The world has moved on, and your traditional cellular phone and SMS system is only slightly more useful than the telegraph (especially outside of the USA).
Movement is not self-justifying. Have you weighed the pros and cons of what movement there has been in the last 5 years due to smart phones?
>traditional cellular phone and SMS system is only slightly more useful than the telegraph (especially outside of the USA).
I can phone or message almost anyone in the world at any moment. Have we forgotten what a magical power that is? Countering your last statement, I count myself lucky to live outside the US , where a smartphone-free life is still very practical for more than just a few die-hard holdouts (a bit like car ownership).
Nothing is self-justifying.
Things move. You either move with them and adapt, or they leave you behind.
I don't find that. I broke down and got an Android phone some years back because I needed it for work, and I've since gotten a newer one. It's nice but it doesn't do anything that I consider important other than phone calls and SMS. I use it for road navigation, but previously used a standalone Garmin GPS that was superior in many ways. I occasionally check email or look at web sites while outside the house, but it's usually not that important. And I use the camera and clock, but I had a digicam and wristwatch before that, so again not that big a deal.
I know some people are glued to their phones night and day but it doesn't exicte me that much. I'm as much of an internet zombie as most people here, but primarily at home, where I mostly use a laptop rather than a phone. The phone isn't a good substitute since it has a tiny screen, no keyboard, and too much of a GUI-driven OS. I prefer a traditional CLI environment with gcc and emacs and so on.
- Going to large event venues. Ticketmaster implemented a rotating barcode system, specifically to prevent people from using printed tickets. You have to either (1) use their webpage at the event where there's no cell service (2) install their malware on your phone or (3) on iOS add the ticket to Apple Wallet.
- Park in touristy areas. Parking meters still accept quarters, but a typical parking session is $20-$50, and the meters don't appear to be physically large enough to accept that many quarters.
- Charge your electric vehicle (Unless it's a tesla, maybe? Mine isn't.)
- Get into your office building (if you still have a commute)
- Get the lowest available rate for public transit
- Parking: parking meters here take credit cards. They also take 1 dollar coins which are slightly bigger than quarters. I used to carry a few in my car for that purpose.
- EV charging: hmm ok, though sort of a niche use. There are some chargers near here but idk what it takes to use them. Maybe I'll check.
- Office building: I'm used to access cards, has that changed? Anyway if I need it for work, that's a work phone, not a personal phone, more or less. And it also sounds dystopian, if it requires cell service to work, or if you have to install a malware app.
- public transit: idk if it's even possible to pay with a phone here. They want us to use the Clipper card, clippercard.com.
You're cajoling it into a one-for-one, equal sized comparison. But's it's really the same concept with two instantiations- one much smaller, one much larger.
Not just phones, but there are a lot of things you can do if you choose to ignore various aspects of society around you. But can’t if you cannot.
The price of participating in society is to conform to it. You can choose not to, but then you are choosing to live with the consequences. It’s up to you to decide whether it’s worth it, but it’s also society’s decision to whether it’s worth putting up with your eccentricities.
Also, I find it kind of interesting that you equate "owning a smartphone," with "participating in society." I participate in society just fine without a smartphone, and in fact most people are very impressed that I ditched the smartphone and say they wish they could do the same, but of course, "they can't."
Voice calls aren't good enough for people anymore. SMS "doesn't cut it." These are just excuses. Unless you can't afford a phone plan, and rely on your smartphone for its wi-fi capabilities, i would say it is fact YOU, the smartphone owner, who are demanding unreasonable things of me, the dumbphone owner.
Along the same lines, why should you, the dumbphone owner in the stark minority, expect the majority to cater to any of your whims? If the majority consider you a burden to include in their communications because they have to go the extra mile, that’s on you, not them. If not, more power to you.
I had a longer reply, but probably most of it is irrelevant. In any case, everyone’s social circle is different, but this is the general observation I see everywhere around me both on and offline.
The "burden" you talk about is not real. It's just people's attention spans getting shorter and shorter, and as that is normalized, they stop thinking of it as a problem. The burden is in fact on me, a I have to deal with a bunch of dopamine addicts who have lost their ability to reason on the subject.
I call people all the time. They love it! They realize they honestly have forgotten what it's like to be in connection with a human voice when we communicate. Most people around me will admit they hate their smartphones. Somehow I am the only one who has figured out how to exist without one.
I mean really. "Go the extra mile." That's what we call taking 5 seconds to send a text or a phone call now.
With some proper notifications set up and self control, you can live your "dumb phone" dreams while still not living a comically unpractical life.