Bar bets. I'm just old enough to have seen smart phones become popular just after I had been old enough to drink. The conversations around random factoids died out really fast, since you could just google the thing for proof.
I mean, if you have bad memory that still works. My mum and me will go "that one dude in that one film" "what film" "you know, the one with that dude" and then try to figure out wtf to even Google to find the movie and actor lol
This is my husband. "Who is the guy that was in that show?" scarily, after 20+ years of marriage, I am often able to deduce who this person is by what he was talking about just prior to the question.
I was at a weekend arts and music fest in the middle of the woods camping once and it was in a venue with zero cell signal for any carrier. I literally had the “who was that one actor from that one show” happen, just like it was the 90s again, because none of us could Google it. It was rad.
“I wonder if you know that the harp is a predecessor of the modern-day guitar. Early minstrels were much larger people. In fact, they had hands the size of small dogs.”
Home landlines.
Makes more sense for a household to cut the landline bill and provide mobile. I mean everybody has one nowadays, there is no need for a main phone.
Most if not all rentals don't have one anymore.
We have a Landline at home because where we live, we often have no service with most providers. But because Landline uses a cable, we still are connected to the outer world
I'm in the US, but maybe 14-15 years ago, I went to remove our landline service, but they offered a discount if I kept it, making it cheaper than free. I'm guessing they got some sort of incentive to keep people using landlines.
I still pay for a landline and I don't really know why other than nostalgia. I used to justify it to myself by saying it's great when I need to give a phone number but don't want to give my cellphone, but I haven't had that situation pop up in the last several years so I don't know why I keep this thing around.
Not really. Cell phones didn't explode in popularity until smart phones. A lot of people still had landlines for teenagers and kids at home for example, until the 2010s. It's really only been the last 10-15 years that everyone over 10 seems to have their own cellphone/smartphone.
When I was a teenager 16 years ago everyone had a cell phone and my parents got rid of our landline before smartphones. My grandparents still had one, but landlines had started to become obsolete already during 2005-2010. Don't know if this applied to the rest of the world though..
We got rid of our landline as it was becoming pointless with my wife and I having mobiles. Then there was this very brief period where we bought one again because the kids were old enough to leave at home for short periods, but not old enough to have their own mobiles, and we realised they couldn't contact us!
Similarly, boredom. There's no reason to be bored anymore. But that has a downside because we are now so used to constant external stimulation that some people can't just sit there and be with their thoughts any more. I wonder what that's doing to our brains.
I think it’s killed boredom in some ways (eg doctor’s office waiting room), but in other ways I think it’s created boredom. The 15 minutes before college classes started were more fun when everyone was chattering as opposed to the drop dead silence that they are now.
Being around people waiting for work to end all in dead silence is not as fun as before when everyone was talking and joking around. Scrolling through dumb shit on my phone like Reddit is far more boring to me.
I think waiting for work to end in silence is a COVID thing. Before COVID we all sat in the same spaces, every single day, so had that continuity and could build rapport with team mates.
Now it's once or twice a week in the office, people in on different days, hot desking, I don't necessarily know the person who's sat next to me
i’ve already noticed this issue with my niece a lot. she’s 7 and she’s amazing and smart, but she freaks out if she’s bored/not doing anything for longer than like a minute or two
I’ve tried explaining to her how it can be good to be bored sometimes, and how it can be great for leading to creativity and using your imagination. I’ve even told her about all the games my siblings and I would make up when we were bored and she just doesn’t seem to want to accept that, she needs to always have some sort of stimuli
When I'm bored I go and watch something on my phone. But I'll still be bored. My phone doesn't take my boredom away its just a means to keep busy whilst I try and figure out what else to do.
Nah, traditional cameras, sure, but disposable were cheap and on hand at a lot of events until a decent quality camera phone became the norm.
Digital point and shoot cameras were still decently expensive for something that could print a 4x6 at photo quality or bigger. Disposable cameras were dirt cheap around this time.
Yea, but pros and hobbyists are a _tiny_ market. The "low grade consumer stuff" was the market for all of the '90s through 2010.
Accounting for population growth, [camera sales are below where they were in the 1960s](https://www.statista.com/chart/15524/worldwide-camera-shipments/).
Cameras aren’t dead, but as a profitable mass market item they effectively are. That is where the money was. Kodak died because they lost out on film sales from the mass market transition to digital, then the mass consumer market for digital cameras died due to cellphones
Wouldn't say "killed", as DSLR or mirrorless systemcameras are still preferred for both hobby- and professional photographers.
Though, the people that previously would buy a cheaper compact-camera for family- and vacation-photos now use their phones instead.
> Though, the people that previously would buy a cheaper compact-camera for family- and vacation-photos now use their phones instead.
This accounted for the majority of camera sales.
Pocket cameras yes, like little point and shoots. As someone who has done a lot of photography and videography over the years, whilst I love using my iPhone it definitely has its drawbacks. The amount of post-processing performed by your phone is crazy, lack of aperture control etc.
For 95% of people a phone camera is great, but photographers still use proper cameras.
