How dependent are we on our cell phones?

[RD3 64]

My iPhone died on Monday.  I was slammed at work both during the day and conference calls at night that I didn't have a chance to head to AT&T until Thursday afternoon to get a replacement.  Being without a phone, I almost felt naked.  I'm not proud to type that either.  

But I couldn't text my wife to let her know I was heading to pick up our youngest at preschool.  Or find out that I had a meeting added at night for early in the morning... Or listen to podcasts on my commute.  

Or check email/twitter/surly in the "open times" during the day (like while you're waiting to check out at HEB).

But with smart phones, we rely on these so much.  How did we get there?  How bad is this?

And I have a thought experiment -> let's say that you leave for work and left your phone at the house.  As you are driving, you realize that you left it at home.  How far do you have to be from home to where you WON'T turn back to get the phone?

[RDCanecutter 26454]

I'll be your crazy outlier. I don't use a smart phone at all. Do my surlying out of the home office desktop. Got a laptop too but I don't use it for much. 20 dollar flip phone to text my wife and talk to my mama.

Helped design an app once. Have never used one.

[ROFL BOX 6649]

I'm a self employed contractor.

Sure, I Book-o'-Faces from my Samsung & view Shag 2.0 via the thing... but I also have it as my office on the go, so I can't be without it.  It's a modern requirement.

[ROFL BOX 6649]

& In answer to  your ? about how far you'd get without doing a 180, I'd say I would go to a movie or dinner with the family & not whip around unless I had the spare 5 minutes & wasn't expecting a customer call or needed to make that call while on the out & about.

[Cheeseweasel 26438]

3 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

I'll be your crazy outlier. I don't use a smart phone at all.

How do you take a shit?

[RDCanecutter 26454]

3 minutes ago, Cheeseweasel said:

How do you take a shit?

I make duck faces in a hand mirror.

[Jameslaw121 4448]

Yeah, I travel during most days for work, so in the work morning scenario I would pretty much always turn around. 

Now, if it was a weekend or an evening and me and my wife go out or something, I think I could handle not having my phone perfectly fine. Especially if she had hers for an emergency or something. If we both left ours a home, still fine as long as its something kinda close to home and were not dependent on the phone for something like tickets or apple pay...

Edited July 30, 2018 by Jameslaw121

[Sandman 3403]

I hate how other people have forced me to keep the thing chained to me at all times. If I'm at home and I go to take a shit, I have to take it with me or my wife will text, then call, then call back again to ask me where I've been and if I'm alright. Not because she's a bitch but because she's been conditioned to have her phone with her and she thinks other people feel as she does. And I don't think she's "wrong". So it's either take it everywhere or deal with the questions. Plus I like to browse twitter on the shitter.

I've forgotten it at home before, I won't go back to get it if I'm more than a block away. 

[Steel Shank 9428]

4 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

I'll be your crazy outlier. I don't use a smart phone at all. Do my surlying out of the home office desktop. Got a laptop too but I don't use it for much. 20 dollar flip phone to text my wife and talk to my mama.

Helped design an app once. Have never used one.

cold-blooded

[Jkwellborn 6713]

I keep mine on me most of the time. I don’t actually stay on the thing, but I’ve got access to it.

[TKthunder2 4992]

21 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

I'll be your crazy outlier. I don't use a smart phone at all. Do my surlying out of the home office desktop. Got a laptop too but I don't use it for much. 20 dollar flip phone to text my wife and talk to my mama.

 

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/d1bd2f0a-bd6a-44c8-bb17-9f3fccbc18a7

Edited July 31, 2018 by TKthunder2

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

It’s definitely a love/hate thing for me. I am 41, so high school and college were the decade of the 90s. I would love to go back to how it was. I say that, but don’t know if I really mean it.

 

I did recently deactivated my Instagram for various reasons. But as a obsessed hobbyist photographer, I am feeling a bit lonely. Which is lame because Instagram isn’t really about photography.

 

 

 

[TwiceHorn 31507]

Yeah, I lost mine on an MTB trail the other day.  I'm fairly dependent on the thing for work, to make it look like I'm working when maybe I'm not (like riding my bike).  Losing it was fairly traumatic, but it's hard to separate the trauma of incurring a deductible from loss of the infernal machine itself.

[bernorange 8362]

My son is used to texting everyone about anything.  He texts me all the time when he needs something or his schedule has changed.  And I constantly bitch at him to call me if he needs to communicate, because, while my phone is always on, I don't keep it on my body and check it every 5 minutes like a teenager.  I check it once or twice a day and it sits on the counter in the kitchen all day long (while I work in my home office).

