I run a SV startup but refuse to own a cellphone
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
I've missed basically the entire camera-phone age and certainly the entire smartphone age, and I have to concur with the author that it is pretty wonderful. Also he's correct in that when people find out you have no cell phone, they tend to look at you like you have 3 heads.
I suspect that one day we will reach a point when some serious things are impossible without owning a cell phone (like voting, transacting over the Internet, etc) which in my view will be a serious loss of freedom for me... in the meantime I'm very happy with my lifestyle and I plan to hold out as long as I can.
He could easily achieve the same exact result by not installing social apps, disabled browser and just having Uber and actual calling functionality and you could still call forward every incoming call to landline so the mobile wouldn't even ring.
But then again I don't quite understand social media. I just have small circle of friends I'm in touch on daily bases and we are little old hat and just use IRC like we've always done.
"Why not hand wash clothes instead of using a washing machine? Because it's takes a long time and is physically demanding."
Do I need a smart phone? Not really, but the accessibility is nice. For others, the answer could be that certain aspects become more convenient, however, they find themselves glued to the phone for 75% of their waking hours. The trade off would be to get a dumb phone (or dataless smart phone) to maintain contact while cutting the screen time.
Do I need a dish washer? No. I can do the dishes by hand. The dish washer will likely use less water and better sanitize my dishes. It's not a necessity, but it helps.
Anecdote: I have an acquaintance who believes that the golden age of gaming started around the NES version of Mario and ended around DOOM. He keeps abreast of current game trends, but he refuses to buy anything modern if it is not a Mario title. He is certainly entitled to his opinion of what constitutes a "golden age", but I, as well as many others, believes that he is missing out on many titles that he would enjoy.
Is he wrong? Absolutely not; he can play or not play whatever he chooses. Does it make sense? I don't think it does. He has firmly rooted himself into a niche of a hobby such that he lets everything else fly by without consideration. He's not wrong. He's just obstinate. For what gain?
That, and I got tired of people calling my personal phone with their computer problems all the time. Not the fact that they called me, but the panic and urgency at their end. It was exhausting.
The same deal with Facebook etc. At least without a phone you have a reason for not paying attention every waking moment.
Since I don't talk to people on the phone, only use internet on it rarely and either at home or the office (everywhere else I go has wifi) and use texts occasionally it's a perfect fit.
Phone is a Nexus 4 from just after they released which was a couple of hundred quid iirc.
The author explains why: Because it doesn't allow him to check emails, the news, and social media every available moment, and instead lets him enjoy his surroundings and just think about things.
Q: How do you know when someone doesn't have a cell phone?
A: They'll tell you.
I've been on both sides of the table of "I'm not giving my employer my cell phone number because I don't want to get called outside working hours, this isn't that kind of job" and if pressed, at least sometimes they don't have a phone, or say they don't. If you want me to carry an iphone like an electronic leash you'll pay for it, or if not, you won't.
Its also pretty common if your former employer paid for your electronic-leash and you get a new job... no phone, you turned it in to the former employer when you left. And I'm busy learning the new job not waiting in line at a phone store, maybe I had to move, etc. And I'm not getting a paycheck for a month and I'd rather pay the rent at the new place and eat than have a phone. And next month, well, nothing bad happened although I do have an extra $100 in my pocket to spend, so maybe I'll buy one next month, and being a new place I'd rather have a kitchen table than a phone, so... And next thing you know, you've been working there 3 years and still don't have a phone.
Many things were different 20 years ago. Today being a parent of 2 toddlers, I cannot even imagine not having a phone with me when my kids are away at school/daycare. No I am not paranoid. I trust the school/daycare. But that one instance of time when my kids need me asap and the school could not get to me quick enough, I will never forgive myself for that. Just for that kind of emergency, I will have my cellphone.
When it comes to kids of your own, it changes a lot of things. I will never take a chance with my kids.
My kid would be taken to the hospital right away. I know because it has happened to her classmates. The school even has my waiver signed allowing them to do this in case of emergency as defined by the school nurse.
That place has to be beyond ridiculous.
If its serious they call an ambulance or they get sued into oblivion, therefore they call an ambulance for anything more serious than sniffles, and the hospital is legally required to stabilize the condition of anyone who comes in (see emergency room full of illegals, etc). So if your kid has a fever seizure at day care or takes a very serious fall at recess or gets knocked out in gym, you'll get contacted by the hospital while your kids already being treated.
