[frankbreetz]

>We don't have to.

I don't understand this. Should I carry around a backpack with a music player, several book, video camera, and planner?

Would that be a better situation, then periodically looking at my phone?

[ryandrake]

> Would that be a better situation, then periodically looking at my phone?

Inconvenience aside, I think it would at least result in fewer of these distraction scenarios happening, since there are existing taboos against picking up a book, newspaper, music player, or camera mid-conversation and ignoring people to do these things, but somehow there is still no equivalent taboo about phone use.

[jjulius]

You're free to do what you want - if you want to do all of that in your phone, go for it! There's no judgement from me. I was just pointing out that we don't have to be doing that.

For me (and this is just me), I actually like taking the time to write out and plan meals on a notepad that I schlep (though it doesn't really feel like schlepping to me) to the grocery store. I hold/read a thick, 500-page Pynchon novel at lunch every day. I have an older Canon DSLR that I take backpacking with me, and keep a smaller point-and-shoot in my pocket if I'm closer to home but feel like I'll want to take photos. I use my phone for streaming, but there's still a small stack of CDs that I keep in my car and rotate out because I collect those (to say nothing of the hundreds and hundreds of vinyl records that my CDs sit next to at home).

I like those tangible things because the experience is focused on that task at hand. I like touching those things, manipulating them. I like tools that are designed to do "one" thing and do it well. I don't like staring at a small screen, and I find it much easier to devote adequate attention to things if I don't have my phone around. I can focus on thinking about the photo I'm taking, the music I'm listening to, or the recipe I'm trying to come up with without a ton of notifications about random bullshit that doesn't matter in that moment popping into my face. Hell, I like the smell of a book and the way that it's just me and the story when I read from one.

None of that feels inconvenient to me and, honestly (and respectfully I should add), I struggle with the idea that it boggles peoples minds that such things seem so terribly cumbersome that they "don't understand" doing it that way when the reality is that's how things have always been done, and smartphones have only allowed us to do things differently for ~20-ish years. Regarding the backpack comment, that's really not that much weight in a pack, and if you're already carrying a bag with a laptop for work then no big deal IMO. But when you think about it, do you really need to bring "several" books, a video camera, a music player and a planner with you everywhere you go? Why not just leave the house with only what you need to do whatever it is you're setting out to do?

But that's just me. The "better situation" will always be what works for you, though I certainly think there's truth to what another user[0] said as well.

[0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39780496