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Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

#141

Post by dralley »

throwanem wrote: post #117
Vivtek wrote: post #105

When Hurricane Maria hit us in 2017, we lost power for two weeks (we were extremely lucky in that - we were among the first 4% of the island to regain power due to our proximity to a hospital). During those two weeks, my entire lifestyle changed, obviously, so it's difficult to know what changed because of that, and what was just the fact that e.g. I went from sedentary tech work to nailing salvaged roof scrap on top…

FYI, that resistor was probably there to bleed charge off the cap when power was removed from the circuit, to keep it from biting. Rather than bad design, it's a standard feature; as you've discovered, big caps without it can be mean, not only to careless fingers, but to the circuit they're in, besides. Granted, it sounds like the resistor had failed short as you found it, and without access to a replacement, cutting…

> But now might be a good time to replace it.

But be careful about that capacitor, because it might be holding a charge that can't go anywhere but your fingers.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

#142

Post by abyssin »

collyw wrote: post #135
abyssin wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree about the fact they're a great opportunity to experience a unique lifestyle for the duration of one's stay. I've never felt calmer in my life than during the Vipassana retreat I did two years ago. But I'd advise anyone thinking of attending a retreat to look up critical opinions on the topic. I was personally put off by the sectarian vibe that I felt when I was there, much to my surprise. The method has its m…

Yes, there is a bit of "bullshit" that goes with a Goenka course for want of a better word. The way I looked at it was the only reason I was being annoyed by it was because of my ego. Question why those aspects of the course bother you.

It makes sense to answer in terms of ego, and it's true ego plays a role. But the way this truth is used to shield away from tough questions is precisely what sounds sectarian to me.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

#143

Post by ghaff »

INTPenis wrote: post #115
whiddershins wrote: post #113

First of all, if you are over a certain age, the phrasing of this question might feel surreal. Because before a not-that-long-ago date, everyone did this all the time. That said, a few years ago I was forced to do this because I was on a beach in Mexico with no service. It took several days for the addiction to wear off, and I had been already ‘on vacation’ for about 2 weeks previous, just I was still plugged in. I h…

I had the same thought, the 90s. And what did I do in the 90s? I smoked cigarettes. All alone, at a bus stop, or waiting for a friend. It was torture just standing there as a teenager in the 90s. Had to start smoking. I'm not saying smartphones made me quit smoking but mp3 players did give me an excuse to put headphones on and at least do something while waiting for public transportation and the like. I did own a wal…

There is definitely an element of people wanting something to do something with their hands. I wouldn't be so presumptuous to say that smartphone usage helped cut back on cigarette smoking but it wouldn't shock me if there were some effect.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

#144

Post by ghaff »

DanTheManPR wrote: post #134
INTPenis wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same thought, the 90s. And what did I do in the 90s? I smoked cigarettes. All alone, at a bus stop, or waiting for a friend. It was torture just standing there as a teenager in the 90s. Had to start smoking. I'm not saying smartphones made me quit smoking but mp3 players did give me an excuse to put headphones on and at least do something while waiting for public transportation and the like. I did own a wal…

I remember being very bored a lot in the 90s. Waiting around in the laundromat, sitting in waiting rooms, riding the bus, doing house and yard work. Books and walkmans and gameboys existed, of course, but they were slightly too big to always carry them around in your pocket. I was a very early listener of audiobooks on digital media players, which was a godsend for alleviating that kind of boredom.

I used to read a lot more books. I'm not sure I read fewer total words these days but certainly fewer books.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

#145

Post by throwanem »

dralley wrote: post #141
throwanem wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, that resistor was probably there to bleed charge off the cap when power was removed from the circuit, to keep it from biting. Rather than bad design, it's a standard feature; as you've discovered, big caps without it can be mean, not only to careless fingers, but to the circuit they're in, besides. Granted, it sounds like the resistor had failed short as you found it, and without access to a replacement, cutting…

> But now might be a good time to replace it. But be careful about that capacitor, because it might be holding a charge that can't go anywhere but your fingers.

Ideally, you drain the capacitor first with the same resistor you're about to install as a bleeder.

Much less ideally, you can short a cap with a screwdriver or something, but the degree to which that's a bad idea scales at least linearly with the value of the cap.

I did that once with a photoflash cap, while trying to troubleshoot a failed Nikon SB-R200 ring-mount flash head - expecting the failure to be in the control circuitry, I wasn't sure whether it had died with charge on the cap. It had! Luckily I had the good sense to point the thing away from me, because it melted a chunk out of the screwdriver tip and distributed it as slag across my worktop. Even as it was, my ears took most of an hour to stop ringing.

