Is the Answer to Phone Addiction a Worse Phone?

[petra]

I came across this article titled "Is the Answer to Phone Addiction a Worse Phone?" (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/technology/grayscale-phone.html) and I could not help but be curious.

This foolish answer seems to actually have some merit!

What's happening is people are turning their phones to grayscale to kind of "combat their brain programming". It's kind of brilliant and ironic at the same time. I recall this being used in some books on tape I had regarding NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming))

The premise is, color makes things more attractive. Let's say you're a large person and you want to be smaller. Picture salad in your head with vibrant greens, maybe do a close up, pretty soon that salad will look delicious. Then think of a hamburger, but make it gray. Move it farther away, unappealing.

A couple of quotes from the article:


After going to grayscale, I’m not a different person all of a sudden, but I feel more in control of my phone, which now looks like a tool rather than a toy.


The switch made me realize, in a tangible way, that I still have a little choice here.

[Bill Ryan]

There's an excellent thread about this, here:


"Smartphones Have DESTROYED a Generation" Tucker Carlson Interviews Dr. Jean Twenge (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?99839-Smartphones-Have-DESTROYED-a-Generation-Tucker-Carlson-Interviews-Dr.-Jean-Twenge)

On that thread, I posted:
Very closely related, and recommended:

Nancy Colier on Coast to Coast (25 Jan 2017) discussing our reliance on technology. Many of the social and developmental problems that she highlights overlap directly with this short Tucker Carlson interview.


http://projectavalon.net/Coast_to_Coast_Nancy_Colier_reliance_on_technology_Jan_25_2017_Hour_1.mp3
http://projectavalon.net/Coast_to_Coast_Nancy_Colier_reliance_on_technology_Jan_25_2017_Hour_2.mp3



I have a very dumb phone, with 15-year old technology. I use it to tell the time occasionally, and make the odd call when I'm in town. It's switched off almost all the time. I fully intend to keep it that way.

For closely related reasons, I don't do Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or WhatsApp, and only communicate via Skype, e-mail (just one account) and the Forum. Absolutely nothing else.

In comparison with some people I see or have heard about, I do think I'm saner as a result, more connected with the real world, and healthier in every way.

I have to say, I do genuinely fear for the dehumanized, unnatural future that we all seem to be accelerating towards.

Either no-one's at the wheel, or they do NOT have our best interests at heart.

[petra]

Destroyed is kind of harsh, I get it with the headlines though. Just feels like that word punched me in the guts.

My last phone was dumb, it was a Blackberry and it couldn't play a video to save it's life but boy could I type easily on it! My new one is "Smart" but just for work and making a scattered call, I can see how younger ones can get sucked into the new phones though.

I feel bad for them. I don't think so much multitasking is good for the mind, and I'm willing to bet that's been said before.

[Daozen]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e1/2e/5e/e12e5e3e8646ef3d97ccbb023d540a67.jpg

Here in Taiwan I have an old phone like the one pictured. I tell people it's from the Tang dynasty. It has no internet, only an old LCD digital screen, even more basic than the one pictured. When they ask why I don't have a smartphone I tell them they're a distraction and a waste of time, and I mime people hunched over their phones with crooked necks. I only take it out when I meet someone. Apart from that, I use a desktop.

A minor inconvenience is that it costs people to text me, which is annoying, but that's life.

[petra]

Here in Taiwan I have an old phone like the one pictured.

What a cute phone! I love the design, looks nice and solid. If someone pulled one of those out around me, I'd be instantly impressed.

[Bill Ryan]

Here in Taiwan I have an old phone like the one pictured.

What a cute phone! I love the design, looks nice and solid. If someone pulled one of those out around me, I'd be instantly impressed.

Be impressed! :) This really is my phone. I took the photo a couple of minutes ago.

http://projectavalon.net/Bill's_phone.jpg

[Mike]

Here in Taiwan I have an old phone like the one pictured.

What a cute phone! I love the design, looks nice and solid. If someone pulled one of those out around me, I'd be instantly impressed.

