Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for October 24, 2022

I told someone on Twitter that crime wasn’t as bad in NYC as people think it is. NYC is safer than Florida or Texas according to the stats.

His reply: I know what I read in the papers and see on the news!

I’ve read that lately some people have been switching from smartphones to flip phones. This strip is probably why.

Sometimes?

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs …

[from the beginning of the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling.]

Be like me Pig, I put my phone down constantly and forget where I put it!

Pig : This is fine.

If I do, how will I read GoComics.

Like I did yesterday. After go comics naturally…

Exactly right, wilful ignorance is the key to happiness. I assume Mr. Pastis omitted other sources of information for reasons of brevity.

Pig could use yesterday’s alert again.

I moved to England for a year and the first question out of everybody I met was “How many murders have you seen?” It was very hard to convince them I hadn’t seen any and, in fact, had never even heard a gun shot.

Progress is definitely a two edged sword.

I have a basic flip phone. The only time I have to turn it off is when I want to be sure it won’t ring — or if I’m in a plane.

Words of wisdom, Pig.

When media went from news at certain times to 24 hour news to now instant news via internet, we weremade aware of what was always there…

Right now I want to turn off my phone, TV, radio and any other source of pre-election POLITICAL ADS!

I wish certain family members did that… not naming names.

Four words: Don’t use social media.

Algorithms, clicks, and positive feedback loops.

Unless I’m in town shopping and need to phone home to check something I only have my phone turned on for access to my internet radio favorites to help me get through the boring 20 minutes of daily treadmilling.

No one ever sold a newspaper with the headline “Nothing Bad Happened to 5 and a Half Billion People Today.”

I had to turn the ringer off on my landline – too many political robocalls, in spite of the blocker.

My wife just doesn’t understand why I refuse to subscribe to WhatsApp, and TikTok, don’t use Twitter, and rarely go up on FaceBook. I’ve tried to explain to her how much I value what little sanity I have left!

TOO MUCH INFORMATION! ☹️

Just ANOTHER REASON that I don’t have a cell phone… and don’t miss it!

And TV. Or just STOP DOOM SCROLLING!

Yes, there’s always the “Ostrich Gambit”

Midterms are coming up

I agree with the message, but I must also say I’m not sure I like the strip as somehow it is just another variation of a joke we have seen here many times.Sorry to be critical, it is merely that I hold PBS in really high regard in general.

It does help….

A continuation from yesterday?

Before elections is the best time to turn it off and avoid all the attack ads.

I text and receive texts, and call and receive calls, on my smartphone, and take the occasional pic (it’s a relatively basic ZTE). Very occasionally, I’ll check a sports score. That’s it. I don’t allow myself to be exposed to any of that negativity.

It is horrible. That’s the norm so you had better get used to it. A wise woman once said, “If it’s not one thing it’s another.”

And sometimes your phone dies while under service plan, so you have no phone while waiting for the replacement to arrive

Funny, the song “High Hopes” says “If you don’t give a feather or a fig, you nay grow up to be a PIG.”.

Pig is my new role model!

Because of the open border.

The other day I ran down to the corner store, then realized I didn’t have my phone with me. It was nice to have it for a bit. Not a bad thing to do every once in a while.

Indeed, Better still, I don’t even have a cell phone (one of the dwindling few; I recently read that 88% of Americans do have a cell phone)….

It’s getting tough to do without. I can call from anywhere but only get Internet at home. Stores have largely done away with print ads, so you HAVE to have a phone to see the ad while shopping. Most discounts are digital – even Sunday paper coupons have been greatly reduced in favor of stores having their own loyalty programs w/ digital coupons.

I pretty much hate my phone, probably b/c I have fat fingers. Laptop is bad enough with all the ads with distracting MOTION.

Social media, Ruining our lives there is a Netflix documentary on social media. I don’t know