[Laner]

(08-24-2017 12:46 AM)El_Gostro Wrote:  

I'm just really hoping my kids will like running around the forest and doing fun physical kid activities and interact with one another and other kids.
That much we can do as parents I hope?
Afterwards as they grow and their personality develops it will progressively be a matter of their choice I suppose...

This is true but only to an extent of how you are as a parent.

Many of the best adjusted kids I know are raised by smart but careless parents. By that I mean that they do not tire themselves out by micromanaging their kids lives and choose only the most important battles.

Kids will run all day in the forest if we let them, but not many parents can afford the time to do that. Most kids run around where they can, and make it as much fun as they can. If its in a forest they get to appreciate nature, but really most kids don't give a shit.

Phones and tablets for kids are parents fooling themselves into thinking they are letting their kids educate themselves, but in reality they are just neglecting their duty as parents.

[Kona]

(08-23-2017 10:54 PM)Veloce Wrote:  

(08-23-2017 10:19 PM)Tytalus Wrote:  

My kids will get dinosaur age flip phones that do calls only; and I don't fucking care how much they piss and moan. They're not getting a ipad, or iphone until they work a job on their own that pays for it.

I've long felt this way about videogames.

My kids will not get a Playstation 7 or whatever shit is out by the time I have kids unless they can sit down with an old school NES and beat Mario Bros, Mega Man II, Ghouls n Ghosts, Double Dragon, etc...

I'm not following your logic here. They have to get good at the classics first?

What if someone tells them up up down down left right left right b a b a select start?

Related, I watched a niece do math homework on an iPad tonight. What a joke.

Aloha!

[Ski pro]

I'm currently running a ski camp.

I walked into the living room yesterday and 3 coaches and 1 chef were all sitting in the room together but not talking, just mindlessly staring into phones.

The kids are just as bad, these things are like crack to them.

We are raising a generation of zombies who have no idea how to be social and interact with other humans.

If it wasn't so useful for business, I would ditch social media and go back to my original Nokia.

(He says, writing this in his iPad on his own in a room with his phone next to him.)

[Remington]

I think my smartphone has ruined some aspects of my life. I used to be able to take a poop, wipe, flush, and out the door in a few minutes (depending on the leftovers in my ass crack). Now, I'm usually on the toilet for at least 10 minutes checking social media, Tinder, the Chive, etc.

My poop time has dramatically increased. Therefore, I am not utilizing my time in an efficient manner.

Granted, this is the only time where I check those things on my phone. But still, I need to slowly wean myself off my smartphone while taking a grumper.


It does depress me that parents nowadays hand their kids their phones/iPads to dick around with when they are waiting for something or on a trip. If I wanted to keep myself entertained, it meant books and if I was good, my Game Boy.

[Fightersword]

I think in general smartphones are having some bad effects on my generation in particular. It just seems like no one knows how to ask people to hang out or do things anymore: Whether that be for dates or just hanging out with friends. At first I thought I just hadn't made many good friends; if I continued to spread out more and more, I'd find some guys to hang out with. That did happen with some of the guys, and now I feel like I've actually god stuff to do out of the house that isn't a college club or dating, but I also found a ton of other people with the same problem. People simply preferred to post on social media and do nothing all day to actual hangouts and stuff.

I'm really curious how this is going to transfer to the workplace when the younger ones in my generation-the ones really raised on this stuff-get to the interviewing phase and beyond. I just don't think people know how to talk face to face anymore, so I see a disaster for a lot of them. I guess I can't complain though: that does mean more opportunities mo easily for me.

[AnonymousBosch]

My girlfriend and I were coming down the hill about ten minutes from last light yesterday evening passed an unaccompanied nine-year-old boy and his dog heading up the hill, taking photos with a physical camera, rather than a phone.

Yeah, I know... and then all the kangaroos clapped.

[Cr33pin]

I'm visiting my sister for a bit and crashing at her place. My eight year old nephew literally rolls over in the morning an gets on his ipad and is on it until he goes to sleep. He just started back school and when he gets home he runs in an grabs the ipad first thing... the other day me and my brother in law wanted to go to the beach and it was a fight to get my nephew to go, he wanted to sit at home and stare at his ipad and didn't want any part of the beach on a sunny day. He gets it honest, my sister comes home from work an sits on the couch and has her smart phone glued to her face until she gets up and goes to bed. It's fucking sickening to me, they are my family and I love them an its not my place to change their ways.... but I know one thing for sure, my kid will not have a ianything or smart phone until they are out of my house at 18+

I'm dead serious when I say within the next 10 years I plan to be living somewhere permanently and starting a family where there is zero or little internet....

