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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Mobile phones
#22209130 - 09/08/15 08:00 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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Is there any clearer sign that humanity is growing more feebleminded as time passes? It seems even our basic survival instincts are now being overridden by technology. It's like the 'Darwin awards' have suddenly sprung from relative obscurity to encapsulate the masses.
I nearly took out a pedestrian on the way home this morning who, even without headphones in, failed to hear the roar of my motorbike coming down the road (it's not quiet) and stepped straight into my path staring at her phone. Even a prolonged blast on my horn failed to rouse her until the last second, by which time I passed within an inch of her negligence almost causing us both serious harm.
There's little doubt this is becoming more and more of a problem, especially in cities. On a daily basis I see people walking in front of traffic, people, bikes, each other. Stumbling, weaving, etc. I've even seen people crossing the street watching TV on tablets!
A brief google for 'smartphone fatalities' brings up countless studies across multiple countries which show a correlation between increased phone usage and accidents of all kinds.
I wouldn't normally care so much but I feel like these idiots are gonna hurt me at some point!!
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
Edited by Jokeshopbeard (09/08/15 10:01 PM)
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Tropism
ChasingTail


Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 2,039
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Because heaven forbid we be alert of our surroundings, or even dare I say try and appreciate reality around us as we experience it. Far too much to ask for such a distraction addicted society. Anyways, good chat I'm going to go distract myself with a game or something.
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Re: Mobile phones [Re: Tropism]
#22209284 - 09/08/15 08:30 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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It makes me wonder if there's some insidious plan at work here to create distraction. Or is this just what the people want?
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,819
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That's one good reason why I don't use a cell phone. I have one in my car in case of emergencies, and I never use it. And it's not a smartphone. Another is that I don't want to be reachable wherever I go. I have a home phone and that's good enough. I find I am much better off for it. People are more addicted to these things than a forty-year smoker to his Camels. I've heard of panic attacks just because a person left their phone on the dresser!
All this makes me happier than I would be otherwise.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 2 days
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I HOPE you meant "almost causing us both serious harm."
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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I did indeed Markos, thanks for your concern brother. I've had a few 'offs' in my riding career and whilst wearing all the proper safety gear (after not doing so for the first and mangling my foot) has saved me from serious injury, the stiffness and aches always mean I'll spend a day or two in bed.
I've had far more near misses with pedestrians than other vehicles now though, and I'm worried that I'm gonna end up hurting someone if I can't stop/avoid them the next time they pull a stunt like this.
DQ - that's legendary mate. You're one of only two people I know who can testify to that. I wish I could say the same but I find the things too damn useful. It seems very obvious to me to not look at it on the move though. Do people just not consider the implications?
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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Rahz
Alive Again



Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 9,230
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Quote:
Is there any clearer sign that humanity is growing more feebleminded as time passes?
Technology has been killing people as long as there has been technology.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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CosmicJoke
happy mutant



Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 10,848
Loc: Portland, OR
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Quote:
Jokeshopbeard said: Is there any clearer sign that humanity is growing more feebleminded as time passes? It seems even our basic survival instincts are now being overridden by technology. It's like the 'Darwin awards' have suddenly sprung from relative obscurity to encapsulate the masses.
I nearly took out a pedestrian on the way home this morning who, even without headphones in, failed to hear the roar of my motorbike coming down the road (it's not quiet) and stepped straight into my path staring at her phone. Even a prolonged blast on my horn failed to rouse her until the last second, by which time I passed within an inch of her negligence almost causing us both serious harm.
There's little doubt this is becoming more and more of a problem, especially in cities. On a daily basis I see people walking in front of traffic, people, bikes, each other. Stumbling, weaving, etc. I've even seen people crossing the street watching TV on tablets!
A brief google for 'smartphone fatalities' brings up countless studies across multiple countries which show a correlation between increased phone usage and accidents of all kinds.
I wouldn't normally care so much but I feel like these idiots are gonna hurt me at some point!!
I don't see how the mobile phone did it, it was her poor habits with the mobile phone. The phone is a tool that can be used in myriads of ways..... if you're clever enough it can make you one mad living $$$$. I've heard of people overdosing themselves with drugs daily, as if that isn't a Darwin award?
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
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Tropism
ChasingTail


Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 2,039
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Quote:
Jokeshopbeard said: It makes me wonder if there's some insidious plan at work here to create distraction. Or is this just what the people want?
Oh it's what people want on some level of consciousness. Heck, I can even hear Ice yelling DA from here!
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Kuhl
New Kid



Registered: 01/08/15
Posts: 76
Last seen: 7 years, 4 months
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Re: Mobile phones [Re: Tropism]
#22213114 - 09/09/15 04:41 PM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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I recall an argument made about whether technology is bringing us closer together or further apart. The necessity to participate in "distractions" of any sort of mobile device is clear cut as if we're wired to a degree to be caught up in entertainment and social media. Our cellphones have become smart in that regard (no pun intended).
Art illustrates how time manages us to be a part of a information consuming society which could be considered miscellaneous escapes. Its in us as well to battle the simple freedom of rebelling against an overload of stimulation offered to us. By choice the generation gaps draw lines as the adoption from a basic flip phone to having our minds be posted on facebook becoming telepathic is a wireless frenzy.
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Quote:
Tropism said: Oh it's what people want on some level of consciousness. Heck, I can even hear Ice yelling DA from here!
How so do you think it relates to DA Trop? I have little doubt that it is somehow, but I fail to see the connection..
Quote:
CosmicJoke said: I've heard of people overdosing themselves with drugs daily, as if that isn't a Darwin award?
Yeah, I hear that. However people OD'ing generally do so in a quiet spot out of the way. People suffering this addiction are most decidedly 'in your way'.
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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CosmicJoke
happy mutant



Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 10,848
Loc: Portland, OR
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I see more people riding bicycles do more dangerous shit with complete abandon for the law...... in accidents I'd say 9 times out of 10 the driver was not at fault, yet the city is littered with ghost bicycles, spray painted white and adorned with flowers and such to remember the lost biker.... I listen to podcasts to educate myself on my phone daily... Freakonomics and This American life are my favorites..... I'm a bike rider too, I just tend to obey the rules, and I use my phone, but my screen is off and my headphones plugged in, volume at a level where I'm still aware of what is,going on around me.
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
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Tropism
ChasingTail


Registered: 09/12/09
Posts: 2,039
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Quote:
Jokeshopbeard said:
Quote:
Tropism said: Oh it's what people want on some level of consciousness. Heck, I can even hear Ice yelling DA from here!
How so do you think it relates to DA Trop? I have little doubt that it is somehow, but I fail to see the connection..
Well I'm sure if Ice were still around he could successfully argue anything relates to DA ( ), which is something I have a hard time unseeing as well.
In this instance I have to wonder, what are we distracting ourselves from? I can only speak for myself of course, but in times of silence, meditation, or deep thought how much more likely are we to have thoughts that broach our mortality?
When we are given time to think it leaves us with much to grasp that many would rather not. Our own creaturely bodies and their evidently finite timelines (something that becomes more desirable to distract yourself from as time marches on), the constant struggle and suffering of life around us, the unfairness of the universe, illness in ourselves and family/friends. The list goes on of subjects the complacent majority would rather ignore, and some ignore it very successfully until the end.
Now don't misunderstand my derivation of DA, in no means (and this is where many are mislead and resentful of the idea) implying that anywhere in the cognitive processes of behavior are we caught in the anxiety of death. If our current behavior is like a tree-top, then this claim of DA being involved would be somewhere around the trunk. Which is to say there a countless processes between these two that facilitate our behavior, it is not an immediate jump.
I would wager long ago in a less comfortable time that urge was simply to survive and there were less processes in between, as in it was leave the cave and go hunt/forage/occupy oneself or quite literally face death anxiety. Now thousands of years later society is much easier on the individual (there are less risks and dangers) and we've layered a societal structure to these processes. In order to eat and survive (something very dependent on our DA), we need a job. To get a job we need skills, to get skills we need education, to get education we need grants, etc. etc. We have separated death out of our lives as far as we can so we can pretend it is not there, but it is, and truthfully is the still the reason we act our many of our behaviors.
Anyways, so all this has pre-ordained us to be occupying ourselves in my eyes. Constant boredom can lead to depression for the weak of will, who are not prepared to look inside. Then you tie in ego and creative endeavors. We use are creations and art to pea-cock (get laid), show dominance, rebel against mortality (leave our mark), communicate fleeting emotions inexpressible otherwise, an act I can only imagine valuable to a mortal being. If immortal there is time to find expression, but even if in the same artistic mediums the real rawness and emotion we find is tied into a mixture of some of the reasoning above, often a mixture or pea-cocking while leaving your mark and hoping someone will understand. All that is fueled by our good old friend mortality.
So not a lot of answer but a lot of words, most of them a speculative run-with-the-ball from what Becker had been getting at. I find myself caught in all sorts of distraction traps, it becomes addicting. I'll cycle through games or entertainment until I realize I'm wasting my precious time. That's when I realize my time being precious is what motivates me to get off my ass, and that same fleeting feeling of preciousness is the anxiety that drives me into distraction in the first place.
tl:dr phone make me feel good. phone better than life. I am phone. I am immortal
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Kurt
Thinker, blinker, writer, typer.