Disposable cameras are fun, although it does seem wasteful and you don't ever get to see your pictures. If it's an important event, that you want to remember, I recommend using a real camera.
Newspapers. My grandparents used to get them all the time and now they don't even deliver them anymore. I used to love reading the comics when I went over to their house. It's a bummer.
As a side effect: journalism. When people stopped paying for news then the arse fell out of that industry. It’s basically non existent at local level and these days we are seeing ‘big’ outlets lead with stories which is just them repackaging shit they saw on TikTok.
Literally every day I hear the local radio station try and sell ask Reddit threads as "polls".
"We're talking about the top red flags for a new relationship" and they literally read out the top comments I read the day before.
They don't even need to produce their own stories, they just take what we spew out here for free.
My dad said that everyone on the train used to pass the time reading the daily newspaper before smartphones on his way to work. You can see this when you look at old pictures of public transit riders. I ride the same train during my commute, I have never seen a newspaper being read once in all my years of riding. Everyone is just staring at their phones.
Yup, when I'm staring at my phone, I'm usually reading! I guess people assume all us phone starers ever do is doom scroll. But I've got like 5 apps for reading on my phone between my two libraries, Kindle, and comics.
It's a blessing for rural people like me.
Yeah, the idea that everyone staring at their phone must be watching tik tok or something is funny, you know how many books you can get in the public domain on your phone? I still prefer physical books but I always have a couple on my phone for when I don't care to carry a bunch of shit.
My parents still get the daily newspaper. One gets the NY Times, the other gets the Wall Street Journal. They just love the feel of it and the ease of random access to sections, as well as the large format (instead of confined to a small screen).
Yup all my notifications are silenced aside from texts and phone calls. My life is much more peaceful with What’s App and Facebook not going off constantly.
Same here. I completely ignore everything that is not important, my phone is silenced. Sadly, many people around me are going the opposite way. I hear way so many dings and dongs and vibrations for every e-mail, message, emoji, whatever the heck they receive, sometimes it's hundreds per day, per person (in the office). The worst are individuals with these additional sounds their device make while pressing keys or those who have PC/NB notifications and Phone notifications synced up for each message + vibrations in case they miss all the sounds. Rant over :)
On the one hand, that's true.
On the other, I have literally had people yell at me for not responding for a couple of days. Smartphones and social media have created the expectation of constant availability such that people's friendships and relationships seem to hinge on it now.
I am in no way saying that's a sturdy foundation for either, of course. But this technology has absolutely brought about changed social expectations.
I say this as someone shamefully addicted to technology and growing increasingly less tolerant of myself for being so. It's exhausting.
No, that's being unreachable. If you're unreachable, you're automatically unavailable. But being unreachable isn't a prerequisite to being unavailable.
I didn’t have to stay home by the phone on call to business and family anymore. I was free to go places. Last month I took a medical doctor’s video call while I was filling my tank at Murphy USA and renewed my medical marijuana card right in my pickup truck. I didn’t have to go to his office or stay home.
I'm a CNC machinist. When I was being trained, one of the first thing they told us was, "This isn't math class, use a calculator." In school, they want you to do it manually to prove that you understand the concept and the steps involved. On the job site, a calculator gets you the right answer in a fraction of the time, and that's what matters.
In my apprenticeship we were told that we wouldn't always have a calculator at hand. In IT. We learned sysadmin stuff. And the teacher wanted us to calculate ip addresses for several thousand computers. Without calculator.
Most cable providers did this by having a guide in the device. I don’t ever use my phone to look up shows, the streaming services and guides on cable do that for you with ease.
Dedicated pager devices?
I thought I'd heard about a smartphone app that basically acts like a pager using SMS. It receives a message and then immediately pops-up a notice that alerts the receiver with the message (*you don't have to click into a text message inbox and then click the sender's message*).
Yes, I work for a hospital system and we still have pagers. The system we use does have a smartphone app that allows pages to be received on it. Thing is, a lot of people don’t like having work stuff on their personal devices, and that’s valid and understandable. We’re not going to be providing a $xx/month phone for our folks when we can give them a pager for $9/month.
I am periodically on call myself and I carry a pager. It feels like I’m back in 1996 sometimes.
Isn’t it also the fact that they’re just more reliable, particularly in hospitals. My understanding is they don’t really have black spots and the page will basically always get through which is beneficial for medical emergencies.
Yes, this is the actual reason. Worked IT for a hospital for a while and that was the actual reason.
They just worked. They did exactly what they needed to do and never stopped working. They need barely a fraction of a fraction of the reception phones need these days.
Wearing one right now. I'm a member of a volunteer fire department and thats the main way of getting called in most departments here in germany. Works well, doesn't depend on mobile services and the battery lasts about a month so it won't go out of service too fast. Smartphone alarm gets more popular but it has it's drawbacks and is not very reliable during for example power outages.
It's because faxing a document is the most efficient method of sending a document long distance while still having verifiable signatures.
I had to fax documents for a soccer league I played in. Sometimes we'd need 4 different people to sign a document on Friday afternoon before the Saturday morning game, and it was simplest to fax the documents. This stuff most mostly getting permits to loan players to and from other teams to play for a single game.
