Culture

5 Reasons Why You Should Ditch Your Smartphone

211 Comments

I recently ditched my fancy Samsung smartphone for a basic Alcatel that performs calls, texts and would essentially survive a 100ft fall off a building. But why? Smartphones make things easier, improve our lives, and give us instant access to pretty much everything we want and need. There are actually quite a few benefits to ditching your smarthphone…

1. You become more efficient

Making The Most Of Your Time

I regularly notice at work the vast number of colleagues whipping their phones out to look at the latest notification and engage in pointless small talk on WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. They could instead be working better, harder, and more efficiently on the current project or promotion they are chasing.

Let us also consider the entrepreneur, or business man. How can anyone run the best business possible by wasting our time scrolling through rubbish on our smartphones? Simply put, smartphones steal our efficiency, our attention, and our time, which could be spent more productively on our work, our business, or our general life goals.

Now instead of reaching habitually for my pocket, I have zero interruptions other than important texts or calls. If I want to access Facebook or email, I do so from my own laptop which doesn’t update me constantly and rob my attention on a moments basis

2. You quit a serious addiction

A Commonly Seen Gathering Of Zombies

As you may notice just walking down the street, at work, in the family home, or out to dinner (this is my least favorite), people can’t seem to put their smartphones down. It seems to be an extra limb for them that they can’t let go. They reach obsessively for their pocket and mentally drooling at the thought of any new notifications or news.

There is plenty of evidence that tools like the smartphone affect the levels of dopamine in the brain – a key neurotransmitter which is involved in addiction formation. In addition to this, one process which makes addiction even stronger is the phenomenon known as “intermittent rewards”. Rats (which have remarkably similar brain structures to us) enjoyed random different rewards vastly more than the exact same big reward every time – in other words they enjoyed the stimulation from novelty. This explains why gambling, gaming, and pornography can be so addictive. Smartphones aren’t much different.

If you don’t think you are addicted, you’re not alone. I never thought I was. This is because we are contact users and never stop. How can you know if you are addicted or not if you never try to stop? See how your brain reacts if you spend a day without it.

3. You improve your social skills

Giving Her The Right Eye Contact

When people use their smartphones constantly, they are unwittingly training their neuroplastic brains to become less socially effective. By avoiding daily interactions face to face and increasingly using text and a screen to communicate, we become weaker socially and even experience heightened social anxiety when we do have to communicate.

Now that I’m without a smartphone, I’m naturally more confident and welcome in-person social interaction. I’ve become smoother and wittier in my conversations with men and girls I want to flirt with. I can longer turn to the addictive familiarity of my electronic screen whenever I feel bored or uncertain in public. Which leads me onto reason four…

4. You patience and focus improves

Winning At Work

When I had my old smartphone, I used to pull it out and read something, anything, whenever I felt uncertain, bored or uneasy in public. It was my go to drug – a filler to plug my time.

Whilst this one was tough to get used to, it has undoubtedly been very beneficial for me. In ditching my smartphone my attention span has improved exponentially. Indeed I don’t believe I would have ever written an article for Return Of Kings despite loving the site and its material. Just sitting here and voluntarily spending my time thinking hard to write an article of value would have been too much for me. Why work on anything when you can browse your smartphone? Why be patient when you can look at want you want NOW on demand.

The smartphone breeds an expectation for instant gratification which, while great in the moment, spills over into the rest of your life and diminishes the amount of patience and focus you have for other things.

5. You’ll be pushed into positive activities

I used to spend a great deal of my time sitting at home and flicking through my smartphone. It was easy, fun and satisfying. So why give that up, you might ask?

Since throwing my smartphone in a public trash can, I have been forced to come up with positive ways to entertain myself and fill my time. Whether that is going to the gym, going out to social events, being productive, playing guitar or simply heading out of the house, I now cannot fall back on my smartphone as a boredom cushion. This is doing wonders for my life, I am getting better at all of the activities I mentioned and feel as if I am rising above the average person on the street in improving myself as a man.

As you might’ve thought already, this has actually helped me meet women in person. Being without a smartphone has got me talking to women than ever before.

Conclusion

Smartphones have their place in the world, but if you want to maximize your chances of being productive, effective, happy, and the best version of yourself, I believe those chances are massively increased when you ditch the vampire that is your smartphone.

If you don’t want to be as extreme as me then why not just ditch it for a shorter period so you can see some of the positive benefits yourself? If anything, it will confirm how addicted (or not) you are, so you can evaluate for yourself how beneficial it would be to quit or at least greatly reduce your usage.

I have been asked by my friends why I didn’t just reduce my own usage instead of throwing away my entire handset. My answer is that discipline does not have to sit on the edge of temptation. I was heavily addicted to my smartphone, but no longer.

Read More: Is Your Smartphone Cock Blocking You?

211 thoughts on “5 Reasons Why You Should Ditch Your Smartphone”

  1. Never bought one in the first place.
    Still have my flip phone from 2008.
    I remember buying it. The clerk approached me and before he could make his pitch I said “give me the cheapest phone in the store”.
    It is nearly indestructible. And can go 4 days without a charge.
    And best of all, no emails from work. If they need me they can call me.

      2. Funny you should mention that.
        The Samsung flip phone I purchased was manufactured specifically for the elderly. With big numbers on the keypad, and a 911 button right in the middle. I didn’t care about any of that, though. I wanted the cheapest phone in the store, and that is what I got.

    2. My current employer obliged me to buy one.
      I held out for four months.
      I have never once used the internet on it nor ever taken a photo.
      I manage to let it’s charge run down most weeks and ‘forget’ it altogether, once a week.
      Damn thing.

    4. Protip: If you want to avoid the annoyance of clerks trying to upsell you to a bells-and-whistles smartphone when all you want is a bog-standard old-skool brick-phone, avoid network shops and the likes of Phones4U like the plague. Go to a high street phone repair shop instead. You can get a secondhand smartphone or a brand new Nokia brickphone for around £40 there.
      They usually don’t care much which one you choose but, if anything, they’ll prefer it if you buy the Nokia – since it’s brand new, if anything goes wrong with it they can just tell you to go to the manufacturer. With secondhand smartphones (which are, of course, far more likely to develop a fault) they’ll usually have been bought from random sellers off the street who the shopkeepers will never see again, leaving the shop liable to carry out any necessary repairs.

      1. I myself would rather avoid the annoyance of posts written by people who don’t write in organized, logical paragraphs.
        Whatever someone writes, it’s much more readable when they do write in paragraphs. See what I mean? 🙂

  2. Yeah right, as if that’s going to happen. Smartphones have become an important part of life and allow a far greater ease of communication and access to information than those old Nokia phones two decades ago. All the benefits you mentioned here can be attained by simply developing self-control and discipline.
    Ditching technology and going full Amish is not the way forward in the Information Age.

