Please don't sneer at those of us who pefer to walk without certain modern technology. Part of our Camino is to be away from its pervasiveness. We carry simple 'talk and text' phones. The relief from constant contact gave time for reflection etc. Our family are happy with that, they too go 'out of contact' when in Namibia or Botswana and in the bush.
We too for the camino have a seperate e-mail address (family only) so even if we do access a library computer we are not accessing all the other e-mails which have accumulated.
@MichaelSB: you beat me in posting the same opinion....
No-one is sneering here, Tia Valeria, just trying to weed-out prejudices resulting from lack of knowledge. A smartphone merely is the modern version of that "simple talk and text phone" of yours, giving you additionally:
- Detailed and scalable maps of your location
- Availability of information about landmarks and history, guides;
- Translation services; instant phrases;
- Access to itineraries, timetables, booking-services, Camino-forum
- Personal physical data (walking-time, distance, elevation, etc.)
- Accommodation information and instant reservation (think of bad weather, exhaustion)
- Emergency button to call for instant help, connecting with nearest medical assistance, police;
- Local weather information, forecasts
- taking notes, diaries, blogs;
- camera, video-recorder, voice-recorder with save back-up in the cloud, flashlight, compass;
- News (for those interested)
- Data storage (boarding cards, schedules, back-up of credit card- and other important numbers, etc)
- Music (for those interested)
- Skype, FaceTime (free communication)
- reminders (alarm-clock, to-do, dates)
- avoiding virus-infected, leaking and insecure, outdated, filthy computers in internet cafes and libraries;
....and more.
Why would any of the above (used with discretion) diminish or disturb the camino experience, preventing you from enjoying your time of reflection, stopping you of "going out of contact"? To have all these useful functions instantly available in a tiny, flat and light device WHEN YOU WANT IT is one of the more positive achievements of mankind, (IMHO but this would be another debate) and I am not suggesting that everyone is obliged to use all the above all the time, of course.
Negative effects such as distraction, disturbance by incoming mails, messages, unwanted calls, etc. can be blocked-out efficiently and selectively, there is a switch-off button for everything, even for the entire device. I have full understanding and sympathy for the poor "connection-junkies" too weak to switch off and therefore preferring to leave the "corpus delicti" at home of course; but then this is hardly the fault of the device.