When did having a smartphone become compulsory?

My phone 100% makes my life easier - iPhone 12 plus iPad mini. All my banking, travel info (tickets/flights etc), contacts, Kindle app for reading etc etc. My mother used to say very proudly that she’d never used a computer or smartphone in her life. Not something to be proud of and it would have made everything much easier for us all if she had.

Where does this £100 come from?
I pay under £2₩ a month which covers my phone unlimited calls and texts and an amount of data usage that I ratelyb4chsust.
Just as telephones (landlines) became a necessity televisions and IT access, I thin you have to accept that smart phones are here to stay. Used wisely they improve much of our lives.

Loads of typos! Clicked "post" instead of "preview" Oops. . I meant £20 a month, and hopefully you can work the rest out for yourselves!

I am perfectly capable of using smart phone, computer etc. and do do so but at my own choice. Do not choose to have apps so that supermarkets can gain information etc. However I have two separate things to mention. The idea that £200 is not much may be true for some people but for others that is a lot of money to be pressured into having to buy to just suit job centres and councils etc. I would also point out that in various areas and in my own area of the Yorkshire Dales there are a lot of places where you have no signal , and could not use a phone to do anything. Until there is 100% coverage there should be simple and clear ways to contact, or pay for things without phones. For the same reason, although I do at times use a card to pay for something, I choose to use cash for a variety of things, to use on an open market, be clear exactly what I am paying, etc. Recently I contacted a hotel intending to stay there but when they told me that they did not accept any cash, cancelled and went elsewhere. It is the principle of the thing, that they do not state in their advertisments that they do not accept cash. There are people who do not have a bank account for whatever reason. I do not see how these places think they can dictate to you when they want the business and I am offering them "coin of the realm" . The banks and business wanted to get everyone using cards and have seized the opportunity to push it due to the pandemic. Whilst of course they have the right to choose what to do, I and many others have the right not to use them or pay them and the same goes for phones. If you are looking for work, and can prove that you are doing so, not having or using a phone is not a criminal offence. Some years ago a friend was living quite a long way in the country and had no TV.She constantly got threatening letters ordering her to get a license. As she was doing nothing wrong she just ignored them and eventually someone turned up in a tv detector van and ended up apologizing to her for the tone of the letters etc. She could have written to them , but again , if you are living an honest life and are not guilty of a crime, why should YOU have to contact them. Having been involved in food banks and various other things and the cost of heating etc., I can tell you there are many families that are concerned with basic needs of food and warmth and a telephone for £200 is not on their lists of vital necessities. Even if we accept the majority of people want or choose to use a phone, have a car or whatever, it should not put those who cannot afford or choose not to have them at a disadvantage in basic ways.The word is choice not forced .

I do have a smartphone and would find life difficult without it as we spend a lot of time away from home. My phone, which is not the latest model Samsung, cost £250 from eBay (someone's phone upgrade they did not require) and I found a phone contract which costs me £10 a month and includes all calls, all texts and 40GB of data. So I tend to use my phone for everything now, we never use our landline although we have one. When we are away from home we use our phones as a hotspot and so can connect our tablets to it and use our phone data for the internet on those too. I'm actually reading Gransnet on my phone at the moment , in my car while waiting for an appointment.

I wouldn't be without any of my tech. My 3 sons bought me up kicking and screaming with www.

They showed me, twice then said Google how to do it. Don't click links unless they are Microsoft, Windows or the like and check any links to ensure they are OK.

It was the best thing they ever did. I'm sponsored by Google and as I say "God couldn't be everywhere so God gave us Google" 😉

I don't use my laptop or notebook like I used too as everything so easy on the phone.

Downloading a legitimate app doesn't mean it collects anymore info than the brand already knows if your a customer, for example of a bank or shop online.

I have to have mobile banking with my bank anyway as it verifies alot of payments online by asking you to login your banking and verify the payment.

Remember back to when we rolled our eyes at our parents who weren't going to have XYZ, developed when we were young 😉

Go for it. It's only fear as to why people don't want to change

ordinarygirl

Many local authorities are now requiring paying for parking via a phone. I want to instruct a solicitor but need to prove my ID via an app only available on a smartphone. I DON'T WANT ONE OR CAN AFFORD ONE
so when did live become so complicated ?
I thought technology was supposed to make life easier and not harder

People have asked the same thing many times before because they didn't trust these new fangled devices.

100 years ago you would be asking:
when did having electricity become compulsory?

80 years ago you would be asking:
when did having a telephone become compulsory?

50 years ago you would be asking:
when did having a bank card become compulsory?

Well all these things are now in everyday use but many people didn't want them in their lives.

