Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

My view is I don't need a smartphone, so why go to the expense? I'm not missing anything by not having one.

Before I had the internet, I had a conversation with someone that went like this ...

Them: Are you online?
Me: No.
Them: You don't know what you're missing.
Me: Do you play a musical instrument?
Them: No.
Me: You don't know what you're missing.

You see, it's all relative. It is not a deficiency not to have a smartphone. It is a personal choice.

 

I don't need or want a smart phone either. I have an old Nokia that's for my use only, should I need to make contact with my other half when I'm out. A few years ago a hospital receptionist got stroppy with me because I wouldn't give her my phone number. She shut up when I said there's no point because it's rarely turned on.

 

The slight difference there is, I dont have a musical bone in my body and I could have lessons from now till doomsday and still not play a single note, in all the right places.

But if you use a computer its basically the same thing, just more convenient.

 

I only got my smart phone 2 years ago. I do not use it as a phone at all, but it is a mini computer. I also have a 2G Nokia, which is for calling a taxi when out if need be. The Nokia fits easily in my cross over bag. It really annoyed me, when we went to a concert last month and it was mobile tickets only. I managed ok, but had to take a bag big enough for the smart phone. And also took the little Nokia too. Hubby's dentist's receptionist got shirty with him as he does not have one. She seemed irritated at having to call our landline number.

I still use a desk top computer for banking etc.

And then we come to parking. I will not use my smartphone for parking. It seems you have to give so much information, including you bank or debit, credit card details just to pay about £2. So we use cash or find somewhere else to park.

 

It is very easy to play a single note on most instruments @pete. OK, you might not want to start with the oboe, but ...

I don't have a computer either. An ipad is just fine for my needs, so why have other tech that just repeats what it does or does things I have never had any need to do.

Apart from anything, having gadgets you don't need is a waste the planet's resources.

 

I'm quite good on the computer, getting better on the smart phone (apart from using it as a phone), but have no idea about ipads!

 

To be fair, an ipad is a computer.
I survived for years without a smart phone, and it is rarely on now, but I do sometimes find it very useful. Google maps has stopped me getting lost on many occasions and I have a vast collection of music for long journeys.

 

I like Google driving app (I think that's what it is). Far better than the car sat nav. Also here Flightradar24 is great for following aircraft and you have it with Google earth at the same time. Fascinating watching aircraft over deserts etc. I think I'm moving off subject now!

 

We have GPS in the newer car and a Garmin plug-in GPS in the older one. For long journeys in the newer one - no CD player - I plug in USB key with my "driving" music. For the older, I have a lot of CDs in big wallets.

Possum uses her smart phone in her car for navigating and music. We've done thousands of kilometres together over the years so she's been brought up on proper music, Beatles, Beach Boys, early Elvis, Rock and Roll, Merseybeat, Stones, Tamla and Atlantic Soul, Sintra, Simon and Garfunkel, Queen plus some of the better stuff from the following decades and has a lot of it on her Spotify lists but I'm baffled by her choices from this last decade - lots of droney stuff from people who can only manage a range of 5 or 6 notes and don't always hit them.

 

No such thing as proper music, only music you like, and music you don't.

 

I can see both sides on the smartphone debate.

I would struggle without mine now. Like many people, I've got used to being almost dependent on it. Even if I head out into the wild on my mountain bike, I use it to broadcast my location to my missus, with the instruction that if the dot doesn't move for more than an hour, I'm probably laid out all bent and twisted at the bottom of a hill somewhere.

But as useful as it is, it's also a massive inconvenience at times. It completely ruins spontaneity. For example, while down the sea front there was a time I'd just go for an unplanned swim. Now that would mean leaving my phone on the beach for someone to nick, so it doesn't happen.

 

True. I meant I don't have a desktop computer. Pre-internet, I had an Amstrad. Then I got a laptop. Once it was no longer supported, I had a Chromebook. Then I moved onto an ipad. I only have one piece of tech at a time.

 

@Punkdoc - yes there is. I was taking about driving music that has to keep you stimulated during long hours on motorways and cope with road noise so not quiet stuff, not slow stuff and not classical. We've tried.