Earlier quoted context omitted.
I simply dont have facebook, twitter or tiktok installed on my phone.
You have better self-control than me.
Lack of self-control is precisely why I don’t want these apps. Apart from privacy issues.
New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
121–130 of 144 posts
Re: New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
#122Re: New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have the same problem! I'd really like to turn off autocomplete completely to resolve it, but Chrome doesn't allow that. :( Remembering to manually remove the site from my history every time isn't gonna happen.
On mobile or desktop? If you’re on desktop just go to settings and search for “autocomplete” - it might be under Google sync settings or advanced -> privacy settings for “use prediction service to help complete searches and urls” If I’m wrong, it’s only because I’m using MS Edge and this was a question it asked during setup :)
Desktop. This stops Google from using online predictions, but there’s still an offline autocomplete sadly.
Re: New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can even get plans where you pay a small amount per year and get X amount of minutes and Y amount of texts per month if you don't use a phone that often. Great for an emergency phone to keep in your car.
If you only need a way of calling 911, you don't need a plan or even a SIM to do so.
In some countries, a SIM card is needed due to past abuse of the emergency numbers.
Re: New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s because people demonise “wasting time”. People take themselves too seriously.
Problem is when you get addicted and end up spending over an hour scrolling content in a vegetable state and lack the energy to do anything else.
It's rarely just an hour. I used to waste >4 hours a day on YouTube.
Re: New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
#126I might be missing something here. Can I not pick up a Nokia, Sony or other phone for an order of magnitude less than this price? It might even get some kudos. Or, as stated in the article, an alarm clock for a similar order of magnitude less. This might belay a greater stagnation, and not a bad one. The laptop I'm typing this comment on, a ThinkPad manufactured in 2012, works just fine. It has an upgrade to a SSD an…
"I might be missing something here. Can I not pick up a Nokia, Sony or other phone for an order of magnitude less than this price?" In the United States all networks are switching to VoLTE. They will no longer activate devices that do not have 4g. So no, the old Nokias will no longer work. Unfortunately all new "Dumb Phones" will have to have a 4g modem and be compatible with the VoLTE networks.
I have a nokia windows phone which will not run apps or social media. Can't be hacked either. Bliss
Re: New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cal Newport in “Digital minimalism” has a plan of attack for addictive loops. 1) force yourself to use the mobile web site vs the dedicated app 2) at the end of the session log out, increasing the friction of using the app mindlessly
Another thing I've started doing that works for me is removing a page from the history on my browser. It's easy to mindlessly browse something like reddit when I can just type 'r' and hit enter because the browser autocompletes sites in my history, but even the 1 second it takes to type out 'reddit.com' gives my brain time to realize there's nothing in particular I wanted to look at, and I was just going there out of…
I do this with Firefox on Android, with enabling the setting to clear all history & cookies on Quit action. And then I regularly quit the app. I add a bookmark for sites I do want to access easily for whatever reason. I feel this adds a pretty balanced amount of friction.
Re: New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
#128I don't like how all modern phones are designed for content consumption. If you try googling "android phone with a small screen", you will get articles about phones with a 5-6" screen, because this is what is considered a "small screen" nowadays.
I would easily pay $300-400 for a de-Googled Android phone with 3-3.5" screen and no bloatware. It should be just right to use apps like Uber, Telegram, or maps, but the small screen would discourage mindless media consumption.
And it would fit in pocket much better.
Re: New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
#129All I need is smartphone that fits in my palm and has a battery that doesn’t lose 60-70% of power after 20m on internet and GPS usage and isn’t designed to shatter on fall (from both back and front).
What I do not need is a fad phone.
Re: New phone can make calls and send texts, but it cannot access social media
#130In Israel, around a million ultra-Orthodox Jews have specially made "kosher phones" that only make phone calls[1]. This is for religious reasons (with, it must be said, a not-insignificant amount of social pressure.)
Full disclosure: I am one of them, while managing to be CTO of a company with around 100 employees. If people need me, they have my phone number.
The phones tend to be recent model feature phones with custom firmware that only allow phone calls. I have to say, I very much see the benefits for concentration, focus, and general well-being. Sure, occasionally it's a pain, but the benefits far outweigh the costs.
The phones generally cost less than $100, and last way longer than smartphones do (I've had mine around 6 years, the battery lasts a week on a single charge, and upgrading won't get me any new features!)
[1] https://www.idi.org.il/media/15001/the-kosher-cellphone-mark... (Hebrew)