Why I hate smartphones (Blaugust2026/4)

Ok so despite the fact that I wrote "I'll probably just publish stuff I already wrote down in my notes" in the first post of Blaugust, all the previous posts were actually written from scratch just before they were published, but for this one I will mostly take what I've already written over the last year and publish that (with some revisions and additions).

"Smartphones", also known as just "phones", because that's what they used to be, are amazing technology if you really think about it, but also have destroyed everything, because they were picked up by the mainstream...

The smartphone is just the continuation of the PDA, but with SIM cards.

Issue no. 1: Forced adoption

Today, it is basically a requirement to have a smartphone, because some services require one to provide a mobile phone number, most people don't have landline phones anymore,city scooters require QR codes to be scanned, banks have apps now and TAN generator devices aren't being given out... people expect you to be reachable at all times using a phone number despite the fact that texting using a phone number isn't a requirement at all...

A certain airline has decided that not only is it now required to check in with a phone, they also made it so that if you don't check in within the day leading up to your flight, that you now have to pay 50€ to do so (and to get a paper boarding ticket also costs extra afaik).

I switched schools in year 8 and when I was invited to join the class WhatsApp group I told them that I did not have a smartphone. At that time, I didn't need one, nor did I want one, but my parents got me one for Christmas which was about 3 weeks later.

Looking back on my time at school it's mind-boggling to me how much that thing was a requirement and what I would've missed out on and that I would've had issues with if I didn't have a smartphone.

Issue no. 2: Surveillance from the public

Smartphones (and also social media) makes people record absolutely everything and and people are more afraid than ever to be ridiculed because they might be recorded and that recording might be uploaded to the internet... sure, that was possible in the late 2000s as well but back then, basically noone did that, you would've had to have a camcorder, digicam or phone with a camera (that was good enough), and also a computer to upload the video.

If you look at the official video of Pope Leo XIV's appointment, you'll see this shot:

I don't think I need to say why this is madness. Yes, it's good if there are some people recording, and I think it's good that there are recordings of things that happen in public... but EVERYONE?
So my advice for anyone reading this is: for events like this, only record if you can't find anyone else who is doing it. If all you want is to make a photo to show people you were there, then go for it, that's completely fine, but you don NOT need a recording of the full thing.

Issue no. 3: Software control

Smartphones pretty much always contain proprietary operating systems and software, they are loaded up with bloatware that it does not allow to be removed in most cases, such as Facebook. (there are ways to remove them and I have used those, but they're not at all something a regular user would ever do)

This software treats the user not like they're the owner of the device, but like they're a complete idiot who will break everything if the software doesn't keep them locked into the intended UI. This is not just a problem with smartphones though, this is also the case with some desktop computer operating systems.

The operating systems have "app stores" where new software can be downloaded and installed from, however, those are controlled by the maker of the operating system, unless an alternative one is installed by the user. That company decides which apps may be installed

Also the fact that they just install apps without the user's permission...

Issue no. 4: Tracking

It is common knowledge that those devices spy on everyone at all times, if not because of the software on it, it's because of the SIM card that connects to a cell tower and thus shares its location with phone companies, which then log that information to be used later. While that data must be deleted after some time in the EU, thanks to the GDPR, in other countries they might just keep it and maybe even sell it. Just like all the other information that all the other services running on the device also collect.

Issue no. 5: Usability

In my opinion, Smartphones are just hard to use... even tablets are better than them. They have tiny on-screen keyboards that are really hard to type on if you're used to physical PC keyboards.

Yes I know this is mostly preference and muscle memory, but this is also "why I hate smartphones" and not just why they're bad in general. Anyway...

Mobile operating systems are terrible to use. They often error out without any actual error message or recognisable reason. Ironically, they often have unintuitive designs and are hard to use and that's ironic because they're meant to be used by the common peasant.

Issue no. 6: Nitwit of all trades

Smartphones try to replace everything: computers (browsers, instant messagers, email clients, ....), televisions, game consoles, cameras, notebooks, sketchbooks, clocks (watches), torches, music players, actual phones, calculators and the ones I forgot about... the problem is that it doesn't replace them with something better, but something worse, not only because of the [ loss of one = loss of all ] problem and all the other ones I've mentioned, but also...

• the camera doesn't have any optical zoom (they have to make up for it with high resolution and heavy processing)
• the screen is very small and it's a touchscreen
• there is no real keyboard
• there is often no stylus (pen)
• they are quite underpowered
• there is only so much flash storage on there (and microSD cards are terrible)
• the battery doesn't last forever and gets worse with every charge cycle
• the camera flash is just small LED

Dedicated devices are a thousand times better than one slab of glass with a few electronics inside, even if they aren't as convenient to carry around (you don't need to carry around everything at all times btw).

One thing I realised while I'm writing this is that people just accept that smartphones are worse in pretty much any respect, because most people never needed quality features like a >12MP camera, 20x optical zoom, image stabilitation, 4K video resolution, etc. which makes me really sad...

Issue no. 7: Fragile devices

Now comes the really good one...

When you lose your smartphone, you lose everything on it and everything it could do. That includes music, notes, drawings, recordings, photos, text messages, possibly game data and so much more.

Because these things try to replace everything, you also lose all of the functionality if they disappear. You could be standing at the airport without a boarding pass because your phone ran out of battery, you didn't pack a power bank and boarding ends in 10 minutes.
If the thing breaks, you would lose your ability to make bank transfers because the verification thing is on your phone... you would lose all of your contacts

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Another thing is that these things are not cheap, they can cost a lot of money, so all-in-all, society forces you to buy a slab of glass that costs a fortune, tracks you wherever you go, is super fragile and breaks easily, runs out of battery, annoys you with constant push notifications (unless you turn them off), has a bad operating system, and is made up of completely corporate-controlled non-free software (that may or may not contain spyware).

Doesn't that just seem really fair... /s