Do you really need a smart phone?
If one were to go back thirty, or even twenty, years ago and reveal that the big invention of the future will be a rectangular handheld device at which everyone will spend hours a day staring at, they would never dream of being far away from it, and any beeps it makes would merit instant attention, people would think you were mad, without any regard for what pixels were on that screen.
They would also find it odd, very odd, that as long-distance phone rates became non-existent, few people would call long distance. But instead elect to type really short, and often grammatically challenged, mini-sentences and transmit those handfuls of words back and forth. Even odder that with free email, the art of writing letters went the way of the dinosaur. But perhaps long-distance modes of communication went by the wayside because people were busy interacting with those around them? No, instead they just sit and stare at their little portable electronic device.
Psychologists say that the best way to reinforce behavior is to reward it at random. That is what smart phones do: pick it up and look at what it has to offer, and that might be the time you are a winner! Maybe a nugget of good news, maybe someone liked a post. But usually, just a stream of drivel.
Are smart phones really a good idea? Flip phones are still out there, one can make calls on them fine. They have cameras and MP3 players. They can send and receive text messages, but with their keyboards they are not the easiest to type on, so one tends to use texts only for good reasons. Some do have internet access, but it is not very easy to use, so that feature is used only when really needed. Ditto for common email services. If you need a GPS in your car, buy a GPS—they are still out there.
Smart phones are expensive, as is the monthly service for them. Flip phones, on the other hand, are cheap. One can buy a flip phone from the dollar store for around $25, and if not used terribly much, it may cost on average $10 or less for a number of text message and so many minutes of airtime for a month. Compare that to typical smart phones costs.
Are smart phones really worth the extra cost? Is it really worth that much to be constantly distracted? Give it up and not only will there be a lot more money in your wallet at the end of every year, one can say goodby to being a smart-phone zombie. Face it: smart phones are not smart.
