Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction • Hacker News Board

Re: Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction

#31

Post by gcp123 » Tue, May 22, 2018, 5:14 PM UTC

protonimitate wrote: post #15

ben_jones wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do it every few minutes I feel like its more of a "tick" then a conscious choice. Furthermore it is a choice motivated by for-profit entities. Doesn't that make you feel uneasy?

Not Op - but for me, no. When smartphone 'addiction' starts getting in the way of day-to-day responsibilities and personal health then we can talk about ways to curb smart phone addiction. Maybe for others its different, but the only time I have the 'tick' is when I'm otherwise unoccupied - watching boring tv, riding on public transit, or otherwise killing time. Could you replace that with more beneficial ways to pas…

In the western world at least, we're surrounded by experiences provided by for-profit entities, but very few of them profit from maximizing our attention on their product like app-makers and social media do. They don't create products that are designed to monopolize our attention. Check out the book Attention Merchants or check out humanetech.com.

Filling every idle moment of your life with apps on a screen is actually keeping you from being with yourself. Tech has gone through three stages:

1. Tech that insulates us from the harshness of nature in order to promote our survival (clothing, heat, etc).

2. Tech that enhances/automates our abilities for productivity and convenience (telecom, industrial tech, etc).

3. Tech that distracts us from the human condition (social media, television, never-ending games, etc).

I used to be like you, thinking the tech in my life was only in service of my best interests, but I had a change of heart. Wrote about it here: https://medium.com/@gcpofnyc/seeking-a-healthier-relationshi...

Re: Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction

#32

Post by Barrin92 » Tue, May 22, 2018, 5:16 PM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #24

Barrin92 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're looking at your phone every few minutes you are almost certainly interrupting social activities or whatever it is you're doing that requires more than a few minutes of continued focus. If you're not convinced that any of this applies to you even if you're spending all your time on your phone.. well that too would be a typical reaction of someone who is addicted. You might also be displacing other activities…

Humans aren't single-threaded, most can glance at their phones mid-conversation with no interruption. Your second paragraph amounts to a kafkatrap (wherein denying the validity of the argument automatically means it applies to the denier).

Humans actually are kind of single-threaded, excessive multitasking has a measurable impact on mental performance. It's trivial to observe for yourself. Try to read and book and interrupt reading every few minutes. You will notice that you will both have to spend more time (by definition), and retain less information. Not to mention that interrupting actual conversations to stare at your phone seems kind of rude, asocial and inconsiderate.

>(wherein denying the validity of the argument automatically means it applies to the denier).

this isn't really a great point when it comes to addiction, because it's a genuine behaviour among addicts, not just a way to attack one personally. Addicts will downplay or deny the role their addiction plays in their lives categorically.

Re: Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction

#33

Post by gcp123 » Tue, May 22, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

deft wrote: post #6

Is smartphone addiction really a thing that needs this constant coverage? I use my phone quite often but I've never felt controlled by it or like I need it. Maybe people should just delete the apps that are causing problems, instead of downloading another app to manage it. Is this the smartphone equivalent of safe-injection sites?

>Is smartphone addiction really a thing that needs this constant coverage? I use my phone quite often but I've never felt controlled by it or like I need it.

An alcoholic would say the same exact thing. :-) Just sayin!

Re: Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction

#34

Post by Nasrudith » Tue, May 22, 2018, 5:22 PM UTC

Rotdhizon wrote: post #10

RIP to anyone who clicked that link without ad block. The app is a cool concept but I don't see it ever taking off. They broadly assume that people want to be distanced from their phones, which I'm sure most don't. There is nothing wrong with enjoying technology. Yes I check my phone at last once every few minutes when I'm at home, does that made me an "addict"? I'm not checking social media, I'm just browsing throug…

In my experience/observation phone addiction and similar has several causes in addition to the obvious positive feedback loop. I know that in college looping music was used to cover up depression lack of motivation. Not healthy but it took me longer to recognize what it was.