    1. Yes, we all know that they bring greater ease of (distance) communication.
      But the downsides are also great (to real life communication for instance).
      “All the benefits you mentioned here can be attained by simply developing self-control and discipline.”
      Not necessarily. It’s like if you’re an alcoholic and decide to live inside a bar. Yes, you can theoretically use self-control and discipline but in actuality, that approach is doomed to failure from the start.
      No one is saying you have to go full amish. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It’s just a perspective on how sometimes less is more.
      Junkies always find an excuse to have another dose, so I expect many excuses for why we can’t live without the newest gadgets.

      1. But you assume we’re all hooked on smartphones to begin with. You might be but most of us are not.

        1. Like the Alessandro wrote: “If you don’t think you are addicted, you’re not alone. I never thought I was. This is because we are contact users and never stop.”
          From my experience, a majority of people with smartphones are likely addicted to them based upon their behavior. But only a very small percentage thinks of themselves in that way. I didn’t used to either but I now see the same signs of addiction in myself as I see in others.

        2. This is such a bad argument like this. It’s not that it is always false, but it is too weak to be used seriously. You can’t say “being addicited to smart phones are bad and everyone is addicted to them” and then when someone says “no, that’s about you and your predilection to addiction I am not addicted to my smart phone” reply that they are but don’t even know it.
          That is like if I said everyone is gay and you said you’re not gay and then I said “well people who say they aren’t gay are even more gay they just don’t know it”

        3. I may be an exception since I have a smartphone but do not use social media (unless you count WhatsApp). I use my smartphone for reading things on the Internet and talking to my family on WhatsApp. In general, I agree with you that 99.999% of people cannot use smartphones responsibly.
          Of course, one can say that the problem is social media and not smartphones. In this formulation, smartphones are a “gateway drug” to the “hard drugs” of Facebook and Instagram. While this is true in theory, the mass availability of both smartphones and social media make it a moot point in reality. There is also the option of banning social media (which I would very much approve of).

        4. You can only be addicted to a chemical, not an inanimate object. Alessandro is full of shit, trying to make himself feel better by convincing himself everyone else has his problems. When new tech comes along people will drop smartphones like they never existed. Which will give the lie to the “addiction” fallacy.

        7. How many who take ‘selfies’ think they are narcissistic empty losers?
          Not enough.

        9. I don’t really have an opinion either way. I love my smart phone. I have books on it and can surf the web and stuff. I am pro smart phone for me but have honestly never given a single thought to it as a “thing” until this article.
          I don’t think this is really a pro or con issue.
          I am anti poor argumentation however which is where my comment was leading

        10. Hey I am narcisstic and empty but I am NOT a loser

        12. Hum.
          Then I win, as I am narcissistic but I am a winner born to lead…..

        14. If you had any sort of indication that I am gay despite me saying I’m not, that might have some merit.
          Dopamine addiction as caused by smartphone is easily noticed just by observing people around you. If you can’t handle a silent moment without picking up the phone for that next dopamine hit, you’re likely addicted. And I see this all the time.

        15. He (and I) obviously mean addicted to the dopamine rush you get from your smartphone. If there is a more effective way to get easy dopamine on demand, they probably will yes. But the addiction would then remain the same, just that the trigger is exchanged.

        16. I’m not saying it isn’t a real phenomenon I am saying that your argument was bad.
          People become addicted to all sorts of things. I get a dopamine hit from the gym and feel withdrawal if I miss anday. It’s an Addiction, sure.
          Cell phones are brain candy and yes people get addicted. If you read my comment you would see that not only did I not deny your claim I specifically mentioned you were in some cases. Alcohol is addictive. This doesn’t mean people can’t drink sensibly.

        17. I just pointed out that junkies almost never see their own addiction but people around them (that are not addicts) do.
          The difference is that you actually do something productive and get a dopamine hit from the gym. That’s the way it was supposed to work. Your brain rewards you for good activities. The smartphone kind of short circuits the regular programming. Kind of like a hacker who invents a dopamine on command button that is always with you. It’s similar to taking drugs which will also give you all these great sensations depite you not having done anything to deserve them (from a biological standpoint).
          I agree that some people can use a smartphone sensibly. I just think they are fewer than those who can’t. And what’s seen as sensible is highly contested. Checking the phone 200 times per day is probably sensible to some and insane to others.

        20. If so, what makes people check it again and again as soon as their mind wanders a little bit?
          Totalling several hundred times a day for many.
          If you sit down on the Stockholm subway these days and count 8 people, chances are 6 of them are staring into their smartphones. This affects the entire social fabric.

        21. Fuck the social fabric dude. That’s for bitches to worry about. I don’t give one single solitary fuck what other people are doing on the metro as long as they’re not bothering me.
          God knows why people check their phone so much. Maybe they enjoy it. Can you live with that?

        22. You are interconnected to what everyone else is and does.
          I.e this website wouldn’t exist otherwise. Because you didn’t build it and it was also built as a reaction to the disintegration of the social fabric (that you apparently don’t care about).
          Caring about only your own needs gets old real quick, at least in my experience.

        23. I don’t have time to care about other people’s needs. I leave that to other people.
          There is no such thing as a social fabric.

        24. The first sentence, you don’t have time to care about other people’s needs? What are you? A parasite?
          And the second one. Wow. I didn’t think such uber-modernist atoms visited this website. Look at everything you own and count how many things you created yourself without help. Almost zero, right? Completely dependent on society to survive but denies the existance of social fabric (as in a sort of togetherness where what others does will affect you and vice versa).

        25. What you said doesn’t make any sense. A parasite takes resources from an unwilling host. The fact that I’m leaving other people alone pretty much means I’m not a parasite.

          …count how many things you created yourself without help…

          Speak for yourself. I have created many things without help, with help and have helped other people create things. Ironic that you mention this because smartphones help me create things. I thank the people that gave me this help by paying them. That helps them too. We’re both happy.
          Honestly, for your own benefit you need to drop this outdated Marxist approach to life brother.

        26. You don’t leave people alone. Just by being do you affect people. You write on this website, they see you write it, you affect me a little bit now just by writing to me. If you don’t care about other people’s needs (at least people you know!) but only your own, that sounds like a parasite to me.
          Out of the hundreds of things you use weekly, how many have you made yourself from scratch? That’s what I meant. Didn’t mean that you couldn’t possibly have made something. I made a wooden spoon in shop class once but it doesn’t mean I live alone in the world and that all problems are only my own personal problems.
          Marxist lol. I’m not a modernist so I don’t believe in such modern ideologies as marxism or hyper-individualism (like you do).
          I believe in personal responsibility to the extend it’s possible but also that you can see clear patterns and cause and effect. Humans work a certain way, introduce x and you’ll see that a certain percentage of humans will be affected in ways y and z. Is it their personal faults? Well, they have to try to remedy it as best they can but in many ways, they never had a chance. We respond to stimuli just like any animal and countless things today manipulate those biological instincts.

        27. Don’t be silly, you knew exactly what I meant. In any case, you choose what affects you.
          Tonight I’m making spicy chicken from scratch.
          You may not believe in Marxism but everything you say rhymes with Marxism. And a bit like Barack “You didn’t build that” Obama.
          Your last paragraph is interesting (sincerely) but doesn’t convince me that I have societal problems.

