Living without a smartphone

[explanade]

No smartphone here but we do have an iPad. We travel with our iPad and use it like a smartphone ( the Verizon wireless service for the iPad is only $20 per month). We like the maps, apps, watching videos, reading books, etc on our iPad so much better than a smartphone. We can use the iPad for Uber, etc. We can also text from the iPad, so much easier for our old eyes to type on the iPad.

If you need to use Uber and don't have a smartphone or an iPad you can call GOGOGrandparents and they will arrange Uber for you for a small fee.

Which app. do you use to text? iMessage? WhatsApp?

How do you call people using your IPad?

My guess is some kind of VOIP app. For instance you could install Skype and buy Skype Out credit to make calls to phones.

Also the iPads with cellular connections do get assigned a number with the SIM. But there is no regular Phone app. like there is in the iPhone. So you'd have to use VOIP app. which uses the data from the cellular network rather than the voice part of the cell network.

In many cases, VOIP can be better sound-quality wise.

 

[O2Bfree]

Flip-phone user here. Not having a smartphone is a mild inconvenience sometimes, but having one creates a certain amount of inconvenience as well, such as the annoyance/temptation of constant interruptions, concerns about breakage and loss, and the "need" for upgrades, not to mention the monthly cost. My phone cost $20 and my phone bill is around $140 per year.

 

[ivinsfan]

My brother is hanging on tightly to his flip phone. My whole family communicates via texting now. We don't even bother sending them to him.

You might think he wants it that way, but he and his wife have whined about not being in the loop with what is going on regarding family matters. I don't feel like it is my job to relay information to the dinosaur guy. If I happen to talk to him, I will fill him in
..
I had a flip phone out here in rural country with poor cell coverage for 2 decades..You don't even bother communicating with your brother because he doesn't text, IOW he should get a smart phone he doesn't want so his family will talk to him.. And he "whines" when he doesn't get family info...you don't have 2 minutes to call him or email him. This is what smart phones bring into modern life...

You're not alone in your attitude which doesn't make it OK. I threw in the towel and coughed up for a cell phone when I realized my only brother has the same attitude you do. Still have lots of dropped calls but at least I don't get excluded because I'm a dino..

 

[harllee]

How do you call people using your IPad?

We don't call people using our iPad, we use a cheap dumb phone for voice calls. We use a Verizon app for texting called Message Plus.

 

[explanade]

Can you even group text or message without a smart phone?

Some people get or keep iPhones because their friends and families are on iMessage or FaceTime, which are only on iPhones.

You can use third-party apps. like WhatsApp if everyone else installs it on their phones and register it. iMessage and FaceTime are built-in so people gravitate to those, though they have to create iCloud account and log in.

 

[harllee]

You can group text from an iPad with Verizon's Message Plus. The app is free but your iPad has to be on Verizon (our monthly Verizon fee is $20 for our iPad). We find texting from our iPad is much easier than texting from any phone. With Message Plus you can text while on Verizon cellular or from Wifi. Texts we send or receive from our iPad with Message Plus also shows up on our dumb phones. The other phone you are texting with does not have to have the Message Plus app, you can text to any other phone or receive a text from any other phone.

 

[dadu007]

You realize that social isolation is a risk of aging, right? This “get off my lawn” “don’t want one don’t need one” attitude smacks of fear of change. Join the 21st century for pete’s sake. Did you know there are apps that control hearing aids now? Did you know there are Bluetooth enabled hearing aids that you can stream audio to from your phone? Music, podcasts, and a video? There are golf reservation apps, golf GPS apps, and you can photos, too. Live a little. I use my phone’s camera, but I also have a nice digital SLR and a nice collection of real working film cameras. Enjoy the old and embrace the new!!! It’s not evil, it’s a tool to connect with people.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

I send and receive group texts all the time with my pantech breeze flip. usually cute photos of my critters or of local weather events on the outgo, and the same of others critters or their artwork on the incoming.

 

[scrabbler1]

You realize that social isolation is a risk of aging, right? This “get off my lawn” “don’t want one don’t need one” attitude smacks of fear of change. Join the 21st century for pete’s sake. Did you know there are apps that control hearing aids now? Did you know there are Bluetooth enabled hearing aids that you can stream audio to from your phone? Music, podcasts, and a video? There are golf reservation apps, golf GPS apps, and you can photos, too. Live a little. I use my phone’s camera, but I also have a nice digital SLR and a nice collection of real working film cameras. Enjoy the old and embrace the new!!! It’s not evil, it’s a tool to connect with people.

