Sometimes you have to stand before the mirror and have a nice long look. I just came back from reading Tom’s blog post entitled: Focus. Tom, like me, does not have a television and he’s found life without it much more enjoyable, as have I. When I started reading his post, he talked about how he removed the Facebook application from his phone. Immediately, I thought of that too …
In the days before I had an iPhone, I had just a phone. It couldn’t access the web, or e-mail. It simply did calls and sent and received texts. Pretty low tech. In February of this year, when the iPhone came to Verizon, I bit. I got one, thinking that it might be pretty cool to have a good camera and a GPS, etc. I didn’t realize, at the time, how far down the rabbit hole one could go with the various applications.
When I first installed the FB application, I got all kinds of notifications. My phone would beep, buzz, and chirp incessantly. I figured out, quickly, how to reduce the number of notifications and keep it to a ‘reasonable’ level. That said, and this is the mirror looking part, I feel almost compelled to see who said what when I get a FB notification, even though they don’t come all that frequently, now. This is, to me, a particularly disturbing thought that I want to check even when I am having a conversation with someone. It’s almost a call and response reflex.
After I read the first sentence of his post and how he removed his FB application. I immediately went to my phone, removed FB, Twitter, and G+. Mind you, all of these are on my computer as well, but it was a nice reminder, reading his post, that these things can certainly wait until I get home, by myself. It’s much more important to be there, in the moment, with whomever you are with than to respond to a silly buzz on a phone. Sure. I could ignore, but it’s best not to be interrupted at all.
Tom, thanks for the reminder!
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Tom’s post stirred the same feelings as yours. I removed both games I had installed in my iphone. I then spent two weeks grabbing the phone to play a game, facing the realization of the strong pull it had on me. FB can be the same and I’ve thought about removing it. I have kept it because of a small hand full of people I need to keep in touch with. Almost everyone else is hidden.
I also have eliminated several blogs from my reader because of the time consumption. My TV went away over 20 years ago.
Now that’s what I call great … no TV for 20 years. I’ve got 17 more to go!
Yeah, these little devises can be time consuming and take us away from what’s really important!
Well done, Paul. I’m still using low tech phones, but have a TV. Tonight I saw Biutiful, by Alejandro González Iñárritu. I would have traded all my Internet/mobile contacts for watching that film. The problem isn’t weather you have or don’t have mobile computers and television set, as you rediscovered, it’s what you do with these things, making these useful to you and your life. If I had an iphone, I would have done the same thing.
I guess I only have a dumb phone and that’s fine with me. It’s more for safety and convenience. Only 2 people have the number, and one is the guy who works on my car. I do have a TV because I like to rent movies (my third love) but I don’t watch too many TV show. And you can never have too many cameras.
This is something a lot of people talk about, distractions, and what you and Tom have done is not unusual. The onslaught of information in our daily lives has been so fast and furious that a reaction against it is inevitable. Sometime back I was saying to someone that I would like to see a freeze in technology for a decade or two so that we may all catch up with it and appreciate what we currently have. I know it won’t happen but it’s possible that technology has outrun our ability to use it sensibly.
I do have a TV. My wife and I bought our first TV when we were in our late 30′s. We use it to watch movies. I have a passion for films, specially the ones with great cinematography. Interestingly when my wife and I didn’t have a TV we never told anyone because we found the ensuing conversation annoying. As for phone apps, they are all there on my phone, all notifications and auto-updates turned off and the phone quite often on silent. I’m fortunate, I guess, that I don’t get urges to check them every few minutes. But it’s nice to have them there for those moments where I might think of a friend or relative and want to check up on what they are doing or just say hi to let them know I’m thinking of them.
Perhaps the reason I don’t find them intrusive is that ironically, I get too easily distracted by other things. As I write this I have had to stop numerous times to watch clouds waft by, to listen to birds mixed in with urban sounds, to talk with my wife, to watch thoughts go by. The world’s always been full of distractions but I’m not sure how one type of distraction is worse or better than another. When I wrote my blog many of the ideas came while I was distracted.