      2. Think of it like this. If your internet is on, you are only a couple of clicks away from a porn site. So what do you do? Do you cancel your internet?
        Technology is a double-edged sword. Like everything, it has good and bad sides. Denying yourself many advantages just because you lack the self-control to avoid the bad parts is quite silly, in my opinion.

        3. It depends if I have a porn problem.
          I don’t but plenty of men do these days. Men that wouldn’t have had that problem had they lived in a time without this technology.
          For men like that, taking a break from the computer world at large might be a good idea.

      3. Bullshit. There is no downside to real life communication. Communicating with a smartphone is real life communication!

        1. You’re being very nitpicky about the words. Almost like you WANT to misunderstand. How about we try the generousity principle which means assuming the best about what each of us are writing instead of the worst?
          The downside to real life communication (that is communicating with each other without an electronic device) is that it’s now often interupted by the itch for the next dopamine fix from the smartphone.
          I’m 30 years old and I can clearly see the difference in people’s ability to focus and be in the present (pre- and post-smartphone).

        2. How about just writing clearly and using the correct words to describe various concepts? You know, like you were (I assume) taught in school?
          You can see what you want to see. You haven’t done any research on people’s ability to focus. It’s merely your opinion. Before smartphones existed they called it ADHD. Before that, boredom.

        3. Right, but it’s not physical, eye to eye communication, even if it’s a video phone.
          Remember the phone company of yore advertising their long distance services? “Reach out and touch someone”?
          Calling someone you sorely missed, who was 2,000 miles away and talking to them, usually only made your pain worse! You can’t ‘touch’ them through a 2,000 mile phone line.

        4. I do a lot of video conferences. Unless its someone you actually want to touch I actually prefer it. Its like having them in the room with you but I can kick them out of my house at the push of a button.

        6. It’s not my writing, it’s your reading comprehension. Everyone else understands without misinterpreting if you haven’t noticed.
          They made people sit still in desks for hours and hours each day in a way we were never designed for and when some people show symptoms of being maladapted for this, they give them a diagnosis (ADHD).
          It’s not boredom. It’s the need to be stimulated by the most stimulating source available and that is now often the phone.
          http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/sabaton-bassist-we-will-never-ever-again-see-an-absolutely-fantastic-crowd/
          Read that. The smartphone is so stimulating , it even overshadows concerts with your favorite bands.

        7. Its a choice mate. You are reinterpreting facts to fit the fact that for whatever reason you don’t like smartphones and you don’t want anyone to else either. Just let it go. If you don’t like them don’t use them but leave everyone else the fuck alone.

        9. Again that’s your personal problem. I have experienced no downsides from using smartphones.

        10. It’s a personal problem and a societal problem. That you don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

        11. I only have personal problems. People who have “societal problems” are merely trying to make their personal problems into other people’s problems.
          Otherwise known as socialism.

        12. Only if you live alone in the woods and never meet another soul do you only have personal problems. And you’re unlikely to live long that way.

        13. Mate stop trying to tell me what my problems are. I know far better than you what my problems are. Try to accept that not everybody cares about the same things you do.

    2. Well said. It’s as if “common sense is not-so-common” !
      In the past, there are many people who “were” addicted to their “basic phones”; always texting, playing games etc.
      I never use my smartphone to “time pass”, just like majority of pussies and some MEN. Financial institutions, Businesses, Entertainment, Healthcare, Travel etc. are promoting & using Latest Technology to make things easier, reduce their costs and to increase their customer base. Nothing wrong !
      I used my smartphone last week while traveling in Amtrack, to show my “e-ticket” to the ticket collector ! My smartphone “saved” me a print-out !!

      1. “Common sense is not so common.”
        –Voltaire
        Another guy, think his name was Lloyd or Jorge or something, said-
        “Common sense is most uncommon”.

      2. It’s great, this way there is a permanent record of every detail of your life. You cannot buy nor sell without it.

    3. ” All the benefits you mentioned here can be attained by simply developing self-control and discipline.
      Ditching technology and going full Amish is not the way forward in the Information Age’”
      Agreed. Self control is key. Fact is that we all need access, to one extent or another, to all the tools and communication means available to us in these devices.

      1. For me, one reason to not use a smartphone to browse is that returnofkings floods me with popup ads if I try to get to the comments section. 🙂
        I have a Tomtom GPS I use for navigation and for helping to track time (when I’m expected to reach my destination) but… I’m leaning towards using my iphone if only because it has internet enabled traffic data integrated into the algorithm.
        Youtube is invaluable for playing videos for my daughter. If she’s crying or needs a momentary calm-down, I can put on one of her favorite videos and she calms down.

      2. It’s not that the Amish are anti-technology Luddites or anything. They just don’t want to be connected to, and therefore dependent on, the system.
        After all, a buggy pulled by a horse, a hammer and a saw, are technology, too. As is blacksmithing. (word?)
        I realize you were quoting Champion, btw.

        1. “It’s not that the Amish are anti-technology Luddites or anything. They just don’t want to be connected to, and therefore dependent on, the system”
          Which of course is a valid reason.

    4. Totally agree. I just don’t use Instagram, Snapchat or Whatsapp at all and I use facebook only on the laptop.
      I mostly use my Galaxy S7 for stabilized FullHD videos, photos, reading on the go, listening to music on the go or controlling my JBL bluetooth speaker.
      And it’s the perfect alarm. I use an app called Alarmy where you can choose that the alarm is only shut off when you take a picture of the inside of your refrigerator, scan the barcode on the toothpaste and stuff like that..it’s the first alarm that gets me up at 5am in the morning.
      If you use a smartphone with your brain it’s an ingenious assistant.

      1. Yep, I use mine for business networking, instantly reviewing important documents and ordering groceries. In my line of business, if you’re not using a smartphone you’ll be several steps behind everyone else.

    5. Plus, you can make a bogus “fitness” profile on social media and make a windfall of attention and sponsorships simply because you were never once fat!

    6. gps is one of the best thing in a smartphone.
      social media are useless to me because i don’t have accounts therefore I save a lot of time doing things instead of reading useless news from useless people.

    7. Exactly! I own my own business and my smartphone comes in handy to examine all the incoming orders from customers.

    8. Criticism is only necessary when someone is attempting to defend themselves.
      The author took the time to offer some reasoned advice.
      Take it or leave it.
      Nobody likes a troll.

        1. He didn’t sound mad. He sounded very rational and reasonable to me.
          Are you trying to make him mad? If so, his implying that you are a troll is correct.

    10. I didn’t even have to write it myself. >_>
      I’ve only ever used my smartphone for phone, few texts (hate texting) and storing music.

    11. Problem is, we don’t see a whole lot of self-control out there with regards to people’s use of their smart phones. In fact, the damn things may as well be welded to the side of their heads or mounted in front of their faces.

  3. I had an old smartphone which broke. I then bought a new smartphone which did pretty much the same thing but had a much larger screen. The functionality is the same yet I find the new one far more difficult to pull away from. Perhaps the key is to buy a smaller screen smartphone that won’t suck you in. Same with TV should you choose to have one, get a small, crappy screen telly that you will only watch if there’s something on you really want to see.

