Stupid 'Smart' Phone Apps!

Namaste Jesus

Namaste Jesus

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Being of an age where phones were for talking and pens were for writing, most smart phone applications are lost on me. I generally just ignore them and go about my business of making and receiving calls. Every now and then however, an app comes along that just boggles the mind... well mine anyway.

I just discovered that my phone has 'Talking Text' capability. If I want to text someone, I needn't do all that typing, all I have to do is talk into the phone and it will type it out for me. Ummmm....... As long as I'm talking into the phone anyway... couldn't I just call the person I needed to contact first?
 
Yes you could...but you couldn't have 5 conversations going on at once... I was a texting holdout...that silly abc xyz typing of repeated numbers was a joke and I waited till I got a keyboard phone...once I did I was on the search for the best voice converter..
 
I have one and don't really know why unless I just succumbed to advertising pressure in a moment of weakness.

I never use it for anything other than (wonder of wonders) talking on the phone or maybe checking the weather radar. I have apps galore installed on it but they sit there like dusty relics on a shelf in the attic of an abandoned house.

In retrospect I can say I would not buy one again as they are a relatively expensive and mostly useless encumbrance 99.99 percent of the time for the use I get out of them.

I can go out and look at the clouds rather than fire up the weather radar and a simple "talkie phone" is all the utility I really ever use.

Most younger folk I see these days are not at all like this though. Their constant attention is so completely immersed in their electronic devices that they remain unaware of anything that is not happening on those powerfully enchanting little screens emitting electronic sounds.

I don't know if it is good or bad but it is, to me, very odd that on a fine, beautiful day they are never "there" to enjoy it.

Could be a fine segue into a prequel of "The Matrix" showing how the machines finally seduced us into becoming their batteries in exchange for purely mental entertainment and engagement.
 
A couple of years ago I purchased a hotshot Droid Maxx. I chose the Maxx because I was PO'd with Apple. An after thought told me that I really wasn't mad with Apple but rather with myself. I never bought any Apple stock! Geez...

Anyway I crawled into my truck one day and toss the Maxx onto the passenger side. As I am traveling to my destination I hear the phone make a noise and this female voice says, "You have a message. Would you like for me to read it to you?" Astonished, I looked around the cab to see where that voice came from and dang if she didn't repeat the question. So I replied. "Yes." The female voice proceeded to read the message and then asked if I wanted to send a reply. I said, "Hell yes." The female voice says, "No swearing please." I said, "you sound like my wife." The app said send? I thought it said end and agreed. Yep, you got it. My friend called me wanting to know what I meant saying he sounded like my wife. Me and that female voice have since reached an understanding and I could not do without her. Wait. She is inanimate, right?
 
Sure, but if the five other people don't know each other it's going to get a bit awkward.
 
Not sure who is misunderstanding who here, but nothing makes sense now.
 
I don't even have a cell phone, let alone one of those ridikerlous contraptions. You young'uns run along and play now.
 
NJ.... I am talking to my daughter about her spring break trip, my mother about her leaving for square dancing for a few days, a friend about going out this weekend, and my housemate about what we need from the grocery store, and two subcontractors about tomorrows work....

I don't want them all on the same conference call, especially while I am on a conference call getting half a dozen other calls done...
 
W!l... If you can keep all that straight, more power to you. My phone can keep as many lines open as I like, but I still have to switch back and forth if I don't want the other parties to hear the other conversations. Just as easy to make 5 separate calls. Far less confusing. Geez... I miss the old days. When I was a kid there were times when we had no phone at all and didn't miss it. On those odd occasions we needed to make a call there was a pay phone, (remember those?), a few blocks away.

Tea... No misunderstanding. Just pulling your leg.
 
That is why only one...the conference call was a call...the rest were text messages and as you cycle back and forth you can see the entire conversation and responses just as here...
 
I think the confusion is a belief that the texting is replacing the phone call....it isn't. It is replacing the letter/email. it is written correspondence in real time...sentence by sentence, thought by thought. In Japan, while we were playing with pagers, they were playing with two way texting devices....so for them when the cell phone came out it was an improvement on their texting device they 'added' voice....with us they were cell phones and then they 'added' texting... going to voice recognition software to write texts, emails, books....tis faster and easier than typing
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Alas, progress marches ever forward and inter-personal skills take giant steps backwards....
Click to expand...
I thought that... I was slow to adopt texting, slow to adopt a smart phone, slow to use voice recognition and other 'stupid aps' but now I write more notes and letters to people than ever before... I am cued on folks birthdays, and easily send them a birthday wish...I know more about my cousins kids and grandkids than i ever knew about my cousins...I am closer to and see more often family and friends than in the past...I know information in real time about friends coast to coast and around the world... interpersonal skills and communication are increased many fold.
 
I'm glad it worked out that way for you W!l. Unfortunately that's not always the case.

I recently put one of my cars up for sale. I'm home all the time so I just put a 'For Sale' sign on it and parked it at the end of the drive. Stuck my cel number on it too in case someone saw it that couldn't stop. Within an hour or 2 I got a text from an interested party.

I texted back and forth with them for a while answering some rather detailed questions. I happen to look out my front window and noticed a young fellow leaning on the car seemingly about to wear his thumbs out pounding on his phone. It kind of irked me that someone would text me instead of just coming up and ringing the door bell, but to each his own I thought and went outside to talk to him.

I introduced myself and extended my hand. He just stared at it with no clue what to do. Ok, some people don't shake hands but, it was clear that without his phone to hide behind, this guy could barely communicate. He seemed quite articulate in his texts, but verbally he was practically incoherent. No interpersonal skills at all.

Unfortunately this is something I've seen time and time again.
 
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Interesting....I would probably do the same not because I can't speak but because your sign gave a cell number and didn't say come on up and ring the bell (I'd follow either direction.

I always thought "flashlight" was a stupid ap...but I put that button on my main screen so when I need a light I've got it. I also put a note ap so I can take any notes or thoughts down while I have them (grocery list, to do list, etc)

Other aps I find handy are my level by degrees, so I can check plumb, level, or bullseye...it is in my pocket...and the star map...what is that planet? no problem, check out the constellations, or the space station traveling overhead.

Waze is great....althoughGPS vs map, my preference is map for looking around and figuring out where I am going....but when it comes to the shortest time around this traffic jam and finding out if this is construction, an accident, or police action in real time is fantastic. As is being able to find a Thai or Mexican eatery and avoid the burger joints...can't beat the computer....I've ordered food based on the time my map said I was going to get there at eateries in strange towns I'd never been before.....but able to walk in, and sit down because we's already ordered....great meal and back on the road after having a sit down dinner faster than fast food...
 
NJ, seems to me like the guy suffers some from social anxiety, a lot of us do, where it's not a matter of skill. We can't all do what you can do and texting is one of the tools we can use to actually get shit done.
 
So, Wil -- You are a savvy app user or are you saying that NSA and every fortune 500 corporation are keeping tabs on you 24/7 and know nearly everything about you? Geez, George Orwell couldn't have see this coming! I'm just sayin'... <hehehe>
 
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