[The Beast1]

(08-23-2017 11:46 PM)king bast Wrote:  

I too used to have all these big ideas about what my kids would and wouldnt be doing.

Then I had kids.

Be a better parent.

Parents told me I couldn't have a girlfriend until I was 16. They subsequently refused to drive me over to any girlfriends' houses. I stopped dating until I got my license.

I wasn't allowed a laptop or computer in my room. First computer I had was with my own money saved up from a part time job.

I wanted to play Gameboy during church. Parents said no. So I sat there and used my imagination to occupy myself. I was then told that if I made any noise or movement that brought attention to me, the punishment was severe. I respected their threats.

Nowadays, we have 13 year olds having sex, 10 year olds with cell phones, and at my church there are fcking kids who doodle on the pews and make all sorts of noise during the service. There's a distinct lack of stern parenting these days.

If my parents could do it in the 90s and early 00s, so can everyone else. Set realistic expectations for yourself and your kids. Really, it's not that hard.

[HermeticAlly]

I've noticed more and more people with their necks/spine seemingly permanently messed up from walking around staring at a phone all the time; they look practically like hunchbacks.

This stuff is not good for us, guys.

[Kona]

Keep the widening gap between rich and poor in mind. And, think about how much an iPhone costs.

Imagine you got a family of four and you drive a truck full of gravel for 36k a year. You got phone bills and the phones themselves for you, your kids, and your whore wife. Talk all you want about cell phone plans, but I've been in business a while, and yeah we got I phones. I have yet to see a bill less than 100 a month.

So imagine you make 36k a year, you got $300 a month in service bills, you gotta replace screens or the whole phone itself once a year each, so another 300. And that's low. People easily spend 4k a year on phones. In fact, I just looked at mine for work and I stopped because I almost want to vomit.

No wonder everyone is broke? Steve Jobs and faggot Tim Cook really did a number on America.

Aloha!

[king bast]

(08-24-2017 05:10 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

(08-23-2017 11:46 PM)king bast Wrote:  

I too used to have all these big ideas about what my kids would and wouldnt be doing.

Then I had kids.

Be a better parent.

Parents told me I couldn't have a girlfriend until I was 16. They subsequently refused to drive me over to any girlfriends' houses. I stopped dating until I got my license.

I wasn't allowed a laptop or computer in my room. First computer I had was with my own money saved up from a part time job.

I wanted to play Gameboy during church. Parents said no. So I sat there and used my imagination to occupy myself. I was then told that if I made any noise or movement that brought attention to me, the punishment was severe. I respected their threats.

Nowadays, we have 13 year olds having sex, 10 year olds with cell phones, and at my church there are fcking kids who doodle on the pews and make all sorts of noise during the service. There's a distinct lack of stern parenting these days.

If my parents could do it in the 90s and early 00s, so can everyone else. Set realistic expectations for yourself and your kids. Really, it's not that hard.

Geez, you extrapolated a fuck of a lot from that post. They're not my kids having sex and taking gameboys to church.

I'm sure I probably spoke with equal certainty about how easy it was, and that I had the one true formula to parent correctly back then too. Funnily enough, few availed themselves of the advice dished out by people who'd never done what they spoke of.

Life has a way of not following the script you laid out, even more so when it's not even your own life you're talking about. You'll see one day.

[Putin Closes]

That's some TERRIBLE data plotting, almost borderline unethical journalism, but its the atlantic so they need to clickbait.

Normalize this to a 100 scale and its bad, not end of the world bad.

[The Beast1]

(08-24-2017 05:51 PM)king bast Wrote:  

Geez, you extrapolated a fuck of a lot from that post. They're not my kids having sex and taking gameboys to church.

I'm sure I probably spoke with equal certainty about how easy it was, and that I had the one true formula to parent correctly back then too. Funnily enough, few availed themselves of the advice dished out by people who'd never done what they spoke of.

