Social Networking and Smartphones

[rdeez]

I titled this quite poorly, but couldn't think of anything better.

What does everyone thing about the 'always connected' nature of lives now? I just needed to explain myself to someone who thought I was ignoring them because I didn't reply to their Facebook messages all of yesterday. It got me thinking about how expectations have changed for a lot of people and it's much harder to 'switch off' because people expect you to be always available, all the time.

I find myself increasingly frustrated that, while being by no means more popular than average socially, day to day I'm interrupted by messages. And then I feel guilty if I don't reply quickly. I work 12 hour shifts in a job where people are constantly demanding my attention, so time to myself is something I value, which is what I try to explain to people.

It just seems like some people can't understand someone needing to be 'off the grid'.

How does everyone else feel about this? Does anyone else feel like this? Is this continuous availability a benefit to our lives or a bit of a curse?

 

[LowLevel]

I quite agree. I'm 24. I hate constantly being bleeped at or whatever from somewhere. I have 2 phones, a work one and a personal one. Between them something is usually flashing away. Then there's whenever I log on to my computer. Sometimes I just have to switch them all off and sit somewhere else with a book.

I do wish I could have a slower pace of life. I do a job that theoretically shouldn't demand me being required by someone at all hours (I'm a train guard) but even when that's not the case I have people all over the place doing different things at different times wanting to talk to me. The internet means everyone gets dragged into doing everything at light speed whether they want to or not.

I know I come across as rude at times not replying to things but I honestly can't stand logging into things sometimes :cry:

 

[lemonic]

I agree as well. I found it particularly difficult when revising for exams in January when I'd get people messaging me on Facebook when I just wanted to shut myself away without distractions rather than feeling pressurised into replying immediately. I could have just not gone on Facebook, but I found it a useful way to take a break from revising from time to time.

 

[SS4]

It's a pain in the backside. Luckily I only add people I know and like so I have a small but understanding friends list and for those in the UK I use SMS. Perhaps I am going off topic but what I find more annoying is that bloatware is starting to make its way onto smartphones. Combine this with frankly excessive permissions and there is a real sense of being too connected. I use tinfoil for facebook on Android and do not use any other social networking sites - if I had my time over again I would not install facebook and stick to Jabber and SMS

tl:dr - the fault still lies with people expecting too much too quickly. Make them wait and if they won't they're not worth it.

 

[306024]

I'm delighted to say I didn't understand a word of that last post. Alexander Graham Bell has a lot to answer for if you ask me.

 

[Kite159]

I turn my mobile internet off on my works phone at 5pm, it doesn't get turned on until 8am, any emails received over night can wait until the morning.

My main phone is the same, I only have the wi-fi/mobile internet turned on when I'm using it, no annoying facebook messages or notifications where it decides to suddenly want to give me notifications of when someone posts in a group.

If urgent they can still ring and I normally answer (unless I'm driving or in the gym)

 

[Techniquest]

I'm going to go against the trend here, as I like being able to keep in touch with people. Before I had my first smartphone back in January 2012, keeping up to date with things was one massive chore. Then along came my contract phone, a ZTE San Francisco II with Orange, and all of a sudden I had unlimited free texts, 400 minutes and 250MB of data a month. It made keeping in communication not only easier but possible with some people, it was sure easier to organise a social life and I certainly found having the smartphone essential on my 2012 ALR. The amount of times I needed to use NRE was unreal, so being able to use it and not rely solely on timetables was most useful.

As I was away from home for all 14 days too, being able to ring home to make sure my Mum knew I was OK etc, without the need to find a payphone and then the change for use in said payphones, was very useful. I also barely saw anyone I knew despite going almost all over the country so Facebook was useful for keeping in touch with friends at work and friends from elsewhere.

Being able to keep up to date with my e-mail was also incredibly useful too, another thing I could never do easily before. Aside from that, if I wanted to snap something interesting I saw I could use the camera function and quickly share it. Finally, I could play music on YouTube which comes in handy way more than you'd expect. Long festers at Crewe were no longer a problem, and if I wanted to look up a tune I've heard out and about I could do so there and then.

So yes, I like having a smartphone. What I find more irritating is that some people either never get back to you or those who you want to reply to something, be it a status on Facebook or a text, don't appear to have read it. I don't expect instant results, I know only too well how irritating that is to have someone send you a text and followed only a minute later by another with just "???" in it. Give me a ****in' chance to type a reply or think of one! A reply more than weeks later is not good enough.

As for whether it's wrong for people to expect you to be online 24/7 or not, I'd say those people are generally too impatient and got no life if they're constantly demanding instant replies or whatever. Most people I communicate with regularly know that if my phone's off it's because I'm at work or going through a significant area of no signal as happens for about 35 minutes on my inward commute, about 25 minutes on my homeward commute. Oh, and otherwise it's because I'm asleep. Only when I'm away from home is my phone constantly on. Oh, and I usually only go online when I want to, I don't leave my data connection on all the time, no need!

Oh yeah, and I have a policy of not reading texts or answering the phone when I'm eating. Nothing interrupts my meal unless it's urgent, only ever broken my rule once. Not even a certain young lady gets an answer if I'm eating!