A language teacher who has never had a smartphone says he considers them a “plague” and “a terrible deterioration of life,” but believes that he'll soon have to succumb to the digital age and buy one.
For years, 70-year-old Yves Lombardo has been afraid of leaving information about himself online and doesn’t want to be freely contactable. However, his choice to not get a smartphone was made long ago when he predicted the negative effects they have on our lives.
Mr. Lombardot from Godalming in Surrey, England, prefers to use more traditional modes of communication such as landline phones and email to keep in touch with his relatives. He is particularly concerned about the impact of phones on children, as they are being “robbed” of their lives by the “excessive intrusion” of technology.
“Smartphones turn employees into slaves, children into prey, and teenagers into idiots,” he said. “I consider this a plague and a terrible deterioration of life.”
Mr. Lombardot said that sometimes he doesn’t want to be available.
“I don’t want to have a list of calls and messages to make when I come home in the evening,” he said. “I don’t want to be rude to the people I am with if am called.”
Apart from being afraid of leaving information about himself everywhere, he’s also afraid of losing, misplacing, or breaking something expensive that would be with him at all times.
But the lack of a smartphone, Mr. Lombardot said, has presented him with a handful of problems, especially when he’s out and about.
“Not having a smartphone closes doors, especially as it excludes the use of QR codes,” he said. “Travelling, going to shows or sports venues is far more complicated.”
Sharing a recent experience, Mr. Lombardot said that while visiting Gatwick Airport to fetch a relative, in the absence of an information desk, he was forced to look for a kind youngster to find the information he needed with their smartphone.
Surprisingly, not having a smartphone hasn’t made it difficult for his family to connect with him, and he doesn’t feel that he “misses out” on social occasions.
“My generation dreamt of life on Earth on a human scale,” he said. “We fought for it. We failed. But we tried, and it was immense fun.”
Despite not riding the smartphone trend, Mr. Lombardot doesn’t feel he’s missing anything since he has the “best literature ever written, the best music ever composed, a wonderful garden, and a fabulous cat,” at home.
Additionally, he speaks four languages and reads the news in those languages online each day.
“I watch quite a lot of documentaries on YouTube, and I cherry-pick those parts of tech that I find useful for myself,” he said. “I am not against progress—I am against tech obliterating everything else.”
Mr. Lombardot believes he will get a smartphone one day as he doesn’t want to be found dead in an empty kitchen as a result of being unable to order food or access shops.
Currently, he has a very basic mobile phone that stays in his car in case of a breakdown.
“If I ever get a smartphone, I will use it as rarely as possible,” he said. “I absolutely feel more present in life without one, though.”
