has anyone else lost the plot with technology?

[RosaWaiting]

just wondered really

after a few friends told me to get WhatsApp as it was easier for them, I got it. This morning I heard about the hack and was thinking, what's the best way to keep your phone safe?

I actually resisted getting a smartphone for a really long time but when it became the same price as anything else, I thought oh well, sod it.

I feel like it's become a pain keeping things safe and so on. I think I might go back to using my phone just as a phone.

Also, I had a time out from the workplace last year - one of my roles was social media. Within 6 months, the amount of change that occurs across platforms....just all seems a pain in the butt.

I just wondered if anyone else felt like this. If you'd asked me five years ago, I'd have said, ooh I love technology, but now I'm not so sure.

I've never had banking apps on the phone because I don't have a landline and prefer not to do anything on the phone that uses a lot of battery power.

meanwhile it seems like all the changes around phones don't solve the main issue, which is that smartphones run out of battery so fast.

I can't believe I sound like such a dinosaur, but I've hit the point where I just wonder what it's all about!

anyone else previously enjoyed all the tech but now thinking like this?

just me then? I did wonder about posting in AIBU as Chat doesn't seem to get much traffic...!

Nope, not just you....it's a crazy world out there in the digital land.

I use a desk top computer and an original Nokia phone. Have no Apps, only social media is FB and MN.
It suits me fine.

Whip that's interesting, I only know one person who doesn't have a smartphone and was considered a bit mad for not having one. Well, my mother doesn't use a smartphone (80s) but all her friends do.

I suppose I feel like it's all eating itself
I'm guessing the excitement with WA was people using PAYG phones and wanting to use the internet for calling etc?

I was going to post a separate query, but goodness knows it won't get any traffic if not in AIBU so here goes....

I could do with buying a tablet. I had an ipad given to me in my previous job and I clearly didn't appreciate it enough, it's very expensive!

It's now too old to do updates etc and won't run MN or Twitter, so I would like to buy a tablet but I don't know what's good apart from ipad.

I also don't know how they run in terms of who has access to the data, but maybe that's all irrelevant, I don't know?

If anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them. I do still need to be able to open Word and Excel in whatever tablet I get.

thanks.

Well I may be a bit mad too - who knows.
My phone was a PAYG until last year when I decided to take up a contract - worst thing ever as the phone company are grabby, grabby, grabby, and are forever trying to get me to upgrade - though I don't need to!
BUT - I run a successful business - at my pace. I've just finished one set of work, and now don't need to do anything until Friday.

Been pottering in the garden all afternoon instead.

Afraid I can't help you on the tablet thing though - it's a minefield out there!
Good luck!

Whip it's good to know you run a successful business without a smartphone

I suppose it's just a bit weird for me - having embraced a lot of the tech, I suddenly find myself saying "why does everything change every 5 mins".

I'm always amazed when they bring out the latest smartphone and the first thing isn't some kind of massive improvement in battery power!

I do sometimes wonder how on earth people would cope if their phones got nicked. Absolutely everything is on there and passwords for most accounts, as well as payment card numbers, are saved too.

I don't like it at all. I like having separate things that don't rely on my phone to work e.g. an analogue wrist watch, a dedicated camera, a laptop, a radio, an alarm clock... I like leaving home without the damned thing and not feeling like I'm hindered in some way. Neither do I love the idea that tech companies are following me around, saving all of my data and personal information and know everything about me.

I've never used a banking app or anything like that - I don't know what happens if your phone gets nicked and you do use those?

I do have my phone with me all the time - I don't use a landline and my mother is elderly so unless I'm in a work meeting, it's with me and on vibrate.

I was just posting because most people I know, ranging from 25-85, have a smartphone and thought it was mad that I didn't have one.

I was actually thinking, after deleting WA, that when this contract runs out I might just get an old fashioned dumbphone and I won't have to charge it every day.

the only reason I'm considering a tablet is - I spend a lot of time at Mum's, and some of that time she is resting etc so I use that time to be on MN and Twitter and read on the Kindle app.

I also use Spotify on my ipad at home. So a new tablet would need to replace those things, but when work isn't paying for it, I have to think about it carefully in terms of cost.

I LOVE the advances in technology, think it's brilliant that we have access to so much information BUT it's crazy how fast tech keeps changing and the way we all need to keep up in order to fully understand what we are actually doing online. One thing I don't bother with so much now is music - I kind of miss how music used to be, the new releases coming out and going to buy a CD which you then keep, an actual thing you can touch and read the lyrics on the cover. I've just never got into downloading/streaming/paying a monthly fee for access to music.

Cherry, yes, I used to be like that till very recently!

New releases still happen with music though? And you can still buy CDs?

I love having playlists too.