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Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

nytimes.com

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Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#131

Post by lupinglade »

apricot wrote: post #40
phil248 wrote: post #23

The article uses the word "phone" about 40 times. Based on my own usage patterns, I don't even have a phone. I have a portable computer. I happen to use it to make phone calls a few times every week. I use my desktop to make video calls a few times a month, but I don't call that a phone. We all know a smartphone is a computer, and I'm not trying to be pedantic about the words we use, but I think our insistence that t…

You object to calling them "phones" because they're not often used as phones, yet you want to call them "computers". What exactly do you compute with them? We should all be honest and call them "trackers" or "distractors".

“communicator” makes a bit more sense.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#132

Post by combatentropy »

nradov wrote: post #117
combatentropy wrote: post #81

People would be better off if they turned off the notifications. Even better would be if notifications were at first off, rather than on. Your phone should ring for calls and beep for text messages, and that's about it. Well, it should buzz if you set an alarm. But it should not interrupt you for an email or post on Facebook. Each app you install has all notifications on at first too. I think it would be healthier fo…

Why is an email less important than a text message? Large screens are great. You can see more without scrolling.

It's not less important. It's less urgent.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#133

Post by jtjuslin »

Hi! Does anybody find it easier to concentrate to calling with old phone? Still many things work with calling and hopefully will work on future. It is a sort of doing mode for me, not chatting. This goes to psychology and I am an engineer. Put so many many distractions to face on phone before getting to calling? Distractions can be and are at least for me very hard to resist. People are different. I need to turn off distractions, I cannot resist.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#134

Post by buvanshak »

apricot wrote: post #40
phil248 wrote: post #23

The article uses the word "phone" about 40 times. Based on my own usage patterns, I don't even have a phone. I have a portable computer. I happen to use it to make phone calls a few times every week. I use my desktop to make video calls a few times a month, but I don't call that a phone. We all know a smartphone is a computer, and I'm not trying to be pedantic about the words we use, but I think our insistence that t…

You object to calling them "phones" because they're not often used as phones, yet you want to call them "computers". What exactly do you compute with them? We should all be honest and call them "trackers" or "distractors".

You compute what pixels on the screen should assume what color so that you may be entertained....I ll show myself out now..

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#135

Post by rich_ard »

jonknee wrote: post #71
jimmy1 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Get lost and have to stop/call for directions? Why is, it in these type of questions, people always immediately go to the worst case scenario to try and prove their point? What about the average case: people again learn to plan their routes in advance, use their instincts, road signs, and if necessary, how to use a map. You also assume you can't get lost using a GPS. All data has the potential to be stale. Maybe th…

> In my experience, GPS is great for city driving with clear path to the sky (and >50% battery for any trip that is over an hour). Not so good in mountainous or remote locations. I use my phone's GPS in the wilderness all the time and it's an amazing help. Having a topo map where you can see exactly where you are is awesome. Even just having altitude is a big help like the other day when I was trudging up a steep for…

This is what got me re-tethered to a smartphone after a several-months-long experiment with returning to a flip phone - for backpacking it's so, so nice to have GPS in my hand.

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#136

Post by rauhl »

I don’t necessarily want a dumb phone, but I’d like a simpler phone. I’d like navigation (which is the entire reason I got a smartphone in the first place), a Web browser & Signal (or an equivalently-secure text- & video-chat app), calling & texting.

Maybe that Jelly phone would be sufficient?

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#137

Post by jotm »

mverwijs wrote: post #108
jotm wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm what version? I might upgrade lol, still running CM12...

LineageOS 14.1, on a Moto G4.

It doesn't have the awesome expanded desktop/screen mode, where the notifications and navigation bars are hidden all the time everywhere until you swipe up or down. This is why I never updated :/

Re: Is a Dumber Phone a Better Phone?

#140

Post by kleiba »

scarface74 wrote: post #109
reaperducer wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the anecdote. Doesn't prove a thing.

If I got lost somewhere where there are no stores for miles around I would never walk up and ask for directions at someone's house or if my car broke down ( https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/us/michigan-woman-shot/index.... ). The "anecdote" is even in my own neighborhood, if my son invites some of his White friends (who are his guests) to hang out at our neighborhood pool. He gets asked does he belong there? Do you thi…

Well, if my car broke down, I probably wouldn't ask for directions, either.
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