  4. This post speaks to me because I am a very heavy smartphone user. I use tons of things there, everything from audiobooks and podcasts to social media and workout programs, so I sure know the benefits and the attraction.
    At the same time, I recognize the problem. I see what I and most of those around me have become. Zombies staring into our phones for yet another dose of dopamine, again and again and again.
    So it certainly merits investigation and thought. An experiment such as yours is perhaps a good first step to seeing how addicted we really are and how it feels to go without for a while.

    1. When I drove back from university today I saw three good looking girls in their cars and all of them were playing around with their smartphones..so I know dat feel.
      In my opinion the biggest risk on german streets in 2017 are attention whoring thots who can’t go offline for 5 minutes. Road accidents increased in the last three years in germany and they say it’s because of the aging population. Yeah, that is one aspect but a) driving refugees and b) driving smartphone-sluts are another problem noone wants to talk about.

      1. Yep… much easier to blame old white people than low IQ refugees and the phone-addicted young people.

  5. Ugh, this silly assigning morality to technology again? I like how you assume mobile phones are okay as long as they aren’t smart. How smart can my phone be? Why not advocate for no cell phones? Fucking nonesense.

    1. Technology impacts us a lot so why wouldn’t we look into the bad effects of using it?
      Because the problems pointed out are mainly with smartphones and not so much with normal phones.

  7. I feel like I’m the only one who doesn’t own a smart phone. And I guess I’ll be the only one who thinks they shouldn’t have been made or at least given out to the public. I swear, everyone uses those things more than I used to play videogames when school wasn’t in session. Hell even back then, my nerdy self knew better than to play my Gameboy where it shouldn’t. So sad how things changed since 2009.

  9. This article resonates with me a lot. I find myself compulsively picking up my phone and swiping through some meaningless bullshit more often than I’d care to admit, but I also get good use from the flashlight, camera, notes, calculator, getting bangs from social media, communicating with plates via SM and text, etc. I think a majority of the populace is definitely addicted to smart phones, but since it’s not causing any immediate issues like alcoholism or a drug addiction, I don’t see many people getting rid of them. What worries me is over the years the added minutes compiling into hours of time wasted on worthless media. That alone got me to take a lot of social media and shit off my phone.

  10. I use my smartphone to view ROK and other manosphere sites. A most excellent use I must say!

  11. I didn’t have a cell phone until six years ago. I minimize my time on it, mostly using it to talk to clients or plates. I rarely text. But I use it to check sports scores and betting lines. To be honest, I hate the freaking thing, but it’s invaluable when it comes to sports wagering. It’s all a trade-off – whatever you get, you give something up. You get this, you give up that. Moderation my friends. Moderation.

  12. What ROK needs are some really good articles on ‘alt-technology’ that is out of the mainstream: going back to pagers, alternative smartphones like Silent Circle’s Blackphone, and alt-Android OSs such as CyanogenMod.

  13. More reasons to throw the fucking thing away:
    1) Smartphones spy on you in ways that would make your head spin.
    2) All cell phone use dramatically increases risk of brain tumors — now proven by definitive research.
    3) Extensive cell phone use significantly disrupts sleep cycles, which compromises immune function over time.
    4) As with TV, looking into the flickering screen changes / entrains your brain waves into more of a hypnotic mode, making you much more susceptible to suggestion. The frequency / modulation is designed intentionally to do this.
    5) Using cell phones (and watching TV) subjects you to tonnes of subliminal imagery / sound that deeply effects your subconscious mind — basically programming you.
    6) The chemical (neurotransmitter) addiction attached with extensive cell phone use renders other non-electronic activity (such as reading books) very mundane and “boring.”
    7) The fast pace of cell phone use triggers a kind of ADHD in many people once they are off their phones. Attention spans and patience for other non-electronic activities are dramatically reduced.

    1. an engineer blew the whistle on the dangers of cellphones- in 1999.
      That was first generation(1G). What are we on now? 4G or 5G? they emit much more radiation than those old flip phones. Turn it off when its in your pocket. Dont sleep with it on less than 6 feet from your body. I know 3 people who got benign brain tumors in their early 30s- drs had “no idea” was the cause was…

      1. ….avoid placing in trouser pocket near to testicles.
        Never use for more than 15 mins at a time.
        etc etc

      2. I know a young adult who developed a (previously) very rare brain tumor and subsequently died from it. His job? Working the Starbuck’s drive thru with a headset on 5 days a week. Tumor was exactly where antennae / receiver was.

    2. I think it was telling that Steve Jobs wouldn’t let his children use smartphones.

  14. It’s not the phone per se, it’s how you use it. While I’m sympathetic to the idea of the article, the reality is: if you were wasting time on a smart phone you’ll probably waste it somewhere else without one.
    Blaming the phone for one’s lack of productivity isn’t really being honest. How about keep the smart phone, and quit wasting time on useless websites instead of doing something productive?
    …
    *takes his own advice* 😀

    1. Agree, with that radical mentality the author should also ditch the computer, the video game console and the internet. Then he can go to live in a log cabin in Alaska so he can live without modern technology distractions. Let’s see how much he likes his 100 bucks Alcatel after realizing it takes forever to load the Uber app and you are in desperate need of transportation

        2. Not enough dry twigs and linen to make a fire and send a smoke signal with either..

    3. 97% of ROK readers are on their smartphones. 58% of them are at work.

    1. I almost got hit by a dummy on a scooter talking on his cell, he wasnt even looking at the street, he was looking down as he had the phone nestled on his shoulder

      1. Last Summer I saw a man walking his dog cross a fairly busy road cause a car to stop just feet from him. I wasn’t too concerned for him it was his poor dog I was worried about.

    2. Uhm…most of the times it’s the drivers fault because he didn’t stop at a crosswalk?? At least that’s how it is here in germany and that’s one of the few good things about our country.

      1. Sorry but I cannot help but laugh at the fools (while I silently pray I never get run over in the same way…)

      1. That has less to do with smartphones and more to do with mind-boggling stupidity. Some of those idiots stopped in the middle of the street to check out their phone! I see it as natural selection.

        1. I think it’s more a testament to the power of the cell phone to warp human brains…but I see your point. Darwin Award winners, for sure…

  17. I’m reading this from the grave on a smartphone. Unfortunately my options are limited, so fuck you.

    1. Why Mr. President?
      Why did you not repeal the great society programs and (un)civil rights acts and restore the constitutional guarantees of individual liberty, private property rights and freedom of association???

      1. Told I’d get killed. Ended Vietnam and signed limitations on welfare loafers. Just for that was enough to shut things down. Reagan tried to do the same…he got real obedient after his brush with Jodie Foster.
        Liberalism is indeed a mental disorder.

