Like, you just look weird if you sitting by yourself (example: waiting at a bus stop) and just stairing into space, so like its basically social expectation to be on your phone when you are by yourself.
Plus, just feels like if you don’t have a phone on you, you are missing a lot of information (access to the internet, maps, etc.) that you might need in case you get lost or something.
I don’t even know how I survived the 90s. When you were waiting for the bus the most entertaining thing you could do was stare at your shoes or throw a rock at the stop sign
The boredom was real, but also like…thoughts would turn over in undirected and sometimes fruitful ways, too. At least for me. My mind does far less just “idling” these days, and while too much of that is a real kind of misery, I think some is probably useful.
When I have idle time for thoughts to enter my brain is when bad things happen.
Heard lol, it’s not a universal good
A Walkman or book
Or a handheld… Those ones still exist… Thankfully.
Even nowadays I don’t feel “entertained” when forcing myself to use the smartphone when I am in waiting situation outside…
I pretty much always have a handheld with me. I have this fear that I’ll randomly get forcibly stuck somewhere for half an hour and will need to bust it out. Usually it’s my R36S, but sometimes it’s a Vita, or a PSP 1000. If I’m feeling especially nostalgic, a modded Gameboy Color.
They come in super handy at lunch, grocery store lines, and when my kid falls asleep on me.
How could I have forgotten gameboy
You had to pick up rocks on the way in case there weren’t any good ones at the bus stop. Or you’d have to ask people there if they had any spare rocks. So embarrassing.
I would run out of ads to stare at and then just space out.
I do not. I don’t feel awkward necessarily just sitting there doing nothing but I also tend to avoid situations where I am like that because I do get bored and impatient fairly easily. I also just don’t like phones. I don’t do much with mine other than the things I find very useful like calls, text messaging and maps. I much prefer my PC whenever possible.
I’m American, and I’m 40. I didn’t have a mobile phone until I was like 19 and didn’t have a smartphone until I was probably about 28 or something.
I understand why people would feel awkward without their phones for sure. Especially if that’s what they are used to. I used to smoke cigarettes and I remember kinda feeling silly just standing there not smoking after I quit.
My pockets feel unusual. Same when going out without a wallet. Constantly feel like I left them somewhere.
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I was on the metro recently and didnt feel like using my phone. tried to zone out into space but kept feeling like people were looking at me funny, noticing I wasn’t looking down at a phone. made me feel so u comfortable I took my phone out and forced myself to use it for the next 20 mins
feeling like people were looking at me funny, noticing I wasn’t looking down at a phone
Lmfao, this is exactly what I was taking about
Whereas my response to that situation is to want to do anything but that. Who wants to be just another sheep squinting zombielike at a screen?? I will never get it.
I’d end up staring at people while I drink my coffee without my phone.
I feel weird if I’m taking a shit and I don’t have my phone with me, forget about leaving the house without it.
Time to study air freshener first aid.
No. I’m an 80s kid. It’s kind of nice once in a while to forget it.
I imagine people with their phone in their faces while shopping, walking their dogs, etc. must have max anxiety over even the fleeting thought of not having their precious.
I’m 50, old enough to remember when we didn’t have answering machines or call waiting or anything, and yet I can’t go to the kitchen to stir my tea without my phone. I’m not saying it’s good. To be fair I do read a lot of books on it though.
A bit, I need it for contactless payments as in my country we use eletronic payments for almost everything
I leave my phone behind now and again so I don’t feel the obligation to always be reachable, a privilege I’m sure. I don’t often get lost but I speak the local language so I can just ask a stranger if I do. I absolutely don’t find it weird if someone’s alone and not looking at a phone and don’t think anyone around me does, though I’ve never been one to care about that sort of thing anyway. I’ve intentionally removed all the timewasting apps from my phone as well, namely social media and news and all that.
it feels liberating
No. It’s not hard to entertain myself by simply observing the world around me and daydreaming.
Broke my phone like two months ago and sent it in to get it repaired, which took about a month. I only had my work phone as emergency backup, so I basically didn’t have a phone during most of that time.
Well, staring into space while waiting for the bus seems to be the convention where I live, so I didn’t feel weird in that regard.
I did have some invasive thoughts, like what if you need to call emergency services and can’t? Haven’t needed that so far in my life and the chance of no one else with a phone being around is pretty slim, but the thought entered my mind anyways.Well, and then I do use my phone for navigating public transport, for finding out where I need to go in case I ever get lost and then also just as a shopping list.
Shopping list is easy to replace with a sheet of paper. Navigating public transport had me suddenly looking at the hangouts in the various stations. It’s certainly not the same as having an algorithm tell you the quickest route, but you can find a lot of information there and you will find a route, which is good enough.
Not having a map is something that had me kind of just not take larger trips. I guess, if I had been without a phone for longer, I would’ve gotten used to that, too. Like, you can ask people, some of which might have a phone with a map on it themselves even.Generally speaking, after the first few days, I did not miss my phone as much as I thought. I found it somewhat liberating even.
About a decade ago, I fell and broke my ankle while out running.
It was only by sheer chance that this happened around a bunch of people, and I was able to get help immediately. If I’d been out somewhere else or at a different time, I would have been absolutely fucked.
Since that day, I never leave the house without my phone, ever.
(if I’m hiking somewhere out of range, then I map out my route and ensure that someone else knows where I’ll be)
if I’m hiking somewhere out of range
FYI, there are satalite messengers that have cheaper monthly costs than a satellite phone (they use text only, no voice calls).
Also there are satellite personal locator beacons that have no monthly fee, so you can just keep one around in your hiking backpack. And press the emergency button if you need help. (You have to register the beacon beforehand to have it ready for use) Downside of these locator beacons compared to a satelite phone/messenger is that you cannot communicate what help you need. (Example: you can’t tell them if you got bitten by a venomous snake so they won’t know until they get to you and that might be too late)
I actually got a locator beacon recently.
I can’t really justify the cost of a two-way one given how rarely I go anywhere properly remote, but the little one-button boxes make for huge peace of mind. And honestly if I get bitten I’d likley be just as fucked with or without a conversation :D
