Originally Posted by
Puddlefish
I think you're just being unintentionally insulting, and claiming that something that you don't understand and agree with therefore must be a bad thing, as far as you're concerned. You're then making up reasons why they're a bad thing. Safety? No, that one's been debunked too many times. Let's go with "those with technology can't enjoy nature," yeah, that's the ticket. You're telling people, what's in their heads. Think about that. You claim I wasn't in the moment, seriously? That's just a weak argument. Should I have ignored the two women I chatted with as well? Sorry maam, can't talk to you right now, I'm in the moment with nature, and the slightest distraction is taking me out of the moment with nature! You're just grasping at straws. Technology as being rude and distracting to other people on the trail. I'm just not buying that it's a statistically significant problem that's unique to technology.
I get it, when cell phones first came out 30ish years ago, they were a joke, 20 years ago, I myself was highly skeptical about cell phones and their effect on society. I didn't get a smart phone until three years ago, because I had absolutely no need of one. I thought who could possibly "need" to be so impatient that they couldn't wait to get home to browse the net? Strangely enough, I was gifted my very first cell phone to start with my AT thru hike attempt in 2016. My daughter gave me a beat up old iphone that barely had the processing power to turn itself on, barely enough battery power to run the Guthook app for navigation, twice a day. I also carried a camera, an extra two memory chips for the camera, a compass, a pound of paper maps, a Kindle, and a sixth of the AWOL guidebook. I walked about a month with that set up. I had to interrupt my hike, and get off the trail to mail a memory chip full of pictures to a daughter, who had to drive to my house, download that chip to my PC, drive back home, and mail that empty chip back to a post office ahead of me, so I could pick it up. Hours of my time, hours of my families time, just to get pictures... (which I require because of my crappy memory.) I stopped in Franklin, NC (I think) and bought a brand new phone, Guthook performed flawlessly, the camera was better than my phone, I had no need of paper maps, I sent pounds of weight home, I no longer had to leave the trail to send/store my pictures. It was convenient to label those pictures so I'd remember where they were taken. I learned that "My assumptions about cell phone users being impatient was dead wrong." The cell phone is just a tool, it can be used safely, and different applications can be used by different people, for different reasons and different times." The ones who use them unsafely, are a self correcting problem and die on the roadways. We don't have to worry about that portion of the population on the trail. (I also had a neighbor die in her car when she was putting on makeup, and drove into a bus, so we can't blame all our distraction problems on technology.)
I live in a cottage in the woods, I can open a window and hear nature for half the year, at the end of my road are a network of trails, I live ten minutes from a legitimate mountain, within thirty minutes of another, and within an hour of many more. Every week, I climb a mountain, every day, I at least hit my local trails. Bringing my phone with me, or forgetting to charge it and leaving it at home isn't a big consideration to me. I'm equally happy with it or without it. Sometimes it makes a nice change to do things a little differently. There is not only one way to enjoy hiking for me.
As for the lonely old man comment. I'm a volunteer driver for the elderly. A see a whole lot of bitter lonely old people, they're sad because the world is passing them by, they don't understand the technology, they losing the power and control that they used to enjoy, their bodies are failing them, their kids are busy with their own lives. Like every generation before them who's gotten old, rather than accepting their situation and maybe doing something constructive about it they blame what they don't understand.
So, you can learn to roll with the punches, to embrace the technology, or you can whine about it. Different, does not equate to worse. I'm not suggesting that you specifically are lonely, and bitter, but you just might be heading down that road. It's been a few decades now, it's time to adapt. There's no great percentage of phone addicts out there as you seem to think, skateboarding is not a crime, music today is just as vibrant and inventive as it was when you were young. Or, you can keep railing against the injustice of a world that you don't understand because you're proudly claiming "not to be a swallower." That's just another term for being pointlessly inflexible. There's more to the world than what your daddy taught you. You need to think for yourself and see how the world is actually functioning these days. There's a whole lot of positive love out there in the world.
As for the people secretly feeling guilty, that's just wishing on your part. Yeah, and you can end that story with "then an eagle few out on of the sky and landed on my shoulder, crying a single tear." A safety blanket? As if cell phone users are infants refusing to let go of their blankies? There's nothing wrong with safety devices.
Are you suggesting that you walk naked into the woods, and put a stick in the ground to check the angle of the sun to aid with direction, based on the changing seasons, that you take no safety precautions, that you build your own shelters, hunt your own game with tools that you've built, and all that? Because I don't believe that you do, I think you use 98% of the exact same gear and safety devices that the rest of us do, and you're being pointlessly obstinate about the other 2%.
The cell phone user who walked into the fountain at the mall, that was hilarious. I laughed too! But that's not how people use their tech on the trail.
Buy a cheap $100 smart phone, like a 4th generation moto X, get a month to month service plan with minimal data, I'd recommend Verizon, which has great coverage along the trail. Use the Google Maps app for every day navigation, buy the Guthook app, get out on the trail. Use the phone as much or as little as you want. Use the phone, once a day, or or once a week, but use it. Ditch your home phone plan when you're comfortable, you'll likely save money overall. Come back in a year and join in this conversation as an informed individual, because currently, you aren't making much sense.
Hey, maybe I'm entirely wrong about you. I'm not trying to be mean, I can only go by what you're written yourself here in this thread, and making assumptions based on what you've written. Pining for the golden days that were never quite all that golden isn't going to help you enjoy the trail more. The only think that's going to help you enjoy the trail is to get out onto the trail with a positive attitude.
It's a gorgeous day outside, I'm going to go climb mount Kearsage. Yeah, I'll be driving my motorized horseless carriage to get over there, instead of making the 2.5 hour road walk each way. Wearing high tech clothing, microspikes, poles and yeah, even bringing my phone, with which I'll use as a safety device to text my daughter when I arrive at the specific trailhead, what trail I'm hiking and when I can be expected back. I may or may not listen to music during all or part of the hike. So, respond if you like, I'll read it eventually, because I enjoy debating on the internet probably a bit more than is good for my own mental health.
Edit: Grammar, typos, general suckiness at typing. There are probably more mistakes, correct them in your head.
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