Despite my teenage children accusing me of looking like a small-time drug dealer, life with my new, old-looking Nokia has been one of serene calm.
It’s a month since I binned my incessantly needy smartphone on January 1st, 2018. It is much less difficult than I imagined and the result has been a revelation. Try it and your days will seem longer, books are more appealing, you’ll be far less distracted, more patient and less irritable.
An unexpected aspect of being free of the smartphone is that other people’s small talk is more interesting. Because you don’t know what’s going on in the world on a minute-by-minute basis, you are constantly surprised by the chat of people that you bump into and even old friends.
When a person excitedly enquires, “Did you hear what yer man said today on Twitter?” you are all ears because you have no idea what Donald Trump tweeted a minute ago about “shitholes” or immigrants or the American Dream. You don’t know because the little thing in your pocket hasn’t beeped to update you on the latest presidential outrage.
Quickly, you realise that you don’t care what Trump tweeted this morning, that you’re not fazed by the latest twist in the Brexit saga, that your life is not enhanced by knowing that Taylor Swift Croke Park tickets sold out or that Manchester City spent £100 million on some French teenage soccer sensation.
Your mind is cleared of lots of clutter.
Daily life without constant emails, Twitter feeds, Facebook updates and Instagram photos is a blessed relief. It feels like you are back in control of your own time and not constantly being tugged by some inanimate force at all times of day and night.
Back in Time
Giving up the smartphone is not for everyone, and there are obviously degrees of addiction. Maybe it’s an age thing, but for someone who led most of his adult life without being compulsively interrupted by an algorithm, it has been surprisingly easy to step back in time.
For the generation described as “digital natives”, it may be more difficult, but for those of us who remember exactly where they were when Dave O’Leary sent the Romanian keeper the wrong way, binning the latest device is no big deal.
I’m not on a total detox: I check emails, Twitter, and Facebook on my laptop once or twice a day, usually late in the evening, but not being available to everyone all the time is beginning to feel like freedom.
And I’m not evangelical about it. Last week I was travelling and wanted to be on WhatsApp rather than paying extortionate fees to phone companies, so I swapped phones but made sure to delete all social media and Gmail apps from my smartphone.
Like others, I have given up the smartphone in order to work smarter. It’s a device that has made me not smart but less focused, less productive, and less creative.
And, as I work for myself, the expression “time is money” is relentlessly true. If I am giving my time to my smartphone, where’s the money going? To some lad in Silicon Valley whose networks are made more valuable by my time, yet I’m doing all the giving, and he and his shareholders are doing all the taking.
As more people work in the “gig economy”, the smartphone dilemma becomes more acute.
Once we appreciate that everything that is creatively interesting or good is difficult and rarely comes easily, then we understand the need for focus, hard work and application. Focus tends to come from clearing our minds of distractions and applying our brains uninterrupted to finding out something new, fixing something or making connections we never saw before.
Therefore, we all need to use our time wisely, delineating unforgivingly between the frivolous and the necessary.
This brings me to the more general issue of “attention economy” itself and its unpleasant brother the “distracted economy”.
Wealth-Creating Cycles
Historically, the economy has operated in great wealth-creating cycles or ages. The first great age was the agricultural age, when land was the source of wealth. This bred feudalism, the landed gentry, and peasantry.
Next came the industrial age, when the main source of wealth was industrial capital, breeding the great worker-versus-capitalist divisions of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Then came the “knowledge economy” of the late 20th century, where ownership of knowledge or know-how (and locking it in via significant scientific investment and patent protection) generated vast wealth.
Now we are in what is termed the “sharing economy”, where knowledge is disseminated and the network – not the stored knowledge – becomes crucial. Once you have the network, you can sell to it and bypass traditional market structure. This is the Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter business model – a global process of eliminating the middleman, who used to mediate and take a cut between buyers/customers and sellers/producers.
A key element of the sharing economy is the “attention economy”. Without grabbing our attention, the shared economy can’t work. In the attention economy, all products compete for our attention, not unlike the way great pop songs did in the past.
We are all vulnerable to the attention economy and its main transmission mechanism, the smartphone. By having our smartphone always on, we give this economy permission to operate.
The flip side of the “attention economy” is the “distracted economy”. Once we allow our attention to be grabbed, we allow ourselves to be distracted. And once we are distracted, we can’t focus or deliver excellent work in an economy that demands quality – whether we are working inside a competitive company or on your own in the market.
This is the crux of the smartphone dilemma, and it’s not hard to see that the smartphone, by driving us to distraction, could easily end up being the dumbphone.
