cell phones – Go Retire Psychiatrist

Since we’ve gotten new smartphones, we’ve been working on getting up to speed on how to use them. More often they seem to be using us.

In fact, Sena is pretty bummed about how much fiddling around with a smartphone you have to do. She used a little flip phone for years and this is a big upgrade (she would say “downgrade”) for her.

Zuckerberg wants to replace smartphones with Artificial Intelligence (AI) glasses. Sena tells me Bill Gates has been talking about replacing them with electronic tattoos.

That reminds me of a 1997 X-Files episode I don’t remember seeing called “Never Again.” Some guy gets a tattoo on his arm of a girl with the words “Never Again” under it. It starts talking to him and making him do crazy things, like buying mobile phones priced around $1,000, which is about what they cost back in 1997. Smartphones cost about the same these days.

Is that how electronic tattoos would work? Or would they just send mind control messages telling you to buy more of the same stocks in Bill Gates’ portfolio?

There are a plethora of new ads and promotional messages that we’ve never seen before:

Buy new armpit removal tool for half-price!

Upgrade to AI-assisted fruitcake recipe idea generating protocol!

Install planet construction and combustion instructions now!

I’m thinking we’ll Never Again purchase new smartphones.

Here’s a side note on my recent post about using a smartphone to help you find where you parked your car. I just saw a few news items about something people are calling the “dumbphone.” I gather they’re making a comeback, and not just for old folks.

Hey, I used to have one of those. It was a flip phone. Several years ago, before I retired, residents rotating through the general hospital psychiatry consultation service suggested I graduate to a smartphone.

After I finally got one, I used it basically as a phone and did little else with it for a long time. It was my smart dumbphone.

I gradually added apps to it, including a step counter, epocrates, and whatnot. But I’m not constantly on it playing games and checking the news, mail, and so on.

The battery swelled up on it a couple of years ago, which worried me. But I took it to a cell phone repair shop where the battery was replaced and it’s been fine ever since.

I still use it mainly as a phone. However, I wonder what I’ll do, say, if the battery swells up again. I don’t know if it would make any sense to go back to the dumbphone.