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Dumber phone

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Re: Dumber phone

#211

Post by Nition »

mozzarella wrote: post #170
peacetreefrog wrote: post #125

There are a lot of "hacks" in this thread (put your phone in grayscale, put variable reward apps in a folder, turn off fingerprint sensor) but in my experience the mindset is by far the most important part. What's worked for me (and the article talks about this too) is viewing my phone as a tool with a limited set of functionality. For me, that functionality is: calls, texts, Google maps, Spotify, Audible, podcasts,…

When my dad decided to quit smoking, he didn't throw out the pack of cigarettes he was currently in the middle of. Instead, he put them up on the shelf next to his work desk. The pack wasn't totally in his face, nor was it out of sight. Despite the visual reminder being present, he broke his years' long pack-a-day habit. Eventually - long after he stopped smoking - he threw the pack out, as part of his usual housekee…

Makes sense. Getting rid of something doesn't teach you not to use it when it's there.

If you can not use it when it is there, you've really won.

Re: Dumber phone

#212

Post by 205guy »

I didn't see this mentioned in a quick scan of the comments: no data plan.

I originally did this with my wife to save money: 2 AT&T grandfathered unlimited data plans for $160 down to $15 for 2 phones on an MVNO talk+text family plan (both plans had limited minutes, but the MVNO is cheaper for add'l minutes).

We use wifi at home and at work, though since I have computers there, I don't find myself connecting on the phone that much. Also, neither of us use facebook through the app or the browser on the phone. We just use home computers or an ipad for that. That feels much safer for being physically tracked and advertised to.

So our phones have our calendar and reminders, notes, and photos, and voice and text of course (just not imessage unless on wifi). It really makes them boring and functional, and not a distraction.

The ONLY thing that we miss that is critical is maps when traveling. My wife once switched to a $40 data plan for a month, I tried to check maps with the hotel wifi so they are cached on the phone. But now we found a Garmin GPS at a yard sale for $20 and use that.

Re: Dumber phone

#213

Post by gambiting »

205guy wrote: post #212

I didn't see this mentioned in a quick scan of the comments: no data plan. I originally did this with my wife to save money: 2 AT&T grandfathered unlimited data plans for $160 down to $15 for 2 phones on an MVNO talk+text family plan (both plans had limited minutes, but the MVNO is cheaper for add'l minutes). We use wifi at home and at work, though since I have computers there, I don't find myself connecting on the p…

Assuming you are on Android - you can download maps for offline viewing when you are on wifi, just select an area and that portion of the map will be stored for offline use.

Re: Dumber phone

#214

Post by abawany »

nabla9 wrote: post #30
parvenu74 wrote: post #9

Personally, I would love a flip phone with a removable battery and a physical button on the side to turn WiFi hotspot functionality on/off -- with OFF being the default. Having a phone that you only need to charge once a week is a great feature!

You are describing new Nokia 8110 4G (aka "the matrix phone" reincarnated) * 25 days on standby, 8.5 hours LTE voice calls * removable battery * WiFi hotspot functionality * 4G network connectivity * KaiOS will have basic apps (Google maps, FB, Google assistant and reportetly WhatsApp in near future) https://www.nokia.com/en_in/phones/nokia-8110-4g

I was very excited by this phone but KaiOS seems worrying though hopefully I just misread: they seem to be quite closed-source even though they are based on FirefoxOS [1], the app store is closed and carrier controlled [2], and the hotspot functionality also seems to come with carrier control [3], which given the lack of openness and root capability, means that it may very well be disabled if you buy the phone through the wrong carrier.

As a basic phone with features, it still seems exciting (priced at $99USD I think) but after LineageOS, this feels like a step back in terms of openness and control.

[1] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-14

[2] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-6 - to me, this means outdated apps or ones that will eventually die (such as the YouTube app on Sony DVD players a couple of years ago.)

[3] https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-16

Re: Dumber phone

#215

Post by graeme »

vinceguidry wrote: post #181

The yearning for fewer options for distraction is curious to me. I can understand the desire for fewer interruptions, but me choosing to kill a few minutes here and there playing Threes or Fire Emblem Heroes or perusing a Quora feed isn't the grand evil people seem to think it is. After all, it's not like my brain just stops. Particularly when I play Threes, only a portion of my mental energy is devoted to playing th…

Brains are different. Are you a visual thinker?