1 of David’s very best articles. And, this type of contribution proves David to be a great asset to an entrepreneur. He has an entrepreneurs practical positive mindset himself. Were David a bank manager, he would be buzzing with ebullient, & mostly practical, ideas to encourage the entrepreneur applicant for Zero Reserve Banking Loan whereby David’s bank under license of the Private Central Bank [ Irish Central Bank > Bank of International Settlements > Rothschilds when we had Punt only ; Irish Central Bank > European Central Bank ( ECB ) > Bank of International Settlements > Rothschilds now that… Read more »
nice. well done david – disconnect to re-connect!
I did a similar thing at the beginning of 2017 – I uninstalled all those noisy ‘newsy’ apps, steered away from social media and disabled those pesky notification pings! 12 months later I think I may have saved myself from an early on-set of digital dementia ;-)
Subscribe.
Damn!
I was bragging that I am the only person in Ireland who did NOT have a smartphone
Thought provoking!! i never did get into the smart phone that way. I did have one of the first car radio phones. Then a beeping pager I had to phone dispatch for the message. Then the message pager + a mobile phone. Then a smart phone and retired. What did I use to do. Sell real estate. I was never in the office. Communications was key. Going from one appointment to another was key. i needed information very quickly and needed to be reached. Market evaluations for individual properties were key. Info available on the computer plus a fast printer.… Read more »
Speaking of Social Media ; This is indication of how our Civil Serve-Piss think of us ; z HEADING ; Gardaí investigate ‘joke’ at expense of missing woman z Monday, February 05, 2018 – 09:23 pm z By Cormac O’Keeffe and Olivia Kelleher z THE ARTICLE ; Gardaí are examining claims that members of the force made a joke around missing Cork woman Tina Satchwell but have not yet decided if disciplinary proceedings are warranted or not. Ms Satchwell’s husband, Richard, has asked for a written apology from the Garda after he was alerted to the circulation on social media… Read more »
I feel that someone is unfortunately showing their age… While many people were focused on destroying newly-developed mechanical looms, the enlightened majority saw the advantages in what was to become the industrial revolution and were able to embrace change. If history has taught us anything it is that there will always be resistance to significant change, but overachingly we humans have been versatile enough to adapt to, accept and benefit from technological advances. There will always be cautions attached, but without confidence in policing ourselves we’d still be living in caves. Yes we can be distracted by smart phones, but… Read more »
Funnily enough, if good advice comes from social media ;
==> We more likely to respect it, & honor it
e.g.
8-)
https://twitter.com/HenryMakow/status/959801769588133888
If Cash was substituted by Smart-Phones, could u issue extra smart-phones into the economy the way that David’s former employers the Banksters do ? z “Here u are Tony Brogan. Here u are now, 1,000 “just invented from thin air” Apple iPhones — by my Bank through Zero* Reserve Banking — for ur real Mercedes.” z * Forget “Fractional” Reserve Banking ; It has become even worse than that. They now invent digital currency from thin air without any Cash or Money [ i.e. Gold ; Only Gold, & just about so … Silver are Money ] in the Reserves… Read more »
I don’t bother with Apps but I have my email on all day and I deal with them as them as they come in – I could be waiting outside the fruit and veg shop for the wife and can deal with 3 or 4 emails in 5 mins – then come the evening they are all dealt with and I don’t have to sit down and deal with a whole slew of them. Smartphones don’t waste hours of my time – quite the opposite, they save me hours. You’ll be back on it before long David but my advice… Read more »
Yeah spot on Mike, you just turn it off when you want. My phone is permanently on ‘silent’ in any case. Even if someone did try to call me (my friends know not to) then I wouldn’t hear it. A lot of kids are addicted these days though and it’s going to cause them serious issues in the future. Don’t know how to reply directly to your comment Mike. There doesn’t seem to be a button. One thing that would help me a lot would be if I could see the author of each comment on this blog when we… Read more »
The Dreadful Few could never have dreamed how useful the Smart Phone would be for controlling the populace Had someone given a presentation of just how effective social media would be to further dumb down the Goyim, it all would be so implausible e.g.s Selfies Facebook Although, G..dar would be very plausible unfortunately I used to say that it was all about Control ; But, that is only a means to an end The End which it immediately serves is Manipulation Capitalism [ But, really that which we call Capitalism is Financialism ] = Communism Because, each society ends up… Read more »
Napoleon would much prefer to have an idiot general who was lucky than a brilliant general who was unlucky.
So, better to be an Dipstick flush with Bitcoin on one’s computer device than be a Polymath who had his Gold stolen by a femme-fatale.
