overexposes people, so it basically plops a very bright light onto some that point out how damn stupid they are.
As far as I"m concerned, it has too many advantages for it's problems to matter all that much.
Take texting for instance. Yes, people do this alot. But have you ever considered WHY? Those that chose to ignore smartphones "because stupid" probably havent, and probably cant. I'll use my own situation as an example. I dont do extreme amounts of texting, but even so, I keep up a back and forth going in a 3-way texting chat between me, my cousin, and a friend. Why is this? Because it's by far the best way for us to communicate, period. My cousin lives over an hour from here. My friend lives a good 20 minutes away, which isnt too bad, but works most nights, and night is when I'm awake (and my cousin works the same night shifts as well). I can get over to my friend's house maybe once or twice a week, but other than that, it's gotta be remote conversation. And phone calls? Hah! Not happening. Firstly, there's the fact that I refuse to deal with phone calls as a rule. Cant stand them, never could. And again, their work shifts. They can throw a text into the phone when they have a free moment (and THEY do it without risking their job, unlike some) , so the conversation can keep going, and BECAUSE it's texting, nobody's gonna flip out if the other person doesnt respond for a good 30 minutes or whatever. It doesnt have to be a constant thing over a short period. But a phone call obviously doesnt work in that situation. It also has the advantage of being useful in the case of just having to ask someone a quick simple question. With phone calls, you have to call , wait for the ringer, hope they are there to answer it, and if they arent, try again later until they are, just to get ONE simple question answered. That can be alot of time wasrted. Texting? Type the question in, hit send. You are done. They'll respond when they're ready to, whenever that is. And with most phones now, you can include pics and such as well. I've been able to help people with computer problems this way; they send a question, and a pic of the screen showing what's going wrong, and BAM, I dont have to spend 20 minutes asking exceedingly dumb questions in an attempt to get them to clearly explain something they obviously dont understand. I can just look at it myself, and request additional photos if necessary.
There's more to it than that, but my point is, there's ALOT of totally valid and non-stupid ways of using this sort of thing. And hell, it's not even that. These phones have become safety devices now. The possibility of a variety of types of problems happening is greatly reduced. Getting lost while driving, for example. Used to happen to me sometimes, and it could get frustrating, complicated, and messed up. Now? I can pull into a gas station or parking lot, and essentially ask the phone for directions on how to get to wherever it is I'm going; it will then continue to give me these directions, vocally (I dont need to look at it), as I drive, with it following my location with extreme detail (seriously, the thing knows when I've moved just a few feet). Nowadays, I just outright dont get lost.... period. I can even feel free to explore a bit, learning more about the areas around me, because if I DO end up lost, that thing will fix it. That's REALLY useful. I could continue listing a variety of other reasons why it's a good idea to carry one around, for safety and practicality and DAMMITALL if this stupid site tries to load a new ad just ONE more freaking time WHILE I'm typing, I'm going to totally spaz out. Starting to SERIOUSLY hate this place. Alot.
AHEM.
Now of course you do get people that do bloody stupid things with this tech... texting while driving, watching videos or something during class, and whatever... but many of these things are merely new versions of old stupidities that have been around for awhile. If someone that is screwing up their job via messing with their phone too much were to have that phone taken away, chances are they'd mess it up with something else anyway.
Yet even being "glued" to it isnt necessarily a bad thing. It can be convenient for getting all sorts of information, and in many cases it's the ONLY possible way to stay in contact with someone. THAT is an idea I'm familiar with and have been for years, as many people I know live very far away from here, and typically, I usually only get to talk to them via instant messaging on the Net. And THAT has been the case for... good grief, MANY years now GODDAMIT THESE FREAKING ADS. *cough* But yes, that's been the case for a very long time, since waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy before we were even close to smartphones or texting in general. The big difference is that now ANYONE can do it. You dont have to know computers to do this anymore. So everyone tries it, and finds these methods to be as good as I've known them to be since, like, forever. And while it does seem a little odd to me to walk out into the living room and see my parents sitting there poking at the things constantly, that doesnt matter much either.... because if they werent doing that, they'd just be watching the TV. At least the phones and tablets and whatever require INTERACTION, and often involve communication with other people. The TV, you just stare at it.
Really, this type of tech isnt bad, and quite frankly, I think that anyone avoiding it simply because some people use it like morons are depriving themselves of something that could be SERIOUSLY useful to them.
That's not to say it's all good though either. Like Facebook. Ugh. You know, there's a rule I had learned, very early on, with the Net in a general sense. Waaaaaayyyyyy back when you had to open a totally seperate program like America Online, connect via dial-up (since you arent just connected automatically all the time as we are now), and stay within the confines of that one program to access the net (very slowly). So this is a rule I've known for MANY years. That rule is simple: Dont use your real name on the internet. Unless you are buying something, as a credit card obviously requires inputting your name, but even then, make bloody sure you know and trust the site you're using for it. Using your real name on the net beyond just that is a seriously stupid idea. PARTICULARLY these days, when identity theft and related issues are so common. Facebook? It heavily encourages you to break this rule. It doesnt like it if you try to just come up with a "username". No no no. That wont do. That's not properly SOCIAL. And good luck giving anyone a warning about this one. Ugh. And there's the whole "likes" thing, and friend lists with 600 entries that the person doesnt actually know whatsoever, and so on... bleh. While I admit it can be a useful method for keeping in touch with relatives and such as a group, the whole place is just done in a way that BUGS me.
So yeah, there's my own thoughts on this matter. There's alot to the whole thing, really. Makes for interesting conversation at least.
29 Sep 2014, 10:12 pm
And you don't know that someone's really listening to you just because they're not having a side conversation; some people are less outwardly rude but still noncommittal. I can't really tell the difference myself, so I don't trust that anyone is taking my words to heart; all I can do is keep my conversations short and to-the-point.
)