For those of us like me who don't have smartphones and have no desire to get them, it's a cost-benefit decision where the cost of getting one exceeds the benefit of having one. I see people boasting about the benefits of having one (such as all the things you listed), and I simply sigh to myself and say, "None of those things benefit me, so I won't get one." Whether or not we can afford one is moot. There are many, many things I can afford but find no use for, so I don't buy them.

 

[harllee]

You realize that social isolation is a risk of aging, right? This “get off my lawn” “don’t want one don’t need one” attitude smacks of fear of change. Join the 21st century for pete’s sake. Did you know there are apps that control hearing aids now? Did you know there are Bluetooth enabled hearing aids that you can stream audio to from your phone? Music, podcasts, and a video? There are golf reservation apps, golf GPS apps, and you can photos, too. Live a little. I use my phone’s camera, but I also have a nice digital SLR and a nice collection of real working film cameras. Enjoy the old and embrace the new!!! It’s not evil, it’s a tool to connect with people.

Wow, I think that is pretty harsh. For some of us it is a matter of budget. I retired 17 years ago at age 50, have traveled the world and now have a summer mountain home and a city winter home. I was able to do all this because I have a pretty tight budget and watch how I spend my money. My husband and I now pay $50 for 2 dumb phones with unlimited calls and texts. We also have an iPad and a MacBook. That does everything we need. I think I am in the 21st century. I communicate with family and friends every day (I actually talk to people on my phone) and have a very active social life. Most of my friends do not have smart phones. I believe I live life to the fullest without an expensive smartphone in my face all the time.

 

[Music Lover]

I believe I live life to the fullest without an expensive smartphone in my face all the time.

I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of people on this site with smart phones who don't have them in their face all the time. Many of them also have inexpensive smart phones.

As one person pointed out...it's a mini computer with phone capabilities. For many, it's a handy convenience, not a tether.

 

[harllee]

My "life to the fullest" was a response to dadu007 who said for those of us without smartphones to get a smartphone and "live a little". i found his comments to be offensive implying that because I do not chose to buy a smartphone I am not living a full life.

I know there are many smartphone users who do not let the smartphone control their lives but I also see many people with smartphones in their face. I have 2 friends that we were close to who got smartphones and now it is like we don't even know them--they constantly use their smartphones when we are trying to converse with them, even at dinner. We do not socialize with them much any more.

 

[scrabbler1]

My "life to the fullest" was a response to dadu007 who said for those of us without smartphones to get a smartphone and "live a little". i found his comments to be offensive implying that because I do not chose to buy a smartphone I am not living a full life.

I know there are many smartphone users who do not let the smartphone control their lives but I also see many people with smartphones in their face. I have 2 friends that we were close to who got smartphones and now it is like we don't even know them--they constantly use their smartphones when we are trying to converse with them, even at dinner. We do not socialize with them much any more.

+1, thanks

 

[O2Bfree]

You realize that social isolation is a risk of aging, right? This “get off my lawn” “don’t want one don’t need one” attitude smacks of fear of change. Join the 21st century for pete’s sake. Did you know there are apps that control hearing aids now? Did you know there are Bluetooth enabled hearing aids that you can stream audio to from your phone? Music, podcasts, and a video? There are golf reservation apps, golf GPS apps, and you can photos, too. Live a little. I use my phone’s camera, but I also have a nice digital SLR and a nice collection of real working film cameras. Enjoy the old and embrace the new!!! It’s not evil, it’s a tool to connect with people.

Meh, I work in the tech sector, but am not really impressed by all the "amazing" things that technology can do. What could ever be more impressive than, say, these bodies of ours, which self-assemble based on instructions from a few chemical components? Of course technology is useful for helping us understand our world better, but I think its cool factor is far outweighed by the processes of life itself.

As far as being a tool for connecting with people, it does seem to have just as much the opposite effect of narrowing peoples' interests and interactions to just what they consider to be important to them, rather than engaging them with the surrounding situation. It can really bloat the ego in an unhealthy way.

 

[ivinsfan]

Meh, I work in the tech sector, but am not really impressed by all the "amazing" things that technology can do. What could ever be more impressive than, say, these bodies of ours, which self-assemble based on instructions from a few chemical components? Of course technology is useful for helping us understand our world better, but I think its cool factor is far outweighed by the processes of life itself.

