Getting rid of Smartphones.

I'd love to get rid of mine just to lose that 'always connected, all the time' feeling, but seriously would be lost now without online banking apps and the likes.

They've just become way too integrated with modern living with things like two step authentication to completely remove without a lot of headache.

You don't need to revert back to a basic phone. Lots of phones now have a Digital wellness option. I found i was searching chrome for far too long a day and have now set myself a 15 minute a day limit.

I find the phone is too useful to get rid of but have set time limits for all the apps that i found i was mindlessly using. Also has the added benefit of greatly increasing the battery life.

The regression in computer use has been really startling.

I grew up with a computer from the late 90s and witnessed them slowly become more and more common in homes. Saw people who didn't know how to use computers at all slowly pick them up, to the point where everyone was using them. (including my grandparents!)

Then smart phones came along and computer use began to regress. I didn't actually realise to what extend until I was working in a university and students were writing and submitting assignments entirely on their phones - couldn't believe it!

You used to carry a GPS device???

not always but I did have one in my car. I have a terrible sense of direction. Modern smartphones are even more useful than the GPSs of old as they have live traffic data.

I doubt that getting rid of them altogether is the answer. There are far too many useful applications for smartphones to banish them, and anyone who is suggesting that is quite frankly delusional. Just the ability to top up my Leap Card right then and there, without having to find a shop, is a massive benefit, not to mention other public transit related uses alone.

What is needed is a massive increase in media competency training in schools AND at the workplace/personal sphere. A lot of people never learned how to properly deal with social media or smartphones, which is one of the reasons why I believe mental health issues are on the rise. I'm including myself in that category, as I'm in no way above criticism in that regard.

I hope upon hearing that, a group of commuters fulfilled their Irish duty and immediately put their phones down, took out fiddles and Bodhrans and began a trad session in the middle of the luas, inviting everyone around to join in with dance.

Getting rid of social media would be a better idea.

i went back to a Nokia 8810 or something (matrix phone) a few years ago.

it was great and i got best part of 2 years out of it I'd say but in the end i just had to give in

its next to impossible in this day and age to be without a smartphone, everyone expects you to have an app for this that and the other. i could handle it because the phone i had gave me a limited version of Whats app. but i had to have a smartphone for a banking app for work. i could manage personal banking with older tech, but the BOI business banking, demands a smartphone. i used to have an old smartphone in work just for that, but then i ended up having to carry it round with me because i would work from home on days or evenings.

i for one would think peoples lives would be much better off without smartphones and can see the problems they create, but they also have huge merits. its a difficult one, but they are never going away

The power people have forfeited to smart phones is incredible.I'm guilty of it myself.

The abundance of convenience, communication, information at our disposal had created a dependency on it.

Social Media is the biggest player in it, but there's other things that have provided so much convenience it's hard (not impossible) to imagine operating with it.

It would take a drastic pull of the rug to ever move backwards. All evidence suggests they're going to become more essential in coming years, as the digital/physical worlds become more connected.

I've notifications turned off all apps, with the exception of WhatsApp, and even there, I mute groups that are never likely to have anything urgent.

But I still suffer from doomscrolling, or emptying down-time into reels/stories. Despite this "content" adding nothing to benefit my life.

I'd gladly give it up, if I knew I wouldn't miss anything on account of it (which is to admit I wouldn't want to give it up)

Is there any country where commuters are sociable? Before smart phones everyone was reading papers/magazines/books when commuting and ignoring everyone around as they do now. Before smart phones wasn't better for communicating with strangers in public places, people don't change that much.

I only got a smartphone in 2017, I needed it to use an app that was required for my work. Since 2017 things have gotten a lot worse in terms of being basically forced to own a smartphone e.g needing one for two factor authentication if you buy something online.

Although admittedly I do like having 4g Internet access wherever I go and wouldn't want to go back to a dumbphone now. As with a lot of things a smartphone is a tool that probably makes a smart person smarter and a dumb person dumber.

It is pretty bad when in almost any situation people are staring into their smartphones. No eye contact with anyone around them, looking at absolute tripe on social media, clickbait "everyone is saying the same thing about x" type stuff.

I was in the NCT centre a while back and in the waiting room everyone was on their smartphones. A good looking ould doll came in and seemed to make a beeline for me as the only one not buried in my phone. A nice bit of flirty chat ensued.

sad bastards with empty lives?

I'm not sure I agree with that (at least not entirely).

A smartphone fits in your pocket; you can be on it in a pub, at work, on the bus, in the bathroom and other situations where it would be just impractical for a TV/Laptop to exist. It's also the habit of being idle and subconsciously taking it out to check the time, it only takes one hand to unlock, and then get sucked in. There's more of an involved decision to use a laptop, sitting upright, or at least in some way to make it operable.

A smartphone user likely canibalised time spent doing other things where using a laptop, or a TV wouldn't be practical (although they'd be two examples where someone may be actively involved with while on a smartphone).

It's also the fidget's solution, I've seen people that might have a somewhat nervous disposition take out their phone, unlock it, tap a few icons, and close it up again, just like a subconscious habit. If you removed their phone, I don't think they're immediately back to TV or a laptop.

Phones arnt the problem, their users are.

guns dont kill people, rappers do

I would like the idea of a 16yr old age limit for my kids, but apparently I have been told the kids need a phone when going to secondary school.

Yet to know why exactly, but will be asking. Anyone know why they would need one?

Smartphones exist to enrich Apple, Samsung, Huaweii, not to benefit people. People use them because they have benefits but they have many many drawbacks but we love progress and we favour benefits over negatives so this is what we've got. They have and will really ruin a lot of what makes us human but they're just one of the factors.

This literally happened to me while I was on the ferry to Inisbofin a couple of years ago. A group of Irish musicians took out their fiddles, bodhrans etc., started set dancing and invited everyone to join in! It was actually brilliant to watch.

I think there is a happy balance to be achieved with the use of smartphones. What I am seeing more of is a push for the digitalisation of services by both public and private sector, and yes, sometimes these improvements result in a better service for citizens, e.g. Leap Card, motor tax but in other ways, corresponding customer service levels decrease, in circumstances where you might want to converse with an actual human being.

Try calling the Passport Office, or flying from Dublin Airport without delay, try attending a bank to speak to a human or try calling Eir with a query. All the examples above have introduced increased technologies throughout their processes - often pushing the use of apps but you are left frustrated with the poor service and instead pushed to use the bot functionality resulting in long delays and poor services.

20 years ago there would've been uproar if phones weren't answered in most organisations. Now you are charged premium rates for the privilege and no-one bothers to answer. The staff are probably all on their smartphones anyway....

I agree with everything said, but I still spend hours on my phone, mainly for reading and my online shop. It's very handy to get a notification telling you that someone has just sent you money for being creative! Twenty years ago I'd be laughed at making and selling bog oak pendants. Now it's cool and earthy and green.

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'friendly Irish' ??

Did you not tell him it's a myth😶