A Kabash On Electronics

[fastfoxengineering]

I don't begrudge people for using their phones to take pictures or check in with family. Those are nice things to do, and smartphones make it easier.

What really makes me cringe is when I see people who spend all day listening to music or (god forbid) podcasts while hiking, or spend half their time at the shelters/campsites on social media, watching movies, etc.

The fact that people listening to music using ear buds makes you really "cringe" is strange.

Hiking all day every day can get pretty dull at times.





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[Slugg]

I carry a smart phone, but keep it on airplane mode all day. I put my trail guide on it and use it to take pictures. At night before bed I'll briefly take it off airplane mode to check the weather, check in with loved ones, read the news, etc. It's also my alarm clock.

[Slugg]

Oh yeah, I also listen to music occasionally.

[ldsailor]

What could have also saved Geraldine Largay's life was having a map and compass knowing how to use them, not so absolutely relying on a cell phone for survival, and not just hearing but also grasping by applying what little Warren Doyle taught his pupil should one get lost on an AT hike.

I agree, but she had no idea how to use them according to news reports. At least if she had a phone navigation app, she could see where she was and where the trail is. Then at worst, trial and error would have got her back on the trail.

My use of her plight was an example to demonstrate the good an electronic device presents to a user. Not all electronic equipment is bad. What is bad is not having basic navigation skills with basic navigation tools.

[Slo-go'en]

The fact that people listening to music using ear buds makes you really "cringe" is strange.
Hiking all day every day can get pretty dull at times.

And while hiking through PA and a lot of other places, the only thing you'll hear is Interstate rumble. But in PA it's pretty much a non-stop background noise.

It seems that people who primary do short hiking trips are more inclined to "leave it all behind" since their not leaving it all behind for very long. For the long distance hiker, a smart phone has become an essential piece of equipment.

[Dogwood]

I agree, but she had no idea how to use them according to news reports. At least if she had a phone navigation app, she could see where she was and where the trail is. Then at worst, trial and error would have got her back on the trail..

Really? Not necessarily! What if she didn't or couldn't use the navigational apps on her phone? Are you incorrectly assuming she had already downloaded detailed enough topos to navigate 2 miles away from the AT in Maine. What if her energy source for running the device had expended or was no longer usable? Ignorance is ignorance. Geraldine didn't have reception. Her calls and eMails weren't getting through. She relied too heavily on an electronic device rather than her brain(another useful electronic device!) and knowledge, some of what was shared when she attended Warren Doyle's 5 day AT thru-hiking class! She went high to a mound to possibly get a view but very likely to gain cell reception. I sincerely wonder if part of her getting increasingly more lost and further from the AT didn't involve paying more attention to her device and attaining reception than awareness of her surroundings and applying techniques to get unlost that didn't involve an electronic device.

My use of her plight was an example to demonstrate the good an electronic device presents to a user. Not all electronic equipment is bad. What is bad is not having basic navigation skills with basic navigation tools.

And, I demonstrated how over reliance on electronics may have cost Geraldine Largay her life!


I never said or implied all electronic usage or electronics is always bad. I don't recall anyone else doing so either.

[Dogwood]

And while hiking through PA and a lot of other places, the only thing you'll hear is Interstate rumble. But in PA it's pretty much a non-stop background noise.


It seems that people who primary do short hiking trips are more inclined to "leave it all behind" since their not leaving it all behind for very long. For the long distance hiker, a smart phone has become an essential piece of equipment.

The most essential piece of equipment to never leave behind is between the ears.


Hmm, after many PA AT hikes I think I recall experiencing many other back round sounds than interstate rumble - rustling raccoons, opossum, whitetail deer, bobcats, Goshawks, black bears, owls, screeching hawks, many different song birds, etc. none of which would have been heard nor likely seen if I was listening to man made music and face glued to a device screen. That's not to say I've never listened to man made music while high tailing it through PA AT rock gardens.

[handlebar]

My phone stays in airplane mode all day and night, unless I happen to have service on a lunch break or in the evening. Then it will go on to check in at home. If I don't have service, SPOT does the check in for me. My phone would be off, but I have recently started using it as a camera instead of the point-and-shoot I used to carry. Two features of the phone that I use a lot while hiking are the notepad and attachments to email stored on the phone. I use the Notepad app to write my daily journal each evening. I send emails with attachments of guidebook sections, town guides, data book, hike plan, elevation profiles, backup copies of maps, etc. Saves a lot of paper weight. I still carry printed maps and use a dedicated GPS to store tracks and waypoints since I have to have the GPS to use my SPOT (out of production DeLorme GPS/SPOT combo). I might spend my REI dividend on an InReach and learn to use a GPS App on the phone to shave off a couple ounces.