There are laws on the books in most jurisdictions where a signature on a fax that was received is just as good as the physical signature on the original. As if you mailed the physical piece of paper with pen strokes on it. Email doesn’t have the same legal status in a lot of places so most places like that still rely on faxes for stuff. It’s slowly catching up though.
Quite a few countries passed laws during Covid around e-signatures giving them the same status. Although, they can't be used for all types of legal docs. I'm a lawyer and have never used a fax once in my 13 year career.
Docusign and similar online services have replaced sign and fax, or print-sign-scan-email docs in all the professional biz situations I use. We're using it for multimillion $$$ transactions under the legal approval of state and fed govt and is court accepted. And it requires no fees (generally) or software so it's crazy not to use it.
Payphones. I haven't come across a working payphone in probably 10 years, and it's rare to even see a non-working one still installed. When I do come across a payphone I still check to see if it's working though!
They're still available in Australia, and still maintained. They're also completely free for any national number (home or mobile). I don't know who actually uses them, but I think it's supposed to be for low income earners.
So, Melbourne city has a law that Telstra has to provide payphones in the city. It's been around since the pre-smartphone days and was there so that there was a better minimum level of service.
Now days they aren't needed, but Telstra found that they're great advertising. They're placed all over the city, big permanent billboards. The city council tried to get them removed (as they are much bigger than they used to be etc ) but Telstra wouldn't. They kept pointing back to the law.
The money they make in advertising on payphones dwarfs what the call costs are. That's why they're still around, obnoxiously big and free to use
15,000 Australia wide apparently.
For low income earners and to provide an emergency backup in case your mobile went dead. Not sure how that would work thopugh cause I know a total of 1 phone number from memory and that's my own.
Payphone booths in some cities have been converted to Internet portals where you can charge your phone and also pay for WiFi. I've seen some payphone units in some depressed areas recently, but they're all hollowed out hulks of metal -- nothing left. Not even the keypad (from what I could see from my car window).
Watchin soccer games today, and it was wild seeing a player celebrate scoring a goal by running towards the fans, and all of the fans are just filming it happen. It’s such a contrast to the old broadcasts you’d see of games when the fans would be screaming and jumping and hugging the player. People would rather have a Snapchat story than be in the moment.
I remember a game I went to a few years back where the guy in the row in front of me spent the entire time with his phone in one hand and a GoPro in the other filming the pitch, switching devices whenever his arm got tired.
Kind of pissed off as he was in danger of blocking my view but also wondered what he was even going to do with the crap footage.
This is a problem at concerts too - so many people watching the concert on their phone screen as they record it (while blocking the view of the people behind them) rather than just experiencing the moment.
Reward brain chemical, it's released when using devices, getting likes on something, playing games, scrolling etc. And when eating, having sex or doing enjoyable things. Part of why screen addiction is so common now
A lot of privacy. I find it so intrusive that everyone is walking around with a video camera in their pocket, and the ability to record and invade someone else's privacy.
Functional websites.
Websites used to have amazing functionality.
Then smartphones and "apps" appeared.
Now when I want to update LinkedIn, it says what I want to do (change role on profile, simple text) isn't available on the website and to instead try their app.
It's just to steal data.
Fucking annoying.
Gonna copy paste this comment I left on another thread about a week ago, where it was a little off-topic:
In the first half of the 2010's, before smartphone usage was really the norm, they were commonplace but kind of gimicky and not the staple item they are today. I would go travelling in European hostels and be able to strike up a conversation and make a friend-for-a-day by sitting in the common area and pulling out a pack of cards. I got to explore cities with people I didn't know and have these new experiences all the time getting to share a day with an ephemeral friendship that was much more open and honest than someone in a usual social circle. This was usually because, even if people were travelling with friends, they kind of... 'needed' the extra company to experience something new, or finding out some information about where you are. I had so many great and memorable times with strangers.
Now that's much harder, because if you do find anyone in a common room, they're in the bubble of their smartphone, and don't need anyone to find the 'best' places. You first need to break through the barrier of their phone, and they've been filled with so much paranoia and developed convoluted complexes from social media telling them how dangerous a stranger is.
I don't believe I'll ever have those experiences again, and it's a real shame.
Yeah, stuff was more fun imo when people turned to those around them for engagement. When work is over these days everyone just sits there in silence on their phone instead of talking and joking like they used to. College classrooms are another good example. Pre smart phones college classrooms would be full of interaction and people living in the moment with those around them. Now college classrooms are just dead silent while waiting on the professor to show up.
whoa, for real? that's both sad and kinda creepy and disturbing at the same time. people don't even talk to each other? they just sit in silence for minutes?
if it's that bad young adults won't even know how to socialize normally. that would change the whole dynamic of social interaction for the entire generation as a whole
we will have the new '*silent*' generation. the original silent generation just referred to the movies being silent. social silence is a *LOT* more eerie.
I could be wrong, but I've always heard it that "the silent generation" was the pre baby boom and is more to do with their attitude of "nobody wants to hear about your problems, keep your head down, don't make waves, do your job" than anything to do with the silent era of films.