Be impressed! :) This really is my phone. I took the photo a couple of minutes ago.

http://projectavalon.net/Bill's_phone.jpg


Someone, somewhere, on some thread in some forum is now starting a thread titled "Bill Ryan is a time traveller from the year 2000"...and they're offering up this post as proof ;)

Nice thread Petra! I think we get used to what we have, and over time will tolerate nothing less. If you're used to travelling around the earth at the speed of light, travelling at the speed of sound will elicit grumbles from a moody, spoiled group of passengers. It wouldn't matter if you reminded them how it used to be way back in 2018, when we travelled in jet planes that took hours to arrive at our destinations.

Yep, this new tech is making us a spoiled bunch. Me included. Before I got this fancy sumsung phone, I was operating off a phone with an actual keyboard LOL, with actual buttons no less (gasp!). And when I arrived at Best Buy to get on this family plan with my sister, I practically begged them to find a way to get me the same phone(mine had crapped out). They thought I was nuts. They kept insisting I take the *free* s6 that came with the plan, and were utterly befuddled when I initially refused...

And I would have been perfectly content with that old phone, even now, had I not been introduced to this new one that I currently use. See now I've experienced something better, and it's poisoned my soul LOL. Now I will tolerate nothing less.

If we went back to basic phones, it might just lessen phone addiction, but only after a 10 year temper tantrum from a planet full of spoiled, grown adults whose souls have already been corrupted by years of technological entitlement. Meanwhile neck health would improve by leaps n bounds;)

[Leonard]

Hi petra, that is very true and it is a fantastic way to get rid of Smartphone addictions.
I heard from somewhere which might be true:
The Mayan calendar ends at 2012 doesn't depict doomsday is on 2012. It just means that humanity after 2012 will be very degraded and lost connection to mother nature and the universe. The Iphone was invented in 2007 and then its popularity rises, but many still prefer dumbphones because it is expensive. On 2009 Samsung seizes the opportunity by releasing more affordable smartphones. By 2012, many people have smartphones and Phone addiction is rising exponentially.
Many look at phones instead of mother nature. Accidents happen everywhere due to people focusing on the phones than what is going-on around them. Human's perception has been lowered dramatically. Worst of all, most of the people seek for entertainments on the phone than truly important information.

However, it is good that many are awaken now and trying to help others as well. We always have hopes~~


P.S. If your families or friends just got a new better and faster smartphone, don't congratulate them but warn them about deeper phone addiction. Who knows one day, you might save them from an accident.

[Isserley]

Be impressed! :) This really is my phone. I took the photo a couple of minutes ago.

http://projectavalon.net/Bill's_phone.jpg

How did you took this photo Bill? Maybe with that other smartphone you have? :bigsmile:

I use a smart phone but I do not feel the effect of addiction more than before when I used a stupid phone and spent hours on a laptop or similar computor.. the device is in this case irrelevant and the effect is the same.
The problem is the time spent staring at a screen of some sort..

[Valerie Villars]

I have never had a smartphone. I have what I call a drug phone. The kind you buy from the dollar store. You buy minutes as you need them. It doesn't work in the country and I never use it.

When the internet guy came out, he told me to text him with any issues I had. I told him I couldn't text and didn't have that kind of phone.

He looked stunned for a minute and said "I've never met anyone who didn't have a phone." I sh*t you not.

[Bill Ryan]

How did you took this photo Bill? Maybe with that other smartphone you have? :bigsmile:

I used an old-fashioned thing called a CAMERA. :)

[meeradas]

my cell is older than Bill's [phone] looks... ;-)

[Joe from the Carolinas]

The very simple and difficult answer to phone addiction is to gradually and systematically increase the distance between oneself and the phone :) If it isn't in easy reach, we can't reward the "pick up phone, look at phone, use it, put it down" response. That's a conditioned response that we can extinguish ourselves.

[Foxie Loxie]

I still have my old 90's flip phone! I'm smart enough....don't need a Smart Phone!! :bigsmile:

:ROFL::ROFL::ROFL:

[Smell the Roses]

I like the grayscale idea! I just did it to my phone. I have a fancy one for my work, but it does distract me at other times! I do find just turning it off and leaving it in the other room when I am not working is effective. By definition, just being here on Project Avalon means we are more electronically connected than some humans, although probably less connected than most in the First World. In the summer, I can leave the computer and phone behind because I have summers off from work. I am sure there must be a bunch of enlightened people who have totally unplugged, and we just don't hear from them here on Avalon. Although, I could be imagining this, as having traveled far and wide, I have found that there are fewer enlightened people than I dreamed of when I was a teenager.