[Deadeye]

I hiked the Long Trail twice in blue jeans, cotton socks & tees, and Dunham tyroleans before wireless phones were invented and survived. I bring a phone with me, primarily for the camera, but leave it turned off at the bottom of the pack and rarely use it. Most common use is to take a picture of sunset or my camp and email it home to say goodnight. I can live without it just fine. Doesn't really bother me if people want to use theirs, but there are 2 things I find to be interesting, annoying, and puzzling at the same time: 1) why do people seem to shout when using the phone, and 2) why do so many people pace when on the phone? It's amazing, give a guy a cell phone and put him in the middle of an airport, and he'll wander around in circles for the entire call, bumping into people and walls like a Roomba. It's hilarious, at least until he's in your way.

[FranklinBeans]

For several reasons, it would be irresponsible for me to hike without a phone. So you bring it, but you don't make it easy to use it. you shut it off, you put it in a ziploc, you put a ziploc in a stuff sack containing the stuff you're least likely to be opening on the regular (think 1st aid and tent repair), bury THAT in the middle of your pack, and forget it's there unless you get eaten by a mountain lion and require a med-evac for the bits that are left.

[Slo-go'en]

The bottom line is if you find it useful, carry it. If not, leave it home. Just like any piece of gear.

[Feral Bill]

The bottom line is if you find it useful, carry it. If not, leave it home. Just like any piece of gear.

Tweakers find meth useful.

[Dogwood]

The bottom line is if you find it useful, carry it. If not, leave it home. Just like any piece of gear.

Perhaps, no other piece of "gear", perhaps not always as crucial as some make it seem, has such a great potential for distraction on a hike than a so called smart phone, really a mobile computer with phone capabilities.
Addiction to electronic use - smart phones - hand held mobile computers - specifically the addiction to electronic "connectivity", is so high for a reason. It's alluring, tempting, with societies built on this addiction so its not discussed in those terms nearly enough as it could.


When we connect to and via electronics like a mobile computer - a smart phone - we commonly disconnect/disengage from other things. Those other things, worthy things, worthy experiences, other worthy senses like smell and taste, and worthy awarenesses being disconnected from are often ignored. Someone else is oh so often setting the connectivity agenda according to their definition of what it means to be connected. So, they have an agenda to make folks ignore those other things. And, they're doing a dam good job at doing just this. This gets at what Gambit McCrae is concerned.


Gambit is willing to step back and honestly evaluate his behavior, his choices, and what he wants on his hikes on his terms. Gambit is willing to be a critical questioning thinker even if it means stepping outside of normal cultural behavior, even common trail culture. That demonstrates a lot of free thinking maturity, self actualization, and courage. I don't recognize denial and justification for what Gambit recognizes can be a distraction from a more empowering hiking experience.

[fiddlehead]

I work from wherever I am.
So, of course I take my phone. And use it.
If not, I couldn't be out there.
Also, it's my camera, mp3 player, recorder, weather reports, map, and communicator with my family.
Phone? I don't remember using it as a phone though. (Unless you call WhatsApp or FB Messenger a phone)
Why not?

[Dogwood]

Smart phone - mobile hand held computer - use can actually make people behave in very unsmart unthinking uncaring self absorbed ignorant ways. That's rarely said.

[Dogwood]

With due respect, that's the side of mobile computer use we only hear about virtually all the time. All the things a mobile computer can do... in positive terms. What about all the things one can have a tendency to disconnect from when we decide to connect via or to a computer?


This gets at what the OP had in mind when he started the thread...not how great electronics can be. I think Gambit has no illusions on how beneficial a smart phone can be. He's inquiring if that electronic use is a distraction from enjoying other non-electronic worthy experiences.

[JJ505]

But no law saying you have to do things the way others do. You can use compass and map; take a regular camera; etc. I only do day hikes, don't use the phone much in real life (kind of older than the average user here) but i use a trail app and others. I don't find it distracting.

[soilman]

I don't have a smart phone and have survived on the trail and off. It seems to me that many people have become slaves to their electronics. I read a book about a couple that did the PCT and would zero so they could catch up on all the things they couldn't do on the trail without a signal, like email, podcasts, facebook, etc.

[SpongeBob]

I certainly respect the decision to unplug from the grid and leave my phone mostly on airplane mode but I can’t resist having the added data from weather radar for tracking T-storms, sending a check in text when I make camp so my wife sleeps well, and Guthook’s GPS has helped me find a misplaced shelter on a rainy night or two. Carry a map and compass too, but all the safety and convenience margin plus the camera make the iPhone and a battery pack worth their weight to me. All personal choice, of course, but I find that when I go beyond using the phone as a hiking tool and venture into the news and entertainment realm with it, I lose some of the peace, distance and perspective I go to the woods to find. Stopped calling home nightly for the same reason. Found that in my case a better version of husband and father comes back if I stick to an all’s well text with a picture of camp or a view from the day and, short of an emergency, leave the family details behind for a day or two.


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[DownEaster]

I don't use my phone much at home, but will use it quite a bit more on the Trail.

I rarely find a need to take pictures at home. At home I also have a PC with a nice big (32") display, so there's not much appeal to the 5.5" smartphone screen. My home life is pretty unexciting; an occasional e-mail suffices to keep family and friends updated. On the AT there will be both more to relate and more concern for my well-being, so I expect to communicate more frequently than normally.