Comment by Spittie | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Spittie | Hacker News Reader

I'm not a parent. I'm not old enough to have lived in an age when phones weren't common (19 years old).

And I totally agree with him. I didn't have myself my first phone until I was 14 years old (with some exceptions, like when going on school trips), and I can't thanks my parents enough for this.

I agree that smartphones can be really useful. You have infinite knowledge in your hand when you have a smartphone and a connection to internet.

But, you can also start depending on it. I know several people that can't leave their smartphones alone for more than 5 minutes, even when involved in social events. And it's not to access knowledge, it's either to chat with someone else, or check the latest "meme" over facebook.

Yes, it's "having fun", but when you're not able to live the moment, and have to access Facebook/Whatsapp every 5 minutes, it's called dependence.

Hopefully, Louis's child will not get into it. Thanks to their dad, they'll learn to enjoy real life, to enjoy the moment. And when they'll get their first smartphone, they'll be to busy enjoying their live to use it everytime.

I'm a bit older than you (6 years) and had a cell phone since I was in (I think) middle school. My phone was primarily for staying in contact with my mother because I was out of the house a large amount of the time, you don't need a smartphone for this.

At this time I think it probably would suck to be older than 13 and not have a phone, everyone you know is going to have one and that is going to be how they communicate with their friends if you don't have one you will get left out of the loop.

It is a parents choice but it might hurt children socially, on the other hand there were a few outliers in my high school who spent every minute of class on their phone (before smartphones were big) but this could be solved with prepaid phones.

I'll let you in on a secret.

You are likely boring in person, so your friends turn to little pocket computer games to entertain themselves instead. Your friends are also rude little kids that lack the ability to control themselves.

Either way you all will grow out of it.

You'll get old and boring, and those computer games turn into little email and skype apps where you constantly have to maintain for the sake of a job because your work life balance is whackadoodle. But for the most part you'll grow out of caring about your little phone because... here's the god honest truth... it's all pretty boring.

Louis CK didn't tap into some new found glory, but at 19 you think he did, not realizing this just yet another repost, an old truth we keep rediscovering... that kids these days are always little tyrants.

Socrates said it. Plato quoted it. Every single generation thereafter grow up and comment about it. Way back it was books of "questionable" morals and alcohol. Back then it was gangsta rap and MTV. Nowadays it's Farmville and iPhones. Next it's going to be fake realities and fake projections.

There is always going to be something made by somebody else to distract you.

It'll be okay.

Take a deep breath.

It'll be okay.

You're on a fast track ticket to being old.

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