My life without a smartphone is getting harder and harder

An interesting perspective. So many things we do now is smartphone required and we rarely think about it if we have one. But what about those that don’t?

@patrickrhone It's worth going around without a smartphone just to get a sense of where we're headed.

@timapple I've been using a Light Phone exclusively for more than a year, can answer questions about it. For what it's worth, they've added a 'directions' feature, but it's pretty basic. I haven't used it.

@patrickrhone My youngest brother is almost certainly "on the Autism spectrum," and socially vulnerable to manipulation. But he's a professional violinist, and the time came this Fall when a smart phone became the cheapest way to let him handle his own professional email traffic.

@timapple I've been very happy with the LightPhone. It's about the size of a credit card and is hardly noticeable in my front pocket.
It sends and receives calls and texts just fine (they offer a $30/month plan that I use, so I save some money on monthly bills). Texting on the tiny (virtual) keyboard is a pain, so I'm grateful that they recently added a voice-to-text feature that I use all the time.
Maps: I often look up directions on the computer at home, make a few notes to remind myself of the route. And, I'll admit, often my wife is beside me with Google Maps up on her smartphone. :-)
I got the phone in order to be as untethered from tech as possible while I'm out and about, so being without a camera is for me a deliberate choice. If I took a lot of photos, I'm not sure what I'd do. Do little point&shoot cameras still exist?
Surprisingly, the feature I've probably missed the most is the flashlight! A number of times, I've borrowed someone's smartphone just for the flashlight.
If you're REALLY SURE you want to detach from online life when you're away from the computer, the LightPhone really works. (You could be more extreme and go without a phone altogether, but being able to contact loved ones at any time has become a basic expectation.) But be sure.

@patrickrhone I see these conundrums playing out among the rural, senior population I work with. What worries me is that more and more agencies are using virtual and smartphone apps to interact with a population on fixed incomes who still rely on snail mail and landlines. They can't afford their medications; they sure aren't going to be able to buy all the tech goodies you need to support a $martphone. A lot of people have to rely on younger relatives to navigate healthcare and social services and shopping and whatnot, and that's a lot to ask... and sadly, some folks take advantage of this. People who could manage their own affairs without apps increasingly need to depend on others because now so much requires one to interact via apps. Frustrating. Anyway, I apologize for the length of this reply... but it really concerns me.

@patrickrhone in Sweden almost impossible to work, study and even beeing retired without mobile phone. Nowadays almost impossible to travel without covidpassport in the phone

@patrickrhone I've often been tempted to try living without a phone for a while to see if one can make it through life. I suspect it would be incredibly hard. That was an interesting read.

@Alligator Agreed.

@parvus The fact that it is required for so much these days and how that has potential to leave many out was certainly a big takeaway from the article for me. We need to do a better job as societies of making sure accommodations are considered for those without.

@annahavron The COVID testing sites I've gone to completely rely on having a smart phone. The entire process is driven by that fact. The order and take at home ones rely on having a device with a web cam. All rely on having an internet connection, email address, etc.

How many people in underserved communities, the elderly, etc. are left out or getting a lesser experience because of these requirements?

We as a society need to design for less privilege, not more.

@patrickrhone @parvus Not just smartphones, but making sure to accommodate those without internet also needs to be handled better. I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve had to intervene to help out my elderly mother who has no computer, cell phone, or internet.

@ReaderJohn Makes sense.

@alanralph What we believe in. (Though, my iPhone SE got replaced with an iPhone 12 mini last year)

@JMaxB My Dad did not have one until last year when he "inherited" my wife's iPhone SE.

It was becoming increasingly difficult for him not to have one.

@timapple I think for many of us, our relationship with our smart phones is complicated and only becoming more so, not less.

@patrickrhone ?? for the Covid testing....?! That is absurd! I know families that maybe have ONE smartphone between them! That makes no sense at all. Your last sentence, right there: I could not agree more.

@annahavron @patrickrhone edited to add: I mean, your last sentence about the importance of designing for LESS privilege. I wish that was the norm.

@alanralph The iPhone 12 mini is fantastic. Same size as the SE with the power of the 12 and the camera is <chef's kiss>.

@annahavron Yep. At the testing center they give you the kit, direct you to a table, you use your phone camera to scan a QR code or navigate to URL manually, and follow the onscreen instructions, using the phone throughout the process to scan and upload insurance card, scan the barcode on the text kit, etc.

Seriously, you need a smartphone for the entire process — everything.

Thanks for the agreement on the designing for less privilege.

@patrickrhone at our local testing site, you do not need a smartphone, but you do have to have prebooked both your testing appointment and requested your lab test, each via a separate website. The lab test site requires a log in via email address and a password. While I was waiting in line the other day, I watched as the staff very patiently walked lots of folks through that entire process, including multiple seniors, and it was challenging for a lot of them. That said, I’m not sure how we design a process that has to operate on the scale and scope we need this one to, and have it not be a pain or hard to access for significant numbers of folks. That’s not to say we shouldn’t be thinking about these sorts of accessibility and privilege issues, but tbh, the smartphone route seems to be among one of the better options,’given that more people seem more likely to have a phone and cell service than home internet etc. I don’t know—it’s super complicated for sure.

@annahavron All this is an example of something I was surprised to realize a while ago: new technologies don't (necessarily) expand our options, because they close off old possibilities while they open up new ones. For example, small towns used to be connected by a network of train lines. You could go almost anywhere by train. Cars and interstate highways didn't just give us more ways of getting around, they choked off the train lines, so now we have to use cars to go most places. We're seeing it again now...

@JMaxB Your example of trains is great. I can't help but notice that these changes -- a decent passenger train network collapses so we can sell individual cars; a landline phone system and postal system to individual smartphones and individual internet access -- all of these things also transfer an immense cost and labor burden once shared by the community to, well, individuals. Now, to participate in the economy and in the public square, you have to own and maintain a car when in the past you could catch a train; you have to own an expensive pocket mini-computer instead of having access to simpler communications systems which even people without a lot of money or tech savvy could use. In order to participate in society, people now have to have the private wealth to own and maintain cars and smartphones. We are shifting so much of the expense and labor of transportation and communication, things that used to be seen as a common good, onto the individual. And that means so. many. individuals. are locked out. And.... my sermon is over for the moment. :-D Clearly this topic hits a nerve for me.

@annahavron @JMaxB I am very aware of cars and busses replacing trolleys, but hadn't thought about smartphones and internet access replacing more communal infrastructure.

@annahavron side note: at least here in the northeastern US, whenever a town puts in a new biking/hiking path, it's usually on an abandoned railroad bed. They're everywhere.

@patrickrhone go Jen! The airline attendant's mindless QR-worship made me giggle... it just contains a url which they could have printed underneath right

@adamprocter I think most URLs peolpe take the effort to print probably contain tracking info, so they'd be too long. But I generate mine with Cutt.ly where you get a short URL too (ceru.li/beach-poster) for our Brits by the Beach poster!

However, if we can prove that they do just encode a URL string in a machine-readable visual way - and nothing else (though even I sometimes wonder with 3rd party tools - people will always assume there's some other obscure tech magic going on which makes them feel the venue is more resourced: there's an element of Mechanical Turk about it.