Do you ever feel like you've become addicted to Instagram or take too many selfies? These Gen-Z's have decided to trade in their smart phones for flip phones and guess what? They're surviving 😳 In fact, they seem to be thriving! https://nypost.com/2018/12/05/generation-z-is-scrapping-smartphones-for-flip-phones They're also saving money, and using the time they'd otherwise spend swiping left (or scrolling) being productive at work.
Although they had to give up their smartphones to accomplish this magic, it's been known to have happened without relinquishing the luxuries of touchscreen and spell check You don't need to trade in your smart phone for a flip phone to disconnect, just shut it off or put it in your freezer for a while (😒okay, technically I can't say that without a disclaimer...this isn't advice based on any knowledge whatsoever. Actually, it's not advice, it's the antithesis of advice, because I have no idea what I'm talking about. If you put your phone (or anything) in a freezer, you do so at your own risk and without my consent, permission, or even suggestion.)
Speaking of flip phones...do they have apps that track everything you do, everywhere you go, every picture you take, every move you make ???
Because, according to this article, our smartphones do.
From the article, "At least 75 companies receive anonymous, precise location data from apps whose users enable location services to get local news and weather or other information, The Times found. Several of those businesses claim to track up to 200 million mobile devices in the United States—about half those in use last year. The database reviewed by The Times—a sample of information gathered in 2017 and held by one company—reveals people’s travels in startling detail, accurate to within a few yards and in some cases updated more than 14,000 times a day."
Granted, most of us aren't on secret spy missions, but this is a bit disturbing, nonetheless.
Another reason to get used to life without your smart device strapped to your hand...they might be making it easier for bad guys to break into your house and steal your stuff 😮 as the article below explains: "The researchers said hackers can compromise some systems through low-security products like the controls for a sprinkler. From there, burglars could access alarms and cameras and turn them off during a burglary."
https://nypost.com/2018/12/12/your-smart-devices-might-make-it-easier-for-burglars-to-break-in/
But, perhaps most importantly, we need to remember that our smartphones and the apps we enjoy thereon, often give the impression that our experiences are somewhat limited to a relatively small community, when they are most certainly not, as is evident with this article
"As The Intercept first reported in August, Google secretly developed the censored search engine as part of a project code-named Dragonfly. It was designed to blacklist words and phrases such as “human rights,” “Nobel Prize,” and “student protest.” The search platform would link Chinese users’ search records to their cellphone numbers and share people’s search histories with a Chinese partner company. The search records would in turn be accessible to China’s authoritarian government, which has broad surveillance and data-seizing powers that it routinely uses to identify and arrest activists and critics."
So, for every bit as much as these smart devices can help us find our way to new places, correct our grammar, pick a perfect love match and shade out our blemishes for Instagram, they are just as capable of reporting our subjective dialogue and use of expletives to google or the authorities for scrutiny and behavioral retribution. The criteria for both can be, and is, of now, left to AI and outsourced labor from countries without the same constitutional rights as we're promised here, in America.
"“Now we can digitally keep tabs [on forbidden religions],” said Yulianto, an assistant in the office’s intelligence unit, during the app’s launch event. “Before the app people had to fill in complaint forms, which can be troublesome, so through this app we can easily find out the location of the informant so we can quickly follow up.”
Thanks for reading!
Keep your eyes open, give your heart flight ❣️Higher vibrations bring brighter light.
Please discuss these articles with the people around you, raise awareness...wake some folks up gently and keep exploring with an open mind.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.