Also if you have kids you know all about filling out multi page contact sheets for pretty much any facility that has your kids, from day care to after school basketball. They'll track down an adult via landlines, employer name, relatives, friends parents... its all business as usual.
I can assure you that at least away from the coasts no one leaves a not-breathing kid laying in a pool of blood until the parents arrive, etc.
Today it's more likely for the kid to use their own cell phone to contact the parent. "The teacher hates me", "I don't feel good come pick me up" ...
Yeah, you can probably more relaxed, but I imagine his colleagues, wife, relatives are going nuts, when they cannot reach him, when he is needed. So he free rides on others' pocket when he needs a phone, and rides on others stress, when he is needed for some situation.
*The author said he's on his computer every day so he's accessible by email. When he's not at work, he's presumably by phone and therefore accessible by landline. I'd guess there are just a few hours each day when he's neither at work nor at home--commuting, playing with kids outside, at a bar, etc.
It's just rather irrational, he uses most of the new technology and even social networks[0]! But not use a cell phone. He just produced more inconveniences for himself and his people around him, than solved. If there would be a solid argument against using a cell phone, there would not be a reason to write a 2000 word article about it.
[0] >You can reach me on Twitter @stevehiltonx
Its possible to brag or enforce dominance about management skill. A skilled manager can get hit by a truck and finely crafted systems and procedures will work for days, weeks, months. An incompetent manager is perpetually running around like a chicken with head cut off in continuous hero saves the day mode, which looks impressive to people who don't understand it signals gross incompetence. So you can stealthily brag about your management power level by very loudly claiming you don't have to be a superhero because unlike the chicken with their head cut off competitors, you actually know how to manage and lead.
Another primate dominance interpretation is level based, not skill or power based. Low level people have low level responsibilities, like instantaneously responding to absolutely everyone. Higher level people respond to higher level problems, which tend to both evolve and be fixed much more slowly. So a line employee or team lead needs to be a whipped slave, but a CEO who needs to micromanage is a failed CEO, that CEO should be thinking about next years overall strategy, not ultra short term like how to do a customer service reps job for them. A few days here or there don't matter for producing annual strategic plan. A micromanaging CEO won't have a long term plan.
By your definition, it means, that CEOs of big corporations, can just sit in their office, without phones, etc., and just build plans for next few years.
* I missed out on taking a photo of the amazing view
* We were talking about the different standards of living around the world, and I mentioned that Norway was the best country in the world, and also that they have a ton of money. That's all I could remember about the money, without access to Google and Wikipedia.
* I counted at least 2 other times where I instinctively went to pull out my phone to Google something or reference an article that I had read.
* I wanted to know what song was playing on the speakers so I could listen to the album later. No Soundhound or Shazam.
* My wife missed 3 Skype calls from her family, who ended up sending very worried messages hoping that she was ok
-Bring a camera.
* We were talking about the different standards of living around the world, and I mentioned that Norway was the best country in the world, and also that they have a ton of money. That's all I could remember about the money, without access to Google and Wikipedia.
-Enjoy where you're at and your company. If you spend five minutes looking for this sort of thing, you're diverting your attention elsewhere.
* I counted at least 2 other times where I instinctively went to pull out my phone to Google something or reference an article that I had read.
-That's a bad thing? It's fine to be ignorant on something. You're at a restaurant on a roof in Cambodia, ffs! Enjoy yourself in the moment!!
* I wanted to know what song was playing on the speakers so I could listen to the album later. No Soundhound or Shazam.
-Holy sheesh....
* My wife missed 3 Skype calls from her family, who ended up sending very worried messages hoping that she was ok
-Why didn't you call them beforehand? What kind of situation did you put yourself in that required that sort of worry? So many questions...
When I had an admin, very few calls made it through because 95% were either un-necessary escalations or things that should have been IMs/emails. The admin either answered the question or directed the caller or the person actually doing whatever they asked for. Some people saw that as "what a dick", but my goal is to get my job done in as close to 8 hours as possible. Yacking on the phone, mostly for bullshit reasons, for 3 hours a day means I don't get to eat dinner with my family or I'm up until midnight and don't work out in the morning. That's my priority.
The problem with the smartphone is that it's too easy to let it transition your life to an interruption based nightmare.
I think some heavy smartphones users tend a develop some kind of dependency/anxiety (I was one of them).