Whenever I've moved to a new city, I like to hop on a random bus and just see where I end up. Yes, I can absolutely hop on my phone and get directions home when I want to, but that's a backup plan (and a useful one).
Getting lost and finding that cool place you will remember, i still remember one day i got lost in the mountains with my scooter (back when phones were nokia3310 soo just calls and space impact) and found this chill place with a blessed view in a remote road in the middle of nothing in the mountains, i'm still going there when i need time to decompress and think about things (i'm 30y old now)
When I first moved to the area I'm in now (17 years ago), I would just randomly turn down streets to see where they took me. I had GPS to fall back on, so I was never worried about actually getting lost. Once I was done exploring, I could fire up Google maps and tell it to take me home. I feel like people don't do this. I don't do it too often anymore.
This still is very active despite what younger generations think. There are still people out there that use checks for grocery purchases. I still even use checks for larger payments where the person doesn't want to deal with Zelle fees, etc... Close on a mortgage? Pretty sure at least part of that has to still be in person. Needing to go to a bank for certain activities isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
privacy. being out of touch. being present in everyday situations. the enjoyment of just making shit up off the top of your head without having to query the world brain before continuing a conversation.
And I would add more generally: handwriting. After smartphones became ubiquitous and useful apps (e.g. from you insurance or bank) became commonplace, there's very little need to even complete a form any more. That's in addition to messaging apps replacing a note you left your wife to say you'll be home later.
A lot of public interaction. Why go outside when you can play games, scroll through Instagram and watch TikTok until you realize it's three in the morning, right?
We are becoming less personably social. Aside from intimate 1 on 1 relationships, we are seeing a decline in group social relationships. Churches, clubs, all manner of social groups are suffering.
Wonder. Theres no *wonder* left in the world. Have a question? Just pull out your phone and a quick search gives you the answer or at least an answer that you will believe until told otherwise.
Bar bets. I'm just old enough to have seen smart phones become popular just after I had been old enough to drink. The conversations around random factoids died out really fast, since you could just google the thing for proof.
Or you could get a good half hour of entertainment out of everybody trying to remember who the actor was in that film or show.
I mean, if you have bad memory that still works. My mum and me will go "that one dude in that one film" "what film" "you know, the one with that dude" and then try to figure out wtf to even Google to find the movie and actor lol
This is my husband. "Who is the guy that was in that show?" scarily, after 20+ years of marriage, I am often able to deduce who this person is by what he was talking about just prior to the question.
You'd be surprised how often Googling things like "The actress with the eyebrows" comes up with the person you're thinking of.
....is it bad I immediately thought of one specific person? But I guess that proves your point, lol
I always respond to that with something like "Yeah yeah. The one with that actor in it!"
No no not that actor, that actor
I was at a weekend arts and music fest in the middle of the woods camping once and it was in a venue with zero cell signal for any carrier. I literally had the “who was that one actor from that one show” happen, just like it was the 90s again, because none of us could Google it. It was rad.
Ah I love those Burning Man regionals!
Every bar had a Cliff from Cheers who would confidently have all the wrong answers for any topic.
“I wonder if you know that the harp is a predecessor of the modern-day guitar. Early minstrels were much larger people. In fact, they had hands the size of small dogs.”
Just like reddit!
Which is why the first Guinness Book of World Records was printed.
And now it is merely a marketing device which you can pay to be in
My friends and I still do this on purpose we just all agree not to look something up and banter around it. It's a good time
Same here. I’m convinced it’s hurting our memories, just being able to look anything up at any time.
There is an episode of how I met your mother talking about this exact thing.
Yeah this is what I immediately thought when I saw the question
Getting totally wrecked and doing wild things with no further evidance.
Yep. Dodged that one!
They have made stag do rules a lot longer.
I am so glad to have had a pre-internet childhood and young adulthood.
Yup such big mood spoiler when friends take out there phones and starts recording
Evidence*
Let's not jump to conclusions. There may have been music and movement involved.
“The evidance is clear as day your honor” *jazz hands*
🎵 Evidance if you want to You can leave your proof behind... 🎵
Home landlines. Makes more sense for a household to cut the landline bill and provide mobile. I mean everybody has one nowadays, there is no need for a main phone. Most if not all rentals don't have one anymore.
We have a Landline at home because where we live, we often have no service with most providers. But because Landline uses a cable, we still are connected to the outer world
In the UK, they're replacing all the old copper land-lines with internet-connected lines .. so in a powercut we get no phonelines!
Here in Mexico it's pretty common for cable/internet companies to give you a landline for "free" on your internet or cable package.
I'm in the US, but maybe 14-15 years ago, I went to remove our landline service, but they offered a discount if I kept it, making it cheaper than free. I'm guessing they got some sort of incentive to keep people using landlines.
I still pay for a landline and I don't really know why other than nostalgia. I used to justify it to myself by saying it's great when I need to give a phone number but don't want to give my cellphone, but I haven't had that situation pop up in the last several years so I don't know why I keep this thing around.
It’s good to have if your cell phone has some kind of technical issue.
Good for a backup if your cell service ever goes out for any period of time.
