I have a smartphone (Android os) can't imagine not having one now, just too many conveniences .
Oh yeah, I have a flashlight app, have to check this out.
Give me an example of one "convenience."
The flashlight is one.
The GPS is another.
Internet access where ever you are is another.
Music is another.
A handy camera (still & video) is yet another.
If you have a small business you can get the app & accessory to swipe credit or debit cards.
Access to videos is another.
E-books is yet another.
Those are just a few of the conveniences.
The flashlight is one. - Well, I have to admit, sometimes that would come in handy at night unlocking my house, but usually I forget to take my mobile with me, so maybe a key-chain light would be better.
The GPS is another. - I can't see an instance where I would ever use that. The area of the world I navigate I know by heart.
Internet access where ever you are is another. - I live in the moment, focused on what ever I am doing. If I don't want internet access, I don't need internet access.
Music is another.- I'm deaf.
A handy camera (still & video) is yet another. - Again, as an existentialist, I have no use for videos or pictures. The present is the only thing that is important. The government or corporations would sure like to use your phone to find out what you are doing and seeing though, I am sure. If it's important enough of an event for pictures, I will think ahead to bring a camera. Otherwise, I want to enjoy the moment, not spend it taking pictures.
If you have a small business you can get the app & accessory to swipe credit or debit cards. - I make it a point to go through my week to see how many days of the month I can NOT interact with the economy, ON PURPOSE. It is the only way we can stop the slavery of the people. I remember the Christians used to devote ONE WHOLE day to remembering this principle, the principle that their God, which the son taught them LOVE is more important than mammon. Now, Sunday comes, and most of these lost souls spend more time on Sunday either in the mall or watching advertisements with their football than thinking about love.
Access to videos is another. - Movies and TV, as an art form, were meant to be enjoyed and savored. It is a sacrilege to view them on anything less than a 12" screen. Do you think Spielberg,
Scorsese or Tarantino would ever watch a movie on one of those infernal devices?
E-books is yet another. - Extended reading from small tablets and digital terminals are bad for your eyes. I spend too much time looking at a big monitor as it is. A small one would make me blind before too long. There is nothing like the feeling of reading an actual book. It is better for your eyes, and better for your soul.
I remember when I went to have lunch with Kurt Vonnegut in the early 1990's, he took a book off of the book shelf, quickly let all the pages fly through his thumb while he smelled the pages and gave us all this warning;
He told us all that the days of the old book were numbered for most of society. But there would be a few of us who would resist, and properly so. Because reading a book, believe it or not, connects you to your fellow man. Unless you are the first person to read that book, countless others have read it before you. Now remember how books AFFECT you. After, think about how that book has traveled in society, and it has affected countless others.
He told us how, electronic books will never remind us of our connection to others in such a way. We will never be reminded, just by looking at a book, how many people have read that particular book. We will never be able to imagine how many people's lives that particular book touched. He even intimated, that with electronic books, there will never even be a way to guarantee that the authors original words are the ones that they had intended, because electronic works are SO EASY to manipulate and change the content of.
He said, that if electronic books had been around at the time of the Third Reich, Hitler wouldn't have had to go and burn any books, he would have just had his propaganda ministry go in and change the meaning and text of all the books and get rid of the hard copies.
So basically what I am trying to say, is.. . . Keep your Ebooks, and want the real thing.