Teacher calls smartphones ‘plague’ but says he’ll have to get one
A man who has never owned a smartphone says he considers them a “plague” and “a terrible deterioration of life” but concedes that he will eventually have to get one. Yves Lombardot, 70, is “terrified” of leaving information about himself online and doesn’t want to be freely contactable.
He made the choice not to get a smartphone “long before they were invented” – predicting the “doom” he says they carry. Instead, Yves prefers to use a landline or emails to contact his relatives.
He believes children are being “robbed” of their lives by the “excessive intrusion” of technology. But the lack of a smartphone means he finds travelling more difficult and has had to ask people for information. Because of this, Yves admits that he will eventually have to buy one, but says he will use it as “rarely as possible”.
Yves, a languages teacher, from Godalming, Surrey, said: “Smartphones turn employees into slaves, children into prey, and teenagers into idiots. I consider this as a plague and a terrible deterioration of life.
“I don’t want to be available at times that I haven’t chosen. I am terrified of leaving information about myself everywhere.
“I’m afraid of thieves and muggers who would attack me to steal it. I don’t want to have a list of calls and messages to make when I come home in the evening.
“I don’t want to be rude with the people I am with if am called. I’m worried about losing, misplacing or breaking something expensive that would be with me all the time.”
However, the lack of a smartphone has presented a handful of problems to Yves when out and about.
He said: “Not having a smartphone closes doors, especially as it excludes the use of QR codes. Travelling, going to shows or sport venues is far more complicated. I was at Gatwick recently to fetch a relative and in the absence of any information desk, I had to ask a kind-looking youngster to get the info I needed from his smartphone.”
Despite this, Yves says his family has never struggled to connect with him and that he doesn’t feel that he “misses out” on social occasions. Although he feels like he is being left behind without a smartphone as technology continues to move forward, ultimately he says he “doesn’t care”.
Yves said: “My generation dreamt of life on Earth on a human scale. We fought for it. We failed. But we tried and it was immense fun.
“I don’t care that I’m being left behind most of the time, as I am not interested in contemporary culture. I have at home the best literature ever written, the best music ever composed, a wonderful garden and a fabulous cat.
“I use tech to get information. I speak four languages and I read the news online in those four languages daily.
“I watch quite a lot of documentaries on YouTube and I cherry-pick those parts of tech that I find useful for myself. I am not against progress – I am against tech obliterating everything else. I believe that today’s children and youths have been robbed of the best time in their lives by the excessive intrusion of tech.”
Yves thinks eventually he’ll have to get a smartphone, though.
He said: “I know I will have to get a smartphone one day, as I don’t want to be found dead in my empty kitchen because I was unable to order food when all the shops have gone. I have a very basic mobile at the moment that stays in my car in case of breakdown.
“If I ever get a smartphone, I will use it as rarely as possible. I absolutely feel more present in life without one, though.”