      2. That is a dead PRESIDENT you are badgering with your impolite questions!
        Show a little respect…….Commie…..

    2. You tell ’em Sir!
      Pity you can’t ‘Nam some sense into these layabouts….

        2. Whoa, easy there. She had a good one – a snapper.
          “A snappers a pussy, okay? Which describes a particular type of pussy with good quick muscular elasticity along the vaginal wall to give you a decent hump if you know what I’m talking about. A snap in pussay!”
          That was from memory. George Carlin RIP.

        4. “All you have to do is wander into NOW headquarters and say, ‘Which one of you cupcakes wanna go home cook me a nice meal and gimme a blow job?’”

    4. Much respect, Mr. President ! Thanks for visiting my country in 1969. You and your great Nation has always been and is an inspiration for freedom !

  18. Been smart phone free for a little over a year now. I can definitely see the difference in all these points most notably the focus at work. I work in a trade and I can’t tell you how often the journeyman are yelling themselves hoarse at the apprentices who keep whipping out their phones all the time.

    1. At the large, blue collar place I worked until recently, smartphone use by most guys up to age 45, was a huge problem. Affected productivity, quality, everything. So why didn’t management crack down on this? Fear of the union. The union committeemen and stewards made things so miserable for management… filing grievances over any perceived slight against “union brothers,” that management actually gave up trying to run a tight ship.
      Now it’s all moving out of the country.
      But I digress. The smartphones, combined with undisciplined and entitled union guys, was destined to end badly.

      1. Shit. They would’ve moved out of the country anyhow. Could’ve gone elsewhere in America and ended any socialist union.
        Don’t hand us that HR worshipping corporate homo tale.

        1. Dick, let me guess… you’re a lazy union guy who’s butthurt about my accurate portrayal of the environment where I worked for years. Probably addicted to your smartphone too. Go away. You bore me.
          “My words will attract strong minds, and offend weak minds.”

  19. I’ve got a 2010 non smart phone that only cost me £70.00. I very rarely switch it on. In fact I have only ever sent 1 text in 7 years and that was to one of those prepaid credit card companies. My friends are family are so surprised by this that it is a joke to them.

  20. A smartphone is a tool, and what comes out of it depends on how you use it. Nothing more, nothing less. That being said, it has the potential to be a very distracting tool.
    I find it useful as an emergency backup for internet connectivity. (Otherwise, the screen is too damned small for my older eyes.) Camera? Sure – like an accident scene, or getting pics of a plumbing system before you “repair” it. Calendar/planner? Good. Music player / alarm clock? Good.
    But for every “good” I can name, I can think of a dozen ways those features can be used that are not good habits, like using the camera for gazillions of selfies of attention-whores.

  21. “The Truth About Cell Phones and Wireless Radiation”, a video of a conference held at the University of Melbourne, featuring Dr. Nevra Davis – prepare to be scared shitless and be sure to check out the comments beneath the video –

  22. Am I thinking it or am I the only person that actually barely uses his phone?
    Seriously I cannot understand smartphone addiction without internet and social media addiction! With the Internet part I am still working on but social media I have ditched them all… except disqus but that barely qualifies.
    Also for whomever says it is needed due to communication: he is correct but I must point out that modern messenger apps are extremely invasive to everybody’s life. We are communicating in the end far too much and this for me is the greater reason why attention spawns have become so nullified… We do not plan anymore neither do we engage in detailed conversation and most people today cannot even comprehend the need or the existence of intricate conversations… Every messenger group and app is basically a very small tweeter all by itself. Even worse think how much this easiness makes us in the end to chase after skirts… constantly!
    I am not saying that we should ditch messenger apps that is impossible but we must understand that moderation means to use such apps, and phones today, barely… What scares me is the amount of people who literally cannot live an hour without communicating if one compares himself with the average user then he will end up of course being in a better situation!
    I am tired of seeing people around my age (24) barely noticing their surroundings anymore to the point that 80 year old men have come to actually have better reflexes to whatever happens in their vicinity! It is a worrying phenomenon and maybe the reason why millennials do not give a notice for anything that happens around them!
    So don’t compare yourselves with the average person, that is too addicted already.

    1. ‘Am I thinking it or am I the only person that actually barely uses his phone?’
      So, ANSWER THE BLOODY PHONE VARONOS…..you’ve been told this again and again.
      Where were you yesterday morning for example??
      Oh…..I give up….

    2. I really hate waiting through two or three red lights because of the idiots who can’t stop playing with their smart phones.

  23. “The Truth About Cell Phones and Wireless Radiation”, a video of a conference held at the University of Melbourne, featuring Dr. Devra Davis; prepare to be scared shitless and be sure to check out the comments beneath the video –

    1. what blows your mind more- the fact this stuff is allowed to exist on the web, or the fact people simply dont give a shit anymore(perhaps they never did)

      1. I’d say the latter one – the fact people don’t give a shit anymore.
        I have often wondered why those who guard the biggest secrets resort to murder, in order to silence people – you know, that old Mafia oath of omerta. That kind of thing. What a waste of manpower and bullets. Most people just don’t want to wake up – and the rest are incapable. The bottom line being, as you pointed out, people just don’t give a shit, and who are they going to spill secrets to anyway? The cops? The judges? The media? The politicians? All of them are on the payroll.
        Truth is way, way stranger than fiction. You have the basic “red pill” guy, who wakes up and sees something that he formerly thought of as being “conspiratorial”. Maybe he finds out that feminism was deliberately created to destroy the family. Okay. So now he’s awake? No. He has only just begun to awaken, and the journey never ends. His mind will usually shut off upon chugging a couple of red pills, and he won’t go looking for more truth, because it’s too damned scary. If he continues, his entire worldview will be destroyed, along with everything he believes in.
        These guys have done an incredible job on the human psyche. They have padlocked people’s brains with absolute authority. Which is why I don’t understand their penchant for shutting up those who talk. They could spell the whole thing out in a book, draw diagrams, and give away all their secrets, and only a handful would read it, and nobody would believe it. But I guess they have their reasons…damned if I can figure ’em out, seems over the top to me.

  24. I’ve had a mobile phone of some kind since the early 90s. I won’t be giving it up any time soon. However you won’t see me mindlessly finger banging it all day either. It’s used for work and pussy control, otherwise it sits on the shelf. All things in moderation.
    As an aside, regarding the “smart” phone thing I’ve often thought about going back to a flip phone just because they seem to work so much better for actually making calls. The phone part of a smartphone seems to be just another shitty software app on a mini laptop, you’d think they would at least get that part right, since it’s a phone and all.
    Smartphones are totally spy devices too. In fact I believe this is why they just don’t really work well at anything, all the focus in app development is in gathering metrics from you instead of a quality app (all of them). Unless you are smart enough to root your phone and modify some (a lot) shit, it literally tracks every single thing you do on it, when you do it, where you do it.

