I suppose enough time has passed since cell phones became cheap and therefore ubiquitous to ponder the question: is life better with cell phones? Denise Van Outen thinks not:
Denise Van Outen reckons smartphones have killed the fun of the hedonistic ’90s as revellers’ antics are now being recorded instead of remembered.
The 50-year-old actress and telly host made her name as one of the ballsiest women on TV more than a quarter of a century ago – partying with the likes of Sara Cox and Zoe Ball.
But the mum-of-one is now lamenting the loss of the ‘Cool Britannia’ decade – and blames the likes of Apple for sucking the joy out of life.She blasted: “We never had access to everything on our smartphone. So, you’d go out and you’d just be in the moment and really enjoy it. I remember going to the big festivals like Glastonbury and Reading and you wouldn’t have your phone with you, you wouldn’t be videoing anything.
“I think people are starting to see now that smartphones can be a hindrance and stop people actually enjoying themselves.”
“And I think we’re gradually getting to a stage where a lot of people… for example, if you’re going to a party – are putting on invites that it’s a ‘No phone policy’.
I dunno. I find myself hopelessly conflicted about the whole cellular phone business. Never mind an early adopter, I put off buying one of the things for years, until Connie actually forced me into getting one. So I had a Nokia flip phone for years until my kids finally shamed me into getting a smartphone.
But maybe that’s just me. As someone who guards his privacy fiercely (I know, this blog yadda yadda yadda), I don’t like being at someone else’s beck and call, and at least the advent of caller ID made things bearable because I could decide whether or not to take the call.
And cell phones — at least the smart ones — put in an appearance quite long after I’d semi-retired; I cannot imagine having one in a workplace environment, and finding out that no matter where I happened to be, I was still in the office.
Ugh.
That said, there have been times that being connected to the outside world has had its advantages — a couple of emergencies, helping the kids out of a jam, etc. — so yes, there’s that. And I can see that for some jobs (e.g. realtor) cell phones have been a tremendous help to productivity. I remember going to the airport during the early 1990s (when I did most of my business travel) and feeling sorry for those souls who were glued to pay phones (remember them?), contacting clients, the office, family etc. in those few minutes before takeoff. For them — the people whom Woody Allen in a rare moment of actual humor termed “connectivity assholes” — there’s no doubt that the cell phone has been a boon.
I remain unconvinced, however, that the conveeeenience of the cell phone has been that much of an improvement to society. And I resent like hell the intrusiveness of the things, enabling the outside world to contact me whether or not I feel like being contacted at all, let alone by people I have no wish to communicate with (politicians, pollsters, scam artists etc.)
I’m not a Luddite by any stretch, by the way. I embraced email, for example, with a vengeance and to this day I prefer to communicate by that method instead of a phone call.
But I’m a reluctant user of the phone — any phone, not just cell phones, mind you — so don’t expect me to sing its praises.
And the lovely Denise has that part right: going out is a much better experience without a cell phone. We all used to make fun of Japanese tourists who experienced their entire trip through the lens of their Pentax.
Now, of course, we are all Japanese, who have to record our every experience lest we forget it.
What bollocks.
For me, worse.
I’ve had a cell since about 1994 and for the past 10 years have used it very little. That was when I stopped paying by contract and got a Samsung Tracfone from QVC.com for $129 with 1500 mins built in. Once a year I put $100 worth of mins on it and every 3-4 years I get a new one. Same with my wife.
I just don’t use the phone much, but people attempting to scam me do. So it just sits on the charger most of the time.
You swap out your wife every three years?
Kim, that was great timing! i was between swigs of coffee so my computer monitor is saved.
HA! You durty dawg!
Both – But my smartphone is much more than just a phone. It does all sorts of tasks that used to require a separate device or were just plain not possible. It’s a navigation device both on road and off and on the water.. A weather radar. A better camera and video camera than the ones with the big lenses and cases that now sit in my closet. an E-mail client. A device that provides gives me secure access to my banking and brokerage accounts. It’s a Tracking device. Instant news feed. An up-to-date pocket size encyclopedia. A gadget that will identify birds by listening to their calls and plants by their photos. It’s a gaming and entertainment device. A high-end calculator that’s much more capable than that HP Brick I paid much too much for in the 70’s . It will translate dictation to text quite accurately. also an Instant language translator.
In short, It does more things than Mr. Spock’s Tricorder in a smaller package.
Whether some of those things are plus or minus depend very much on how they are used. But overall I’m glad it’s available.
Smart phone enabled social media is a force multiplier for everything that is awful about puberty and middle school.
