Who asked for more phone use?

[CharityCodes]

I see posts all the time from before the high school pack asking how to disable sims fiddling with their phones all of the time. I don't ever remember seeing any post asking for more phone use. Why did we get sims walking and tapping their phone? These interactions aren't even able to be cancelled since they are idle animations. There are so many idle animations that slow down actions now. Sniffing the air for Bust the Dust every time they change level or go outside is a huge one too. I get phone addiction is a real thing for a lot of teens, but now all ages do it. Technophobe sims even do it on off the grid lots. There should be a "lost my phone" moodlet that disables that crap.

[siirysiir · Accepted solution]

@CharityCodes "That's why I think it should be tied to traits and/or lifestyles and maybe adjusted for age." YES! We also already have the fame quirk phone obsession so there's really no point in just slapping these idles on everyone, everywhere. They could have used a lot of the same code from that Get famous quirk and then just apply it to some teenagers and young adults with appropriate lifestyles and traits.

[PugLove888]

@CharityCodes , well in reality, adults of all ages, even elders, can be addicted to their phones.  But you know it has gone too far in the game when, as you mentioned, "Technophobe sims even do it on off the grid lots"! 😓

[CharityCodes]

Sure, all ages can I suppose, but it's definitely skewed to younger adults and teens. I can't ever remember seeing an elderly person who was addicted like that. I'm sure they exist, but I just don't know any. The elderly people I know have less dexterity in their fingertips and struggle to make touchscreens work, so they avoid them. It's painful to watch them try. That's why I think it should be tied to traits and/or lifestyles and maybe adjusted for age.

[siirysiir · Accepted solution]

@CharityCodes "That's why I think it should be tied to traits and/or lifestyles and maybe adjusted for age." YES! We also already have the fame quirk phone obsession so there's really no point in just slapping these idles on everyone, everywhere. They could have used a lot of the same code from that Get famous quirk and then just apply it to some teenagers and young adults with appropriate lifestyles and traits.

[suzushka]

@CharityCodes @siirysiir @PugLove888 

Maybe add a time management skill to build?? 

(:

[daikoyu]

I remember the first mod which I added was to get rid of the stupid teenager selfie phone idle as I played a teenager. I know the life change and many teenager – seniors have phone and make selfies/surf web or play games, but I was never one of this.

Because of this I hate if my sims use phone. I want that they live how I live (<- only my played sims) So I hate this new idle with a passion and now self after teen they glue on the phone because it’s now an idle. I could dodge all the phone things with autonomy off. HA, not anymore! You want phone zombies? You get phone zombies!

Generally, I hate almost all idles. I know it make sims *alive* but... I play with autonomy off because I don’t want these *idles* They just add more and more idle which are annoying. Idle just cost time and brings nothing on the long run, as least for me.

I am not sure if I still can play my vanilla game after they fixed the most annoying bugs. The sniffing from dust is to blame that I don’t use it in my vanilla game. But this phone idle… this is now in base game, as default idle animation (walking & talking). So, I can’t get rid if I disable HSY and need to use a mod for it. I am just happy that I am not a console player, I think this would break sims 4 complete for me.

// I don’t mind if teens are phone addict, I just skip this life stage, I bought HSY mostly because of world and build/CAS items, not because I want play with the gameplay aspect. Sure, it can be fun to go with teens to school but I rather play the bugged GetToWork career, teens are still boring for me.

[Zasz_Zerg]

"Who asked for more phone use?"

Probably people who are addicted to phones and thought its something the game would need. Im just missing things like tiktok challenges to complete the list of bad influences that the game just doesnt need.

"well in reality, adults of all ages, even elders, can be addicted to their phones"

Unfortunately it entered the game without involving traits or even player interaction. Even phones are default equipment for every sim. Because it was intended as a menu. Now its a social app with game menu features that should never be combined like this. These things MUST be seperated an enabled by the player. I dont want the social nonsense in the phone. It should be seperate like dust bunnies and neighborhood voting and there is no way its going to change now.

Technophobe lifestyle was bugged before the phone changes came last week. I played with an off-the-grid household, all of them technophobes and they started to crave technology. I also made them fitness fanatics and its so bugged that at some point the only way to get them to be playable again because of negative moodlets about craving fitness activities (because working out without tools didnt count) that I had to take them to the city to a gym to work out for a minute to get rid of the moodlets and then take them home, waiting for the bad moodlets to return.

This new phone addiction might not be intentional when there are no traits related to it are present. But still, to add such a feature without proper testing and then letting the entire community look at bugged and ruined themes for over a week is just terrible and incompetent. It shows that previous bugged lifestyles combined with new packs that interact with each other in bugged ways is something that shouldnt happen yet it does on a regular basis. It needs internal testing which apparently didnt happen. Again.

In the end it doesnt matter how reasonable we make our cases. The people in charge of the game and the developers dont listen but pretend to be connected with the community.

[CharityCodes]

My technophobe has a high energy lifestyle and swimming outdoors as well as yoga will get the high energy buff. You need to workout until the buff appears or you will crave high energy activities. She's a mermaid though, so it's easier for her.

[Zasz_Zerg]

Thats the thing. My sims are working out all the time or swimming. Thats why it makes no sense that my sims act contrary to their lifestyles.

[atreya33]

I would greatly appreciate an option to turn off the constant phone checking. I realise a lot of people in real life use their phones a lot of times but that doesn't mean 100% of the sims in my game should do so too. I play the sims to see them do interesting things, often things I can't do in real life. I don't play sims to see how addicted they have become to their phone. This doesn't add any value to the game. If I want to see the animation of my sims fiddle with their phones I can  tell them to play a game or send a text. There is no reason to make it autonomous. The constant phone checking can even break immersion in the game. Why would a transformed werewolf need to check his phone? The sims are so intertwined with technology that it is becoming problematic if you try to play a sim who doesn't like/need/use technology. This recent change only emphasises this already existing problem.

Idle animations in general are a nuisance in the game because sims loose a lot of time on them. I would like sims to just quit idle animation immediately when I direct them to do something, it is frustrating to have to wait until the unwanted pointless idle animation is finished. The sniffing with bust the dust is another good example of excessive idle animations.