OK, I have dumb phone. It does have an option for internet etc which isn't in use, but all I want is a telephone that goes around with me.
Sometimes I get and send messages on it, but all I need is a "mobile telephone," a telephone as mobile as I am.
Yes, it does have a camera, but I don't use that either. I have a real camera. It even has a view finder, just like the old box, brownie camera on which I learned to shoot pictures.
If I had a cell phone that I used as a computer, then I'd find it dominating my life. I'd be responding to emails and facebook messages all of the time. The more you respond, the more you get. I enjoy those quiet hours. People really close to me have my cell phone number, so I can be reached in an emergency.
I always mix up macrocosm and microcosm, so one is the other, large and small...
In a way it's like keeping Shabbat as different from the rest of the week. On Shabbat, even in the privacy and quiet of my home, we don't use the telephone or computer or the camera. Our life is on a very different scale. Communication is close, personal and spiritual.
I hope to continue with a dumb phone as long as possible. Just like having a strict Torah observant Shabbat keeps me sane for the week, having a dumb phone keeps me sane during the day.
I like dumb phones too, but the end is inevitable. When it comes, I will console myself that I will have a combine4d solution to mobile computing and cellphone. At the moment I lack a working laptop and we have three active users competing for the desktop at home. I really do need a computer in the beit midrash during the day.
ReplyDeleteI have a "mini" smartphone and am addicted!!!
ReplyDeleteStay away as long as possible.
:-)
Batya, I have a 'semi' dumb phone...I use the camera, and get so so pictures, the internet when I can't get to the computer [because someone else is using it] but mostly it is just a means of communication.
ReplyDeleteI can live without a smart phone...I want a lap top that I don't have to share....
Miriam
Devorah, I think you hit the nail on the head. As goyish wrote, there will come a day when we have no choice, and we should postpone it for as long as possible. Miriam, in principle my phone can do everything. I just don't have it activated to do so.
ReplyDeleteI ignore most notifications on my iphone and wait till I get to the real computer. The keyboard is so much easier. BUT the ability to take a picture and send it on right away, the ability to "skype" with oversea relatives, and the applications especially (siddur, kosher food listings, minyan finders, etc etc etc) are big positive points
ReplyDeleterm, true, and I'm sure I'll enjoy all that when I take the plunge. My son refers to his phone as his "Nayad*," a better term than the English "laptop."
ReplyDelete*portable computer