I want to throw my phone away and switch to a "dumb" phone so I can rid my addiction to it, but I have become dependent on several core apps such as Google Maps. I wish Android would allow me full control to delete every app on there but the ones I most need. But unfortunately, its restrictions prevent me from doing so. For example, I want to delete all web browser apps so I am not tempted to the addiction of the internet, but Android won't let me. Does anyone here know how I can bypass this? I am close to purchasing the Light Phone 2 as a means to address my addiction, but again, it is missing Google Maps which I am heavily dependent on.
I Got My Attention Back (2017)
121–130 of 188 posts
Re: I Got My Attention Back (2017)
#122Meatspace hobbies help a lot with this. If you're knitting or gardening or painting or planing a piece of hardwood it's a heck of a lot easier to keep going than to switch back to your Skinner Box devices.
I get properly irritated when I'm doing yardwork and my phone blows up, because I have to stop what I'm doing, pull off the gloves, check for how much dirt got through/into the gloves, then pull out the device and deal with the glare to see that... nobody is dying, they just wanted to show me something funny. God. Damnit.
Re: I Got My Attention Back (2017)
#123Here's the problem I see with unplugging to work; maybe it's an actual problem, maybe I'm just fooling myself. I work on software. I want the finished product, to build something useful for myself or others. I don't necessarily want the "journey". When I work, my concern, or fear, is that I'm going to work on some library or method, multiple days, then find that someone else did it better in a library I can just impo…
> I don't necessarily want the "journey".
Aside: The 'journey' is typically structured wrong, dramatically speaking.
With development, the product is released at the end of the 'journey'. Boom, it's done, the end, Fin.
In a 3-act drama, the 'crisis' occurs at the midpoint of the story. It's the turning point. The iceberg hits the Titanic halfway through, Obi-Wan dies halfway through Star Wars, MacBeth kills Banquo halfway through, etc.
The product should be released at the halfway point of the 'journey'. It's the turning point for the humans in this story. We finally have the elixir and we've used it for the first time (ie. we get real feedback from the market and customers for the first time).
We're missing the rest of act 2 and the whole of act 3: the 'flight' part of act 2, the 'crisis point' at the end of act 2, and the 'synthesis' part that is act 3.
Those missing elements exist for the actual product, it's just that they are not included in the 'story' of the product. The humans in the 'journey' only make it to the intermission. It's then handed off to another team, typically. Hence, there is a lot of frustration with these 'journeys'. We don't get any synthesis.
To fix it, view the release as the halfway point in the 'journey', not the end of it. Keep the team a part of the product through the end of the dramatic 'journey'.
Re: I Got My Attention Back (2017)
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here are some things that have worked for me: 1. Keep your phone on silent (or shut off) in a different room than your office (or wherever you're trying to work) 2. Install an app like Refine on your phone and block all social media and sites that you open up frequently (HN would possibly be an example) 3. Keep your phone in a different room before going to sleep. 4. If you like listening to audiobooks, consider gett…
Yes I agree, Drugs are point of last resort since from I have inquired in the field and apparently going one can lead to a stack of them later on in life as the loose effectiveness and way they work.
I would not be so quick to throw away "drugs" as they have the strongest efficacy compared to any method shared here.
Anecdotally, I used to follow a lot of these methods described here, but more specifically:
- Keeping a journal
- Reducing blue-light before bed
- Diet & excercise
- Meditations
I do agree that there is merit in each one of them, but absolutely nothing worked better than the "drugs" that was prescribed to me.
In fact, when first speaking to a specialist, it was like he already knew me. He knew my problems better than I did (goes to show that your problems aren't unique after all).
I do wish I had sought help sooner - my life changed dramatically in the time span of initial treatment to now.
Re: I Got My Attention Back (2017)
#125I want to throw my phone away and switch to a "dumb" phone so I can rid my addiction to it, but I have become dependent on several core apps such as Google Maps. I wish Android would allow me full control to delete every app on there but the ones I most need. But unfortunately, its restrictions prevent me from doing so. For example, I want to delete all web browser apps so I am not tempted to the addiction of the int…
You could block internet access for your browser. There are a lot of apps that let you do that (and in some cases I think you can also manage internet access in your settings).
Re: I Got My Attention Back (2017)
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just turned slack off and check it every couple of hours. No one has shouted at me yet.
