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Comment by Kaveren | Hacker News Reader

You know this already, but smartphones are just computers that are small and portable. That's the only difference. Many of the operating systems are similar or based on those you'd use on a desktop or laptop computer. There's a large amount of software available on both mobile and traditional computer operating systems.

TV is non-interactive, smartphones allow a great deal of interactivity.

Besides, I don't think watching a fair amount of TV is a bad thing in the first place. It's a creative medium, you're consuming art (okay, maybe a lot of it isn't very good, but it's art nonetheless).

I think you might just be nostalgic.

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Smartphones aren't nearly as good for being productive as desktops and laptops, though they're pretty good at consuming content. I think this shift away from desktops and laptops indicates a shift away from productivity.

Yes, a lot of people watched too much TV, but at least they had the capability of doing things like image editing, building spreadsheets, etc. Smartphones can do those things, but it's so awkward that it's more likely that you're not going to bother, so you're more likely to just consume content instead of create it if you don't own a desktop or a laptop.

Personally, I'm not really nostalgic over traditional computers, but I am a little nostalgic for stuff created by hand instead of filled in with a template.

>productive

That's an interesting word choice and something tells me "productivity" is highly subjective.

For example, can you code on a smartphone? Yeah, but not as productively as on a desktop.

Can I manage my sales team's day to day from my smart phone? Absolutely and that might be a great choice as managing sales probably doesn't lend to being in one place for very long.

Smartphone no, but I’ve written thousands of lines of code and hundreds of thousands of words of material on an iPad, because it’s what I have with me on the train. Context is everything. I have written a few small programs on my phone too. Google Docs makes writing seamless with the desktop, and I can ftp my code out of Pythonista. Probably not a typical setup, but I find it very productive. They’re just tools.

This. If we'd have a smartphone with a proper USB connection (one that doesn't stop working after a few years), and the possibility to connect it to a keyboard, screen, and mouse, I'd do pretty much everything on my phone. Instead, I can't even browser normally: I get a dumbed down version of most sites.

It's possible to 'dock' a phone with a keyboard, monitor, and mouse. I'm not sure many easily support that setup though.

I’m reading this thread and replying from my phone while on the bus. Try that with a desktop or even a laptop. I consume a huge amount of educational and special interest material from YouTube that wouldn’t exist let alone be accessible in the age of TV.

Mobile devices do have some negative consequences, sure, but they also enable engagement, contribution, self improvement and creativity. My kids watch a lot of YouTube, but also use their iPads to do homework and sketch and draw.

These are fantastic tools. How we use them is up to us.

A keyboard connected to nothing is a more creative device than a smart phone.

I agree. To me a computer is a machine under a persons control and I believe if you own something you should have full control. This is why we have a jailbreak scene. People want control.

Can a keyboard shoot video, take a photo, record a podcast?

Definition of “creative” seems narrow here.

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