Phones to rule us all?

[slitchfield]

As I head out the door, I turn back, unlock the house, and sheepishly pick up my smartphone from the office desk. Probably a scene that we've all done once or twice, but have you ever wondered how much freedom the mobile phone actually takes away from you? In my musings below, I keep my tongue firmly in cheek and my paranoia firmly in my brain. Read on...

Read on in the full article.

excellent piece

[malerocks]

Originally Posted by slitchfield

(Lets ignore the fact that I use Amazon and Ebay to find the little cute gifts, okay?).

LOL

Great article Steve... And a big reality. I cant tell you the number of times I have received a cold stare from my wife when suddenly I just pick up my (smart)phone and start checking my email. Or my IM list..

Originally Posted by malerocks

LOL

Great article Steve... And a big reality. I cant tell you the number of times I have received a cold stare from my wife when suddenly I just pick up my (smart)phone and start checking my email. Or my IM list..

Spence will be furious.

Very furious, so much so that he'd check this thread on his handphone and wonder how did you confuse Steve and him.

[nwhitfield]

As I've pointed out to people on the bus, as they rummage in their bag for a ringing phone, the really great thing about phones is that if you leave them alone, they eventually stop ringing.

Yes, I take mine with me, but if a client asks me for my mobile number, I point out that the mobile is for my convenience, not theirs. They can ring my office number and leave a message; it means there's only one number for them to call, and if they press the menu option to say it's urgent, the voicemail system calls my mobile, and I'll decide if it really is worth interrupting a day off, or a holiday.

If I'm on the move for a while, I divert the mobile.

And for those who do get the mobile number (if I answer an unknown number, my response is "Who are you and what do you want?"), they're in caller groups; at certain times of the day, the phone only alerts for specific groups.

I'm in a minority, of course. All too often people do become enslaved to their phones. They gratefully accept the Blackberry or the E71 from the office, thinking it means they've arrived in their career, while management are chortling at the fact that now people even think they have to respond to corporate emails when they're on the beach, all in the name of productivity and shareholder value.

Mobiles are a great tool - but they should remain just that. Learn to manage you phone, rather than letting it manage you.

[malerocks]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Spence will be furious.

Very furious, so much so that he'd check this thread on his handphone and wonder how did you confuse Steve and him.

My mistake Evan... Sorry...

But I am curious, how did I get Steve's id when I used the quote option for the article to include that particular line in my post?

[JCB_Digger]

Originally Posted by malerocks

My mistake Evan... Sorry...

You're just doing it on purpose now, aren't you? :-)

It's "Ewan"

Guess it seems like he's doing it on purpose..lol

Anyway, nice article Ewan, it does make me realize..not to spend too much time on mobile phones..but isn't that what humanity is all about? we create, we utilize it and we enjoy it =D
You wouldn't want to go back to a world where you'd have to find a public telephone just to tell Steve about your discovery would you? =)

[slitchfield]

I think the site's workings were getting confused by the fact that *I* re-pasted Ewan's text from an 'Article' into a 'News item'. Don't worry about it though 8-)

[Jejoma]

I must confess I refused to have a mobile phone for several years just so I could remain uncontactable outsider the office. Having eventually succumbed - more through the toy factor than anything elses - I still don't hand out my number and anyone trying to contact me has to do it through my office.

I ignore calls from people I don't know, or set my phone to offline when I don't want to answer calls.

I've been told that I'm a bastard for doing that

Hi there symbian lovers
Nice post on the freedom these days but I really think you are overreacting. You still remember that there is a mute button on the phone right. People CAN get in touch with you only if you WANT them to get in touch with you. The freedom that the phone gives is exceptional, but we can still keep our privacy just by ignoring the boss that wants to give you an assigment on saturday or the girl from last night that you don't want to see again in a million years. I am 23 years old and practically almost can't remember the time people didn't had mobile connection and have to admit there is a certain level of addiction with these tiny boxes and all the stuff they can do, but remember there is always a power-off button

P.S. Please excuse me for my English, but the grammar is not my strong part :P

[rlaskey]

Right on, Ewan. I like the step back here, because it's something that while we're always so intent on the next set of information (by whatever means it comes through), it's easy to forget. Yes, there are certainly ways to manage, though there are also very deep trends that have been forming in recent years which are currently transforming the way that we as humans live a daily life. The number of hours staring at a screen, be it a computer at work or home, or a phone/internet device has only been going up, mostly because the price of these devices are now a lot more accessible than they were ten+ years ago.

My personal method for coping has been to disable the 3G capabilities on my phone and to rely on WiFi alone. (Which, and here's my Nokia plug, is rather easy with my 5800 using the Destinations system: I simply deleted the packet data connections from all routes and now do not have to worry about charges, etc.) If I'm outside or away then I can't, and, after some mental training and practice, don't _want_ to be kept up to date. Otherwise, I've personally found it to be just a bit too much and too tempting, resulting in lost hours and slightly less appreciation of the physical world around me.. :P

[Arcade]

Heh.. Mobile phones joining up and taking over the world. There's a movie script in there somewhere..

[ricksvill]

Interesting observation.