    1. any suggestions on modding your phone? Or do we pretty much have to delete the apps? I always wondered how facebook tracks you when you arent logged in and have location services turned off…

      1. There’s quite a bit out there. One of my favorites on a droid is the xposed framework and an thing called xprivacy. It will fake data from location services, or phone number, contacts etc. when an app requests it. Another app is called DisableServices, also requires root and it does just what it says. I had to use it to stop google play services from trying to silently self update constantly.
        What opened my eyes to just how much they hammer at gathering metrics was when I had a battery drain problem when I was not using the phone. Tons of wake locks to shit that should not even be used when phone is sleeping. Even with location services turned off, they can still grab the cell ID from the tower it’s currently connected to and get a rough location. So that location toggle in settings doesn’t truly make you invisible.
        If you haven’t already have a gander at XDA forums. Lots and lots of info there on privacy, mods and custom ROMS.

      2. Forgot to mention, fb will use your IP address to guess your location too, whether your on a phone or PC.

        1. how can fb access my IP? they arent a wireless provider or ISP- are they paying ATT, Verizon, etc for access to these data? or am I talking out my ass, Im not a techie-thanks!

        2. The IP your device uses out on the internet, whether it’s a phone or a computer…. is public, it has to be for the internet to function, eg the web site has to know where to send the data back that was requested. Think of it as a telephone number and caller ID in a sense. For that moment in time you access any web page, your IP address (which is owned by the ISP) tells them what ISP you are using and with geo location databases, can usually figure out what city. Unless you’re using a VPN of some kind to hop through hong kong, every web site is going to have a very general idea where you are coming from, at least down to the city or state based on the IP address your device is using to get out on the net.

  25. How about we just put the smartphone down when we have actual things to do that doesn’t involve it?
    Smartphones are actually a tool when used correctly, so I don’t see anyone leaving them behind anytime soon.

  26. A smartphone is much like a woman. Lights up when you plug it in, depletes energy like crazy and only 10% of it is worth a damn.

  27. A smartphone is much like a woman. Lights up when you plug it in, depletes energy like crazy and only 10% of it is worth a damn for about a year.

    1. they serve liquor in the afterlife? What have you been drinkin today?

  28. Bravo! To a point alluded to in number four: anytime I am bored I pull out my smart phone. However, it is when you are bored that the mind starts to wander–and a wandering mind is often a brilliant mind. In fact, I’d bet that about 90 percent of the discoveries that have pulled man from jungle to city have been made by a bored mind entertaining itself, and in doing so, coming up with new connections and novel solutions. The smartphone robs us of this bored time, and leaves our mind permanently captured and therefore dull and flaccid.

  30. Without the internet, there would be no smartphones.
    The internet has lots of good points. You can shop and order stuff and have it delivered to your door. You can learn new things, new info, even diagnose medical conditions that your doctor cannot.
    The bad points: It has created a new height of narcissism through social media. If you aren’t part of someone’s social media/tribe clique, then you aren’t going to let into their “tribe”. Which is why the days of meeting girls at bars are gone. They typically meet guys that are part of their vast social media network so they can already have an inside view of a particular guy’s friends and lifestyle before girlfriend XYZ sends a tweet to guyfriend XYZ about hooking him up with her friend Betsie because Betsie is a common friend between them. And of course, there’s porn. While a lot of us access it because we are men that function as men, a lot of us also know in the back of our minds that having porn pumped into our society that absolutely anyone starting with teenagers can watch instantaneously isn’t a good thing.

  31. A few other tips and tricks you can use to salvage your smartphone and still reap benefits:
    – Disable all non-essential notifications. If the apps aren’t reminding you to use them, you’re more able to avoid wasting time.
    – Move any “fun” apps to a folder on a far screen, so you have to go out of your usual way to run them.
    – Delete Facebook. Seriously, on top of wasting time it’s a major resource hog that drains your battery even while “closed.”
    – Your main screen should have only the apps a better you would need. Basically, your phone and possibly text apps, email, any productivity apps.
    But, as a caution, leave your phone somewhere else most of the time. The damn things are always listening by design, and Google et al. use the tracking data to target ads and do who-knows-what-else.
    If going without it for a weekend camping trip feels like detoxing, you’re a slave to your phone. If you dread coming back to the missed emails, you’re not so bad off as that.

  32. This is all nonsense. You are in denial. Your problem wasn’t the smartphone it was you. You couldn’t control yourself. Going backwards with technology isn’t more efficient, its regressive. You are slowing yourself down because you have no self-control. If I was you, I’d address your personal failings instead of assuming the rest of us have your same flaws.

    1. ‘You are in denial. Your problem wasn’t the smartphone it was you. You couldn’t control yourself. ‘
      We might replace ‘s.p.’ with ‘porn/heroin/gambling/drinking’.
      ‘Going backwards with technology isn’t more efficient its regressive.’
      Surly his point is that it’s not the tech. it’s the way he had grown to use the tech.
      Many of us can drink, some become drunks. They’ve gotta cut it out….we do not…
      ‘…..instead of assuming the rest of us have your same flaws.’
      Seems a tad unfair.
      He’s using ‘you’ as a device of argument. He’s not assuming to know us….I don’t think.
      Regs.

      1. You are conflating addictions with compulsions. Not the same. But in any case, it all comes down to personal choice.
        I don’t understand what you mean by “device of argument”. Ultimately his entire article is an assumption that other people suffer his same flaws and the problem is the inanimate object exercising an undue influence upon humanity, instead of the other way around.

        1. ‘But in any case, it all comes down to personal choice.’
          Aren’t all moral issues ‘personal choice’?
          If so, then we choose not to see or discuss the effect sp.s are having on our fellows.
          Many aspects of human social life were not regulated until the damage was obvious.
          I see sp.s and social media in the same category.
          sorry no links, but south Korea has started to pass laws to protect children from these new developments in it.
          From memory, it is now illegal to give a phone to a child before age 9 (I think that’s the age).
          Companies noticed that superbly qualified young candidates were useless at interview.
          Utterly socially inept, apparently.

        2. Oh….by ‘device’ I mean I read his article in the sense that he’s saying ‘you’ and ‘your’ instead of typing out’if you are a person who uses the sp for none essential reasons more that 20-30 times a day on average’ or something.
          I don’t think he was assessing each and ever reader.
          He was just making the point imo.
          He knows some reading will not use sp.s

        3. OK I understand that but that doesn’t change my criticisms of his article.

        4. I’m not sure that the decision whether or not to use a SP is a moral choice.
          Its a fallacy to state that inanimate objects can act. They cannot. Therefore a SP cannot “damage” anyone. Anyone can damage a SP though.
          The government in SK is fucking retarded.
          If a candidate is useless at an interview that is probably an issue with his interview prep. Occasionally I use SPs to help me prepare for interviews and other meetings by researching the person I’m meeting, his company and his industry. I can do this on the train which provides immense efficiency rewards.

        5. ‘Your problem wasn’t the smartphone it was you. You couldn’t control yourself.’
          Personally, I’d largely agree with those words.
          Then again, i don’t understand who some folk DO seem to check their phones every 5mins when in company.
          It’s so rude.
          If he was one of them, HE did have a problem.
          One he has solved.

