Could you live without your phone and the internet?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
Yup, in every waiting room there's a bunch of people hunched over their phones. And what about @ 3:57 AM, if you wanted to know the date Napolean died? (May 5,1821) Yeah, we could go back to living in caves, but are you going to give up AC, central heating, etc. In the same way, we could go back to horses instead of cars, but would you? Could you live without your phone and the internet? Are they now necessities for daily life? Like cars?
 

My wife and I were married in 1968, it was almost thirty years before we got our first television, such was our lives back then. Always out working, dancing or simply socialising. Growing up in the baby boomer generation, most of our families had neither car nor phone, it was how it was.
I do take your point though, once a new product becomes mainstream it goes from luxury to essential. Have you noticed that all the inventions that start out making life better always attract those who use the invention for nefarious purposes.
 
Yes. I could live. It wouldn't restrict my breathing. But it would be much less pleasant. I've lived without internet but with a car. A car is more important to me but someone else may feel differently. I do enjoy having knowledge at my fingertips. I also enjoy the ability to drive to work and recreation and anywhere. :unsure:
 

I could now that I am no longer on the board of a fairly large corporation. There was no way I could have functioned without them prior to January 1. Thatā€™s when my term ended and I did not run to stay on the board. I was actually glad and had something to celebrate on January 1. If you have ever been on a board, you probably know what I mean.
 
Not anymore. Many things require internet access these days and I feel for those who don't have access. I keep in touch with and exchange information with relatives and friends via emails and my Messaging app. I renewed my license via internet (for ID purposes). I do 99.9% of my financial transactions online, which is a convenient time saver. Also, I use my phone to order Uber and Lyft rides, since I can no longer drive and no longer bother with buses, accept to Atlantic City and even then need ride service to the bus if my son is working.

My phone and/or tablet are also my calculator, scheduler, clock, messaging and gaming device, news outlet, music player, camera, magnifier and sometimes even my "T.V." and T.V. guide (when I'm on vacation). My phone is also used for two factor identification purposes. My family and I use Cash App to send each other money quickly and securely. I have it on my phone. And of course, how could we connect with each other here (and other social media) without internet access?
 
Without doubt I could live without my phone... I'm not someone glued to the phone all day..crossing roads, in restaurants, at the pub, in the library..nope that's not me...

the internet is an entirely different ball game...

I had no internet fo 24 hours last week... jeez... I kept thinking of things I wanted to know, and there was nothing to ask..no google no Alexa... no phone actually....

However as everyone here has at some point...I have lived without the internet until I was 40.... and so if it came to it, I'd have to get used to being without it again

I think the people who would be hardest hit are those like me who live alone.

The interent has save billions in anti depressants for those who live alone.. and suffer from loneliness...
 
There is the phone and then the phone.

If you refer to making voice calls, maybe even texting, well that's one thing. But how many have a "phone" these days that doesn't make use of Internet connectivity much more often?

A lot of people have "a land line" without realizing they have nothing of the sort, but instead have home phones plugged into a VoIP gateway that is operating over the Internet. Most of the old copper subscriber line PSTN is going dark nearly everywhere outside the third world. You can't even get DSL here any more.
 
I could live without them (as you need food, water and air to live), but life would not be nearly as enjoyable.
I would not want to go back to pre-internet things... check, stamps, paying bills by mail, mailing photos to people, wandering around stores looking for a particular thing, etc. The internet makes things easier so that I have more time for fun!
 
Yup. I do it all the time.

That's not to say I would want to give them up completely. They're very convenient when I need them. I just don't really need them a lot.

However... I don't know how I would react to not being able to play fantasy football and baseball.
 
chic said:
Yes. I could live. It wouldn't restrict my breathing. But it would be much less pleasant. I've lived without internet but with a car. A car is more important to me but someone else may feel differently. I do enjoy having knowledge at my fingertips. I also enjoy the ability to drive to work and recreation and anywhere. :unsure:
Click to expand...
I dumped my car a years ago. As I'm getting older I am considering getting another one.
 
I could perhaps live without the internet, but definitely not my phone. I don't have a land line, so without my phone I would have no way of reaching anyone if I needed help. So, no.

Update: I could not live without the internet because it is crucial for my job.
 
I could do without a phone but the Internet is must for me now. I love researching things and finding news not available on traditional outlets.
 

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