Echo and ipad

[mike27oct]

Actually Alan, I was a Rep of the Year, and technology usage helped get me there. Thanks for noticing.  Why don't you keep your wisecracks.to yourself.  I try to keep snarky comments back to you at a low boil, but it is getting harder to do so.

@ coyote
Apology if you took my remarks as disparaging; it was supposed to be more of an encouragement to make you aware you can easily avoid all the negative stuff about having a smartphone and still enjoy having a smartphone. 

I had actually put off having a smartphone for a few years since I had the cool apps in an iPad.  But, the absence of internet in my pocket finally got the best of me, and I am glad I got one.  We don't even need the Garmin GPS in car anymore;  Google Maps app is better!

[coyote]

Actually Alan, I was a Rep of the Year, and technology usage helped get me there. Thanks for noticing.  Why don't you keep your wisecracks.to yourself.  I try to keep snarky comments back to you at a low boil, but it is getting harder to do so.

@ coyote
Apology if you took my remarks as disparaging; it was supposed to be more of an encouragement to make you aware you can easily avoid all the negative stuff about having a smartphone and still enjoy having a smartphone. 

I had actually put off having a smartphone for a few years since I had the cool apps in an iPad.  But, the absence of internet in my pocket finally got the best of me, and I am glad I got one.  We don't even need the Garmin GPS in car anymore;  Google Maps app is better!

I did not take them as disparaging... that was your word, so I just turned it around lol

But I get the best of all worlds.  Because the wife has a functioning cellphone, and my ‘burner’ does function on WiFi. So I get all the benefits, without having to be pestered with phone calls 

[jwlv]

Coyote, in a way I envy you. Being so dependent on my smartphone feels almost like I'm a slave to it. And I've seen many other people that are much more of a slave to their devices. I quit teaching just a few years ago and I've seen students who would seem to go through physical, and sometimes violent, withdrawal symptoms when their phone is taken away. I always say to students that it's much easier to deal with me than to deal with campus police. Most of them agree. Sometimes they want to learn things the hard way. I've seen colleagues who are on their devices constantly as if they have ADHD and can't just sit still and do nothing for a few minutes. When was the last time anyone has seen people just out for a walk or sit at a park bench just enjoying the sun, the view, the outdoors without constantly pulling out their devices? Do people even jog anymore without their music players? It's a shame that society as a whole has embraced this type of technology with so much furor. It's nice to disconnect once in a while. Unfortunately I can't disconnect as my business and livelihood  depends on me being connected.

[mike27oct]

I do not think I am far from the truth when I say that the principal use of a smartphone today for a large group of people is texting, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  It is all just another way to gossip.  Younger people in particular are very curious of what others in their peer group are doing no matter how inconsequential those activities may be.  Nothing new here, of course, and technology has taken this to new levels.

I am not tied to my smartphone, because I do not have accounts for Facebook or Twitter to use or check, and phone calls, emails and texts are minimal. There are days when the phone sits here often and is barely used at all.  But, when I need it, I do need it!  Phone and I coexist in a balanced way.