It’s not necessarily the phone, it’s the content we consume on it. Social engineering is present everywhere. Facebook, Netflix, NYTimes, FoxNews, Reddit, the shows we watch, the music we listen to, regardless of the device used. I don’t think this is a new phenomenon though. I think the internet, for a while, actually eroded the control mechanisms, before everyone was herded into the big tech walled gardens. Anyplace where content is being SELECTED for you is suspect and worthy of evaluation. You need to watch what you put in your mind!
This is why I love Substack. I find an individual producing content that speaks to me, and that content comes directly to me. Substack feels like a revival of the lost art of letter writing! Many of the posts, are approximately the length of a letter, and they come into my mailbox. It’s like I have intelligent friends writing to me, in my imagination…
Constant phone checking is just a habit, can be broken with practice. A computer in you pocket is just too damn useful.
good thoughts. but why praise substack? it's just blogging after all. what does it do that other blogging platforms don't? blogger, wordpress etc. I might be missing something perhaps.
so far it's open to freedom of ideas and a mechanism to reach a lot of people. Yes I could do the same from my wordpress site but I'd be doing that solo - not have the benefit of a dynamic community actively seeking this sort of blogging. You may be right in that there are other blogging platforms that are equally dedicated to freedom of speech - but I'm finding this on rather good.
A smart phone is the only computer that many people use. It is their internet connection. As bad as the whole rise of totalitarianism is it would be worse and further advanced without the perspective of alternative media. It's important to know what the bastards are up to from a perspective other than MSM propaganda. This also builds connection which fosters an alternative consensus. The architects of the whole current situation know this which is why they are promoting censorship.
So at this point I think it's important for the opposition to be connected. Smart phones are one of the tools for doing that. For some smart phones are the only way to see alternatives to propaganda. For others it is the most and easiest used way.
Good point professor. In my world I don't know any adult, young or old, who doesn't also have a laptop, or desktop, or tablet, from which to connect to the internet. However, I'm sure there are many who only have a phone to make such connection. In their case, it could still be a strategy to leave the smartphone at home and have a dumb phone for 'out and about' which would give a legitimate reason as to why they can't check in or show a passport on their device - thus frustrating the totalitarian system, one dumb phone at a time.
Mine's already been curfewed 24 hours a day. Since about last August when Ardern locked us down on 1 case. If I could get texts on my home phone it would be gone completely.
The addiction problem is -- and has always been -- an issue of responsibility and restraint.
The REAL issue is physical tracking.
Even the older "phones" are still basically a radio handset. If it is connected to the wireless grid, it can be triangulated.
The wireless device still in my possession has basically been reduced to a glorified digital jukebox, permanently in "Airplane Mode".
It only travels in the vehicle when I'm moving locally. As shit here in the Old World gets weird over the coming weeks, it will no longer leave the house.
All machines, tools and technologies are the servants of their masters. But as the instant gratification of information, vicarious engagement and digitized social world becomes the most addictive drug in history, we are beginning to see the roles switch. Not that the tool has become the master, just that the manipulators of that tool (tech oligarchs, media, governments, etc) are taking the on the role of "master", and we are sliding down to digital crack addict serfdom.
I am so close to kicking the habit. Whether it is by elimination cold turkey, a gradual transition or more likely a reawakened sense of what is, and isn't, important, I will enjoy having my mental freedom fully restored.
I've often thought of taking a hammer to my iPhone. Publicly in a display of performance art. While the thought appeals more and more, your recommendations are more level-headed and agreeable. The Nokia 8000 4G pictured looks the best alternative. But yes, we need to collectively amputate our smartphones as a physical safety strategy. We can do without all they have to offer. I, too, remember when my parents got a push-button phone. Very Dr Who!! I also remember when they got a color television to replace the black-and-white one on which I watched President Kennedy being assassinated. My how time flies. But as the great Grouch Marx once said, "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
I don't understand this type of thinking. The smartphone is just a tool. You can use it to make calls, watch porn and play chess. Social media can be totally absent. Blame the user, not the tool, that's what I think. For crying out loud, people still own TVs...
Also what effect would having no smartphone have if average Joe would still use social media from his desktop computer?
I think the point is more about when you are out and demands are made that you check in with a tracking app, or demands are made to show your digital certificates of obedience, if you don't have the tool, you have a legit reason not to show/do such things - there's no law yet that you have to own a smartphone.
Telephone technology peaked with the answering machine. I leave my phone at home most days.
If I'm out doing something, I'm too busy to be talking on the phone anyway. I'll get back to you when I'm not busy any longer.
Yes, people think I'm nuts.