I think in words, and so anything with words heavily blocks background thinking. You may have a type of brain that is particularly compatible with doing secondary phone activities.

(By contrast, I can think while tidying, cooking, etc. They're all non-verbal)

Re: Dumber phone

#216

Post by graeme »

komali2 wrote: post #67

My problem is I browse hackernews and news.google.com in my browser in my phone. Please send help I haven't spoken to my child in three days.

Remove your browser, and keep a todo list of things to google later at a computer.

Re: Dumber phone

#217

Post by abawany »

Cbasedlifeform wrote: post #76
parvenu74 wrote: post #9

Personally, I would love a flip phone with a removable battery and a physical button on the side to turn WiFi hotspot functionality on/off -- with OFF being the default. Having a phone that you only need to charge once a week is a great feature!

My iPhone 5s (still my favourite iPhone design) died a couple of years ago (well, the battery did) and since then I use an iPod touch for apps and a cheap (£30 IIRC) dual-SIM little Nokia for telephony. The latter keeps its charge for days and I don't worry about losing it. I confess as a news junkie I enjoy twitter, youtube, podcasts and reddit etc on my iPod but as it is wifi-only of course there are built in const…

Darn, I was about to suggest that you get the iPhone SE but I think you made a better choice sticking with the iPod Touch.

Re: Dumber phone

#218

Post by pawelk »

peacetreefrog wrote: post #125

There are a lot of "hacks" in this thread (put your phone in grayscale, put variable reward apps in a folder, turn off fingerprint sensor) but in my experience the mindset is by far the most important part. What's worked for me (and the article talks about this too) is viewing my phone as a tool with a limited set of functionality. For me, that functionality is: calls, texts, Google maps, Spotify, Audible, podcasts,…

I have mobile plan from 12 years ago that includes calls and sms but no data in the modern sense - there's internet access but tailored to 2006 tech (WAP, early mobile web for dumbphones), it's billed per 100kB and really expensive. So no internet use when not connected to home WiFi and I like it this way. I even own dual-sim smartphone and actually have a sim card with 5GB data plan I could use, but it stays in a 4G mobile router we only take for long trips/holidays to use navigation and have some emergency internet connectivity.

Re: Dumber phone

#219

Post by navs »

For almost a year I personally used a “dumb phone”. I believe it was a ZTE from one of the telco providers. It actually wasn’t terribly dumb, it did have a text based web browser that allowed me to read some lightweight sites, especially BBC and NPR which have lightweight text only alternatives to their core website.

However the browsing was painful and while the reward was within reach, attaining that reward was a chore so I simply didn’t browse as much until I eventually didn’t at all.

That means, for some, buying a cheaper, slower smartphone may help. Let’s face it, most websites would kill cheaper, older smartphones. So your browsing habits would suffer but in a pinch you could still access limited information.

Most third party apps wouldn’t install on your older smartphone but the core apps like Google Maps will still be accessible.

In addition to this, opt for a cheap data plan. I currently pay $20/m and that includes 1Gb of data. For $10/m I get more minutes and no data .

These tricks don’t work for long but they’re a good kickstart to developing a completely different mindset to how you use your phone.

Re: Dumber phone

#220

Post by jschwartzi »

dasyatidprime wrote: post #180
driverdan wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because then FOMO takes over This is the real problem, not the phone or its apps. You need to eliminate FOMO from your life. You'll be much happier for it. I don't have a recommendation on how to do that. For me I came to the realization and acceptance that there is always more. More work, more knowledge, more news, more parties, more potential friends, more opportunities, etc. It never ends and it's impossible to…

You'll be much happier for it, but can you afford it? If you've got the kind of social life and communication you need, great. And I agree that many people who are in an accidental too-much-FOMO situation probably didn't need all the extra tweets and whatnot flung their way and it's mostly junk. In that case, just turning most of it off is a reasonable idea. But if you're in a position where the communities you need…

Maybe you need to find different communities. Being part of something isn't a need, it's a want, and you either accept that you want to be there and take the good with the bad, or you accept that you don't like the bad and give up on the good.
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