> The truth is that memories are made in “unfortunate” situations. I once visited a terrible restaurant with friends of mine. The food was cold, the atmosphere was horrible, but we had a great time, and it’s something I will remember for years to come.
Yeah, and hitchhiking across the country can be a memorable experience too, but that doesn't mean you should always avoid flying so that you can make some memories in "'unfortunate' situations".
I've had a smartphone for 3+ years, but I don't use Twitter or Foursquare, and I only read/reply to email on my phone when it's absolutely necessary.
I do usually use my phone to check for restaurant reviews though, or product reviews if I'm in a store. Google Maps is also extremely useful. I see no reason to eat shitty food if there's a good restaurant just down the road. Unfortunately, most restaurant rating services (like Yelp) aren't too accurate these days.
"Unfortunately, most restaurant rating services (like Yelp) aren't too accurate these days."
The scores are, but in aggregate, I have a decent experience with Yelp reviews. As with any user-generate content, there are plenty of opinionated idiots, but I can generally quickly skim them to find out if they're an idiot or not and discount their negative/positive ratings.
The problem is that in large swathes of the country (outside of the largest cities), there aren't enough reviews to get an "aggregate" opinion. So it's easy for outliers to sway the overall rating for any given restaurant.
Well, in those cases I usually just read the text of the review and see whether it's from someone who would give 5-stars to any Applebees, or whether the person is slightly more aware of what decent food should taste like. It's imperfect, but the results on Yelp are slightly more curated than what's come before. I like their system better than their user generated review competitors, at least. The users seem somewhat more literate.
That's one advantage of foursquare: after you've checked in at a number of restaurants, it does a good job of suggesting places based on where you and similarly minded people have checked in.
Yeah, I saw an interview with the founder on a recent episode of On The Verge, where he talked about that. I guess the whole gamification aspect of the service turned me off.
As a living creature, we only really need food, shelter, and someone to love (and love us back). Everything past that is for the enjoyment of our existence.
If you're not in a position to pay for an expensive cell phone plan, or if you'd simply find the money better spent elsewhere, then do that. When you ask me if I "need" to use my smartphone, you sound like my mother. Don't do that.
Yeah, and hitchhiking across the country can be a memorable experience too, but that doesn't mean you should always avoid flying so that you can make some memories in "'unfortunate' situations".