I get it, we are a phone world now and there are people whose entire lives are stored in their pocket devices. Maybe it is because I lived in a time when mobile phones didn't exist or maybe it is because I feel as though most social situations are ruined by at least one person at a table being annoyingly attached to their phone rather than what is going on around them, but for the most part I don't like them being a part of life.
Just last night, for example, i was out to dinner with a group of 6 friends and there was the one person, who was new to the group that was on her phone almost the entire damn time. Needless to say none of us got to know her very well and it is difficult to include someone in a conversation when their attention is towards their private screen the entire time. We were out for 4 hours as a group and I think she participated in conversation for maybe 15 minutes.
That's another issue though and I get it, phones are the way things are now and that isn't going to change. I don't see many people younger than me that shun them but I am about as committed as I am going to get as far as these things are concerned.
When mobile phones first became a thing I was part of the craze but this was back when you could only make phone calls on it and it was really expensive and unreliable. I think a got a bill for several hundred dollars one month and then decided that I was going to use land lines whenever possible. The crazy thing is that for probably a decade or so, very few people even have land lines anymore because there isn't any reason for that to be the case.
So Smartphones irritate me, this much is for sure. I do realize that they are just part of our day to day now and I try not to get on my high horse when people try to make it the central focus in public. I'm one of those guys that is if someone wants to show me a video in public I refuse to watch it and tell them to just send it to me and I'll watch it later. WTF are we even doing in this expensive bar if we are just going to watch videos and send messages to people who aren't here?
I think one of the most annoying aspects of phones is the extraordinary amount of money that people will pay for them. This is especially true with Iphone users, who seem to be chomping at the bit to spend $1000 or more every year so that they can have what I consider to be the exact same thing they already have, just more expensive.
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I'm not trying to say that my way is right, but I have a Huawei phone that is 5 years old and when it was new it was less than $300. These days the thing friggin crawls compared to my pals who have something new and expensive and I guess you could say I am perfectly ok with that. The fact that I can't immediately pull up a photo that I took 2 years ago doesn't bother me in the slightest. If anything, this slow processing encourages me to keep my phone in my pocket even more so.
The way I look at it, if you feel the need to get your phone out in a social setting and it isn't to take a picture, you should just go home. It's cheaper there and you can check out your social media unimpeded.
The craziest thing to me is that the people I know that have the greatest amount of financial anxiety tend to be the same people that always have the most amazing and cutting-edge phones. There is a guy I know that had a bunch of kids, wasn't sure how much money he was going to make each month since he owned his own business that wasn't even doing that well, and then one day he turns up with a phone that costs more than $1500. To me, this is pure insanity. This guy would routinely not have enough money to go and do stuff with friends but a phone that costs as much as a car? No problem. Needless to say this guy's business failed and he has since had to flee back to his home country while his parents paid for it. I would imagine that since he now works for Apple the he still has the latest and greatest phone at all times.
When I owned a business years ago I at one time had 11 employees. I was the boss and clearly had more financial resources than everyone who worked for me. EVERY SINGLE ONE of these people had much nicer phones than I did.
These were people that made around $300 a month, which seems nuts to the western world but is actually quite common in SE Asia. So they were spending around 3 months salary just on a fancy phone. They also didn't save up the money and then buy the phone... oh no no, that would be far too sensible. Instead, they financed the phone thereby making it eventually cost 40% more than it was actually worth.
There are only a few things in life that I feel should ever be financed by a bank: A house and maybe a car. That's it. I think that when we reach the point where people are spending more than they make in several months on a phone, that we have reached true financial insanity.
In the meantime, I still have my 5 year old phone and I will likely get another one soon just so that I don't lose my 2FA abilities. However, I guaran-damn-tee that it will be another $300 phone.
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I guess I'm just a grumpy old man that doesn't understand kids today but financial responsibility just seems to be something that isn't important to people these days.