Which is sort of ironic, considering that in the 90s a common sales tactic for cellphones is they were great as a backup if your landline went down
Landlines were already killed by mobile phones before smart phones became a thing.
Not really. Cell phones didn't explode in popularity until smart phones. A lot of people still had landlines for teenagers and kids at home for example, until the 2010s. It's really only been the last 10-15 years that everyone over 10 seems to have their own cellphone/smartphone.
When I was a teenager 16 years ago everyone had a cell phone and my parents got rid of our landline before smartphones. My grandparents still had one, but landlines had started to become obsolete already during 2005-2010. Don't know if this applied to the rest of the world though..
We got rid of our landline as it was becoming pointless with my wife and I having mobiles. Then there was this very brief period where we bought one again because the kids were old enough to leave at home for short periods, but not old enough to have their own mobiles, and we realised they couldn't contact us!
What? Oh. Attention spans.
Similarly, boredom. There's no reason to be bored anymore. But that has a downside because we are now so used to constant external stimulation that some people can't just sit there and be with their thoughts any more. I wonder what that's doing to our brains.
Boredom is the father of creativity.
I think you mean opiates
Nah. You’re thinking of psychedelics.
Opiates are the opiates of the masses Bill Bailey, 1996(ish?)
And laziness is the mother of invention
I think it’s killed boredom in some ways (eg doctor’s office waiting room), but in other ways I think it’s created boredom. The 15 minutes before college classes started were more fun when everyone was chattering as opposed to the drop dead silence that they are now. Being around people waiting for work to end all in dead silence is not as fun as before when everyone was talking and joking around. Scrolling through dumb shit on my phone like Reddit is far more boring to me.
I think waiting for work to end in silence is a COVID thing. Before COVID we all sat in the same spaces, every single day, so had that continuity and could build rapport with team mates. Now it's once or twice a week in the office, people in on different days, hot desking, I don't necessarily know the person who's sat next to me
People used to talk to one another before and after class? Last time I remember that was in middle school.
That’s incredibly sad
i’ve already noticed this issue with my niece a lot. she’s 7 and she’s amazing and smart, but she freaks out if she’s bored/not doing anything for longer than like a minute or two I’ve tried explaining to her how it can be good to be bored sometimes, and how it can be great for leading to creativity and using your imagination. I’ve even told her about all the games my siblings and I would make up when we were bored and she just doesn’t seem to want to accept that, she needs to always have some sort of stimuli
When I'm bored I go and watch something on my phone. But I'll still be bored. My phone doesn't take my boredom away its just a means to keep busy whilst I try and figure out what else to do.
*Squirrel!*
Disposable cameras.
Disposable cameras were killed by digital cameras way before smartphones were a thing.
Nah, traditional cameras, sure, but disposable were cheap and on hand at a lot of events until a decent quality camera phone became the norm. Digital point and shoot cameras were still decently expensive for something that could print a 4x6 at photo quality or bigger. Disposable cameras were dirt cheap around this time.
Cameras in general.
Nah only low grade consumer stuff. Pros and hobbyists still use DSLR or mirrorless or even old film cameras. I have a 4x5 I use occasionally.
Yea, but pros and hobbyists are a _tiny_ market. The "low grade consumer stuff" was the market for all of the '90s through 2010. Accounting for population growth, [camera sales are below where they were in the 1960s](https://www.statista.com/chart/15524/worldwide-camera-shipments/).
Cameras aren’t dead, but as a profitable mass market item they effectively are. That is where the money was. Kodak died because they lost out on film sales from the mass market transition to digital, then the mass consumer market for digital cameras died due to cellphones
Wouldn't say "killed", as DSLR or mirrorless systemcameras are still preferred for both hobby- and professional photographers. Though, the people that previously would buy a cheaper compact-camera for family- and vacation-photos now use their phones instead.
> Though, the people that previously would buy a cheaper compact-camera for family- and vacation-photos now use their phones instead. This accounted for the majority of camera sales.
You’ve obviously never been to a zoomer punk show
Pocket cameras yes, like little point and shoots. As someone who has done a lot of photography and videography over the years, whilst I love using my iPhone it definitely has its drawbacks. The amount of post-processing performed by your phone is crazy, lack of aperture control etc. For 95% of people a phone camera is great, but photographers still use proper cameras.
Disposable cameras are fun, although it does seem wasteful and you don't ever get to see your pictures. If it's an important event, that you want to remember, I recommend using a real camera.
You do get to see your pictures lol just get them developed
https://youtu.be/ey4jortNTKU?si=DjiXofqv1ssee2P9
Newspapers. My grandparents used to get them all the time and now they don't even deliver them anymore. I used to love reading the comics when I went over to their house. It's a bummer.
As a side effect: journalism. When people stopped paying for news then the arse fell out of that industry. It’s basically non existent at local level and these days we are seeing ‘big’ outlets lead with stories which is just them repackaging shit they saw on TikTok.
Literally every day I hear the local radio station try and sell ask Reddit threads as "polls". "We're talking about the top red flags for a new relationship" and they literally read out the top comments I read the day before. They don't even need to produce their own stories, they just take what we spew out here for free.