Life has a way of not following the script you laid out, even more so when it's not even your own life you're talking about. You'll see one day.

Don't take it personally, the extrapolation was my own mini rant on the epidemic of feral kids I see everyday.

I spent the better part of my preteen and teen years caring for and helping raise a child from newborn to six. I changed diapers, fixed up wailing emergencies (small scratches ), ran and chased, taught some manners, and kept bed time.

It isn't that hard to take care of, teach kids how to behave in specific instances, and all while still letting them be children (not little adults).

One of the few benefits of big families.

[Conquerer7]

I didn't have a particular problem with my iPhone but I have deleted so many apps and don't use the internet on it now. It makes me sad when family members and friends (friends rarely though) are constantly sitting on their phone and get annoyed at why I haven't picked up the phone to their call/text when I turn my phone over for say just 3 hours to do work or go for a walk. I tell them but they still say the same thing every time and act as if it's a crime to not instantly answer calls/text. I still have 3 icons on my iPhone homepage but even that is too many. I only like listening to music on my phone but lowering that now and I might even get an mp3. Instead of Uber/mytaxi/taxify, i call a taxi. Instead of calender, i use a diary. Instead of maps in an unfamiliar place I ask for directions and guess what? They whip out their phone to check for me even though they are local. Got a £10 pay as you go brick phone for calls/texts when i'm out in my area and i am going to get a <£50 android for when I am travel.

It makes me sad when I see teenage boys and girls glued to their phones. For example, yesterday i watched two reasonably pretty girls on cracked screen iPhones constantly having it in their hand, not talking, texting ferociously with the odd intermittent selfie. Guys not talking but sitting in a group on their phones when my friends and I at 14-17 would play football (soccer) all summer long and chill in the garden or parties together with girls with the latest sony ericssons not being that interesting in all honesty. Even though smartphones have their pros if you use them it is sad to see the degeneracy they have brought over the last 5 years, especially in young people.

[Super_Fire]

(08-24-2017 05:39 PM)Kona Wrote:  

I have yet to see a bill less than 100 a month.

This sort of extortionate phone billing is one thing I don't miss about the US. I pay about $30 a month for unlimited 3G (and I could get 4G but I haven't even bothered) and more minutes or texts than I need. In the US I was paying about $85 a month for enough 3G to watch an episode of Ninja Warrior.

Maybe it's because the cell tower network in the US has to be much larger, and thus more costly, but I can't help but feel that it's simply price gouging.

[CynicalContrarian]

[loremipsum]

The next generation of men will be autists who can't talk properly because all their social skills went into diddling their smartphones.

Already people are less and less social in the company of each other.

Just wait how bad it gets when household affordable VR kicks in. I don't know about you but I'd rather stay alone in reality than sell my soul to ZuckerBerg.

[CynicalContrarian]

(08-26-2017 05:57 AM)loremipsum Wrote:  

The next generation of men will be autists who can't talk properly because all their social skills went into diddling their smartphones.
Already people are less and less social in the company of each other.
Just wait how bad it gets when household affordable VR kicks in. I don't know about you but I'd rather stay alone in reality than sell my soul to ZuckerBerg.

Would be fascinating to see an "I Am Legend" type scenario.
Yet not one based on disaster nor disease.
Rather, devolution due to mass VR.

[Suits]

Human brains love stimulation. We'll generally engage in the activities that stimulate us that most.

The problem is that smartphones offer a level of stimulation that few things can compare with, except perhaps a live, high-energy music show. Computers are bad too, but it's harder to take those with you and use them wherever you are.

Without having some rules to keep oneself from being constantly absorbed by a smart phone and being disciplined about it, it's easy to just constantly be busy with your device.

Personally, I don't carry a smart phone, but a Nokia brick instead, because I don't want to be bitten by the zombie apocalypse.

[CynicalContrarian]

Problem is, in places such as Australia, they've all but cut the entire 2G network.
As such, if one requires a mobile phone for work etc., your primary choice is a smart phone.

The fuckers are sneaky like that...

[redpillage]

(08-24-2017 08:30 PM)Super_Fire Wrote:  

(08-24-2017 05:39 PM)Kona Wrote:  

I have yet to see a bill less than 100 a month.