As far as being a tool for connecting with people, it does seem to have just as much the opposite effect of narrowing peoples' interests and interactions to just what they consider to be important to them, rather than engaging them with the surrounding situation. It can really bloat the ego in an unhealthy way.

Amen, is there a healthy way to bloat the ego.. when someone says they don't bother communicating with a sibling because they don't text,it's just mind blowing to me.

 

[bmcgonig]

Amen, is there a healthy way to bloat the ego.. when someone says they don't bother communicating with a sibling because they don't text,it's just mind blowing to me.

If my sibling refuses to get an iPad or smartphone or whatever to join in the WhatsApp or iMessage group that discusses all the family stuff, and it's not cos he can't afford it, then by all means screw him. That's his choice. I totally agree with whoever said that. If the whole family is doing it and you wanna be stubborn, then go right ahead and be stubborn. You won't get any sympathy from me.

Is not because they don't text... It's because they refuse to text.

 

[aja8888]

Ways to text are numerous.

I can text from my desktop, my Chromebook and my Google Nexus 5X. From the Nexus, I generally use "voice to text" and skip the small keypad. DW texts from her IPad and IPhone.

Our children and grandchildren all text us and it's no big deal. BTW, we also get calls from them from time to time.

It's all good.

 

[ivinsfan]

If my sibling refuses to get an iPad or smartphone or whatever to join in the WhatsApp or iMessage group that discusses all the family stuff, and it's not cos he can't afford it, then by all means screw him. That's his choice. I totally agree with whoever said that. If the whole family is doing it and you wanna be stubborn, then go right ahead and be stubborn. You won't get any sympathy from me.

Is not because they don't text... It's because they refuse to text.

Wow, that's the hill you want to die on with your siblings. Texting is not the only way in the world to communicate. Oh, the burden of having to call or email a non texting sib.

 

[bmcgonig]

Wow, that's the hill you want to die on with your siblings. Texting is not the only way in the world to communicate. Oh, the burden of having to call or email a non texting sib.

No its not. But it's the one my family and many families choose. And we like it!

Maybe you're missing the point. Our family has a WhatsApp group where we chat on and if during the day, every day. Mostly about mundane stuff, but sometimes not. There's no way you're going to get 6 people on a conference call at any time. And I guarantee there's way more communication in this family after the WhatsApp group was formed than before.

 

[jim584672]

I see a resistance to tech from the 60 yo set I know. No matter how it will help them they won't have it.

 

[bmcgonig]

I see a resistance to tech from the 60 yo set I know. No matter how it will help them they won't have it.

My 95 year old aunt, a retired nun, texts all the time. She's amazing. She kept up with all the tech as best she could and gets great fun out of it.

 

[aja8888]

I see a resistance to tech from the 60 yo set I know. No matter how it will help them they won't have it.

My ROMEO group, mostly men 65 to 82 years old, ALL have smart phones and use them for texting, calls, uploading photos, etc. Some had flip phones but dumped them during the last couple of years. Most of us meet daily (early mornings - weekdays).

 

[O2Bfree]

My 95 year old aunt, a retired nun, texts all the time. She's amazing. She kept up with all the tech as best she could and gets great fun out of it.

One of my mom's friends, who's 97, loves using her tablet to stay in touch with her family. My mom rails on her, "She spends hours on that d@mned thing every day!" Well, her friend is confined to a wheelchair, what else does she have to do?

Mom herself refuses to learn how to use a computer, but I'm not going to go techno-Nazi on her about it. I don't mind managing her few online accounts, sharing the granddaughter's online communications, and Googling stuff for her now and then.

 

[explanade]

I see a resistance to tech from the 60 yo set I know. No matter how it will help them they won't have it.

Strange, because personal computers have been around more than 30 years.

Of course they became more prevalent and took off with the web but that was mid 90s.

So anyone who's 65 now would have been around 45 then.

 

[Music Lover]

My 95 year old aunt, a retired nun, texts all the time. She's amazing. She kept up with all the tech as best she could and gets great fun out of it.

I meet my parents and their friends for dinner on occasion...virtually all of them have smart phones and they use them to share pics, text, for navigation, etc. They can't get their grandkids to talk on the phone, but they can text and trade pics with them.