My 11 year old niece has a smartphone- im angry

[Spectric]

It's all intensely annoying.

Yes it seems that everyone believes everyone including their pet dog now has a smart phone which is just a really daft assumption, what about all the much older generation who don't even have a Pc or IT skills. I have one somewhere but refuse to carry it about like it is surgically connected to me and needs attention 24/7 as there is so much more to life than sharing what you are about to eat with thousands of strangers.

 

[Doug B]

Is it just a slow day, I’ve only opened 2 threads so far & both of them are old.

 

[Spectric]

Yes that 11 year old probably has a job and a family by now and a smart phone, at some point she will be having the same issues with her youngster about having a smartphone..

 

[JSW]

I have one somewhere but refuse to carry it about like it is surgically connected to me and needs attention 24/7 as there is so much more to life than sharing what you are about to eat with thousands of strangers.

Covid pretty much made them essential. Personally I don't use any social media, even Whatsapp, but the phone never leaves me now, even sits in a cradle on the bedside table, something I would never have entertained for a minute 5 years ago.

I don't carry a wallet anymore, that was a hard habit to break, but the phone's wallet is perfect for a couple of cards/bus pass and some banknotes, which is all I need.

I was used to wearing a watch, why? force of habit, that's all. The phone tells me the time, weather, messages, emails, notifications etc .. all (for me at least) essential everyday items.

The internet's instantly accessible, I can read a book, listen to a podcast, play solitaire etc etc if waiting in a car park/hospital wherever.

Oh, and it's a Moto G31, replacement for a Moto G4, that came highly recommended on these very forums. It's on Amazon atm for £75 quid, worth it just as a backup.

 

[MikeJhn]

You must be young, the flippant way you say "I don't even have Whatsapp" make is sound as though your special not having it, I don't even know what it does and have lived quite successfully without it. I do have a mobile it sits in the armrest of my car for emergencies only, total bill for a year is less than £10.00 hate to think what most people are spending.

 

[GuitardoctorW7]

I just tried to log into my PayPal account and they want to verify my identity by sending a text to my mobile phone, which dose not work at home, the alternative was a text too my Whats app account that I don't have, these assumptions from companies like PayPal is what drives costs up and perpetuates the use of AI in our increasingly automated world.

My wife got a call on WA purporting to be from a group she's in. They asked for a code she'd been sent and naively gave it to them. That started a real s**t storm as it was a professional scammer. They basically took over her account and started to contact everyone in her directory asking for money, usually £500! I got many a text and call from people asking if she was OK?
Trying to recover the account was a nightmare as the recovery code was sent to "other mobile setting" namely theirs and before I had a chance to change it to my wife's mobile they were waiting and beat me to it.
WA have a recovery protocol where the account is frozen for ten hours, and this happens twice. After the second ten hour period I managed to recover the account and set up two factor authorisation.
This is a common scam that's doing the rounds at the moment. Sadly one of my wife's contact lost £500 to it. It also caused a considerable amount of friction between us.
Beware!

 

[GuitardoctorW7]

You must be young, the flippant way you say "I don't even have Whatsapp" make is sound as though your special not having it, I don't even know what it does and have lived quite successfully without it. I do have a mobile it sits in the armrest of my car for emergencies only, total bill for a year is less than £10.00 hate to think what most people are spending.

WhatsApp is useful for phone calls. My outlaws live in Ireland and it used to cost a fortune to call them but now WA is free providing both ends have reasonable Wi Fi access

 

[stuart little]

I get extremely annoyed by companies who every now & then, block one's online log in & send a PIN to a mobile. Sainsbury's online shopping used to do it regularly, but it's only very occasionally now- I think my complaining helped, after all it's only basic shopping - who's gonna buy shopping to be delivered to my address? Most of the time, my mobi battery runs down, despite the phone being 'off'. It takes about 5 mins to find a signal, & that's from another room. At least my PayPal & bank allows me to choose email or landline, YAY! I've still got one, although it's now digi.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

At our old address we had a broadband package which included as an add on a landline with free anytime calls. Cost was ~£13 per month.

On moving I got rid of anytime calls. Stll have a landline with a new number. It very rarely rings as no one knows it (bar Talk-Talk, scammers and granddaughter). Provides back-up if ever required.

Smartphone for a SIM only contract gives me unlimited calls, texts and plenty of data. Cost £7 per month. Phone connects to car to allow calls, texts, satnav etc. Landlines are going the way of video cassettes and dvd/cd's - an obsolete expensive technology.

 

[JSW]

You must be young, the flippant way you say "I don't even have Whatsapp" make is sound as though your special not having it, I don't even know what it does and have lived quite successfully without it. I do have a mobile it sits in the armrest of my car for emergencies only, total bill for a year is less than £10.00 hate to think what most people are spending.

Either quote me in full or not at all, that isn't what I said.

Whatsapp is like a halfway house between texting and full on social media, Facebook, X, TikTok etc etc. I've used it, but still find it invasive, as in it displays online status, last seen etc. I'll stick to texting.

I rather thought the mention of a Bus pass might give the smallest of hints regarding my age?

My phone contract is a fiver per month. Free texts and calls, 10 gig of data IIRC, all I need.

 

[paulrbarnard]

You must be young, the flippant way you say "I don't even have Whatsapp" make is sound as though your special not having it, I don't even know what it does and have lived quite successfully without it. I do have a mobile it sits in the armrest of my car for emergencies only, total bill for a year is less than £10.00 hate to think what most people are spending.

Mine runs to close to £100 a month as I use it internationally a lot and also use a lot of data while travelling.