I too don't own a pocket computer, mobile phone, nor even a landline, and I get the weirdest looks from people. It's like saying I refuse to wear shoes. Carrying a tracking device on us has become as socially expected as wearing undergarments. It's a truly unique thing in history.
And Skype doesn't count because not everybody can skype on their phones. What happens if someone needs to contact you to tell you that they're running late?
That's actually one of the greatest benefits of not owning a pocket computer: people feel a lot more pressure to be on time. Old-fashioned: you set an appointment ahead of time and you keep it.
I'm all for getting rid of unnecessary things that clutter up your life, but it kind of sounds like he actually does need one. And he'd be better off learning that he can use it better.
Nailed it.
I had a landline during college that came with the internet connection. I think I paid $10 for the phone.
When I got out of college, I needed a phone to schedule interviews for a job. So I bought a Skype phone number and used that. I think it costs $6/month, and I've had it for 5 years.
I bought a cell phone last year when I needed to work during the day, but also wanted to be accessible in case a tenant on a rental property needed some emergency repairs or something. I think I paid $50 for a cheaper Android and paid $20 every 3 months to keep it on and for 200 minutes/megabytes/texts. It was kind of nice to not have to worry about getting lost.
I might cancel the subscription on that cell phone soon, since I rarely use it. I don't know though: I can see wanting to develop a mobile app soon, and when I meet up with someone once or twice a year it'd be nice to have the flexibility to call to reschedule. Last year I met up with a real estate agent, and they were annoyed when they were 20 minutes late("stuck in traffic") and I was already gone after assuming they wouldn't show; the good news is they weren't late on any subsequent meetups.
It's not really about the money so much as being another thing to keep track of. It's a bad idea to lose track of the number of $x/month payments you're making, even if $x is small.
Managing distractions is the same regardless of whether it's cellphones or desktop emails or cars on the road. You have to learn how to differentiate between the signal and the noise at a glance, and waste no time on the noise.
I disabled Notification Center on my Mac because I couldn't find a less drastic way to stop Apple from popping up notifications irrelevant to me (e.g., a new version of iTunes is ready to be installed).
Does that qualify in your eyes as "managing distractions" correctly or not?
Would it in your opinion have been better for me to learn not to be bothered or distracted by notifications -- to change myself instead of changing the Mac, in other words?
ADDED. Even though I never use iTunes, I have not been able to figure out a way to stop my Mac from trying to upgrade iTunes.
Even if you couldn't make the mental leap to just stop worrying about the updates and to rationally understand they aren't literally constant, there are other media players or other operating systems that are far, far less annoying. OS X, iOS, Windows, and Android are literally designed to be annoying, to keep reminding you thry exist, to keep them in your mind, so you expect them to be an ever present part of your experience. Because they are all in service to something other than your needs for an operating system. This is exactly the sort of thing for which the Free Software Foundation exists.
But ultimately, the problem is not the notification, or the media player, or the operating system. They are 100% incapable of causing you any harm on their own. You have to choose to allow it to harm you.
By manage distractions, I mean do whatever it takes to stop harming yourself. To me, the lowest friction way of doing that is letting iTunes update so it will be quiet for another month, and then forgetting about it.
Some people need gps directions to go to the corner store, some people just need a paper map to traverse the world. I'd rather be the latter and use the former when needed/wanted than the former with the inability to to the latter.
As for the article, I generally agree with the author, as I have done the same thing (ditched a cell phone for about a year and a half). It was wonderful, but my current job description requires me to be on call, so I have made a temporary compromise, but I fully intend to return to no cell phone eventually.
One thing in particular I learned from my time without one is that I was much more observant and interactive with my surroundings. I would have conversations or see things I would have never if my eyes were glued to a screen. It also strengthened my conversation skills as a result.
Paper maps are fine, and I can still read those. But they really pale in comparison to a map with GPS and automatic routing. Also a built-in compass. And a camera. And everything else that a modern smart-phone can do.
Thirteen miles later, I ended up at the ocean for the first time, when I didn't even know which way was west. It was mindblowingly refreshing. Sure, it could have gone completely differently, but is that the point? I was content where I was by just hiking with my own thoughts and awareness of my immediate surroundings. Having a phone or GPS would have completely stripped that feeling away.
There's something to be said to just living in the moment when the risk is low-medium.