One thing that surprises me is that some seniors have become addicted. My own mother couldn't care less about her flip phone and mostly uses it for emergency phone calls. However, my uncle who is even older than her (around 80), has a sound go off whenever he gets an email and actually stops what he is doing to check the email. It is quite a sight to behold!

[petra]

He looked stunned for a minute and said "I've never met anyone who didn't have a phone." I sh*t you not.

Now that's very impressive! You actually shocked the phone guy :) I laughed about "drug phone" too.... I saw an actual drug phone before, and it looked like it had been through some kind of war. Cracked screen, all full of dirt, pieces missing et cetera :]

That was kind of like my calculator in high school. I used a hand me down scientific calculator from my dad, and he was a machinist. It was the filthiest calculator ever, all full of greasy finger prints ha ha


I like the grayscale idea! I just did it to my phone. I have a fancy one for my work, but it does distract me at other times!

Me too! I wasn't going to bother since I am not having trouble with it, but it's so much prettier now in grayscale! I think this might be having the opposite effect as intended ha ha... I doubt the gray is going to make me want to use it more though. I just like my phone more, now that it's gray.


I think we get used to what we have, and over time will tolerate nothing less.

Quite right! Now that I have a car, I'm not ever going back to the bus if I can help it :)

I wonder sometimes... what if texting was invented first, before voice calls? Would we all be like "holy crap we can talk to each other now!" and abandon the texting? We'll never know, but I wonder anyway :)

[TargeT]

There's an excellent thread about this, here:


"Smartphones Have DESTROYED a Generation" Tucker Carlson Interviews Dr. Jean Twenge (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?99839-Smartphones-Have-DESTROYED-a-Generation-Tucker-Carlson-Interviews-Dr.-Jean-Twenge)



This is a very old concept that has come up over the years...

It was only around 100 years ago when the News Paper was accused of destroying social interactions in society.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/39/c8/46/39c8466563880f2f23b184cde9660187.jpg



I don't have a retro phone, I have one of these:
https://bab-assets3.babapi.ooo/img/othe/5501214/2f/a8/samsunggalaxys8plusblack.jpg.5a9c9a2fa8.999x600x550.jpg

I leave the ringer on silent (not a fan of carrying around an electronic leash, so this helps.. I only check it when it's convenient); have about 500 books loaded on it and some music for when I work in the yard. All media I've created stems from the camera and mic on my phone (every video I've put up on youtube was shot from my phone); it's a tool to me I don't think it's the tool that is the problem. Like with addiction, it's not the substance, it's the user; it's never the tool that is the issue, it's always us.

[petra]

Impossible level of Candy Crush has become more impossible now that I can't see the color of the bombs!

It's about time I stopped playing this :P Score a point for gray scale! PS: Screenshots are still color. I made this one gray manually

[Isserley]

it's never the tool that is the issue, it's always us.
Exactly what I was thinking but couldn't express it so well :blushing:

[petra]

it's never the tool that is the issue, it's always us.
Exactly what I was thinking but couldn't express it so well :blushing:

Of course - I mean, how could it be any other way?

From my phone's point of view... I am the one that's a tool ;-)

Isserley - your signature is great! I love it. What kind of idiot would play a rigged game? Not me, that's who :)

[Mike]

This is sort of relevant here -

I didn't have my first cell phone till i was 27 or 28. Right around then. No land line either. No email address. Nothing. Getting ahold of me was a challenge. You had to call around and hope the next person you reached was with me or might be with me soon or might be able to pass a msg along to someone who might.

My girlfriend at the time was several years younger than me and wouldn't tolerate any of this LOL. She was in college, and I think it actually embarrassed her when it was revealed to her friends that I had no cell phone. Very unhip!:bigsmile:

So she dragged me to the mall one day and actually bought me a cell phone and got me started! I had no idea what to do with the thing. It was like willfully carrying along a tumor with me wherever I went. A rude intrusion, especially since i can't stand having stuff in my pockets.