Registered: 11/26/14
Posts: 1,688
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Quote:
CosmicJoke said: I see more people riding bicycles do more dangerous shit with complete abandon for the law...... in accidents I'd say 9 times out of 10 the driver was not at fault, yet the city is littered with ghost bicycles, spray painted white and adorned with flowers and such to remember the lost biker.... I listen to podcasts to educate myself on my phone daily... Freakonomics and This American life are my favorites..... I'm a bike rider too, I just tend to obey the rules, and I use my phone, but my screen is off and my headphones plugged in, volume at a level where I'm still aware of what is,going on around me.
Is that Seattle or Portland? I was backpacking up the coast last winter and I think I saw one of those memorials at an intersection.
Bike riders do a lot of good for a cluttered city. Their usual clash is with a broad convention at the same time.
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 2 days
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Quote:
DividedQuantum said: That's one good reason why I don't use a cell phone. I have one in my car in case of emergencies, and I never use it. And it's not a smartphone. Another is that I don't want to be reachable wherever I go. I have a home phone and that's good enough. I find I am much better off for it. People are more addicted to these things than a forty-year smoker to his Camels. I've heard of panic attacks just because a person left their phone on the dresser!
All this makes me happier than I would be otherwise.
My wife insisted that I get a cell phone, so I've had one since 2008, but like you I never used it - something like less than a minute a month. Now, because of the family plan, and my step-daughter picking up the bill, I have an iPhone 5s, the smaller smart phone. But I don't play with it when I'm out, and I hate looking stuff up on that small screen (it HAS to fit in my jean pocket). When I worked with kids, I once witnessed real concern that a girl hadn't received a text in the last 3 minutes! Mind you, kids were Never supposed to use their phones during school hours. More than one kid had chipped a tooth, having fallen asleep at home and dropping the phone from outstretched arm! It was routine to see cell phones hit the school floors and explode in pieces on impact between class changes. Highschoolers look like zombies, walking in groups with no conversation between them unless it's all through texting! Assholes are driving at 60+ mph while texting on I-95! We have entered the world of 'Idiocracy.'
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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ashfiken
TotalCrazyasshole


Registered: 09/06/06
Posts: 3,073
Loc: SCranton
Last seen: 40 minutes, 39 seconds
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Re: Mobile phones [Re: Tropism]
#22225863 - 09/12/15 06:13 AM (8 years, 4 months ago) |
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Perfect job trop, ice would be proud.
-------------------- hmm... "I'm naked and fearless... And my fear is naked." "life isn't worth living without the threat of death" "I got my plans in a ziploc bag, let's see how unproductive we can be" "nobody lives their lives fully except for bull fighters" My Trade List
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CosmicJoke
happy mutant



Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 10,848
Loc: Portland, OR
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said:
Quote:
DividedQuantum said: That's one good reason why I don't use a cell phone. I have one in my car in case of emergencies, and I never use it. And it's not a smartphone. Another is that I don't want to be reachable wherever I go. I have a home phone and that's good enough. I find I am much better off for it. People are more addicted to these things than a forty-year smoker to his Camels. I've heard of panic attacks just because a person left their phone on the dresser!
All this makes me happier than I would be otherwise.
My wife insisted that I get a cell phone, so I've had one since 2008, but like you I never used it - something like less than a minute a month. Now, because of the family plan, and my step-daughter picking up the bill, I have an iPhone 5s, the smaller smart phone. But I don't play with it when I'm out, and I hate looking stuff up on that small screen (it HAS to fit in my jean pocket). When I worked with kids, I once witnessed real concern that a girl hadn't received a text in the last 3 minutes! Mind you, kids were Never supposed to use their phones during school hours. More than one kid had chipped a tooth, having fallen asleep at home and dropping the phone from outstretched arm! It was routine to see cell phones hit the school floors and explode in pieces on impact between class changes. Highschoolers look like zombies, walking in groups with no conversation between them unless it's all through texting! Assholes are driving at 60+ mph while texting on I-95! We have entered the world of 'Idiocracy.'
You poor soul, I can send you some shirts with pockets..... Some apps are so ridiculously useful.... You're visiting a neighborhood you don't spend much time in, you use yelp, it gives you a list of all the nearest restaurants and menus and pictures of their food etc. I was forced to go to the Oregon County Fair with a ridiculously huge parking lot this year.... I used an app which put a GPS on the location on where the car was at and simply walked the path it created back to the car.... ingenious if you ask me...... have a powerful computer with internet in your pocket is mind blowing to me.... I don't use it to tune out other people at dinner or otherwise ignore people or be rude. Just because some culture does, certainly doesn't mean all cultures do. I use the thing to jot down notes and take reminders, with alarms, etc. It can even do gps based reminders so when I'm at the store it can remind me to buy mango curry.... I guess the more amusing thing is that I don't use my phone to talk or text often at all.
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
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deff
just love everyone



Registered: 05/01/04
Posts: 9,406
Loc: clarity
Last seen: 41 minutes, 47 seconds
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I think I'm one of the few people left who have never owned a cellphone
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 2 days
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Oh C.J., you are an exceptional man-about-town. AND, apparently, you are such a foodie! I'll be pleased to buy you dinner when you visit Miami, but I am in a very, very introverted place psychologically where most of these apps are irrelevant. I can find my car without a cell-phone app. I will be going to Dallas next month, but I expect my step-daughter to do ALL the driving. Thanks anyway.
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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CosmicJoke
happy mutant



Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 10,848
Loc: Portland, OR
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said: Oh C.J., you are an exceptional man-about-town. AND, apparently, you are such a foodie! I'll be pleased to buy you dinner when you visit Miami, but I am in a very, very introverted place psychologically where most of these apps are irrelevant. I can find my car without a cell-phone app. I will be going to Dallas next month, but I expect my step-daughter to do ALL the driving. Thanks anyway. 
I don't understand how somebody can live in the city and not be a foodie or go to the science museum, art museum, all the concert venues, etc. I mean, you can educate yourself externally by going and doing things... or you can stay in and read a book.... If I only wanted mental stimulation indoors, I'd move to the country for the peace of mind.
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
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Chuckfinely
another round for me an my buddy

Registered: 06/27/13
Posts: 628
Last seen: 4 years, 3 months
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I havent had a cell phone for the previous 5 months and honestly its been great no constant texts, not being able to be gotten a hold of 24/7, i like it. Although ive never actually had a smart phone, i had a standard flip ever since high school and into my low 20s.
Ive never had anything social media related so ive never been as distracted as any of my peers, but its crazy when i look around and i dont see a single person without their face buried in a phone.
You should see the sideways looks i get when someone asks for my Facebook and i dont have one, or when i say i only have a house phone
I dont understand why my thoughts are so opposite from the majority in this regard. I can see the "wtf is wrong with you" look on peoples faces when they realize i have no phone or social media, but i think that same thing about them when i cannot interact with anyone without them diving into a phone or facebook every 5 seconds
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Jokeshopbeard
Humble Student