You can buy basic mobile phones for $10. How many of those you have to break to cost you a fortune?
not sure why you would use a PAYG plan from a UK provider in the US, but I'm sure it would be quite a bit more expensive than a PAYG plan from a US provider
For me that actually is a symptom of having some sort of problem. He actually somewhat admits that.
If someone says: "I hadn't had a drink for months and I feel great, I will never drink again." Good for you, honestly, but you know the opposite of total abstinence does not have to be to get drunk until you blackout two times a week. What's wrong with having one beer at a party, a glass of wine to dinner? If you have to drink 10 beers because you can't control yourself, then it seems like you have a problem, though whatever works for you. If the only solution is abstinence, then by all means, do it.
He has a problem in finding a reasonable balance. I am also glad he readily admits that a phone is a symbol of his own stressful life he once had, so he rejects it for that reason mostly.
Now I won't deny that I am in a somewhat different position, since my schedule is not nearly as busy as his, and the metaphor does only work to a certain extent, but I for one tend to not use my mobile phone that often. People know they can reach me if something happens, at least in theory, since they know I don't check it that often.
It's on mute most of the time, and if I don't want to take a call, guess what, I don't. And I mostly communicate with E-Mail too, but I can do that from my phone.
I call people back when I have the time, I also always have it with me, I can enjoy the comfort of any application I want to, but it certainly does not control my life. And with a modern phone you actually can streamline your experience a lot (give your contacts various priorities, some can reach you, some can only during a given time frame and lots of other things you can do). I guess on an old Nokia, you can't do a lot in that area.
You don't need to take a phone call when you don't want to. You will have to deal with people saying "Did you not have your phone with you?" and if the answer is "Well actually, I did" they might get a little bit angry at first, but being available is not something you have to be at all times. People in my circle all know how I stand on this, and I read Telegram Messages and sometimes reply days later, if it's not crucially important. They are used to it, and it's not an issue these days.
So while I sympathize, it's not "being enslaved" versus "being free", there is a healthy middle ground we should aim for. It takes work, adjustment, is not maybe as easy as just throwing your phone away, but it's worth it.
PS: I don't like touch either, my mobile phone has a physical keyboard and I am happy with it.
Perhaps he should be lamenting his own lack of self control instead of cell phones. If everyone walked around needing one but not carrying one there'd be nobody to borrow from and we'd be back to pay phones. Nonsense.
It takes a unique background and rare talent to see deep and clearly and act decisively against all consensus wisdom.
To do so in the prime of life, against the murmured criticism of one's peers, requires absolute faith in self which could only be a huge advantage in nearly _all_ endeavors, personal as well as public.
Call it revolutionary, call it visionary, the ripples rebound and echo far beyond the action in both space and time.
My hat is truly off.
Sigh but enough about David Bowie! :./
His lack of a phone most likely results in someone fielding calls for him.
This article reminds me of people who espouse "minimalism" and talk about few things they own, yet they ignore their massive consumerism caused by that lifestyle, spending a fortune on eat-out food instead of cooking at home, etc.
Is this certainty due to the current state of privilege enjoyed by the average Silicon Valley tech employee? Is this a consequence of the notoriously bad human capability for risk assessment?
I suspect that the risks of allowing both business and government to generate realtime location maps and infer relationship information are overlooked because it is easy to be distracted by shiny baubles and clever gadgets while ignoring the tracking device those baubles and gadgets are tied to.
So go ahead, be happy with all of the cool toys you get to use with your phone. I hope you're also happy with the surveillance state you're helping to create. If you're lucky, nobody will use those records of your associations in the future for some ugly purpose.
License plates do not give away your location every few minutes. License plates only show a car's location, which may map to one or more people. License plates do not follow you into buildings, across different cars or other forms of transportation.
More importantly, it is difficult to participate in modern society without a form of transportation, which is usually a car. The cell phone is absolutely not a requirement, even though a lot of addicted people like to claim otherwise. A landline has none of these tracking issues, and suffices perfectly well for most needs (which are different from wants aka luxuries).
So yes, unlike with a car, if you choose to carry a cell phone, you are absolutely contributing to the surveillance state, and pretending otherwise doesn't make your culpability in it go away.
[1] It doesn't see much use these days due to an unfortunate medical situation, but I would be driving that car if it was safe.
It is like to be proud not to have a car, but to constantly ask others to drive you around.
You need to look at fb occationally use the browser. Fb has a decent mobile optimized site.