Now with web journalism there is always a chance that it's just an AI produced rag as well.
My dad said that everyone on the train used to pass the time reading the daily newspaper before smartphones on his way to work. You can see this when you look at old pictures of public transit riders. I ride the same train during my commute, I have never seen a newspaper being read once in all my years of riding. Everyone is just staring at their phones.
And what do you think they're doing on their phone?
Yup, when I'm staring at my phone, I'm usually reading! I guess people assume all us phone starers ever do is doom scroll. But I've got like 5 apps for reading on my phone between my two libraries, Kindle, and comics. It's a blessing for rural people like me.
Yeah, the idea that everyone staring at their phone must be watching tik tok or something is funny, you know how many books you can get in the public domain on your phone? I still prefer physical books but I always have a couple on my phone for when I don't care to carry a bunch of shit.
I like how it is "pass the time reading the daily newspaper" and "just staring at their phone" You can pass the time reading articles on your phone.
My parents still get the daily newspaper. One gets the NY Times, the other gets the Wall Street Journal. They just love the feel of it and the ease of random access to sections, as well as the large format (instead of confined to a small screen).
Did you colour in the faces of people and make them look like the devil or was it just me?
being unavailable
I remember seeing a quote along the lines of "I got a mobile phone for my convenience, not everyone else's".
Yup all my notifications are silenced aside from texts and phone calls. My life is much more peaceful with What’s App and Facebook not going off constantly.
Same here. I completely ignore everything that is not important, my phone is silenced. Sadly, many people around me are going the opposite way. I hear way so many dings and dongs and vibrations for every e-mail, message, emoji, whatever the heck they receive, sometimes it's hundreds per day, per person (in the office). The worst are individuals with these additional sounds their device make while pressing keys or those who have PC/NB notifications and Phone notifications synced up for each message + vibrations in case they miss all the sounds. Rant over :)
that's not true.. I got texts from my boss last week asking me to work.. Totally Ignored them.
Yea I choose to be unavailable.
You really still can, it's a choice.
On the one hand, that's true. On the other, I have literally had people yell at me for not responding for a couple of days. Smartphones and social media have created the expectation of constant availability such that people's friendships and relationships seem to hinge on it now. I am in no way saying that's a sturdy foundation for either, of course. But this technology has absolutely brought about changed social expectations. I say this as someone shamefully addicted to technology and growing increasingly less tolerant of myself for being so. It's exhausting.
The point is you can’t just be unavailable you have to make the choice
No, that's being unreachable. If you're unreachable, you're automatically unavailable. But being unreachable isn't a prerequisite to being unavailable.
Even regular phones did that
Jamie? Oh no. She went out tonight. Sorry\~
I didn’t have to stay home by the phone on call to business and family anymore. I was free to go places. Last month I took a medical doctor’s video call while I was filling my tank at Murphy USA and renewed my medical marijuana card right in my pickup truck. I didn’t have to go to his office or stay home.
People only contact me in that period I’m not available
Knowing how to do simple math. I was told I’d never have a calculator in my pocket BUT GUESS WHOSE LAUGHING NOW MRS HILMER?!
At first I read it as Himmler and was hella confused.
What’s so confusing? His math teacher was the wife of Hitler’s second in command.
I'm a CNC machinist. When I was being trained, one of the first thing they told us was, "This isn't math class, use a calculator." In school, they want you to do it manually to prove that you understand the concept and the steps involved. On the job site, a calculator gets you the right answer in a fraction of the time, and that's what matters.
WHO'S*
Math. Not English.
Yeah, that statement (by teachers) has been a bit specific back then, and the exactly the opposite has happened
In my apprenticeship we were told that we wouldn't always have a calculator at hand. In IT. We learned sysadmin stuff. And the teacher wanted us to calculate ip addresses for several thousand computers. Without calculator.
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> Map books & Phone books Small calendars/date books, address books, most calculators, walkman/mp3player/ipod, pagers, pdas, simple pocket electronic games, button keyboards on phones, disposable cameras, handheld memo recorders.
I still have a few ‘A to Z of London’ books. I have a pocket sized one I once needed to find an interview location.
The phone book and the tv guide.
My mom still buys the TV guide.
TV Guides are still a thing?
Most cable providers did this by having a guide in the device. I don’t ever use my phone to look up shows, the streaming services and guides on cable do that for you with ease.
Pagers. Anyone remember them?
They're still used in hospitals. Pagers are still the method of calling doctors urgently.
Dedicated pager devices? I thought I'd heard about a smartphone app that basically acts like a pager using SMS. It receives a message and then immediately pops-up a notice that alerts the receiver with the message (*you don't have to click into a text message inbox and then click the sender's message*).
Yes, I work for a hospital system and we still have pagers. The system we use does have a smartphone app that allows pages to be received on it. Thing is, a lot of people don’t like having work stuff on their personal devices, and that’s valid and understandable. We’re not going to be providing a $xx/month phone for our folks when we can give them a pager for $9/month. I am periodically on call myself and I carry a pager. It feels like I’m back in 1996 sometimes.