It’s not necessarily the phone, it’s the content we consume on it. Social engineering is present everywhere. Facebook, Netflix, NYTimes, FoxNews, Reddit, the shows we watch, the music we listen to, regardless of the device used. I don’t think this is a new phenomenon though. I think the internet, for a while, actually eroded the control mechanisms, before everyone was herded into the big tech walled gardens. Anyplace where content is being SELECTED for you is suspect and worthy of evaluation. You need to watch what you put in your mind!
This is why I love Substack. I find an individual producing content that speaks to me, and that content comes directly to me. Substack feels like a revival of the lost art of letter writing! Many of the posts, are approximately the length of a letter, and they come into my mailbox. It’s like I have intelligent friends writing to me, in my imagination…
Constant phone checking is just a habit, can be broken with practice. A computer in you pocket is just too damn useful.
good thoughts. but why praise substack? it's just blogging after all. what does it do that other blogging platforms don't? blogger, wordpress etc. I might be missing something perhaps.
so far it's open to freedom of ideas and a mechanism to reach a lot of people. Yes I could do the same from my wordpress site but I'd be doing that solo - not have the benefit of a dynamic community actively seeking this sort of blogging. You may be right in that there are other blogging platforms that are equally dedicated to freedom of speech - but I'm finding this on rather good.
A smart phone is the only computer that many people use. It is their internet connection. As bad as the whole rise of totalitarianism is it would be worse and further advanced without the perspective of alternative media. It's important to know what the bastards are up to from a perspective other than MSM propaganda. This also builds connection which fosters an alternative consensus. The architects of the whole current situation know this which is why they are promoting censorship.
So at this point I think it's important for the opposition to be connected. Smart phones are one of the tools for doing that. For some smart phones are the only way to see alternatives to propaganda. For others it is the most and easiest used way.
Good point professor. In my world I don't know any adult, young or old, who doesn't also have a laptop, or desktop, or tablet, from which to connect to the internet. However, I'm sure there are many who only have a phone to make such connection. In their case, it could still be a strategy to leave the smartphone at home and have a dumb phone for 'out and about' which would give a legitimate reason as to why they can't check in or show a passport on their device - thus frustrating the totalitarian system, one dumb phone at a time.
Mine's already been curfewed 24 hours a day. Since about last August when Ardern locked us down on 1 case. If I could get texts on my home phone it would be gone completely.
I realize that I probably can get texts on my home phone.
My guess is that the possibility exists.
The addiction problem is -- and has always been -- an issue of responsibility and restraint.
The REAL issue is physical tracking.
Even the older "phones" are still basically a radio handset. If it is connected to the wireless grid, it can be triangulated.
The wireless device still in my possession has basically been reduced to a glorified digital jukebox, permanently in "Airplane Mode".
It only travels in the vehicle when I'm moving locally. As shit here in the Old World gets weird over the coming weeks, it will no longer leave the house.
All machines, tools and technologies are the servants of their masters. But as the instant gratification of information, vicarious engagement and digitized social world becomes the most addictive drug in history, we are beginning to see the roles switch. Not that the tool has become the master, just that the manipulators of that tool (tech oligarchs, media, governments, etc) are taking the on the role of "master", and we are sliding down to digital crack addict serfdom.
I am so close to kicking the habit. Whether it is by elimination cold turkey, a gradual transition or more likely a reawakened sense of what is, and isn't, important, I will enjoy having my mental freedom fully restored.
Yes, we are the servants. The ones being used.
Yes
I've often thought of taking a hammer to my iPhone. Publicly in a display of performance art. While the thought appeals more and more, your recommendations are more level-headed and agreeable. The Nokia 8000 4G pictured looks the best alternative. But yes, we need to collectively amputate our smartphones as a physical safety strategy. We can do without all they have to offer. I, too, remember when my parents got a push-button phone. Very Dr Who!! I also remember when they got a color television to replace the black-and-white one on which I watched President Kennedy being assassinated. My how time flies. But as the great Grouch Marx once said, "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
I still need my iPhone for audiobooks and podcasts - but that's generally when walking - getting the Nokia for going out.
I don't understand this type of thinking. The smartphone is just a tool. You can use it to make calls, watch porn and play chess. Social media can be totally absent. Blame the user, not the tool, that's what I think. For crying out loud, people still own TVs...
Also what effect would having no smartphone have if average Joe would still use social media from his desktop computer?
I think the point is more about when you are out and demands are made that you check in with a tracking app, or demands are made to show your digital certificates of obedience, if you don't have the tool, you have a legit reason not to show/do such things - there's no law yet that you have to own a smartphone.