A fair question at this point is: with a capacitor big enough to be that dangerous, why wasn't there the kind of bleeder resistor we're talking about? In this case, it's also a design feature, because flashes run on batteries and you don't want to waste charge, or have to wait all over again for the battery to charge the cap every time you switch on the unit. Too, these flash heads have no externally accessible contacts through which the cap might discharge into the user, and the charge circuit uses a MOSFET to switch battery power to the cap, so even if you go poking fingers into the battery compartment, it still won't light you up.

Nonetheless, it serves as a good example of why you want to be very careful with high-power capacitors. The one I'm talking about is only about the size of the second joint of your thumb, small enough to fit into a flash head that itself fits into an adult's palm. Even so, at full charge it had enough juice to blow up a screwdriver and injure my hearing - and if I'd been even more careless and discharged it through my actual hand, I don't doubt I'd have ended up with a permanent scar.

Be smarter than I was! Discharge your big caps through a high-value resistor before you do anything else with them.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

#146

Post by Sharlin »

DanTheManPR wrote: post #134
INTPenis wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same thought, the 90s. And what did I do in the 90s? I smoked cigarettes. All alone, at a bus stop, or waiting for a friend. It was torture just standing there as a teenager in the 90s. Had to start smoking. I'm not saying smartphones made me quit smoking but mp3 players did give me an excuse to put headphones on and at least do something while waiting for public transportation and the like. I did own a wal…

I remember being very bored a lot in the 90s. Waiting around in the laundromat, sitting in waiting rooms, riding the bus, doing house and yard work. Books and walkmans and gameboys existed, of course, but they were slightly too big to always carry them around in your pocket. I was a very early listener of audiobooks on digital media players, which was a godsend for alleviating that kind of boredom.

> Books and walkmans and gameboys existed, of course, but they were slightly too big to always carry them around in your pocket.

Which is why purses/handbags/messenger bags are so great. And at some point in the 90s, fanny packs (which apparently are making some sort of a comeback right now…)

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

#147

Post by pbhjpbhj »

s_r_n wrote: post #84
seesawtron wrote: post #2

It might be a bit unorthodox and I would possibly get flagged for writing this but I found the ideas of Kaczynski on impact of technology on us very profound and thought-provoking[0]. I try to separate the "art" from the "artist" and do not condone his violent actions thereafter. But this idea has been around in various shapes where people debate if its true that techonology is evolving at a much faster rate than our…

Is there a different writer with a similar viewpoint we could read about, if we don't want to read his work?

I'm curious why you don't want to read that work?

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

#148

Post by cjhanks »

I have gone without any phone/computer/etc completely a few times, once for 4 months, once for 3 months, and then quite a few shorter periods.

The main thing I learned was that when using the computer, I was using it too much. Even at work as a programmer, it turns out you do not need to spend most of your time in front of a computer coding. A bit more thought outside of the digital world can allow your ideas to form clearer, and then it takes far less time to code it.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever gone without a computer or phone for an extended period?

#149

Post by karatestomp »

Sharlin wrote: post #146
DanTheManPR wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember being very bored a lot in the 90s. Waiting around in the laundromat, sitting in waiting rooms, riding the bus, doing house and yard work. Books and walkmans and gameboys existed, of course, but they were slightly too big to always carry them around in your pocket. I was a very early listener of audiobooks on digital media players, which was a godsend for alleviating that kind of boredom.

> Books and walkmans and gameboys existed, of course, but they were slightly too big to always carry them around in your pocket. Which is why purses/handbags/messenger bags are so great. And at some point in the 90s, fanny packs (which apparently are making some sort of a comeback right now…)

Since all that stuff's smaller now, men can cart around quite a bit of crap in a blazer or sports coat, appropriate year-round (though you may want different ones for summer versus winter depending on where you live) all while dressing their outfit up a notch or two.

Blazers: fashionable purses for men. Love 'em. Like a hoodie but with much better storage capacity (yes, really) and gives a better impression. They even hold books pretty well—you know those fairly thin mass-market fiction paperbacks, from like the 50s-70s? They must have been designed to fit in the outer pocket of a suit jacket or blazer without bulging or throwing off the fit of the clothing. If you don't mind a bump on your jacket you can put somewhat bigger books in there, too.

Sad when Winter's over, the jackets/coats go away in the closet, and you have to start putting your wallet and phone and keys in your pants pockets again? Wear blazers!

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