Anyway, here is an outline of how 1 noted investor sees things panning out ;
http://knowyouradversary.com/2018/02/04/another-clue-to-the-upcoming-bloodbath-outgoing-fed-chair-janet-yellen-questions-asset-bubbles/
Could I suggest a slight modification.
Declutter ones smartphone (or declutter one’s use perhaps) rather than quitting it. I don’t use twitter, facebook or any of that shyte.
I subscribe to about three MB and post quite actively. (I also read other posters posts too btw)
I got my first smartphone after I retired.
Her indoors seemed to think I needed to be contactable no matter what.
In the end I succumbed and now she’s sorry.
Do be careful what you wish for!
Anyway to continue to hammer on about the property market. Recently an acquaintance of mine was bidding on a property. The property was advertised to be sold by private treaty. The viewings, the bidding etc and then the prepare to be gazumped dutch auction or best abd final bid. Obviously the auctioneer wanted mortgage approval stuff. My acquaintance decided to get their solicitor to send in a letter stating that my acquaintance had the necessary funds etc to back their bud. The auctioneer was less than impressed, you can guess why. So in addition to some of my other suggestions… Read more »
OK, so I would trade life in olden times for the life we have today. And, I know a bloke who occasionally makes a special point of declaring that he would love to have lived in the mid 1700s & into the mid 1800s. Overall, I perceive the internet & computer technology as being a sword whose handle is the sharpest blade. “Be careful for what u wish for”, reminds our own McCawber. Still, I find Return of Kings to be a fascinating ongoing read. Were it not for the internet, one would most likely never have opportunity to glean… Read more »
Actually there’s a new app arising from David’s articke.
A usaga monitor app that brings up alarms depending on specified usage limits criteria.
How does TooMuchShyte app sound.
Or maybe NoShit app – kind of runs off the tongue better.
I swear I’m not on anything legal or illlegal.
Have a nice evening.
Recent effort to create revolution in Iran by Mshd-MI6-CIA was based on encouraging the Iranian youth being incited to fall for that trap through Social Media on Smart Phones & Tablet Computers ;
Here is an eye-opener for ewes all about Iran ;
Good rock track playing in the background.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ2X6o1eGhw
Available on your smart phone
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news.php?Itemid=27601
Diplomacy = walking softly and carrying a big stick.
Back to the future as banks attempt to incite inflation buy producing volumes of additional money for us all to spend. Here is a graph showing that for hundreds of years there was no inflation yet huge industrial growth. Then a hundred years ago we had the first major impact of money printing to replace the gold standard, annual inflation occurred and then skyrocketed followed by a bust. Since then we have had several periods of relatively high inflation followed by recessions and at present we are in the midst of yet another boom to be inevitably followed by the… Read more »
For sure, the intelligence agencies through their propaganda [ overt & subliminal ] departments have succeeded with indoctrinating a critical mass of social media youth to be Amoral Anti-CuLture Anti-Catholic Anti-Free Enterprise Anti-Caucasian “Marxists / Fascists”
Blockchain technology coming to gold.
Using a smart phone will enable the use of honest money.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/when-the-going-gets-tough-germans-buy-aussie-gold-they-re-doing-it-now-20180205-p4yzgw.html
HEADING ; Teenagers are more depressed than ever ; And, 7 adults who went undercover as high-school students almost immediately realized why Mark Abadi Feb. 6, 2018, 1:58 PM Adults went undercover as high school students on the A&E show “Undercover High.” They found that depression was surprisingly common at the high school — and social media and smartphones play a huge role. Teens often feel pressure to maintain their images online around the clock, leading to stress and feelings of inadequacy. American teenagers are hurting. In the past five years, depression and suicide rates among American teens have shot… Read more »
There’s some kind of rotten fish in Denmark and New York. Stocks had an up and down day, crossing above and below the unchanged line. At 2:30 when the Dow was still underwater at 24,248.25 “somebody” heavyweight started buying and ran the Dow up nearly 600 points. Generally when there’s an “unseen hand” it ain’t Adam Smith’s but the Nice Government Men of the Plunge Protection Team, doing what government is supposed to do: protect Wall Street & the banks. You can see the days trading at nasdaq.com. Click on “DJIA” for chart. https://the-moneychanger.com/eCampaign/commentary.php?Key=20180206 Don’t lose your head. Lots of… Read more »
How about … ? “If u want to work smarter, quit ur attachment with ur government.” Henry Makow? @HenryMakow TWEET ; Alan Watt – A Globalist Agenda For a Dumbed-Down Domesticated Society – A Prison Planet special https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VllwRgSECcw … 50:00 -at this point he explains how our communities and families were shut down to make people dependent on government who are their abusers….and victimizers BLURB ; Alan Watt – A Globalist Agenda For a Dumbed Down Domesticated Society – A Prison Planet special Published on Apr 16, 2012 Allan Watt is one of the most prolific researchers and educators on… Read more »
https://needtoknow.news/2018/02/german-refugee-worker-admits-wrong-plans-move-poland/
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/02/06/radical-islamic-extremists-threaten-police-officer-involved-deportations/
One man’s opinion
https://michaelsavage.com/2018/02/06/who-manipulated-the-stock-market-to-hurt-trump/
February 7, 2018 interviewGary Christenson, Contributing Writer For Miles Franklin We Did It To Ourselves! It’s Time for Change. Serious problems affect Americans. Problems first, solutions at the end! We did what to ourselves? Our representatives, senators, and Presidents, supposedly acting on our behalf, voted for and created what history has shown are huge monetary and fiscal mistakes. Some will disagree, but consider this partial list: 1 – Central banking and The Federal Reserve Act: Enough money was spread around Washington D.C. to purchase the passage of this self-serving banking monstrosity. It was signed into law by President Wilson over… Read more »
https://spectator.org/hillarys-attempt-to-steele-the-election/?utm_source=American+Spectator+Emails&utm_campaign=033fcfcac3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_797a38d487-033fcfcac3-104365713
If you want to know what the crookedly corrupt are doing just listen to what they are accusing others.