        6. ‘I’m not sure that the decision whether or not to use a SP is a moral choice.’
          Personal in respect of the effect it may have on each individual.
          I drink, but for some that would be a choice that they knew would be catastrophic, so they stay dry.
          Though s.p.s are far less dramatically damaging, for some they can become a social crutch as described by the writer above.
          if he can’t curtail that, he makes a moral choice not to care if he continues usage.
          ‘Its a fallacy to state that inanimate objects can act. They cannot. Therefore a SP cannot “damage” anyone.’
          No.
          They cannot act.
          ‘Many aspects of human social life were not regulated until the damage was obvious.
          I see sp.s and social media in the same category.’
          So, their only moral importance is in the choices people use to utilise them.
          Like alcohol or whatever.
          ‘Anyone can damage a SP though.’

          😉

        7. I’m only surprised that the iPhone didn’t put up more of a fight. Maybe it would have if it was around its owner (like a faithful hound). Did you know that one of the injured women at the Ariana Grande concert was saved by her iPhone? With no consideration to its own safety the iPhone selflessly defected a piece of shrapnel through the woman’s cheek instead of through her brain.
          She lost her middle finger however.
          As for the plucky iPhone, it was sadly destroyed.
          https://9to5mac.com/2017/05/26/iphone-saved-life-of-manchester-bombing-woman/

        8. ‘I’m only surprised that the iPhone didn’t put up more of a fight.’
          ….I know, i know…
          ‘I’m so robust, I’m so powerful, I’m so important, i can do this….I can do that….look at MY screen….’
          S’all talk in the end…..
          Talk is cheap Mr i-phone.
          Talk is cheap.

        9. It’s not the device itself, smartphones are just fancy walkie talkies. It’s the way everything is set up, it’s Skinner’s box.
          Rats were put in a box with a lever that would give them food pellets every time they pressed it. They would press it when they were hungry, and 90 percent of the time just lay around.
          When the lever would give them food every second time they pressed it, they would quickly figure this out, and only do it when they were hungry.
          When the lever gives out food at RANDOM times, they will sit and press the lever ALL DAY LONG.
          This tendency is what all casino games are based on, like a slot machine. Video games are based on this effect, too.
          And now, social media. Faceberg “Likes” are the food pellets.

      2. Before cocaine was contraban, every soda was a cocaine flavored burp tonic. Moms would sprinkle coca powder on baby’s gums while teething. Everything levels out in the end. The truly addictive personalities to idiotic social media will eventually self destruct.

        1. ‘The truly addictive personalities to idiotic social media will eventually self destruct.’
          I used to think that.
          I don’t any more.
          Truth is that they have children, vote, constitute ‘public opinion’, fund the whole system with their money and ad. revenue.
          Those are real physical effects in the world….my world and it’s dangerous to ME.
          Oh, and they get their children on social media asap.
          That’s cruel.
          Last school I worked at a nine year old child got an i-phone for her birthday…..

        2. It’s surprising how over the past 5 years smartphones went from 50% of adults who had one for utility reasons to 5 phones per person alive. I have a box of 30 some smartphones that I pick through for storage or a burner phone if I need. And then another box with about a hundred simple old flip phones. A long dead phone with no service is still good for the camera or the flashlight app. I duck taped one up to a tree branch once in front of my house to act as a security recorder. 10-15 years ago no child had a phone. Phone booths were phased out around 2005. I’ve seen 5 year olds take an old phone, navigate the menu and find some dorky kid’s game to play.
          Personally I would never pay full price for a phone or a video game. I never bought the daily newspaper either. I always read yesterdays paper. It’s free! It’s the same recycled bullshit anyway. I guess the recycled paper pulp from last month’s bullshit leeches out in the ink of the current bullshit. And I’ll wait until a game is $1 at game stop or I’ll dig through the phone recycle bin for a usable phone. It was $200 last year for some other sucker, but now it’s mine. People really should delete their nasty photos from the internal memory before they toss it into the recycle box. I don’t want to see anymore out of shape fatasses doing semi nude cosplay shit.

      3. Porn and gambling is not the same as Heroin, you sound like a yunky apologist, ¨Porn, gambling, video games, pokemon are psychological addictions, You don´t get a painful withdrawal if you stop, Heroin is a Opiate that shit will mess the chemistry of the brain and you will be forever addicted to it, you will feel a nasty opioid withdrawal when you stop, When if you stop playing video game you will only feel some stress and discomfort but you will not be in pain, puking your guts for not looking you Facebook wall in a day.
        So yeah you are a pussy with no self control if you are addicted to smartphones and you are a bigger pussy trying to compare that to substance abuse. No they are not the same, This is the same shit of the victim culture. People trying to get sympathy for make up addictions?, ooohh feel bad for me, this is an illness, bwaaaahh sniff sniff, grow a pair kid.

        1. Huuum…
          ‘….Heroin is a Opiate that shit will mess the chemistry of the brain and you will be forever addicted to it….’
          No.
          Sorry.
          That is a tv informed view.
          Lennon’s ‘Cold Turkey’ helped establish it, among other cultural ‘artifacts’.
          For around 1/3 of ‘addicts’ there are zero, that’s ZERO ‘withdrawl symptoms’ beside a slight cold.
          As per returning Heroin using American troops re-Vietnam.
          Surprising isn’t it?
          If you are interested, Theodore Dalyrmple explains it in a book he wrote around 2010ish.
          Based on his research and 30 year experience as a Prison Doctor in the UK.
          That’s the most accessible source of info i can think of right away.
          ‘….and you are a bigger pussy trying to compare that to substance abuse.’
          Oh, my mistake Duncan!
          if I’d realised you were as abusive as you were ignorant, I would have simply ignored your post entirely….
          My bad.

        2. And for the magic cards and yugi oh cards addiction user is zero, what is your point? My argument is the same, opioid addiction and Social media Addiction is not the same. The problem is that your definition of addiction include the pussy addictions. So again NOT THE SAME, So yeah I can call you a pussy for not be able to carry a smartphone daily without becoming an addict but I will recommend you to not touch heroin not even once.

    2. He is an addict with no self control, The solution to addiction is to be as far as you can from the thing you are addicted to. An alcoholic can be around booze.

  33. Agreed.
    I instinctively distrusted sp.s when I saw so many people staring at them in the company of other humans.
    Many of the above points also apply to television.
    If you really want to exercise mental hygiene, throw away your television.
    S’easy.

    1. Yes I much preferred it when people stared at other objects, like books, newspapers, the floor, the ceiling or just into empty space.

      1. ….stopping watching tv was the best thing I’ve done in years.
        Now, I honestly think I can recognise a tv watcher after a few moments conversation.
        I’d like a poster to offer one tangible positive aspect of their lives that the tv delivers.
        (Not a challenge)

        1. I enjoy watching the occasional show while eating dinner. I don’t think that requires any justification.

        2. Nothing you do or say requires any justification to me.
          Personally, I have lost patience with my friends and family who insist on funding the BBC when they KNOW what they will do with the money.
          Personally speaking.