In the end we must all do what is right for us but I would suggest that none of these things, televisions, phones, apps, computers, tablets etc. is inherently bad or even distracting by nature. Getting rid of a television (as an example) offers one less alleged source of distraction but it also removes a possible source of learning and inspiration. It’s a compromise. I suspect that the potential for distraction is in us and seeking to understand this may lead to another type of liberation. Maybe, maybe not.
When this subject matter comes up I always think it comes back to who controls who. We can take these things and use them as tools to fit and support our personal growth and goals in life or we can be used by them, driven to distraction. I align closely with Cedric’ comments. These things are not “inherently bad or even distracting by nature,” they only become so if we allow them to be…if we give them that power over us. Personally, instead of eliminating them, I’d rather find and manage the good in them…in many cases, yes, as a “source of learning and inspiration.” I love watching good films and documentaries on TV and I have numerous apps on my iPhone, with no notifications, which I check when it suits me.
Thanks, Cedric, for expressing similar thoughts on this subject better then I could have myself! I’m glad I arrived here after you.
Oh, Earl. For sure I knew that you’d come at me with this point of view. I had no doubt at all.
What I propose is only my way of handling things. Sometimes I just need to get rid of it, whatever it is, for a time. I don’t say that this is the way that anyone else should handle things, it’s only what works for me. It’s probably pretty radical for some, but not for me.
Further, these are certainly not bad or good things. They are just ‘things’ and events. I watch films and such on my laptop, which I like to do, so I’m not against any type of technology or television, for that matter, I just have to carve out things they way that they work for Paul.
As I expected this response from you.
Well you’ve seen my TV. Big, blocky, no flat screen, I mostly watch the history channel or discovery on it. I rarely watch it anymore, maybe Turner classic movies too. It’s not necessarily a need but occasionally a thing to do. I’ve told you the main reason why I want a big flat screen…to connect the lap top into while I write and have a giant monitor!
You can almost certainly predict my response also. It all comes down to that balancing business, doesn’t it? It is an ever-shfting target. I lived without a TV for several years because I have never been much of a viewer, but I am glad we have one. I just like it being turned off most of the time. I can’t imagine activating notifications for all that noise—it would drive me nuts. I have to keep technology in it’s place. I am short on time and jealous of how I spend it.
Yep. All about balance. I didn’t throw the phone away, I still have it.
Other applications that beep and buzz, I have turned off the notifications and now I check them when I want. I still like to have the smartphone because it offers so many conveniences.
Paul, what a nice surprise to see your recent comment on my photo blog. Glad to see you’re still around and capturing those fantastic photos of everyday life. Is your dog still taking walks with you?
This post really made me nod because my husband and I have had this conversation often. Both of us have plain ol’ vanilla phones – no bells or whistles. We love to camp, mostly to get away from the computer, doorbell, and telephone…although I do confess we take our cells for emergencies, and I love how many books I can pack on my Kindle. I would really hate having a phone that beeped and buzzed all day long. I sometimes daydream about the days before cell phones, when people actually sat and visited and nobody had a screen to glance at, or a text to check. I must be ancient because I can feel myself getting cranky just thinking about it. Anyway…good, thought-provoking topic. I’ll be back!
Hey, Bonnie! It’s so good to hear from you. Yes. I stop by your blog and read and, as you saw, even posted.
These smartphones are a created ‘need’. Certainly, we survived, and quite nicely without them before their invention.
I still have a TV – and use it. But I very rarely watch movies or TV Shows directly. Whatever you might feel about spending time watching those things, I haven’t seen anybody enjoying those bucketloads of ads the TV-companies are dumping on you. In Germany (and I guess it’s the same in Sweden), you get around 20 mins TV-ads for every hour of film. And those 20 minutes are really, really lost time – unless you have an extremely weak bladder.
So, I rent movies or borrow the from friends, etc. But try to do everything I can to stay away from TV-ads. That’s my balance when it comes to TV…