Quote:
Originally Posted by RJVB
I haven't yet reflected on that, but of course there is. There's nothing "smart" about these phones. Originally they were intended to help their owners do things in a smarter (as in, more efficient) way: a personal assistant (remember those?) with built-in phone. Very often I wonder if that's still the case.
A longtime friend of mine has always referred to his mobieltje (mobile phone) as his debieltje (from the Dutch term for a mentally debilitated person if that's not clear). That was from long before we had actual "smartphones", but I think the term has only become more appropriate.
Technophobia, the unwillingness to keep adapting to yet new technological progress is orthogonal to all that, but something we'll all have to deal with at some point. I notice it in myself (a bit to my dismay, a bit without surprise). I'm not at all happy about gmail's increasing security hubbub which means they now require 2-factor auth in order to be able to continue to use "legacy" IMAP clients via app-specific passwords (which aren't app-specific at all). (I'm hoping that at least puts an end to the silly [sic!] email warning telling me they blocked my access because it was from an as-yet unknown location ... which of course I wouldn't be able to see >:-( )
And don't get me started on getting around all these new-fangled measures for / in name of my demented mother who is (sadly, apparently) still alive but incapable to do these things herself. Fortunately the consensus in France and (a little less) the Netherlands is still that having a smartphone is not an obligation.
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The smartphone is not an obligation in the US but the security matters you bring up aren't much or any different than the sagacity with stuff like public health or roads having rules.
The poor habits or abuse elements make me think of other stuff. Some don't or can't manage eating, alcohol or sex as should be. We don't outlaw those for those who can.
InfoSec and the phones are kind of separate matters but both are good revolutions overall. Long after seeing the potential in the beginning, I had attitude altering experiences seeing how the technology aids the working poor near me and troubled places far away that I've visited or where I have family and friends.