Life before smartphones (2020) • Hacker News Board

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#381

Post by buu700 » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 3:25 AM UTC

Osiris wrote: post #217

jzawodn wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the actual...? One would hope the cops at least apologized for nearly destroying your front door all because you didn't answer the door. It's not like they had a warrant for your arrest or something!

Except that law enforcement is explicitly immune from having to pay damages to property in the course of their duty. We had a SWAT team destroy a fence with an armored vehicle during a standoff and they were just like, "not my problem." Apparently they don't want to have to make decisions based on cost.

Makes sense. Seems like the incentives will be problematic either way.

Personally, I'd just have the state cover it, but explicitly not have it come out of the police budget. A reimbursement check or tax credit could work.

In the event that malice is suspected on the part of any involved party (police department, property owner, 911 caller, home invader, etc.), it would be on the state to press charges and recoup its loss.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#382

Post by I_AM_A_SMURF » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 3:43 AM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #83

IMO the big thing is not being bored. Someone is late for a meeting? Doesn't matter, you've got HN to read. On the back seat for a long drive? Doesn't matter, you can answer emails. Or play a game. The whole psychologically weird phase of "hmm I'm here and waiting, and all I can do is watch paint dry" seems to have vanished. I'm not sure what people prefer more though. Say you're waiting for a date, do you feel best…

What I've been enjoying lately is purposely not taking my phone off when I have a minute or two to kill. Just look around, think about things, it's very relaxing to me.

I do remember however being bored to hell as a teenager, I would not want to live in that world, I really hated it.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#383

Post by I_AM_A_SMURF » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 3:45 AM UTC

hateful wrote: post #126

lordnacho wrote: post #83

IMO the big thing is not being bored. Someone is late for a meeting? Doesn't matter, you've got HN to read. On the back seat for a long drive? Doesn't matter, you can answer emails. Or play a game. The whole psychologically weird phase of "hmm I'm here and waiting, and all I can do is watch paint dry" seems to have vanished. I'm not sure what people prefer more though. Say you're waiting for a date, do you feel best…

As someone with ADHD, this has been the most advantageous change for me. Another things I can do now is play a game on my phone during meetings - it may be counter-intuitive to others, but occupying my visual cortex and hands with a simple game allows me to pay attention to what someone is saying without having my mind wander.

Same, life was unbearable to me in the before smartphone times.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#384

Post by eyelidlessness » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 3:46 AM UTC

ARandomerDude wrote: post #350

blooalien wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "It's not possible to operate a vehicle in motion and text simultaneously in a safe manner." This statement has been proven true by multiple studies now, many of them coming to the conclusion that texting while driving can be as dangerous or more dangerous than driving drunk.

But disproven by my 20-ish years of safely texting while driving. You have to be smart about it but it can be done safely.

And all the drunk driving studies are proven false by my [unspecified relation family member] who also somehow suffers no consequences. Keep on gambling with other people's lives, it's definitely the important thing you should defend.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#385

Post by buu700 » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 3:47 AM UTC

sammorrowdrums wrote: post #185

mgkimsal wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like to run, but take the phone with me because it's my tracking device and music while running. I've been trying "do not disturb" mode, and it seems to be a positive. I don't get intermittent notifications that someone is trying to reach me - I don't want to be reached right now. The DND mode has probably been around for a while, I've just recently (last few months) gotten used to actually enabling it. What will b…

I’m getting a smartwatch with watch only runs, it has tracking, Bluetooth for headphones and can preload Spotify playlists. It has WiFi but no cell phone. Really looking forward to just being out for runs, with no possibility of contact or checking notifications etc.

I do this with my WearOS smartwatch (gen 4 Fossil Sport). It works pretty well overall, although I had to find a third-party app (WMusic) to allow copying music to the watch and playing without an active connection to the phone.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#386

Post by TedDoesntTalk » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 3:47 AM UTC

oceanghost wrote: post #336

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same experience with my current wife. Has yours remarried?

She has not, but she's living with someone. I have not met him, but I can tell he's falling for the manipulation because I'm picking up my daughter from HIM most days instead of her (meaning, he's doing her dirtywork like driving our daughter places). She was the kind of person, if you weren't doing exactly what she wanted you to, you were a piece of shit. Once I realized what was going on (our early relationship was…

Wow , so many similarities. I don’t know about the cheating angle. It is possible she is but in wouldn’t know when she’s have the time for it.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#387

Post by SilverRed » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 3:55 AM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #292

sylens wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am optimistic that I can use the upcoming Focus mode in iOS 15 to start broadcasting my unavailability to my contacts

I feel like not replying is a simpler solution. Text messaging is asynchronous communication, if someone is expecting an immediate response, they should be calling.

Focus mode is better because you do not get distracted at all by the ping. This allows people to send you a message at any time and you will see it at some regular interval. I'm fine checking messages once an hour but currently they come in at random times regularly. One 10 message ping is much less distracting than 10 pings.

I would much rather someone press a button to say "This is very important, send it now" over calling me where I have to scramble to turn off my music, put my headphones on, etc before answering.

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#388

Post by SilverRed » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 3:57 AM UTC

lordnacho wrote: post #76

krylon wrote: post #57

Now I feel old. I remember vividly running around with my first camera, looking for objects worthy of being photographed. The film cost money, so did developing it into pictures. I really had to weigh the pros and cons of taking a particular picture. And in a class of ~25 kids, I was one of three who owned a camera. Not that it was such a luxury item, but most people weren't into that. These days, (nearly) everyone c…

Regarding photos: People our age only have a few childhood pictures, and they are warped by time on analog media. Those pictures of us as a kid look really old because they are naturally filtered. Soon people will wonder WTF old-pic filters are for, and some historian will have to explain why it's blurred and the colors are faded. Also why did people have clothes for each decade? Our kids, by contrast, have had pictu…

Google photos does a great job of this. They assemble albums of "This is what you were doing this week 6 years ago". They are pretty cool and a regular source of "oh wow I remember that"

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#389

Post by throwaway984393 » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 3:57 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #171

The second paragraph is funny to me: > I memorized phone numbers, jotted things down in notebooks, had conversations with taxi drivers, talked to random people at bars, wrote checks, went to the bank, and daydreamed. I did all of these (except the phone number one) in the last week. More than technological advancements or anything else, all of this nostalgia is really just about getting old. "The human civilization p…

I don't pity today's youth. I do pity myself for not having young knees anymore...

Re: Life before smartphones (2020)

#390

Post by SilverRed » Tue, Aug 03, 2021, 3:58 AM UTC

jl6 wrote: post #180

lordnacho wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding photos: People our age only have a few childhood pictures, and they are warped by time on analog media. Those pictures of us as a kid look really old because they are naturally filtered. Soon people will wonder WTF old-pic filters are for, and some historian will have to explain why it's blurred and the colors are faded. Also why did people have clothes for each decade? Our kids, by contrast, have had pictu…

And because you only have a few rare childhood photos I expect you value them highly. The next generation, who will inherit thousands of photos of themselves and their lives, will feel no rarity or shortage, and probably won’t value them as much.

Google uses AI to pick out the highlights from the junk. Loads of factors to use like the geotag to show this looks like a holiday, this is a photo at the beach vs this is a boring photo of a desk.

So there is a load of data but ever improving AI will get better at showing you the cool stuff.