        3. Interesting. Tomorrow I am cancelling my TV license. I will just be watching Netflix and Amazon instead.

        4. It can be a touchy subject…..
          I know English families that are as politically sound as you can get.
          They fund the BBC.
          We all agree that the BBC hates them and their values.
          They fund the BBC.
          We both understand that the BBC is targeting children (from age 7 years….sorry, that should be six years…) with ‘trans’ propaganda with pretty girls playing boys taking ****ING DRUGS to stop his natural hormonal development.
          http://www.cbeebies.com/grown-ups/cbbc
          https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2077907/parents-and-mps-fume-at-bbc-show-about-11-year-old-transgender-child-for-kids-as-young-as-six/
          They fund the BBC.
          They know that my using ‘his’ in the above sentence will soon be a ‘hate crime’ and that the BBC has declared it will actively try to get me sacked (I’m a Teacher).
          http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4524810/BBC-threat-report-offensive-comments-users-BOSSES.html
          They fund the BBC.
          Oh, and sit their children down to absorb it’s output.
          I try to avoid the subject now as I lose respect for people when I do not want to.
          Glad you’re cutting funding.

        5. I haven’t even watched the BBC in years. Fucking hate it and its fucking secret police that make you pay for the service when you never use it.

        6. Agreed.
          Further I ****ing hate the slave mentality it engenders in the population.
          Yeuk.

    2. I’ve commented on here a bit. I want to apologize for all the car crashes and botched surgeries and wrongly delivered mail I’ve caused by tooting my horn for the world to read while they should be focusing on doing their jobs or driving or paying attention to the don’t walk signs.

      1. ….hum….you think that’s bad…..
        I was supposed to be ‘busy’ working on air traffic control in New York 16 years ago.
        …don’t ask….

        2. …s’what I said when I put down my phone and looked back at my screen…..
          THAT’s when you know you need the union….

  35. Use it as a tool and that’s it – period. Other than that, it just becomes another weapon to feminize men.

  36. Number 3 – that guy will fuck that girl bc he has a ripped physique, and good looks, not bc he improved his social skills from giving up his phone.

  37. Nonsense. A smartphone is a valuable tool, if used properly. Thus a proper response to the above five points is simple: Don’t install social media apps on your smartphone. If they are pre-installed and can’t be removed, disable them. Then USE your smartphone for the activities that YOU want to do.

  38. Use it as a tool and that’s it – period. Other than that, it just becomes another weapon to feminize men.

  39. I never bothered trying to own one. My dick has never been better with such a healthy sheen to its fur.

  41. ,,4. You patience and focus improves”
    Yeah, but…what about my spelling ?
    That’s it, I’ll ditch my KGB infiltrated CIA monitoring device right now !
    In da treash iu gou !
    On a side note, I agree with the article and have been doing this exercise with my internet addiction. I used to spend evenings in front of my laptop documenting how deep did the KGB infiltrate EU parliament, US CIA and other countries’s intelligencia while creating government protection rackets for Organized Crime purveyors.
    Now I just spend time courting with mindless, ignorant, illiterate sluts while becoming a fucking moron.
    P.S.
    This message is part serious, part irony…you decide which is which.
    HELL YEAH !

  42. I see a smartphone the same way I see a firearm. It’s a tool. If you can’t be trusted to use it responsibly then by all means don’t get one. Its a huge asset to my job and makes my life somewhat more easy.

  43. Or, you can learn impulse control and use it as the simple device that it is when you need it, while putting it away all the rest of the time. Just because it comes with 10,000 apps, games and whatnot doesn’t obligate you to play them or use them all the time. I find my iZombie great for GPS navigating while on the road, I like that it stores a bajillion songs that I can connect to a receiver/speakers on my motorcycle for listening to tunes on the road, and I also find the weather app quite useful, as well as some of the apps which give me utility (restaurant locator, gas station locator, etc). That said I don’t stay glued to the device and manage to, gasp, put it away and not have it in my hand for 99% of the rest of my life. Impulse control and discipline, no need to throw it away, just use it like an adult.

  44. I’m not ditching my phone cause’ I’m far from addicted to it. I make it a point to hardly ever look at it in public even though everyone else is.

  45. GPS, camera, girlfriend uses whatsapp to text me.
    There’s some reasons to not ditch the smartphone. But if smartphones disappeared tomorrow I wouldn’t mind. They are indeed a horror for privacy. Mas surveillance devices.

  46. People who use smartphone’s constantly either have issues, are physically unattractive, or both. It’s a psychological way for them to compensate and forget reality, theirs and the world around them.
    These seemingly innocuous li’l gadgets are a good gauge on who to avoid.

  48. The problem with smartphones is that they are lousy computers. Full of buggy apps that crash or don’t work, and nearly all them include ads. If you have many apps every day it is updates and updates, and those updates ask for more and more permissions so they gain all of your data. So a smart phone is spyware.
    Intelligence agencies know where you are and can even listen to your microphone or use your camera.
    A quality desktop or laptop delivers stable applications, a screen large enough to work with, a keyboard … so you can get real productivity. You can also get a lot more security with laptop anti virus programs.
    Nothing kills productivity faster than trying to do office tasks via a smartphone.
    They are good to use as a phone, or as an e reader. In most other things like browsing the web etc, they are a last resort.
    Watching movies or gaming on a smart phone is Mickey Mouse at best.
    Smart phones are now the computers of poor people who can’t afford a decent laptop or desktop. That is why so many used smart phones are shipped abroad to the third world.
    They also cheapen music so that you see all sorts of people about with earbuds. Listening to music from quality speakers while relaxed at home is always better and the sound, if you don’t have a dedicated sound system, is much better on speakers wired to a laptop or desktop than it is using bluetooth from a smart phone.

  50. Smart phone? I don’t have one, I don’t need one, and I don’t want one. My Captain Kirk-style “flip out” cell phone works just fine for me. I can make calls, receive calls, and leave and get messages. That’s what a goddamned phone is for!
    And until I read AutomaticSlim’s post below, I was beginning to think that I was the only person left on the planet without the unnecessary gizmo.
    Oh but, my cell phone does come with a Swiss knife, a cig lighter, and a compass though. haha

  52. “You patience & performance improves,” Yeah, I think you weren’t using spell check that time.

  53. Good advice and article but apply accordingly to your own life. Overall – a little less mindless mental stimulation can do everyone good.
    I also must make note that I read all ROK articles of my mobile device

  54. I only use smartphones for Tinder…and failbook…both apps I could do without but the easy pussy from Tinder is hard to pass up.

  55. I’ve thought about it but still have my flip phone. I want a phone to make phone calls, like when I need road service. I don’t need to carry all my information around in a stealable device. If I want to take pictures I’ll bring a camera.

  56. My phone is too useful. I’m the master and the phone is the tool. Moderation, discipline. Are these forgotten concepts? Not if you are truly a Red Pill Man.

  57. I could never use one in the first place. The touchsreen is way to small not made for men with broad fingers. Yet too big to fit in pockets, made for a purse. Seems like a feminine technology to me. Maybe I’ll use one if they ever get voice interface to work well enough so I can retrieve information by just asking.

  58. They put you in camps for Internet addiction in China. Smartphones are no different! Western culture has more addiction than an culture in order to keep you weak to be easily controlled!

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