For example: last night I was watching the Vergecast [1]. The last episode is literally 90 minutes of four adult men bitching about social media smartphone apps! It's insane.
[1] http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/12/5204758/the-vergecast-105...
Right around the time that my girlfriend and I went off to university together, I pretty much just stopped using it. All of the (little) social interaction I felt I needed was satisfied in-person, and so I didn't really need it anymore. I used Facebook a couple of times (quite literally), but at some point I got fed up with hearing everybody talk about it all the time (I think the foregone conclusion that "everybody has one!" really irked me), so I looked at it all, realized that I really didn't use it, and deleted everything.
Though I still get the occasional friend trying to convince me to come back, I haven't, and I've been OK. I really don't need another Internet distraction, and I don't feel like I've missed out on anything substantial because of it.
there's nothing alien about using a smartphone. it's a natural progression and people are avid consumers of entertainment, so when it goes hand held it's a no brainer that it will be popular. Not to mention all the useful things they do.
you're not without social media, you're commenting on hn?
Alien means different, not magic. This world is alien to the world of 2005, and most of that quality is a result of ubiquitous smartphones. The issues that we are grappling with now around smartphones were only the concern of science-fiction authors 10 years ago. I'm not sure how that could be controversial.
>prefixed your comment with "not that anyone cares".
That's called humility.
>you're not without social media, you're commenting on hn?
Does sending a letter count then?
Sorry for commenting, it's just that they only give me one downvote.