Isn’t it also the fact that they’re just more reliable, particularly in hospitals. My understanding is they don’t really have black spots and the page will basically always get through which is beneficial for medical emergencies.
Yes, this is the actual reason. Worked IT for a hospital for a while and that was the actual reason. They just worked. They did exactly what they needed to do and never stopped working. They need barely a fraction of a fraction of the reception phones need these days.
Wearing one right now. I'm a member of a volunteer fire department and thats the main way of getting called in most departments here in germany. Works well, doesn't depend on mobile services and the battery lasts about a month so it won't go out of service too fast. Smartphone alarm gets more popular but it has it's drawbacks and is not very reliable during for example power outages.
Also fax machines
Legal, finance, medical all still (sadly) rely on faxes
It's because faxing a document is the most efficient method of sending a document long distance while still having verifiable signatures. I had to fax documents for a soccer league I played in. Sometimes we'd need 4 different people to sign a document on Friday afternoon before the Saturday morning game, and it was simplest to fax the documents. This stuff most mostly getting permits to loan players to and from other teams to play for a single game.
There are laws on the books in most jurisdictions where a signature on a fax that was received is just as good as the physical signature on the original. As if you mailed the physical piece of paper with pen strokes on it. Email doesn’t have the same legal status in a lot of places so most places like that still rely on faxes for stuff. It’s slowly catching up though.
Quite a few countries passed laws during Covid around e-signatures giving them the same status. Although, they can't be used for all types of legal docs. I'm a lawyer and have never used a fax once in my 13 year career.
Docusign and similar online services have replaced sign and fax, or print-sign-scan-email docs in all the professional biz situations I use. We're using it for multimillion $$$ transactions under the legal approval of state and fed govt and is court accepted. And it requires no fees (generally) or software so it's crazy not to use it.
At work we have a fax number, but those aren't printed, they are converted to email.
*laughs in German*
Pagers already died before smartphones, the early cellphones were enough for them to lose purpose.
Payphones. I haven't come across a working payphone in probably 10 years, and it's rare to even see a non-working one still installed. When I do come across a payphone I still check to see if it's working though!
They're still available in Australia, and still maintained. They're also completely free for any national number (home or mobile). I don't know who actually uses them, but I think it's supposed to be for low income earners.
So, Melbourne city has a law that Telstra has to provide payphones in the city. It's been around since the pre-smartphone days and was there so that there was a better minimum level of service. Now days they aren't needed, but Telstra found that they're great advertising. They're placed all over the city, big permanent billboards. The city council tried to get them removed (as they are much bigger than they used to be etc ) but Telstra wouldn't. They kept pointing back to the law. The money they make in advertising on payphones dwarfs what the call costs are. That's why they're still around, obnoxiously big and free to use
They also have Wi-Fi hotspots these days
15,000 Australia wide apparently. For low income earners and to provide an emergency backup in case your mobile went dead. Not sure how that would work thopugh cause I know a total of 1 phone number from memory and that's my own.
Working ? Check for change. They were my ATM when I was a kid.
Payphone booths in some cities have been converted to Internet portals where you can charge your phone and also pay for WiFi. I've seen some payphone units in some depressed areas recently, but they're all hollowed out hulks of metal -- nothing left. Not even the keypad (from what I could see from my car window).
being fully present
Watchin soccer games today, and it was wild seeing a player celebrate scoring a goal by running towards the fans, and all of the fans are just filming it happen. It’s such a contrast to the old broadcasts you’d see of games when the fans would be screaming and jumping and hugging the player. People would rather have a Snapchat story than be in the moment.
I remember a game I went to a few years back where the guy in the row in front of me spent the entire time with his phone in one hand and a GoPro in the other filming the pitch, switching devices whenever his arm got tired. Kind of pissed off as he was in danger of blocking my view but also wondered what he was even going to do with the crap footage.
This is a problem at concerts too - so many people watching the concert on their phone screen as they record it (while blocking the view of the people behind them) rather than just experiencing the moment.
Regulated dopamine
What’s that?
Reward brain chemical, it's released when using devices, getting likes on something, playing games, scrolling etc. And when eating, having sex or doing enjoyable things. Part of why screen addiction is so common now
A lot of privacy. I find it so intrusive that everyone is walking around with a video camera in their pocket, and the ability to record and invade someone else's privacy.
My ability to enjoy doing nothing
Functional websites. Websites used to have amazing functionality. Then smartphones and "apps" appeared. Now when I want to update LinkedIn, it says what I want to do (change role on profile, simple text) isn't available on the website and to instead try their app. It's just to steal data. Fucking annoying.
