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Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

pam-moore.com

121–130 of 274 posts

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#121

Life with a smart phone is so much better than life before a smart phone. It's hard to realise how recently they came around. I've probably only had the internet on my phone for five years (I've had a smart phone for longer, but I couldn't get the data to work and data was expensive enough at the time I didn't care). I can communicate with my fiancee even when she's in another country (international sms = fail). I ca…

> If you're not valuing your priorities with a phone, you won't value them without it. Exactly right. I hear more and more people complaining about the internet, their smartphones or tech in general. If you listen to those people long enough you realize what they are actually talking about is social media and to a lesser degree gaming. I just don't get it. If you don't like those services, don't use them. Have some s…

- Hi, I'm anonymous alcoholic, I decided not to carry a bottle of alcohol with me at all times.

- Have some self restraint for crying out loud.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#122
post #59

I don't have a phone. At all. Whenever government things or banks ask me for a phone number, I just say none. Persistent computer forms that won't take no for an answer are fed the phone number of the company that is asking for a phone. Most people find this utterly unthinkable and seem to project their anxiety of not having a phone on to me. What about emergencies? How do you do this? How do you do that? What if thi…

I do have a smartphone (only because I use the GPS/maps function a lot) but effectively I do the some thing, I only ever answer if it's a number that I know and I feel like it. I hate phones, I hate being interrupted out of the blue, I even hate listening to voice messages (I don't even do that anymore). If it's important they'll send an email or a text that I'll be able to read when I want and that'll be easy to reference later if need be.

> Most people find this utterly unthinkable and seem to project their anxiety of not having a phone on to me. What about emergencies? How do you do this? How do you do that? What if this happens?

I think the problem is if people have come to expect to be able to join you by phone and you suddenly stop answering they will get worried and/or frustrated, you changed the rules. I know a guy whose wife freaks out if he doesn't answer the phone and doesn't call her back within the hour even if she knows he's in front of his desk at work and is very unlikely to spontaneously combust. It's because he's built the expectation that he would always answer the phone.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#123
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its about 10PM here. I got back from work 3-4 hours ago and my phone just beeped and I could read the email with simply a flick of a finger and saw that it was a work related email though I was having dinner at that time. Now, though I am at home that's running on a thread at the background in my head since then. This is perhaps just one use case but it's hardly surprising that people now want to go back to way it wa…

don't put work email on your phone

In Finland at least, most employers provide your phone and contract. Of course you can take a separate one but then you’re carrying two phones.

I’ve been dying for gmail and workplace (fb for work) to add a feature so I can stop work related notifications after 17. Having this at iOS level would be great also.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#124
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about audiobooks, discord/slack for team communication, or sometimes reading on public transport. You can easily block/mute notifications and all that. Don't use apps like Instagram (never used but some of my friends do) or other addictive apps and you'll be fine. To be honest smartphones are you the best way to push some (25 minutes) to practice skills when you have time window (apps like brilliant, Reedy) Phon…

If you use discord or slack for team communication your team communication features nothing important (ie you might as well not have it) or you work at a company that doesn't do communication security well.

The latter case is very usual.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#125
post #57

I obliterated one of my smartphones last year after dropping it on concrete while getting off the bus. I freaked out, had no clue what to do since I was low income and couldn't afford anything for quite awhile. For a few days it was like I was an addict, constantly feeling my back pocket vibrating, constantly reaching to check my phone. After a few more days, I felt very liberated. I felt very free. I started enjoyin…

My first question to anyone who says they can live without a smartphone: what do you use for two factor auth?

Variously: SMS; the "call my landline and speak the code to me" options some systems have; 2FA app on an android tablet; special purpose just-shows-a-number dongle. None of this is great, though. I believe you can run 2-factor-auth clients on a Linux box somehow, but I've never investigated that.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#126
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

don't put work email on your phone

In Finland at least, most employers provide your phone and contract. Of course you can take a separate one but then you’re carrying two phones. I’ve been dying for gmail and workplace (fb for work) to add a feature so I can stop work related notifications after 17. Having this at iOS level would be great also.

Xiaomi phones (not sure about others) allow you to have two separate "spaces". Not sure how it works under the hood, but it's basically like rebooting into another Android instance - even the Google account is not shared, apps are not shared, nothing. You can switch between these spaces from lock screen simply by entering a correct password for the one you want, you can configure what notifications and when can "bubble up" to the primary space, etc. It's an awesome feature.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#127
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Email across the planet has been around since day one. It has been present around the globe for ages, if you could find an internet cafe on holiday. Reading email on your phone also needs a smartphone. > Mass transit has had posted schedules for many years. It is nice to see an updated one with up to the minute tracking but it wasn’t that inconvenient either. You must be one of the blessed multitudes that live in a…

>>Reading email on your phone also needs a smartphone. Nokia 6310 could both read and send emails, and I'm sure the functionality arrived slightly earlier too. >>second point I mean, if I'm in some 3rd world country without a reliable public transport system, then I'm not sure how internet access or a smartphone for that matter helps at all. In my experience in those places the bus/train just turns up when it does, n…

A flip-phone can be a smart phone.

Blackberries were smartphones. They had enumerable apps shoved into that tiny display, and keyboard model, but they still looked like flip-phones and lacked touch displays.

To me, the 'flip' is just a mechanical implementation detail. The real divide is smart phones versus dumb phones.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#129
I've definietly got a problem with this. I don't feel anxious without the phone, in fact I quite enjoy it. But with it, I find myself checking it during any mental downtime. Brexit-fueled anxiety has caused me to compulsively check the news multiple times a day for a while now. It must be destructive to my mental process.

I'm not going back. I love the camera, I love having my books and music with me everywhere. I love the GPS.

But I can't wait for iOS 12 so I can slap obtuse time limits on my Twitter and browser use.

Re: Why I’m Using a Flip Phone

#130
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by "peak photo"?

They mean the Photomeggadon. The Photocalypse. The Big Kodak Moment. IMNSHO, the parent is simply behaving reactively to the threat of new paradigms. Email does not convey the emotion of a phone call, let alone a video call. Easy access to information fosters discussion - by ending pointless, heated debates over nothing. Only teenagers, and I now presume, older people, fuddle with their phones instead of talking to t…

Emails are a replacement for letter writing, not a replacement for phone calls.

When they seemingly replace a phone call, its usually because the institution would have liked to use only letter writing but couldn't for some non-technical reason.

Like a company processing refunds and cancelations by phone in order to have the opportunity to convince clients not to cancel (i.e. non-technical reason), now uses email or chat systems to accomplish the same thing.

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