Smart Phones

[The Frightful]

Addict here, mainly as a research tool for my over active brain especially when watching the box, who's he? is he dead now ? She's a good actress what else has she been in ? this type of thing.
Its picked up in recent months with the re introduction of bloody adverts on most channels
/apps. I feel like we've gone back to the 70's sometimes ! Does anyone know of a 'smart ish' phone ?
Something to make calls, touch screen, capacity for a few apps only but most of all predictive text. Got my old dumb phone out of the drawer a few weeks back, yes, Nokia to show my grandchildren how we used to text. After about 30 seconds i almost launched the sodding thing!!!

 

[Wildgoose]

I’ve never been into social media much but had an Instagram account and access to a family members Facebook. I sacked insta completely and pretty much shelved Facebook too a few months ago.

I found myself idly scrolling on my commute and getting sucked into spin and conspiracy theory, I didn’t believe it but found I wanted to reply to correct glaring errors or oversights.

Feel happier for being away from it

 

[Pattree]

…….found I wanted to reply to correct glaring errors or oversights.

 

[TeeDee]

Got my old dumb phone out of the drawer a few weeks back, yes, Nokia to show my grandchildren how we used to text. After about 30 seconds i almost launched the sodding thing!!!

Don't tell me.

Still had enough battery power to switch on and function without charging?!?

 

[whobiggs]

Interesting. Is that what you do? Do you have any tips. I am such a mobile phone addict. What times would you recomend swoitching it off and when do you switch it off. Sounds like you've got it under control?

10pm - 7am mine is on do not disturb. Emergency stuff can get through from certain people. I used to find myself jumping when a message can in during the night thinking it was my mother only to find yet another phone contract offer!

 

[whobiggs]

Of more relevance to this site I would have thought was the issue of battery life and topping it up?

 

[Pattree]

Nah. I carry both phone and Kindle in camp. Phone doesn’t get used much, maybe the camera and a bit of nav.

I have a small power bank and that will see me ok for a week. I’m a car camper these days so I could use the car slot if I needed to.

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Can people let the thing ring or switch off a call rather than answer it? I got used to doing that long ago with my land line if the call was inconvenient. Of course we didn’t know who was calling in those days.

 

[William_Montgomery]

Years back I had a job making deliveries across the South Downs, it was the first time that I'd used a sat-nav and I realised after a while that none of the routes I regularly made had stuck in my mind, I'd become quite dependent on it.
Compare that to navigating with a map and signage in which case the route was much more likely to stick and become second nature. That spoon-fed way of taking in information seems to be less readily retained.

I wonder if having a smart phone on hand all the time has a similar effect. Information is only ever a click away, so your brain is less inclined to store it. Maybe?

 

[TeeDee]

Years back I had a job making deliveries across the South Downs, it was the first time that I'd used a sat-nav and I realised after a while that none of the routes I regularly made had stuck in my mind, I'd become quite dependent on it.
Compare that to navigating with a map and signage in which case the route was much more likely to stick and become second nature. That spoon-fed way of taking in information seems to be less readily retained.

I wonder if having a smart phone on hand all the time has a similar effect. Information is only ever a click away, so your brain is less inclined to store it. Maybe?

I'm not blaming phones per se but more the age of on demand we live in but my ability to concentrate has really ( i feel ) been detrimentally affected.
If I go to watch YT and there is a 5 second ad I have to wait for to end - ZAP! Next YT video

 

[William_Montgomery]

I'm not blaming phones per se but more the age of on demand we live in but my ability to concentrate has really ( i feel ) been detrimentally affected.
If I go to watch YT and there is a 5 second ad I have to wait for to end - ZAP! Next YT video

Yeah, phones are a convenient example, but technology (home/everyday technology) in general does seems to be steering us in that direction. Shorter attention spans, less ability to retain information and the like.

I wonder if some of that is due to things developing too quickly. In the past, dramatic shifts in tech have typically taken a good few generations before they completely take hold. I feel like that's a positive, and necessary to learn how to intergrate it properly.

It feels a bit like children with too many Christmas presents, opening one after another with no break inbetween. It doesn't encourage a sense of value or respect.