You couldn’t make it up (do the Irish lefties still want Ireland to follow the Swedish model?): https://squawker.org/culture-wars/antifa-disrupts-lgbt-parade-claims-gay-people-are-offensive-to-muslims/
Actually, the most skilled users of Smart-Phones are women ; It ties in with a natural talent that they all have ; Multi-tasking Talent ; The qualifier “so-called” refers to Multi-tasking ; Not to Talent. Because, the talent is true. But, the “multi-tasking” is mis-represented, & thus mis-understood for what it really is i.e. Multi-tasking is not as most of ewes think it to be. And, the more devious women who use smart-phones are probably the best of the best ; Their particular drive motivates them to hone their skills so. But, these best of the best are all no… Read more »
From the less mobile IT communication device of criminally convicted pedophile Hubby of Hillary Cliton’s very close female companion Huma Abedin ;
http://archive.is/24a5s
Interesting names there
e.g.
Mandy ; aka Peter Mandelson
Of course, Mshd-Google et al Mshd-whatever want it such that ewes only get ur news on ur smart-phone from their spook / journalist outlets that HATE Caucasians [ They hate Blacks / Negros, & Asians too of course ; And, hiding it they are presently ; Anyway, they hate Caucasians most ; Funny that, because most of ’em look Caucasian themselves ]
Here is news that is classed as NOT fake news by the Mshd-Washington Post ;
TWEET
Wash. Post laments Trump’s Immigration Plan ;
‘Could Keep Whites in U.S. Majority For Up to 5 More Years’
https://twitter.com/HenryMakow/status/961303809472499712
Imagine the Bliss that would occur if we turned the internet off for 6 months. Phones would be for making phone calls, faxes for placing orders, the post box for sending mail. We would go the bank to do our banking and meet people. We would talk to people on trains because you would have no phones to look at. You would read a newspaper or listen to the radio for news. You would go the library to find out about something. You would go to a shop to buy something. People would actually communicate about real things that concerned… Read more »
Germany wants war in Europe – they elected Herr Martin Schulz as the new German Foreign Minister. His father, Karl Schulz (SS-Hauptsturmführer und Chef des Konzentrationslagers Mauthausen), was murdering prisoners in Mauthausen German concentration camp (a role he volunteered to assume in 1939). The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
They don’t make us dumber Grzegorz Kolodziej, they make us smarter when properly used. A lot of young people are out of control though, or rather they are addicted. Serious problems ahead in that sense. How come we can’t reply to every comment, but only some?
I still have an old phone which I turn on once a fortnight to tell the time. I would not know how to turn on a smart phone nor would I want to. I had a day off yesterday and deleted my Facebook account. my dozen ‘friends’ can send me an email if it is important. This is actually quite difficult to do so I am proud of myself. I would be horrified if the internet were switched off as then I would be dependent on RTE or fumbling with the long wave of a radio to find something else,… Read more »
Some kind of bug Tony. Again, I cannot reply directly to you.
TWEET ;
Article about the surveillance society.
Why is it necessary ?
Reflects the paranoia of the central bankers and the one percent.
https://twitter.com/HenryMakow/status/961647865566322688
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/08/26/the-emerging-mark-of-the-beast-system/
Smart-Phones or Tablets or Laptops or Desktop Computers etc
Devices one uses to acquire Bitcoin & sell Bitcoin.
