Sunday, March 23, 2025

I use my desktop computer more than my smartphone.

I like having a smartphone, but I think smartphones have led to the degradation of discussion. The small screen and keyboard tends to favor sound bytes and gotcha points over more nuanced discussion.

The portability of the smartphone leads to its use in settings ripe with distraction. I tend to do my sharing from a desktop computer in the quiet of my apartment. I like to think more deeply about things. The phone is a great tool, for certain uses, but it's not so good for other uses. When I venture out from home, I sometimes forget to bring my phone with me. This is a mini form of unplugging; not necessarily done intentionally, however. It's just that I forget.

Out in the real world, the phone can be an instrument of distraction. It can interrupt with it's stream of notifications; though mine tends to be quiet. I don't get lots of notifications and one can set it to not provide so many notifications.

Using the phone in the real world also means that the world's distractions can interfere with one's writing. Deep thought and discussion isn't always that easy to do on the go. The smartphone still does have many good uses, however.

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