Sims now use their phones way too much.

I hate this beyond belief. I've wanted a way to turn the frakking phones off from day 1 and now they're forced on us more. If they were going to ramp up the phone use this much, they should have either made it pack exclusive or included a way to turn them off so Sims don't use them at all.

I haven't updated and probably won't now, which means no sexuality or wants and fears, which I was looking forward to for a very long time. But I absolutely cannot stand the phone use, like to the point it makes me so irritated and angry with the game that I can't have fun and just rage quit instead, so that overpowers everything. I'm so furious about this, we just got awesome Werewolves that I love, and now even they are using the stupid devices.

This patch just killed the game for me. :angry:

100% what @LiELF stated is exactly how I feel.

I seriously hate having to mod out things that the team refuse to add as "optional" for players. I personally am NOT glued to my phone in RL.

I just do not understand this practice of taking away player choices in TS4 and making it "our game" and playing it how WE, the players, want to play it instead of how the devs think we should be playing it!

The phone use was already overly obsessive, now it's 1000% worse from what I've seen. (I have not updated yet and won't be purchasing High School Years because of the Wants/Fears system replacing Whims, but they only added them for the Base Game and the new upcoming EP). I will have to wait until a modder fixes that.

I absolutely ???? it. I should be happy, but It seems as if this is all I’ve been whining about since the latest update.
I ??? those phones so, so ~insert extremely ☠️ word here ~ I’m close to fragglin’ done with playing this game when every single sim is obsessed with their phone and there’s no way for me to control it. At least in real life I can give these air heads the fright of their lives. In the game…nothing. I can’t do anything except install a mod. Mods should not be necessary. The game mechanics should be stable enough to give us different options.

Many great features were introduced with this update, including a bodyhair menu and curved walls, but the obsessive phone use just really, really breaks the game for me. It’s that bad. Such a pity.

I might just write a book, release a rock album or learn how to knit a car cover at this point. I probably should anyway….. ?‍?
This uncontrollable obsession with phones just doesn’t entertain me. Not in games. Never, EVER in real life.

If this is a basegame feature it should be made optional:

* we need an option to toggle on/ off phone use per sim.
* we need an option to disable phones entirely in the gameplay options menu.
* we need an option to confiscate cell phones, throw them on a pile and “fertilize” them before setting them on fire!!

Please fix the phone system, Maxis!!
If you’re adding more smart phone functions, animations & interactions, skins & fancy interfaces, that’s all grand, but AT LEAST give the same amount of options for players who prefer to tell stories that DO NOT include this kind of modern technology.

Not all my sims are GenZ.
Not all my sims are 2022.
Not all my sims are from this planet.
Please make ?use less real and more optional. ?

I must say that I absolutely love the phone update UI and the social bunny we're getting but the excess phone use I've seen from other players is too much. I've had the phone interactions modded out from my game for a long time until it only broke recently. I had forgotten how bad it was. Any phone use should be player directed in my opinion.
Now with players saying there is "more" anonymous phone use I really think that is overkill. I know I'm only one of many players who like to play in different time periods or castaway, or apocalyptic, or just tech free games.
It definitely won't stop me from playing but it will annoy me very much. Hopefully I can find another mod for it. The PC addictions are bad enough. And I do understand that it mimics real life but even in real life I hate the tech addiction. I love people to people interaction. And sim to sim interactions.

I do hope one day we can get an option to only give sims phone that we want. I have 2 sims that are phone addict celebrities and that's perfect for them. But not ALL sims.

I agree with all of you regarding the phone issue. I have always loved playing all my Sims games, even though many still have bugs (Sims 3 in particular). But I was always able to work around or with them. I have enjoyed Sims 4 as well and even bought MWS with it's bugs. But I don't like the way the Sims are so obsessed with items/electronics/phone and now they have made the phone worse. Hoping they do allow us to shut the phones off as I know myself well. This will frustrate to me to the point I won't play, and that's sad as I spent alot of money on this game over the years. I would love it if parents could take away phones for punishment if having bad grades or misbehavior! Hopefully they will do something as I don't want to lose my enjoyment of this game. With the way things are going, I probably will not invest in anymore future Sims games. Thank goodness I still have my Sims 2, 3 and Medieval games!