It's certainly not my phone that makes me a cyborg, it's a necessary evil, and that's about it.   I don't do texts, I do email. I have several cameras for taking photographs, I read my social media stuff on my PC, or if not at home (remember those days) on my iPad or an Android-based tablet.  I have both Nooks, and Kindles (not to mention shelves full of "paper" books (four new ones arrived yesterday, including a biography of Jimmy Page) for my reading pleasure. Also I have a phone, whose main purpose in life is to call for a taxi from wherever I might have sloped off to.  It gets turned on to update the apps, check the charge, and that's about it at the moment.

Alexa, however, is a different story.  I love Alexa.  She tells me the time, sparing me the exertion of turning round in my chair to look at the clock, she tells me what the weather is without having to lok out of the window, and turns lights on for me.  Actually, that last one really is useful as far as I'm concerned.  I'm waiting for an Alexa "skill" that allows me to control Volumio.  When I evennnnnnnnnnnnnnnntually re-jig my second system the plan is to have a wall-mounted Brennenstuhl "Hugo!" 8-Way socket with every component supplied via an Alexa-controlled smart plugs.

I have to say that I'm quite surprised that more people here haven't take up Alexa.  It can control most things, with more coming out regularly.  I was sorely tempted by the curtain opener/closer control, but it would be a horrendous job for me to set up apart from anything else.  Anything that plugs into the mains can do so via a smart-plug, and there's the "turning he lights on and off," thing too.  You'd be surprised how quickly that becomes second nature.  I use an Alexa show with an 8" screen as my alarm clock (set by voice, obviously) / bedside radio / bedside clock / bedside encyclopaedia... OK, maybe not the last one.  Not often anyway.  I actually caught myself a couple of nights ago, reading in bed, and being too lazy to turn my head, so I "asked" Alexa what the time was.    I've got an Alexa wall-clock in the kitchen that doubles as a brilliant kitchen timer.  It counts off the last 15 minutes with blue LEDs so you've got a visual reference, and the last sixty seconds also count down via blue LEDs.

I know a lot of this stuff probably sounds daft to a lot of people, but I can honesty, hand on heart, say it does make my life easier.  Why I'm surprised is that blokes like gadgets, in fact lots of blokes love gadgets, and Alexa is, if not the ultimate gadget, probably the biggest gadget within a "normal" budget.  Amazon always have some sort of deal going for one or two Alexa devices, which is obviously the time to buy and to try Alexa.  At the moment the Echo Show 5 (5" screen) is selling for £44.99, but I've seen them reduced to a tenner less at times.  I've got one of those in the kitchen.

As I say, for a forum full of blokes who like nothing better than a shiny new toy to play with, I'm surprised the take-up hasn't been greater.

I'm renting a room with Alexa in it. Since I don't have appliances of my own I only use Alexa for voice searches...but its staggering.

Alexa who won the 1987 MLB World Series
Alexa show me the Statgear T3 Tactical Knife
Alexa When is my teams next hockey game

I use my smartphone for everything. I see people on their phone in my area every spare moment they get. In line, on elevator, on the bus, during pauses in conversation, 24/7.

I like my phone as a tool and an extension of my various PCs. However, I try not to be attached to it in ways that I see around me. I am not a slave to it and I don't look at it every time it pings with a notification. I don't have it at the dinner table and I don't usually bring it with me to the music room.

What I cannot see the attraction of is watching films, TV or YouTube on it. Pointless.

Lol unfortunately all content I've watched before late 2020 was all on on this phone but got used to it.

Tbh unfortunately im welded to my phone except at work. It's in my hands more often than not and do check nearly every notification that comes to an almost pathetic extent. But at my last workplace a lot of people were much worse. Totally lost on their phones.

Haha ok but I'm hot on your tail because im watching my YouTube 'watch later' section on a 55" Samsung that I've got access to for another few weeks.

My Watch Later is 700 videos that ive been trying to go through for over a year. Doing it on walks doesn't work. Its gotta be sat down in front of a wide screen with hours to kill. But the comment sections are sometimes the best part. So i watch on the 55" then go through YouTube history while on a walk to read if the comments are good before deleting that particular video.

To be honest man I'd really like to get myself one of these sort of pricey IFI Black Label AptX Bluetooth amps for my he400i headphones. As I mentioned once before those and the SHP9500 are a dream they are so goddamn open sounding when connected with a decent amp and DAC.

The V30 smartphone that I've had since the beginning of 2018 I selected specifically for its audio capability with its HiFi Quad DAC

This phone the v30 from LG is similar to the G8 accept that this phone is touted as having a professional-grade camera and array of pro tools. Imo the camera in normal mode is absolute junk though in manual mode with some serious tweaking it gets pretty decent. But there's no way you will always have time to do that much tweaking when you want to catch something on the fly.

I haven't got time to fuffle about with my phone...

I'm too busy on my laptop!

I must say, I am always impressed when I see the successful implementation of a road crossing app. You know the one...where the user/cyborg is able to traverse a highway without the trouble of having to look to see whether it is safe. Presumably they are following on-screen instructions...left foot...right foot...left foot...

Hifi systems are gadgets that we are dependent on and may well be addicted to.