This sort of extortionate phone billing is one thing I don't miss about the US. I pay about $30 a month for unlimited 3G (and I could get 4G but I haven't even bothered) and more minutes or texts than I need. In the US I was paying about $85 a month for enough 3G to watch an episode of Ninja Warrior.

Maybe it's because the cell tower network in the US has to be much larger, and thus more costly, but I can't help but feel that it's simply price gouging.

Here in Spain I pay €14 per month for 4G (2GB max) and phone service plus SMS (limited but I barely use it). It's perfect for me as I mostly use my phone for whatsapp or music at the gym, and they have free WiFi. Every three months or so I go and buy €50 worth of credit and forget about it for the rest of the quarter.

That said my iPhone is just a glorified music device for me. I only use it as a phone when necessary (five calls per month) and I'm on whatsapp perhaps 10 minutes combined each day, that includes messages to/from my girl. When I look around at the gym I regularly notice that 70% of the guys and almost 90% of the the younger guys < 25 are spending almost every single minute typing or watching something on their phones.

Weird to see guys half my age spend one hour plus sitting on their asses from which at least 45 minutes are devoted to sending responses to some overrated skank they want to bang. Most of them are not making any gains whatsoever while I'm fucking running circles around them. I'm there to bloody lift and push myself to the limit and for many of the younger guys/kids the gym appears to be akin to a hangout place with weights.

Since I'm in Spain right now I'm also seeing a ton of tourists traverse the city during holidays. Goes without saying that a vast majority of the younger ones are glued to their phones and do not even look up when crossing major streets. The young girls are the worst by far - every minute not occupied by gossiping, attention whoring or snapping selfies is spent hacking away on their iPhone. The city is chock full of antique and beautiful cultural landscapes which they expertly use for what I would consider semi-professional photo shoots (I've been at many real ones).

I'm not even kidding and it's almost comedic. You see a ton of small groups of girls, between two and five of them roaming the city to find just the perfect spot to snap pictures. As I seem to live next to a popular location I get to see this ritual all the time. They show up with gear - make up bag, phone stick or whatever they call them, sometimes even a small reflector (no joke). Checking their faces by taking test shots and then they take turns posing and taking snapshots of each other. Those get reviewed by everyone and then the decision is made which one gets to be posted on Facebook or Instagram, etc. They don't seem to have any curiosity at all about their surroundings or the historical context of the places they happen to be in. It's all just one big photo op for those skanks. I think we may just have reached peak narcissism as I can't possibly imagine a more vapid and superficial generation than the current one (i.e. gen Z, millenials).

[Samseau]

Smartphones are popular because they are the cheapest forms of entertainment. In this brave new world wracked by the Second Great Depression, poor kids from single moms (50% of the American pop) can't find jobs but have lots of access to shit with their cheap smartphone.

Combine it with single Mom's (and many other irresponsible parents) who just want their kids to shut up and disappear, and we have the present situation.

Never forget the ultimate shaming line for a group of smart phone addicts:



"You girls/guys texting each other?"

Simply one of the best group openers in existence at the moment.

[EDantes]

Not to sound too conspiratorial, but to some extend part of the agenda to push smartphones on the public is to gain control over people's thoughts - there is a subtle statist/corporate agenda to centralize control over people and create a "world government", which was part of the reason for the creation of national currencies with centralized control by the Federal Reserve (prior to a century or so ago, most states and even private businesses used their own individualized currencies).

If they can limit people's thoughts and imagination to simple, easily repeated content which can be reduced to simple texts or emojis, then it's far easier for the powers that be to create a mindless, sheep mentality which is easy for governments and corporations to influence and remain control over, as it discourages people from thinking and imagining better alternatives; this way they don't have to outright enact laws that ban free expression and therefore allow people to mantain the illusion of having "free speech and thought"; they can just subtly encourage them to limit their thoughts to only that which can be expressed in a 100 letter text message - thereby essentially eliminating all literature that's been published in Western history from people's mental vocabularies, and their information intake only to corporate/government run clickbait websites that tell people only what the elites want them to know.

I have a smartphone but barely even use it; I can use Skype or Google Hangouts for free phone calls on my PC, and you can send and receive free text messages with any free email account, and I'm not such a tech-addicted nerd that I need to be sending or receiving a text every minute of the day when I go out either.