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Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

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Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#311

Post by bombcar »

pizza wrote: post #289
cassianoleal wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not like the people at Google didn't know about Goodhart's Law. Somehow I don't think SEO was ever meant to improve search results.

Honestly I’m just surprised it’s so profitable to be so spammy that this stuff is persisting. That said, when I see shit results, I hardly ever bother to click on the second page any longer. Perhaps the seo spam taking up the near-but-not-top results are the biggest schmucks of all, since they are probably putting in at least a little money/effort to get there, I would imagine?

They just want to sell ads. The site loads, the ads load, they get their cut.

Nobody seems to care that the ads are worthless and make nobody any money.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#312

Post by eternityforest »

themodelplumber wrote: post #96
panaffa wrote: post #72

I'm part of the new generation and I think the opposite. I am obsessed with my phone and the Internet. And I don't think it's bad. It's extremely stimulating in a way real life is orders of magnitude worse at. Point of reference, born around 2000. There's no going back for me. I want my phone at all times to have access to billions of possible thoughts, pictures, memes. It's literally a god like power.

I agree, I mean I was born quite a long time earlier but in my career training I was taught to look for tools people can use for restoring energy, comfort, courage, and maintaining contact with long-term values via their interests. This can also be especially important if you have other sensitivities that can lead to unwanted outcomes, which can be ameliorated more easily with a device nearby. Also, IMO using "addict…

I think addiction is perfect relevant for the majority of users. It's still a net win to have a phone, but they are addictive.

Any time you would like to stop doing something but are unable to because of a compulsion.... Is that not an addiction?

If you don't know what to do with your hands without a cigarette in them, almost anyone would call that a cigarette addiction.

Most people don't know what to do with their hands or mind without a phone. I sure don't.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#313

Post by eptcyka »

Grim-444 wrote: post #218
dale_glass wrote: post #155

Personally I find modern technology to be very liberating. When I was a child, even going around my own city was a stressful thing. What if I get lost? What if I run out of money for the train? How do I know I got the bus in the right direction? (the darn things didn't announce stops at all). The first times I traveled involved printing a stack of papers including names, addresses, and maps. Getting to a hotel in a c…

I recently started intentionally leaving my phone behind precisely to get those uncomfortable feelings back again, albeit to some controlled degree. I enjoy having to problem solve, I enjoy navigating novel situations, I enjoy feeling real accomplishment after solving problems rather than just having the answers given to me. Of course there's other ways to get those feelings in life, but I was in general just finding…

Why not focus on solving problems the smartphone hasn't solved yet?

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#314

Post by ipaddr »

datadata wrote: post #259
ipaddr wrote: post #246

In this day and age of openly tracking everyone's movement by government departments I'm surprised anyone brings there cellphone with them when they travel. Unless you accept creating a forever digital footprint of everyplace you go leave your cellphone at home. We know better but we pretend it doesn't matter because it's easier.

If you don't take your phone everyplace and leave it at home often, you'll probably also end up in some list of suspicion people at some point in the future. Absence of data together with an identity is also a footprint.

Suspicion with lack of data allows you to fill in the details later. Lack of easy to obtain information means you are not low hanging fruit, you require effort and resources.

You run the risk of being in a location at a certain time which you can't dispute.

If you decided to murder someone your cell will identify you. If you decide to leave your cell at home you will look guilty. If you always leave it at home you are good to go.

It's safer to be the ghost in the wires. It's safer to be the bug in the app.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#315

Post by noobermin »

dale_glass wrote: post #155

Personally I find modern technology to be very liberating. When I was a child, even going around my own city was a stressful thing. What if I get lost? What if I run out of money for the train? How do I know I got the bus in the right direction? (the darn things didn't announce stops at all). The first times I traveled involved printing a stack of papers including names, addresses, and maps. Getting to a hotel in a c…

A lot of the things you're worried about are worries about the design and efficiency of the systems you're encountering, like buses should be frequent enough that getting the wrong direction would be an inconvenience, not about getting lost. You could repeat for a number of other things. Mobile and internet technologies are papering over a lot of societal ills that are either being neglected or are being destroyed for other reasons.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#316

Post by noobermin »

philosopher1234 wrote: post #279
delusional wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to just dive into a little bit of a tangent. It's interesting to me that you're liberated by having access to everything all the time. Personally I find it pretty constraining. It makes me feel like there's nothing to discover, no mystery, no journey. If I wanted to find the best restaurant, I wouldn't have to go out and explore the local options or discuss it with friends. The more efficient and correct way w…

You don’t need an excuse to explore blindly. I agree that you no longer have one, but I think that is simply a fact of the modern world that requires adaptation. We have to be more honest with ourselves about why we explore.

Also, believe it or not, maps or apps lie. Just two days ago, I passed by a CVS that was listed as still open on google maps whereas it had already been closed.

On the exploration aspect, I'm really amazed that people really trust online reviews when restaurants clearly try to mess with the process or angry customers try to tank places they've had one-off bad experiences with. I take reviews as just another piece of information, just like word-of-mouth or paper reviews were before.

I really don't get that attitude, and this might sound a little harsh, but if GP is really the stereotypical "epicurean" type who wants to experience the world, they should already know online reviews aren't gospel and can be incorrect. I don't know how one couldn't know that unless there is some other reason for not exploring places and such even when google tells you this place is 4 stars while this place is 3.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#317

Post by gexla »

Grim-444 wrote: post #218
dale_glass wrote: post #155

Personally I find modern technology to be very liberating. When I was a child, even going around my own city was a stressful thing. What if I get lost? What if I run out of money for the train? How do I know I got the bus in the right direction? (the darn things didn't announce stops at all). The first times I traveled involved printing a stack of papers including names, addresses, and maps. Getting to a hotel in a c…

I recently started intentionally leaving my phone behind precisely to get those uncomfortable feelings back again, albeit to some controlled degree. I enjoy having to problem solve, I enjoy navigating novel situations, I enjoy feeling real accomplishment after solving problems rather than just having the answers given to me. Of course there's other ways to get those feelings in life, but I was in general just finding…

Try leaving your wallet (or equivalent) at home rather than your smart phone. ;)

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#318

Post by marvin »

MerelyMortal wrote: post #148
CrazyStat wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, it has greatly increased the availability of pre-packaged gluten-free food options. The consequences aren't all bad. (I have a sibling with celiac disease).

Did it increase the actual availability, or just the marketing? I've noticed things that never had glueten in it, labeled "glueten-free" after the craze a few years ago.

A close friend of mine with celiac disease says it was a whole different world after 2014 or so. Like being on an alien planet and being in a familiar place.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#319

Post by dymk »

eptcyka wrote: post #313
Grim-444 wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently started intentionally leaving my phone behind precisely to get those uncomfortable feelings back again, albeit to some controlled degree. I enjoy having to problem solve, I enjoy navigating novel situations, I enjoy feeling real accomplishment after solving problems rather than just having the answers given to me. Of course there's other ways to get those feelings in life, but I was in general just finding…

Why not focus on solving problems the smartphone hasn't solved yet?

Because sometimes the fun is the journey itself, and not the destination.

Re: Feeling uncomfortable when leaving phone at home shouldn't be normal

#320

Post by leros »

I went to a week long workshop on a farm. Part of the workshop was a ban on all electronics.

Initially it was really uncomfortable not having my phone but after 3 days I got used to it. It was incredible. I started doing things like waking up and drinking a coffee while just looking at the scenery. I actually did nothing and got calm peace.

At the end of the end of the week, I found almost nothing important in the hundreds of missed notifications I had.

It was a really interesting experience. I now try to leave my phone on a charger in another room when I'm home.

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