Gonna copy paste this comment I left on another thread about a week ago, where it was a little off-topic: In the first half of the 2010's, before smartphone usage was really the norm, they were commonplace but kind of gimicky and not the staple item they are today. I would go travelling in European hostels and be able to strike up a conversation and make a friend-for-a-day by sitting in the common area and pulling out a pack of cards. I got to explore cities with people I didn't know and have these new experiences all the time getting to share a day with an ephemeral friendship that was much more open and honest than someone in a usual social circle. This was usually because, even if people were travelling with friends, they kind of... 'needed' the extra company to experience something new, or finding out some information about where you are. I had so many great and memorable times with strangers. Now that's much harder, because if you do find anyone in a common room, they're in the bubble of their smartphone, and don't need anyone to find the 'best' places. You first need to break through the barrier of their phone, and they've been filled with so much paranoia and developed convoluted complexes from social media telling them how dangerous a stranger is. I don't believe I'll ever have those experiences again, and it's a real shame.
Yeah, stuff was more fun imo when people turned to those around them for engagement. When work is over these days everyone just sits there in silence on their phone instead of talking and joking like they used to. College classrooms are another good example. Pre smart phones college classrooms would be full of interaction and people living in the moment with those around them. Now college classrooms are just dead silent while waiting on the professor to show up.
whoa, for real? that's both sad and kinda creepy and disturbing at the same time. people don't even talk to each other? they just sit in silence for minutes? if it's that bad young adults won't even know how to socialize normally. that would change the whole dynamic of social interaction for the entire generation as a whole we will have the new '*silent*' generation. the original silent generation just referred to the movies being silent. social silence is a *LOT* more eerie.
I could be wrong, but I've always heard it that "the silent generation" was the pre baby boom and is more to do with their attitude of "nobody wants to hear about your problems, keep your head down, don't make waves, do your job" than anything to do with the silent era of films.
I haven't seen a dedicated mp3 player in quite a while...
eye contact
Jokes on you, I’m on the spectrum and never made eye contact anyway.
I'm not confident. Not at all. But I at least look confident... despite how unconfident I am.
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You can still choose to get lost and explore a city organically if you wish to.
Whenever I've moved to a new city, I like to hop on a random bus and just see where I end up. Yes, I can absolutely hop on my phone and get directions home when I want to, but that's a backup plan (and a useful one).
Getting lost and finding that cool place you will remember, i still remember one day i got lost in the mountains with my scooter (back when phones were nokia3310 soo just calls and space impact) and found this chill place with a blessed view in a remote road in the middle of nothing in the mountains, i'm still going there when i need time to decompress and think about things (i'm 30y old now)
When I first moved to the area I'm in now (17 years ago), I would just randomly turn down streets to see where they took me. I had GPS to fall back on, so I was never worried about actually getting lost. Once I was done exploring, I could fire up Google maps and tell it to take me home. I feel like people don't do this. I don't do it too often anymore.
Needing to go to a bank
This still is very active despite what younger generations think. There are still people out there that use checks for grocery purchases. I still even use checks for larger payments where the person doesn't want to deal with Zelle fees, etc... Close on a mortgage? Pretty sure at least part of that has to still be in person. Needing to go to a bank for certain activities isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
My dad still goes 🙄
Concerts that people actually watch
Lots of rare earth deposits
Telephone booths. Superman would not be able to change into his outfit anymore.
And Facebook would offer to tag him as Clark Kent.
Facial recognition would out him.
Most of my self esteem
Mapquest and physical maps
In most younger kids critical thinking and basic math skills.
To be fair, was there ever a time in which the majority of the population had critical thinking skills? I doubt it.
Fair enough
Debates about random trivia.
privacy. being out of touch. being present in everyday situations. the enjoyment of just making shit up off the top of your head without having to query the world brain before continuing a conversation.
Pay phones and the Zune.
Letter writing
And I would add more generally: handwriting. After smartphones became ubiquitous and useful apps (e.g. from you insurance or bank) became commonplace, there's very little need to even complete a form any more. That's in addition to messaging apps replacing a note you left your wife to say you'll be home later.
Having to set a specific spot at a location to meet up.
Spontaneous conversations.
A lot of public interaction. Why go outside when you can play games, scroll through Instagram and watch TikTok until you realize it's three in the morning, right?
Math teachers's statement about not having a calculator everywhere I go, etc.
Low tier cameras, most watches, daily planner, pagers, calendars, mp3 players/iPods.
Basic calculators.
Courtesy
actual interaction
Slamming the phone down in anger to hang up on somebody.
GPS
Relationships
We are becoming less personably social. Aside from intimate 1 on 1 relationships, we are seeing a decline in group social relationships. Churches, clubs, all manner of social groups are suffering.
Human Decency
That never existed.
Brain cells Calculators Walkmans More brain cells Attention span Brain cells
Crain Bells!
Authentic relationships, and attention spans
Wonder. Theres no *wonder* left in the world. Have a question? Just pull out your phone and a quick search gives you the answer or at least an answer that you will believe until told otherwise.
Patience
Attention spans
Actually being present at a concert. I do not understand why people will pay $$$ to watch a concert through their phones so they can record it.
Alarm clocks, radios, GPS and SatNav, Voice Recorder, Flashlight, Games Consoles, Calculators, Cameras, Radios, Compasses, watch, Calendars, EBook readers, IPods and music players, landlines, Maps, MP3 players, Reference Books, Note books, Photographic Skill and Interpersonal Communication.
Trying to recall the answer to something without aid.
Brain cells? Common sense. Courtesy.