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451 points imartin2k | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.388s | source
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mrob ◴[] No.44478895[source]
>Everybody wanted the Internet.

I don't think this is true. A lot of people had no interest until smartphones arrived. Doing anything on a smartphone is a miserable experience compared to using a desktop computer, but it's more convenient. "Worse but more convenient" is the same sales pitch as for AI, so I can only assume that AI will be accepted by the masses too.

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sagacity ◴[] No.44479756[source]
People didn't even want mobile phones. In The Netherlands, there's a famous video of an interviewer asking people on the street ca. 1997 whether they would want a mobile phone. So not even a smartphone, just a mobile phone. The answer was overwhelmingly negative.
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jen729w ◴[] No.44480071[source]
I’m at the point where a significant part of me wishes they hadn’t been invented.

We sat yesterday and watched a table of 4 lads drinking beer each just watch their phones. At the slightest gap in conversation, out they came.

They’re ruining human interaction. (The phone, not the beer-drinking lad.)

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dataflow ◴[] No.44480738[source]
Is the problem really the phone, or everything but the actual phoning capability? Mobile phones were a thing twenty years ago and I didn't recall them being pulled out at the slightest gap in the conversation. I feel like the notifications and internet access caused the change, not the phone (or SMS for that matter).
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1. ItsBob ◴[] No.44481008[source]
Interesting you should say that. I found a Substack post earlier today along those lines [0].

I almost never take my phone with me, especially when with my wife and son, as they always have theirs with them, although with elderly parents not in the best of health I really should take it more.

But it's something I see a lot these days, in fact, the latest Vodafone ad in the uk has a bunch of lads sitting outside a pub and one is laughing at something on his phone. There's also a betting ad where the guy is making bets on his phone (presumably) while in a restaurant with others!

I find this normalized behaviour somewhat concerning for the future.

[0] - https://abysspostcard.substack.com/p/party-like-it-is-1975