I played with the thing for a few moments, and sent her a text msg. There was no reply for maybe an hour, and I thought "well that was pretty rude." But I was willing to let it go. But the second time I texted her the same thing happened. So I called her with a slightly miffed attitude, asking what the hell was taking her so bloody long to respond. See, this is how out of the loop i was! LOL. I regarded texting as no different than talking, and actually took offense when there was a gap in communication. I was like a socially clumsy alien who had just arrived to earth and was slowly adjusting to it's customs. At the time I just couldn't conceive of the idea that texting was a convenient way to communicate on one's own time!:bigsmile:

[alexius]

An answer to the question in topic might not be about the phone itself but more closely connected to behavior. A drug addict might not free himself by choosing a less effective drug. Likewise for the alcoholic, less % of alcohol doesn't really take care of the problem.

The problem and solution lies within you. Not outside.

Hope this might have given you a hint on where to look.

[Smell the Roses]

Alexius makes an excellent point, as does the picture of the people reading newspapers (perhaps posted by Target). I believe the concern, as with all addictions, has to do with taking oneself out of the present moment, perhaps in avoidance of something one does not want to face. I used to spend many hours a day reading books, which is in itself not a bad thing, but I much preferred it to communication with living humans. I try not to shut myself off as much as I used to, but the cell phone certainly can be another way of doing this for people who have trouble facing the world.

[petra]

UPDATE: My phone is still gray, and it's only a little bit annoying! Candy Crush is GONE

I can no longer tell easily if my alarms are off or on, and so I need to resort to positioning kind of like how a color blind person would know if the traffic light is red or green. I see this as a bit of a handicap! I can see myself keeping the thing gray forever - but I guess we'll see. It'll take a lot at this point to get me to want to change it back :)


It was like willfully carrying along a tumor with me wherever I went.

I had to actually pause when I got to this part, too funny Mike!

I put my first phone onto a belt clip like a construction worker. It was a part of me. Like a tumor lol

[Joe from the Carolinas]

UPDATE: My phone is still gray, and it's only a little bit annoying! Candy Crush is GONE

I can no longer tell easily if my alarms are off or on, and so I need to resort to positioning kind of like how a color blind person would know if the traffic light is red or green. I see this as a bit of a handicap! I can see myself keeping the thing gray forever - but I guess we'll see. It'll take a lot at this point to get me to want to change it back :)


It was like willfully carrying along a tumor with me wherever I went.

I had to actually pause when I got to this part, too funny Mike!

I put my first phone onto a belt clip like a construction worker. It was a part of me. Like a tumor lol

Consumer reports and a bunch of other groups out there have warned about keeping cell phones close against the body, despite the lack of conclusive studies that cell phones may be harmful-- this was from 9/28/2015. Here's a snippet:


So Should I Stop Using My Cell Phone?

No, Consumer Reports does not think that’s necessary. But we do have some concerns.

“The evidence so far doesn’t prove that cell phones cause cancer, and we definitely need more and better research,” says Michael Hansen, Ph.D., a senior scientist at Consumer Reports. “But we feel that the research does raise enough questions that taking some common-sense precautions when using your cell phone can make sense.” Specifically, CR recommends these steps:

Try to keep the phone away from your head and body. That is particularly important when the cellular signal is weak—when your phone has only one bar, for example—because phones may increase their power then to compensate.
Text or video call when possible.
When speaking, use the speaker phone on your device or a hands-free headset.
Don’t stow your phone in your pants or shirt pocket. Instead, carry it in a bag or use a belt clip.


https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/smartphones/cell-phone-radiation

[petra]

Thanks Joe, I've wondered about that too. The phone doesn't make me feel funny, but microwaves do when they're on. I seem to be keeping my distance from microwaves out of instinct, because really it's just a bad feeling and I don't think it's superstition.

I found this bit particularly interesting, I bolded the part about DNA



The frequency of a cell phone’s RF waves falls between those emitted by FM radios and those from microwave ovens, all of which are considered “non-ionizing” forms of radiation. That means that—unlike radiation from a nuclear explosion, a CT scan, or a standard X-ray—the radiation from your phone does not carry enough energy to directly break or alter your DNA, which is one way that cancer can occur.