Another of Android phones are just as safe as long as you bother to set them up properly. Although they are almost as expensive now.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

wish me luck. I have just bought a reconditioned samsung. Much lighter and neater than the one I have, which I never took out of the house. I need to join the modern age, particularly being able to use an app for parking and will be putting a bank app on it too

This is a massive leap forward for me, I have never even transferred data between phones and don`t know if I am in the cloud. My sister is savvy, so I can be too. I like being in my little bubble but have to move forward, or be left behind

cc

NotAGran55

I have just signed up for the QwikPark app and looking forward to using it. No more tickets or queuing to pay.

But beware, there are many different apps for different car parks.

Also beware that some parking apps charge an extra charge for using the app. It may only be an extra 30p a time but that adds up if (like us) you park somewhere most days of the week. And it didn't mention the extra charge when we paid, either. It just come through on the statement.

My `new` phone came today. a reconditioned samsung S20 5G and so far so very good. All my info was easy to transfer from my old phone, it happened automatically via smart switch and everything is there in familiar appearance, even whatsapp

I still have to download google pay app and then load my cards and I think that is it.

Support for my old phone has stopped so I had to do it, also I needed to get 5G locally. Yesterday I went to waitrose and there was not even one cash till, same with b and q last week. No point me being upset about that, important for me to go with the flow and hence wanting to be able to use my new phone to pay. I am happy with security on my phone

I would say go ahead and do it, reconditioned phones from the company I used come with a 12 month guarantee. I bought the top grade of excellent, the other condition grades are good and fair. They all work. Company is called backmarket and I personally would recommend. I had 128 GB of storage and cost was a bit over £200

I have nothing against smart phones depending what you want them for, but they are not essential for paying for anything unless that is your choice.
Perhaps because I have a fear of losing my phone I don’t load Apple Pay or a banking app. , I can do internet banking from the “big” computer at home. I do cashless shopping all the time, tapping my debit card so I feel the facility is there to do as little or as much as one likes.
I have the Ringgo number stored on my phone for parking and have registered my car make, colour and reg with them but it’s the work of a moment to park a different (eg courtesy) car in whichever location- generally clearly signposted. There is the added advantage of being able to extend your parking without going back to your vehicle - or dashing out of a shop or restaurant because you are taking longer than expected.

There seems to be a lot of unnecessary angst on this issue.

AreWeThereYet

cc

NotAGran55

I have just signed up for the QwikPark app and looking forward to using it. No more tickets or queuing to pay.

But beware, there are many different apps for different car parks.

Also beware that some parking apps charge an extra charge for using the app. It may only be an extra 30p a time but that adds up if (like us) you park somewhere most days of the week. And it didn't mention the extra charge when we paid, either. It just come through on the statement.

Which parking app charges the extra 30p please?

I think Ringgo charges 38p

And they tell you when you book exactly how much you are paying, before you confirm.
Honestly compared to the bad old days of having to have the right coinage and a meter which was actually working, it’s a no-brainer.
Some years ago taking DH to his hospital appointment in London I dropped him at the station and went looking round and round and round for a parking space. Nothing to be had except outside the ice ink where the meters only took cash. And guess what, I didn’t have enough coinage. I flagged down a helpful motorist who generously just handed over the small change he had in the front of his car. Talk about the kindness of strangers! Unfortunately one of the £1 coins was damaged so I was still £1 short! I stopped a lady, explained briefly and she was happy to swap my home-made looking £1 coin for a perfect one. “Don’t worry, I’ll use it in Tescos” she laughed!
DH had left my ticket at the barrier for me as he had to take the train we had booked Passenger Assistance on and I eventually caught up with him at Euston.
Give me phone parking every time

I am all for smart phones and I have one. Unfortunately the tips of my fingers on my right hand are numb following a less than successful carpal tunnel op, which makes using it difficutl and I am dyspraxic, which means poor fine motor control and a tendency to displace the order of letters and numbers when typing.

Both of which problems also occur when typing contributions on GN, which, no doubt, many will have noticed.

However, I do not see that as a good reason to ask why the world of smartphone use should be organised around my, fairly esoteric problems.

I have no angst foxygloves, I am late to the party but have decided not to be a luddite and have embraced this technology

I too embrace the technology but I cherry pick what works for me.
For instance only self service tills in a supermarket would pose no problem as they accept cashless payment by debit card so I have no need to bother with Apple Pay or a banking app on my phone.

Foxygloves

I think Ringgo charges 38p

The Ringgo charge is for the SMS reminder messages and can be turned off in the app. I like to get them though.
I get 3 messages at a charge of 33p plus vat.
I’ll turn it off next time as an experiment.

QwikPark is my favourite parking app as you don’t need to do anything. It sees you arriving and leaving the car park and automatically charges

If some of you have old smartphones that operate on 3G be warned that 3G is going to be phased out.

yes, that was the initial push for me, then getting a message that my phone would not accept 5G. Plus the fact that there would be no more security fixes on that older phone

I am never wed to my phone but it is already becoming familiar. I have taken some unwanted apps off and disabled buxby. I have a few more things to do but that can wait for another day

paying by phone has extra security and is very much safer than debit or credit cards and btw a credit card is more secure than a debit card

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Reported