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

If I got to work and discovered that I left my phone at home, I wouldn't go back.  I could communicate to people via email that I don't have my phone.  If I left my laptop at home, I would have to go back to get it.  

But to answer the direct question, if I were within 10 minutes of my house in the morning, I would circle back to get it.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

When I lived in Magnolia my commute was anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.  Once I got to the office and realized that I had left my phone at home and I went back to get it.

[Jkwellborn 6713]

Start putting passcodes on stuff and you won’t have to worry about your stripper wife snooping.

[michaelpshayes 417]

they were doing one of these news segments about not forgetting your children in the back seat of the car when it was a 1000 degrees in TX ...the news girls suggestion was to put your cellphone in the back seat so you wouldn't forget your kid ...sounds about right 

 

[Jkwellborn 6713]

That’s mind blowing to me. I can’t fathom leaving my kids in the vehicle. Hell I don’t do it to run inside for a second.

[Apep 645]

10 hours ago, bernorange said:

My son is used to texting everyone about anything.  He texts me all the time when he needs something or his schedule has changed.  And I constantly bitch at him to call me if he needs to communicate, because, while my phone is always on, I don't keep it on my body and check it every 5 minutes like a teenager.  I check it once or twice a day and it sits on the counter in the kitchen all day long (while I work in my home office).

I tell my son to text me if it isn't immediately important. I often have DND on my iPhone, so I won't hear texts, but I will hear a phone call. So he's trained to call when the matter needs immediate attention, like needing to be picked up ASAP. My wife doesn't get it.

Edited August 1, 2018 by Apep

[Lone Star Horn 2018]

1 hour ago, Apep said:

I tell my son to text me if it isn't immediately important. I often have DND on my iPhone, so I won't hear texts, but I will hear a phone call. So he's trained to call when the matter needs immediate attention, like needing to be picked up ASAP. My wife doesn't get it.

well, duh

[Kennythetiger 9395]

On 7/30/2018 at 4:15 PM, ROFL BOX said:

I'm a self employed contractor.

Sure, I Book-o'-Faces from my Samsung & view Shag 2.0 via the thing... but I also have it as my office on the go, so I can't be without it.  It's a modern requirement.

I don't have any sort of social media, but like you, I use my phone for all kinds of things work-related:  reminders, billing notes, texting, calls, etc.  I hate that I use it so much, but it sure makes my professional life easier.

[52-80 19185]

i need my phone like a fat kid needs cake

[Jkwellborn 6713]

Or like Vic needs a fat chola.

[Quagmire 2147]

Cell phone for 6 year old, holy shit

[pearlandhorn 3274]

If I'm 2 miles away on my 25 mile commute to work, I won't turn back to get it.  I hate having a cell phone but have to have it because work requires it.

I've left it at the office before on a Friday and was home when I realized I left it.  One of the best weekends of my work life.

[Guest Lobo]

No social media presence of any kind.  Other than wife checking in on toddler/pregnancy, probably send another half dozen texts a day.  No gaming, no videos.  Read a bit of news, but can easily quit that to check it out on laptop or hard copy papers.  Only real dependency is to read email.  I only send a handful of emails from it but will read a few dozen per day.  Don't use it in car/attach it bluetooth.  I bring it home and will check it once but keep it in a drawer far away from family so I can't see it.  Then I will check it again at bedtime. 

Using that app that sees how much you're really on it, I'm using it actively less than an hour per day.  Kinda proud of that.  The best part about not using it that much is that I don't have to communicate with people.  Who are the worst.  Never been on tapatalk because a few posts each day while having another work window open is as much as I can take.  Can't imagine using it for hours on my phone as well.  Except porn.  It's a pleasant distraction before bed without having to haul the laptop around.  I don't know which of you poor bastards gets a hotel room after me, but I pity you.  

[ernest_t_bass 1196]

I pr0n on it exclusively.  Can't live without it. 

[markstanco 12581]

My son is used to texting everyone about anything.  He texts me all the time when he needs something or his schedule has changed.  And I constantly bitch at him to call me if he needs to communicate, because, while my phone is always on, I don't keep it on my body and check it every 5 minutes like a teenager.  I check it once or twice a day and it sits on the counter in the kitchen all day long (while I work in my home office).

Same here.

Friends/emoloyees get upset at me for replying to text messages 3+ hours after they send one to me. I tell them to call if it is urgent or requires a quicker reply.

[Lobwedgephil 1139]

Someone really bought their 6 year old an iPhone?