re: Flip phone era > Smart phone era

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Turn off most notifications, it's that easy. I have notifications on a weather app, messages, Outlook, banking and authentication apps, and two accounts on X. When I want 20 minutes of brain rot reels on FB/X, I have to intentionally give it attention. I'm not getting hammered every 3 minutes with "so and so just posted," "MAN CITY GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES," etc.

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People who allow their smart phones to interfere with their lives are weak minded.

So is Man City going to get relegated?

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That’s because you feel compelled to answer.

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It is so difficult for some people to understand this.

My 87-year-old MIL is staying with us right now. She complains about the calls that say "spam risk". I tell her to just ignore them, but she cannot stop herself from answering because "it might be something important."

I tell her, "If it is important, they will leave a message or text you", but it falls on deaf ears. I have the same problem with my own mother and my FIL's wife. They're all well over 80, and they cannot fathom not answer a phone when it rings.

My dad still has a flip phone. Won't trade up to one I can actually text with him on.

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And I don’t understand why people don’t understand this, because it’s not new. People were furious when the first telegraph advertisement went out, because until that point, receiving a telegraph was always important. Phone calls were always important until telemarketers. Mail until spam mail. Email until spam email. Text messages until spam text messages.

As advertisers (and scammers) take over new means of communication, you have to recalibrate. If you don’t, you’ll drive yourself insane.

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Back in the day of analog phone service, when everyone had just one phone hanging on the wall in the kitchen, and there was no caller-ID or message service, a phone call was an unsolicited interruption of your time. An invasion of your privacy.

Some people refused to answer at certain times of the day. Those were the strong-willed people of the day.

Other people prioritized answering a phone call over whatever else they might be doing because they were afraid they would miss out on something. Those were the weak-minded people of the day.