Registered: 11/30/11
Posts: 26,088
Loc: Deep in the system
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Quote:
Chuckfinely said: I dont understand why my thoughts are so opposite from the majority in this regard.
I've wondered about my own resistance to any form of social media too. I think I'm just a staunch non-conformist - if everyone else is doing it that's plenty enough reason for me not to.
Does that resonate at all? How far have you got down that thought path in regards to your own reasons?
-------------------- Let it be seen that you are nothing. And in knowing that you are nothing... there is nothing to lose, there is nothing to gain. What can happen to you? Something can happen to the body, but it will either heal or it won't. What's the big deal? Let life knock you to bits. Let life take you apart. Let life destroy you. It will only destroy what you are not. --Jac O'keeffe
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Chuckfinely
another round for me an my buddy

Registered: 06/27/13
Posts: 628
Last seen: 4 years, 3 months
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Pretty far
An iphone would have to cure cancer before i would buy one
The social media thing i just do not understand. Why would i want people to know my every thought and action?
Plus in my head its like i really truly couldnt give a shit about what people on Facebook are thinking/doing, why would they want to know what im thinking/doing?
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sprinkles
otd president


Registered: 10/13/12
Posts: 21,527
Loc: washington state
Last seen: 3 years, 16 days
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I suspended cell phone service today. not because I cant afford it, but because I am tired of it. I feel great not being tethered to the thing.
Also I value my privacy. I dont social media. this is as close to social media as i get.
Edited by sprinkles (09/13/15 07:11 PM)
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 2 days
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We eat to live, and we eat simply. These days m'Lady is vegan, I am mostly lacto-vegetarian, but also somewhat pescatarian (mostly just sardines and occasionally tinned salmon and tuna). The last time we ate in a restaurant was a year ago May when a college friend and I reconnected here after 40 years. We rarely have seen a vegetarian restaurant, and they don't last here. This is Miami. Pork, beans and rice proliferate. I'm sure I'd eat in restaurants if I was out your way.
We've been to the art and science museums (science museum closed for now til the new one opens http://www.miamisci.org ), and we check out shows which seem interesting. Unfortunately, the psychedelic show we last saw was underwhelming. We've been to Art Basal a couple of times. The people were more interesting than the art! We DID see an interesting night art festival last winter where trollies would pick you up at distant parking lots (which filled up rapidly), and took us back to downtown Ft. Lauderdale. I've been in Miami since 1983, and it's not NYC, London, Munich, or Cologne (places where I've seen art). Yes, there's street art, but, meh.
I've been getting some clients lately. Country folk are not much about therapy let alone spooky hypnotherapy. But they're building a Miami-Dade County park behind my house, I have over 20 palms in the yard, 11 of which are Coconut palms, a sprawling Gumbo-Limbo and a big Florida Live Oak which I planted myself. In fact, I planted all trees except for a couple of Arica palm clusters and the Gumbo-Limbo. I also grew a nice Bismarck palm in the front, and have 4 Pygmy Date Palms out back, some Brugmansia (Angel Trumpet) around the hot tub which fragrance the air intoxicatingly. Along the rear fence there are red, salmon, yellow, and violet Bougainvillea which are taking off since they cut the Ficus trees down, and they're interspersed with Yellow Alamanda and Chinese Fan Palms. So, I am still cultivating a tropical country oasis in an otherwise urban environment. And I just had the leaking pool rebuilt. Next week gonna have a salt-water chlorination system installed so the water will leave our skin soft instead of oil-stripped. I've decided to stop griping and build on what is already here. Going to Dallas for a week, but gonna accordion shutter the house like an armadillo and keep the alarm armed. This IS Miami after all.
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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RennHuhn
Stranger

Registered: 03/12/15
Posts: 75
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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I dont have enough friends that text me to feel bothered by my phone.
You just need a conscious relationship to your cyborg parts
My cellphone increases my quality of life a lot. I could make the same post where I explain why I dont get why some people dont embrace the cyborg way of life ...
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