If ewe understood the Bankster Scam Bundle & the other main Diabolical Conspiracies against Mankind ;
==> Ewe would know just how formidable this geezer is.
But, then again, ewe may be a 3rd division dip-stick.
Ref.
Henry Makow?
@HenryMakow
TWEET ;
Watch “Lord Rothschild Vows To Destroy Bitcoin – Launches ‘FedCoin’”
https://twitter.com/HenryMakow/status/961677500698058752
3rd Attempt at trying to successfully post important info. for trying to understand & reveal about “The Matrix” ; Previous 2 attempts are awaiting permission from monerator So, I post this without the source link If yee curious as to the source : highlight a notable string of text right click If Mshd-Google browser ; Select search with Google ; Or some such phrase Peruse the results U should select result which is website of Leo Lyon Zagami An type of off-topic post which will always be gratefully appreciated by even the on-topic pedants ; HEADING ; Incredible: Barack Hussein… Read more »
I think that David and Leo should watch this visualisation of a child from conception to birth, then look in the mirror and ask themselves whether they really believe that a 12 weeks old child r e a l l y isn’t human:
https://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tedspread–b#t-240650
‘Verily I say unto you, Since you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.’
INSATIABLE !
AND, ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO USE THE MORAL COP-OUT PHRASE ;
“momentous events”
TWEET ;
Another Unnecessary War
By Idan Landau
Israel will soon launch a military operation in Lebanon.
Washington has already given a green light.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48771.htm
https://twitter.com/HenryMakow/status/962126395911655425
Smart Phones ==> Talk & Text are still the primary communication modes ==> Freedom of Speech
But, not if the Middle East’s own self-proclaimed special little democracy says so !
Wonder what laws that the Israelis are using ;
https://needtoknow.news/2018/02/israel-sues-new-zealanders-free-speech-new-zealand/
Yip, I agree with that ;
Most of the conspiracies tend NOT to be secret ;
i.e.
Most of the conspiracies tend to be open
But, not if ewe are a Jerk or hungry to be a 3rd division dipstick or …
Anyway, here is the link that posits this claim by the irrepressible jazz musician & author & philosopher [ chiefly a lover of German philosophy ] Mr. Gilad Atzmon
Atzmon served in the Israeli Army [ IDF ]
David should invite him to be special guest, & as regular guest, on his TV shows.
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2018/2/9/living-in-an-orwellian-tyranny
After we’ve been saved from Martin Schulz – one of Europe’s maddest people – to become a new German Minister for Foreign Affairs, things get rather interesting in German politics:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/10/germany-politics-kevin-kuhnert-student-angela-merkel-spd-grand-coalition
NEWS FLASH !
Straight from the horse’s mouth ;
ISRAEL DECLARES “OPEN WAR ON IRAN” !
So, yee best buy Gold !
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
TWEET ;
Henry Makow?
@HenryMakow
Henry Makow
Retweeted The Jerusalem Post
Hear that folks ?
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
The Jerusalem Post?
Verified account
@Jerusalem_Post
The open war with Iran has begun
http://dlvr.it/QFs4Fn
https://twitter.com/HenryMakow/status/962485422411669505
How has the “state of play outside of ur Smart-Phone” changed since time of that outlined in link below ? And, to be fair to Bertie – “I won it at the races” – Ahern, he was much more discreet than to offend our wise sensibilities with overt Freemasonry symbolism vis. Ewe would never customarily see Bertie putting his upper limb into garment opening of his upper torso as these famous figures of world history have done. Although, Bertie was given to inserting his hand into openings of garment covering a different region of his anatomy ; And, that was… Read more »
David On the subject of the ‘sharing economy’ is it about time that we investigated the ‘sharing economy’ of the Irish charity sector in light of the issues raised by Oxfam? The Irish taxpayer pays/is sharing €700 million per annum directly through taxation ( with unquantified direct private charity contributions) in this sector and this money just disappears into unknown NGO/charity bank accounts. The shenanigans are the stuff of legends with stories of prostitutes, swiss bank accounts and personnel from religious orders (and NGOs) living like feudal lords in the 3rd world. It should keep the tabloids busy for a… Read more »
Well known cover for locating a spy person network + spy logistical network ;
Charities
Of course, Communication is very important for Spies.
“To have a Smart-phone or not to have a Smart-phone ? ;
That is the question !
Or rather, to have a Mshd-Google Spy-phone or not to have a Mshd-Google Spy-phone ?”
http://aanirfan.blogspot.com/2018/02/charities-run-by-spies.html