I don't want a Smart phone
Watch this postI am sure I am not the only person who is fed up with being made to feel like a second ( or lower ) class citizen because I don't have or want a smart phone or similar device?
I get texts from companies and institutions such as the NHS telling me to click on the attached link but as I don't have a smart phone I cannot do it. The phone numbers are frequently hidden so you cannot reply. As these companies do not want to answer time consuming telephone calls their phone numbers are frequently not displayed on their websites or letter headings. If you get through on the phone you are kept waiting for a long time to speak to someone.
We are being encouraged to change to electric cars. The only public charging points I have seen you cannot use if you do not have a smart phone. I admit part of me is being obstinate. When I see the excessive profits made by Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook etc I think 'They are not having my hard-earned pension' I'd better not mention my views on the BBC. I
think they would be in favour of euthanasia for all people over 70.
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Its more the ability to be able to use one that's important if you suddenly found yourself alone.
Many things are online now banks, shopping and paying bills and will soon be completely online. Yes you could use a laptop, smart phones are just a small laptop anyway but far more versatile.
I personally no longer have a landline phone just my smartphone, one less bill to pay.
I bought a small smartphone Alcatel, 5 inch screen, doesnt do much apart from the basics, works fine for the basics and internet.
I completely agree with you I refuse to have a smart phone . People look so very silly carrying around their little rectangles . Couples sit beside each other , each on their own rectangle , tourists stay behind it recording rather than actually experiencing what they have come to see . People walk along ,device gripped tightly but the saddest of all are the mothers , focusing on that little box rather than making eye contact with their baby or in the case with the older children , not watching them at play but sitting on a bench absorbed by the phone .
I don't think you are obstinate , I think you are a clear , independent thinker .
I can order my weeks groceries online and have them delivered to my door, why on earth would I want to drag around a supermarket and carry heavy bags of shopping?
I personally think smart phones are amazing, I remember as a youngster a time before smart phones when everything took hours or even days to do and now I can do the same things in seconds. Travel anywhere in the world and never get lost google maps is my favourite no need for paper maps any more.
Send a text or an email to the other side of the world in seconds, snail mail would take days.
In another 50 years smart phones will be old tech youngsters are now wearing them like wristwatches how long before your smartphone will communicate directly to your brain or be implanted into your body it will happen its progress.
Unfortunately I developed RA (rheumatoid arthritis) in 2013 and very quickly found that the tiny buttons on my mobile were impossible to use, due to my fingers sometimes locking, swelling and or being painfully sensitive. A 'smart' phone was gifted to me because they thought using a flat screen would be easier. It is actually and that is the only reason I use it. I have also developed hearing difficulties lately and communicating by text has been extremely useful for me. Smart phones are really hand held computers but I still prefer to use my laptop - the buttons and screen are bigger!
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There should also be the option to use other methods like telephone contact, and those details should also be clearly shown on any correspondence and the phone lines should be properly manned.
I have wondered whether the time taken for organisations to answer the telephone has anything to do with the volume of people who prefer that means of contact?
Or is it because of limited staffing or the number of staff working from home? Whatever, a lot of organisations seem to have completely forgotten about customer service!
I do have a smart phone and use it for some contacts but like you, find it frustrating that its use is becoming the only way to get anything done.
There are times when you need to speak to somebody rather than all the to-ing and fro-ing of messaging through a load of irrelevant nonsense before you get to the crux of the matter, then to be informed that you need to speak a higher authority anyway. Strangely, that is often then by telephone contact!
I also hate it when these organisations then phone you back at the most inconvenient times and expect you to discuss personal or confidential information there and then, in a place full of other people.
No one should be treated as a second class citizen due to their personal choices. I live in the US - where we are supposed to be a free society and have freedom of speech, but I get treated as a second class citizen due to my choices related to Covid vaccines. I have chosen for personal reasons not to take it. It's my choice. And I didn't complain about it when I got Covid - that was the chance I took by not taking the vaccine. We all make personal choices and accept the risks that come with those choices.
Be obstinate if you wish - it's a good thing sometimes - we have the right to choose on many things and I understand your desire to have the whole computer in your phone. Perhaps you could begin blocking the numbers that spam your phone. I personally love my smart phone - it has a setting that won't let any calls through that are not on my contact list.
To each his own!
Peace and Love !
My trusty old Nokia is used for texting and emergencies only so if it ever rings I go into a tail spin and wonder what the devil it is......by the time I’ve found the blessed thing the call has gone...phew!
However, all is not lost on me as I love my iPad and couldn’t be without it.......but stick an iPhone in front of me and I’m out of here!
Cheers
Now, what work I do is from home - either way, I give my landline except for eg my bank or Paypal when they call my (mobile but so not smart) phone for a confirmation number - and I think there's ways round that.
Freinds text me occasionally, on my trusty old basic Nokia, and I do the same back. That's it..
And think of the money we're saving!
PS I don't have a tablet either.