 

[Pattree]

I left school long before calculators but I was one of the parents who chanted “What will you do when you haven’t got a calculator!” I still think basic arithmetic should be done in my head but the calculator has made mathematics so much more widely available. Phone information is in the same category. We’ve got phones and calculators.

Edited to add: I do still play with my book of tables and my slide rule simply because every so often I come across them.

There are many calculations and chunks of information that I will only use once. (I do agree that I know that I can always look them up again later.)

I recently wanted to calculate 2^20 (Sorry - no superscript = two to the power of twenty). I wouldn’t have bothered getting out a book of tables but the phone provided a quick answer.

I use a search engine (typically Google) a couple of times a day. I use Wikipedia as a quick way to point me to original text often. (I don’t trust Wikipedia itself)
I don’t think it lessens my understanding or my intellect. I used to believe that I would remember anything that I wanted to remember. I once learned Eskimo Nell overnight for a bet. Loss of grey cells limits that now so the phone is useful.

But hey - I can still recite Eskimo Nell even if I can’t remember where I left my glasses!

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Totally off topic but has anyone with Windows got the basic calculator?
Do the two modes, basic and scientific, still give different answers to 1+2x3?

 

[Broch]

Totally off topic but has anyone with Windows got the basic calculator?
Do the two modes, basic and scientific, still give different answers to 1+2x3?

Yes, but for good reason. In common maths you work from left to right so 1 + 2 = 3 x 3 = 9. All 'proper' (scientific) maths works through the calculation in algebraic order so 2x3=6 +1 =7.

But you knew that

Edit: You use Google?!

 

[Pattree]

Agreed.
It is many many years since I owned a device with a pure Microsoft OS.

My old Android devices and my current iPhone give the result 1+2x3=7 ( It’s just had a migraine when predictive wanted to insert 7 and I typed 9!) for all modes of calculation. Might this take some shoppers by surprise when they get to the checkout?

Smartphones are commonly used for shopping. Is there a shopping app that takes items from your list and adds up the price as you pick them up? There must be - there is certainly one at the checkout.

Did you notice the sashay back to topic?
-
We do a click and collect where even the pick up requires a smart phone!

 

[The Frightful]

Don't tell me.

Still had enough battery power to switch on and function without charging?!?

Hahah yes, powered up just enough to get through those immortal chimes then, bdeep bdeep bdeep

 

[The Frightful]

10pm - 7am mine is on do not disturb. Emergency stuff can get through from certain people. I used to find myself jumping when a message can in during the night thinking it was my mother only to find yet another phone contract offer!

Ditto 20:00 until my 06:45 alarm

 

[Pattree]

algebraic order

Arithmetic?
(blame the predictive text, that’s what I always do )

A bit of pedantry before teatime sets me up for the night!

 

[gibson 175]

I'm not blaming phones per se but more the age of on demand we live in but my ability to concentrate has really ( i feel ) been detrimentally affected.
If I go to watch YT and there is a 5 second ad I have to wait for to end - ZAP! Next YT video

I also feel my concentration has been affected. I have a book called Stolen Focus: Why You Can't pay Attention-by Johann Hari. Ironically I haven't got round to reading it but this thread has just reminded me to read it right now.

 

[Broch]

It's only arithmetic if all the constants are numbers

 

[Jared]

Just use my phone for calls & maps. Phone is muted 100% of the time, and vibrates so poorly that if it's in a pocket I cannot feel it.

Smartphones are commonly used for shopping. Is there a shopping app that takes items from your list and adds up the price as you pick them up? There must be - there is certainly one at the checkout.

Barcode scanning via a smartphone camera is clunky. Easier to use an instore provided handheld scanner. Believe can use smartphone scanning at home with Tesco's app, so will add whatever to your shopping cart for later delivery or collecting.

2^20 is a Mebi, the binary version of the decimal Mega (10^6), though sometimes a Mega is a Mebi like when talking bytes. Mb is ambigous.

 

[Pattree]

It's only arithmetic if all the constants are numbers

Yes indeed.

Arithmetic manipulates adjectives.

Mathematics manipulates nouns.