He said
Smart phones are an unnecessary, social evil.
With the ubiquity of the cell phone, too many people are still catching up to cell-phone etiquette, and before they caught up, they made the jump to a smart phone, opening up a whole new can of social faux pas.
Cell phones have become necessary. So much so, that landlines will be a thing of the past in a few years, existing only for businesses. I don't know of a single friend with a landline, so cell phones are a must.
Smart phones? Come on. They do what you can already do on a laptop or tablet computer, which are both relatively mobile. The only difference is that people can bring it to a restaurant or a sporting event or the cottage or any other social activity. Now in a social setting you can do very antisocial things like check your e-mail, or more likely Facebook or Twitter, watch YouTube or check the score of the game.
At the cottage with the family, I'm always a little razzed when someone takes out their phone. We are there to hang out with each other, have some drinks, play some bocce or horseshoes.
I am just very OK with being in ex-communication with friends. If you are spending time with somebody, I feel that they deserve your full attention. Put the phone away.
Sure, cell-phone users can be just as guilty for this social sin, but the smart phone caters so much more accessibly to our short attention spans.
Cell phones talk and text. Smart phones hold lots of bells and whistles, affectionately known as apps, that just add to the possibility of distraction exponentially. I recall a photo of a convertible with four young women in it. All four, including the driver had phones in hand, focused solely on what their thumbs were doing. They were probably all cell phones as this image is a few years old.
In the car with your friends, talk to your friends.
Cell phone users are just as guilty, but they've become, and will continue to be, the primary source of communication for years to come. Smart phones take the talk and text, and then allow you to bring your computer in your pocket, adding to the perceived need to use it.
Maybe one day smart-phone etiquette will arrive. After all, my problem is with the people using it more than the device itself. The device just allows people to be rude in a social setting.
She said
Clearly there are pros and cons to both smart phones and cell phones. Pro: smart phones are awesome and the way of the future. Con: cell phones are an old technology and they suck.
Up until June, I had only ever had cell phones. I was blissfully unaware of the delights of smart phones and couldn't see a reason to have the internet on my phone. My Samsung Vice was perfect for texting, durable like a brick and small and light, perfect for rolling around in my purse, car or golf bag.
I knew there were cooler phones in the world, even in Sasktel, because both my sisters had Blackberrys and were constantly ranting about how awesome smart phones were and how they could send their friends images of world flags through Blackberry messenger.
I dismissed this, pointing out that world flags, while neat, have no place in my text conversations.
However, I like flashy things and was starting to feel a little behind the times, so I bought an iPhone 4 in June. Since then, I've become a walking Apple ad. I'll tell anyone who'll listen to me how awesome my apps are and how great it is having an iPod combined with a cellphone.
And the Internet. Wow. I wake up in the morning (to Leighton Meester's Summer Girl ringtone that I made using a ringtone-making app) and check my Facebook. Then I check Twitter and do some celeb-stalking. Sometimes I check out my bank account. Maybe read The Globe and Mail or use "What's App" to text a friend of mine in South Africa. It's impressive that I sometimes make it to work on time.
Seriously, how did I survive without the Internet on my phone?
I'll admit that my iPhone is a lot more difficult to text with than my Samsung and the autocorrect feature has made me look like an idiot on way too many occasions. Plus, the phone is huge and kinda heavy, and I live in constant fear of dropping it and smashing the screen. I actually had a nightmare in which I drove over it with my car. So I often leave it in the car or at home when I go out, which prevents me from wrecking it and anyone from contacting me. This is a win-win when it's past curfew and your parents are trying to call you to come home.
Moral of the story, folks: smart phones are better than cell phones just because they're cooler.