Yes. Desktop app/web app only. If you can't ignore blue, shut it down. If you get lots of red, shut it down. Helping others is one thing. Doing it at the expense of your own productivity is another. Silent phone is easy for me. You can always make the bosses VIP. Also I have never installed email or Slack on my phone. My current workplace is relatively low volume (50 or so staff). I can't imagine how it must be with…
It's basically that.
I block out chunks of time and disable all distractions during those blocks, I don't have a phone on my desk.
When I started they said to open a ticket with IT to get a phone installed and I simply didn't.
If it's urgent, like production is out - come find me otherwise wait until I reach a natural stopping point and I'll reply, you'll get a better more thoughtful reply then me throwing a reply your way desperately trying to get back to actual work.
It's weird to me how many companies seem to go out of their way to create an environment where developers can't get their best work done.
I mean there has to be a degree of balance between working together and working alone but the ratio in my opinion is 20/80 for what we do, meet up, make a plan, bugger off and work on the plan, reach out of something is a problem.
Versus the type of environment I'm currently in where it's death by a thousand distractions if you allow it, which I simply don't.
Re: I Got My Attention Back (2017)
#127I want to throw my phone away and switch to a "dumb" phone so I can rid my addiction to it, but I have become dependent on several core apps such as Google Maps. I wish Android would allow me full control to delete every app on there but the ones I most need. But unfortunately, its restrictions prevent me from doing so. For example, I want to delete all web browser apps so I am not tempted to the addiction of the int…
There are dedicated GPS devices (by TomTom, Garmin, etc) which are much cheaper than smart phones. In the past they provided a far better experience too, I'm not sure how they compare to Google Maps nowadays though.
Re: I Got My Attention Back (2017)
#128I want to throw my phone away and switch to a "dumb" phone so I can rid my addiction to it, but I have become dependent on several core apps such as Google Maps. I wish Android would allow me full control to delete every app on there but the ones I most need. But unfortunately, its restrictions prevent me from doing so. For example, I want to delete all web browser apps so I am not tempted to the addiction of the int…
Try using the LessPhone[0] launcher. I have used it off and on and had some success with it. It locks you down to a slim set of apps (configurable), in a plain black and white interface. It's not perfect, but it's helpful.
[0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.aswinmohan....
Re: I Got My Attention Back (2017)
#129I've started instituting a new rule of no internet on Sunday. in practice this means i dont look at anything that requires a web browser. I still make use of internet based service such as tv streaming apps etc. I usually start out the day feeling anxious about not looking at my phone, and then end the day feeling a lot more relaxed than usual and I usually did something fun because i wasnt just reading crap on my phone all day to fill the void.
Re: I Got My Attention Back (2017)
#130What stuck out for me was the bit about farmers in Myanmar playing Clash of Clans. This is something I noticed when I was in South Korea for work a few years ago, everyone was constantly playing CoC and similar games. Of course these are very different countries, but I wonder if there's a cultural factor at play that makes these games popular in East Asia? I live in a developing country but I never see people playing…
Families I know in India 10-ish years ago used to be against the whole technology wave and were concerned with the effects of electronics. Now that they have gotten their hands on smartphones and other devices: oh man they will put the American stereotype of being obsessed with the screen to shame. 24/7 Whatsapp, Instagram, and mobile games. They will come to the same realization as we are though. Just a matter of ti…
It isn't just the phone. We as a species seem to be mesmerized by visual screen-based media of any kind. For example, here's an article about a Russian family that retreated deep into uninhabited parts of Siberia during the Stalin years and lived a Middle Ages lifestyle until they were discovered in 1978:
>> "Karp Lykov fought a long and losing battle with himself to keep all this modernity at bay. When they first got to know the geologists, the family would accept only a single gift—salt. Over time, however, they began to take more. They took knives, forks, handles, grain and eventually even pen and paper and an electric torch. Most of these innovations were only grudgingly acknowledged, but the sin of television, which they encountered at the geologists’ camp,proved irresistible for them…. On their rare appearances, they would invariably sit down and watch. Karp sat directly in front of the screen. Agafia watched poking her head from behind a door. She tried to pray away her transgression immediately—whispering, crossing herself…." https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/for-40-years-this-rus...