[TargeT]

Thanks Joe, I've wondered about that too. The phone doesn't make me feel funny, but microwaves do when they're on. I seem to be keeping my distance from microwaves out of instinct, because really it's just a bad feeling and I don't think it's superstition.

I found this bit particularly interesting, I bolded the part about DNA



The frequency of a cell phone’s RF waves falls between those emitted by FM radios and those from microwave ovens, all of which are considered “non-ionizing” forms of radiation. That means that—unlike radiation from a nuclear explosion, a CT scan, or a standard X-ray—the radiation from your phone does not carry enough energy to directly break or alter your DNA, which is one way that cancer can occur.


the way you bolded it is semi misleading; I fixed it ;)

Microwaves and Cell phones are HUGELY different in power output... that's like comparing a skateboard to a muscle car.

[petra]

the way you bolded it is semi misleading; I fixed it ;)

Microwaves and Cell phones are HUGELY different in power output... that's like comparing a skateboard to a muscle car.

It was too. Thanks! Although it says "does not" the part that ticks me off is the idea of "breaking and altering DNA"

[TargeT]

the way you bolded it is semi misleading; I fixed it ;)

Microwaves and Cell phones are HUGELY different in power output... that's like comparing a skateboard to a muscle car.

It was too. Thanks! Although it says "does not" the part that ticks me off is the idea of "breaking and altering DNA"

Well any ionizing radiation will damage DNA, this is just saying that it's not ionizing radiation; microwaves are 99% absorbed in the outer 1cm of your body plus the power output of even a home microwave is pretty small, though it could certainly cause burns if you were directly exposed for a period of time.
https://www.mirion.com/files/images/Topic-Center/ionizingVSnon-ionizing.jpg

[bluestflame]

whole popularity of mobile phone tech is what it enables , it mimics NATURAL divine abilities , more we use it, less likely we are able to develop those natural abilities , they're just trying to hijack and divert it

we can do all this and more without the need for tech , tech has been used against us , one example is synthetic telepathy which is compensated by the ability to up the volume and use brute force

[Merlinus]

I recommend downgrading to the old, basic mobile phones, the ones without internet/apps.

I haven't done this myself, I plan to in the future.

[Bill Ryan]

An anecdote that may raise a smile.

A full 10 (ten) years ago, I went to a large phone store in the UK to buy a BIG cellphone, with BIG buttons, with NO OTHER FEATURES, just a phone — for my elderly mother, in case she needed to reach me in an emergency.

The assistant there looked at me kindly, and assuming I was some kind of Luddite simpleton, explained slowly, carefully and patiently that nothing like that existed.

:)

[integralpart]

Well just delete all game apps, chat apps, social media apps on your phone then it will be nothing better than a basic Nokia of the 90s. I did that myself, so even I have a good phone, I don't use it much.

[petra]

An anecdote that may raise a smile.

A full 10 (ten) years ago, I went to a large phone store in the UK to buy a BIG cellphone, with BIG buttons, with NO OTHER FEATURES, just a phone — for my elderly mother, in case she needed to reach me in an emergency.

The assistant there looked at me kindly, and assuming I was some kind of Luddite simpleton, explained slowly, carefully and patiently that nothing like that existed.

:)

Doesn't exist... ha ha ha. Don't you just hate when that thing you want just doesn't exist? :)

I have a similar story of trying to get my mom a radio. She wanted just a simple radio with no other stuff on it, and since Future Shop has a lot of stuff, we went there. They told us something like "No Madame, we don't carry anything like that. Sounds like you are looking for Past Shop"

Might as well update regarding my own phone too. It is still grayscale, and the only fun thing I do on there is watch music videos. You'd think that'd annoy me at least a little bit by having to watch videos in black and white, but it doesn't.

[petra]

I recommend downgrading to the old, basic mobile phones, the ones without internet/apps.

I haven't done this myself, I plan to in the future.

I don't think you can get a phone without internet anymore can you? That sounds NICE.... and secure.

I'm deteriorating my phone battery by doing things on the phone which I could do elsewhere, too.