Anyway avoidance of stressors is one which ironically is potentially situationally healthy but not always. I don't know the age of you nephew other than younger than you - using it rather than melting down about say an uncomfortable medical procedure is actually the healthier alternative. Obviously unhelpful in procrastination contexts of course unless tightly self controlled like a literal five minute break between an hour or so of studying. Or ADD/ADHD style attention regulatory failure loops. Borderline cases (no pun intended) might be depression if it proves helpful. Seeing a mental health professional for help is of course the right thing to do period.

Phones like many things are tools. It is helpful to look at the why of how they are used.

Re: Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction

#35

Post by gcp123 » Tue, May 22, 2018, 5:24 PM UTC

thirduncle wrote: post #4

It's actually quite easy to "break" your addiction to smartphones: Don't use them in the first place.

If you've ever done any work to break a habit, or talked to someone who has, you'd know that it's not always that easy.

Re: Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction

#36

Post by jdironman » Tue, May 22, 2018, 5:28 PM UTC

jclos wrote: post #30

Rotdhizon wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you described is precisely what's not happening though. In that there are no consequences to my frequent phone checking. If I'm playing a game and waiting for a match to start for example, it's not affecting me negatively in any way to just open youtube and watch a quick video. That's one of my points here; in that enjoying smartphones and being addicted to them gets muddled.

It's not affecting in ways that you notice right now, but we don't really know the true effects of never letting your brain be bored. There is some evidence that boredom is good for you as explained in this post: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170719-how-moments-of-bor...

Not to mention the people who 'have' to check while say operating machinery. Also, tallied up the time spent checking / browsing the phone or devices which could be used either for rest or learning a new skill, or even just being bored as you suggest.

Re: Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction

#37

Post by arrakeen » Tue, May 22, 2018, 5:29 PM UTC

imo these apps are completely unnecessary. all i needed to do was leave my phone on do-not-disturb mode at all times. this way, i don't have notifications and vibrations constantly nagging me, and i only check my phone during natural breaks in my activities

give it a try

Re: Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction

#38

Post by RBerenguel » Tue, May 22, 2018, 5:43 PM UTC

arrakeen wrote: post #37

imo these apps are completely unnecessary. all i needed to do was leave my phone on do-not-disturb mode at all times. this way, i don't have notifications and vibrations constantly nagging me, and i only check my phone during natural breaks in my activities give it a try

That’s my setup too (also for smartwatch). Only allow notifications on call or IFTTT (have been playing with notify to watch at the end of compile/test/package)

Re: Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction

#39

Post by [deleted] » Tue, May 22, 2018, 5:49 PM UTC

jclos wrote: post #30

Rotdhizon wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you described is precisely what's not happening though. In that there are no consequences to my frequent phone checking. If I'm playing a game and waiting for a match to start for example, it's not affecting me negatively in any way to just open youtube and watch a quick video. That's one of my points here; in that enjoying smartphones and being addicted to them gets muddled.

It's not affecting in ways that you notice right now, but we don't really know the true effects of never letting your brain be bored. There is some evidence that boredom is good for you as explained in this post: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170719-how-moments-of-bor...

[deleted]

Re: Siempo's new app will break your smartphone addiction

#40

Post by majormajor » Tue, May 22, 2018, 5:50 PM UTC

jclos wrote: post #30

Rotdhizon wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you described is precisely what's not happening though. In that there are no consequences to my frequent phone checking. If I'm playing a game and waiting for a match to start for example, it's not affecting me negatively in any way to just open youtube and watch a quick video. That's one of my points here; in that enjoying smartphones and being addicted to them gets muddled.

It's not affecting in ways that you notice right now, but we don't really know the true effects of never letting your brain be bored. There is some evidence that boredom is good for you as explained in this post: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170719-how-moments-of-bor...

If you're checking your phone when you're bored than it seems like you are getting bored still.

Maybe you'd be better off reading a book, or coming up with a creative solution to some big problem, but thinking back to pre-smartphone decades, that's not really what people were doing.

There's a significant difference between people who have replaced their previous time-waster go-tos with phones and people who are truly addicted, and the public discussion has done an absolutely shitty job of distinguishing these things.

The poster above said "when I'm at home," which doesn't exactly specify if it's diversion or addiction, but seems more like the former to me.