The toxic combination has distorted if not destroyed the social, emotional and intellectual development of Gen-Z, and is currently chewing its way through Gen-Alpha.
It’s not something you can un-invent, so the best we can do is separate concerns, and recognize that kids need to learn the adaptive ways of the people from a functional society of adults and how to relate to each other face to face before networked disintermediation fosters a permanent “Lord of the Flies” society of children.
Online life is something that should be an adult concern, perhaps starting at 16, and it’s probably too late.
There. I said it.
I had the same views about work and cell phones and for years wouldn’t carry one because I didn’t want to be tethered to the job. Now, I don’t know how I make it thru the work day without a smart phone. I have 10 or so different solitaire games to cover all the boring times when waiting for a meeting to start, or sitting in a video chat while someone drones on and on, or when there’s 20 minutes or so before quitting time and I ain’t about to start working on something else. I honestly don’t know how any work gets done these days.
But that’s the other downside, we have conditioned ourselves to be entertained every single waking minute. There’s no period now where we just sit and think thoughts, it’s 100% online BS from the minute we wake up until 10 minutes after we fall asleep. That to me seems to be a big problem, just one I can’t really put my finger on why.
> finding out that no matter where I happened to be, I was still in the office.
This is entirely a choice. Any company that expects the “individual contributor” or entry to mid-level manager to be working outside of reasonable business hours *routinely* is a company run by horrible people. Yeah, if you’re an upper level exec at a fortune 1000 type company, but you get paid for that.
I think *social media* is the problem, not the device. As GT3Ted notes, it’s not a “phone”, it’s a pocket computer that makes phone calls.
It replaces a notebook (sort of), a GPS, a MP3 player, a pager, and a dozen other devices.
It’s not an unalloyed good, nothing ever is, but on the whole it does make life better.
Exactly the point I was going to make, and likely more concisely stated.
I started with a blackberry years ago from work. I don’t recall what flip phone I had for home use. Since then I’ve used crApple products since I like their security although that might change. I don’t recall work interfering with my personal time very much due to the cell phone.
The gadgets on there as GT stated can be helpful. Merlin ID is great for learning which birds are in my yard or out in the woods with me. The Leaf ID program is great for identifying plants.
My problem is that I waste far too much time on social media ridiculing lunatics who love the racist Democrat death cult including their lies and hypocrisy.
I’ve used my phone to take pictures and videos of particular events like concerts and places I have visited but now that I think about it, I rarely go look at the pictures I took.
I had the Nokia then Blackberry for work. Basically neutral as far gain or pain. I needed a laptop even when traveling so a smartphone was unnecessary.
When I retired my wife’s health went south so the ability to stay in touch with her became imperative. I can keep track of doctor or PT appointments but I use 10% of it’s functionality.
What I was surprised at was when working security at events was how many people watch a concert thru their phone instead of just looking at the live performance. It must be close to 60% including us old geezers. I just don’t understand it.
I find mine indispensable. Not for communication purposes (leave me the @#$% alone; email if you must), but for on- and off-road navigation, weather, health tracking in combination with my smart watch, bluetooth music player, a means of depositing cheques without visiting the bank and having to interact with people, tracking vehicle maintenance and fuel purchases, and of course for still and video recording.
A 2008 trip to Colorado with a big-ass DSLR, fancy/expensive lenses, and tripod turned a bucket-list item into a chore. I spent all the good bits of the trip taking pictures and less in immersing myself into what I had come to see and do. A simple point-and-shoot camera would have sufficed. I learned my lesson on that trip and gave up photography forever after it. Sure, I take pictures on holiday, but maybe 100, not 1200. And my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s camera is all the camera I will ever need.
In fact, earlier this year when we drove our Jeep/Up to Magog, Québec/To see a total eclipse of the sun (apologies to Carly Simon), I saw guys with over $15,000 in camera gear and everybody shooting endless photos of the partial, leading up to totality. I took maybe 2 or 3, and spent the rest of the time in the moment. I took 2 snaps during totality, but spent the rest of the 3+ minutes seeing the most beautiful spectacle of nature in my entire life thus far. I don’t need a framed photo on the wall. My mind will always remember it.
I think the thing that killed a lot of what she’s talking about is now that everyone has one of the damn things, everything you do is being recorded now. If the shit I did/said when I was a callow yoot were to surface now, I would be damn near unemployable.
Back in my day son, if you could stagger in the house, and not wake up your parents, you pretty much got away with it. Now this shit gets posted on Instagram or whatever and 20k people know about it.
UK schools are starting to ban them. A good move IMHO.