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Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

#161

Post by kjerzyk »

yosito wrote: post #129
rchaud wrote: post #98

Delete every recreational app on your phone. Also delete anything that gamifies passive consumption, e.g. Duolingo. Put some ebooks on your phone and read those. Stop mentally associating the phone with the infinite novelty generated by algorithmic social and YouTube feeds. Do not open your web browser unless you have a specific search query in mind. Disable all notifications except for the calendar and clock. Treat…

> Also delete anything that gamifies passive consumption, e.g. Duolingo Since when is Duolingo passive consumption? I've learned two languages to fluency and Duolingo was my main source of practice. If language learning is your goal, Duolingo is a great app to keep around.

Congrats! I'm actually quite surprised because you must be the first person that learned a language using Duolingo. Most people I spoke with said they only learned how to answer Duo questions, not the language itself.

Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

#162

Post by baremetal »

horsawlarway wrote: post #37
baremetal wrote: post #11

>But I’m not at a point where I want to just toss my phone in the corner and forget about it either. Why not? it works.

Yeah... I do exactly that fairly frequently (often enough it's a running gag in my family that if you want to call me - call my wife, since I won't have my phone.) It turns out that your phone is an incredible tool, but only if taken in small doses. In larger doses - it's a nightmare device, actively designed and engineered to suck as much free time from you as possible. The answer is simple: Stop using it except for…

>Yeah... I do exactly that fairly frequently (often enough it's a running gag in my family that if you want to call me - call my wife, since I won't have my phone.)

I am a big fan of leaving my phone in a different room if i am coding or in the car if i am building something. Problem is i run a business now and i have to be reachable, in case someone calls.

But i dont use any apps other than maps on my phone nowadays.

>If I want to dick around with tech - I'll use my desktop/laptop.

That is exactly what i do.

Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

#163

Post by rootsudo »

I would say none, having a dependence on a app to be "mentally" healthy is just code for addiction and dependence. Removing the addiction to phone usage, and the feedback of notifications is the better way.

This goes in with what I feel about those "headspace" and meditation apps, making "welness" a subscription as a service. Disgusting.

Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

#164

Post by hawkar20 »

rchaud wrote: post #98

Delete every recreational app on your phone. Also delete anything that gamifies passive consumption, e.g. Duolingo. Put some ebooks on your phone and read those. Stop mentally associating the phone with the infinite novelty generated by algorithmic social and YouTube feeds. Do not open your web browser unless you have a specific search query in mind. Disable all notifications except for the calendar and clock. Treat…

> Do not open your web browser unless you have a specific search query in mind.

I'd counter this one. I've too often caught myself watching something, talking to friends or reading a books and being captured by the need to just quickly google that thing triggered by what I am doing at the moment. Most of the time you don't really need to know that information, your curiosity gets the better of you. Instead, maybe just make a quick note and stay in touch with that you're doing instead. Otherwise your life just becomes an endless list of interruptions prompted by needing to know that "one thing".

Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

#165

Post by ellopoppit »

bckr wrote: post #160
kwatsonafter wrote: post #149

In the spirit of Marshall McLuhan; changing the channel doesn't change the media. You're a dignified person. You needn't engage with the world of ideas through your thumbs and a 4 inch light hole at all. You're important-- if someone needs your correspondence it would be appropriate that this be facilitated by mail and by computer e-mail when time is a concern. Emperors, judges, and men of consequence don't communica…

This is a very efficient way to end up very lonely.

So is using social media

Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

#166

Post by bdcravens »

rchaud wrote: post #98

Delete every recreational app on your phone. Also delete anything that gamifies passive consumption, e.g. Duolingo. Put some ebooks on your phone and read those. Stop mentally associating the phone with the infinite novelty generated by algorithmic social and YouTube feeds. Do not open your web browser unless you have a specific search query in mind. Disable all notifications except for the calendar and clock. Treat…

> anything that gamifies passive consumption, e.g. Duolingo

I took 4 1/2 years of Spanish in high school and college, and I feel like I've learned more in 60 days on Duolingo.

Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

#167

Post by bdcravens »

thire wrote: post #124
valbaca wrote: post #123

These are my "good" apps: - Spotify: everyone loves music. Put it on speakerphone. Dance and sing silly while you cook. - Shazam: discover music. Exactly what apps ought to be. - Google Maps: Does what it does. - Google home: setting my lights to match the time of day / mood / or movie. - Google Authenticator: 2FA is good - "Justin Guitar", a simple guitar tuner, and a metronome app: I've been learning guitar - Duoli…

A note about Google Authenticator. There are alternatives which imo are much better, like LastPast Authenticator or Authy. They work exactly the same but they can back up your codes securely. Big plus if you lose or change your phone.

Since it's just based on TOTP, seems like writing your own would be one of those bad idea "I could do this in a weekend!" fun projects :-)

Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

#168

Post by SamuelAdams »

NalNezumi wrote: post #68

Not apps but things that have helped me: * remove All notifications from non-message & Calendar apps. * condition everyone around you that you might not reply messages in time. (crucial to make above work) and ofc you have to follow that too. * (if you have the financial means) get another device without ANY distraction what so ever, ideally disconnected from the internet (except maybe syncing files) For me it is a e…

Also use grayscale. I use an iPhone so go to settings > accessibility > Accessibility shortcut and tap the color filters option.

Now triple clicking the side button will toggle greyscale. Disable it when you want to look at photos, enable greyscale for all other applications.

Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

#169

Post by dangom »

crimsoneer wrote: post #97
Swizec wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 to this. Getting a reMarkable has improved my “Actually read interesting papers” metric by infinite%. I went from bookmark and forget to reading at least 1 paper per week on average. Turns out published academic papers, even the bad ones, are infinitely better than even the most insightful twitter threads. Years ago I replaced podcasts with audiobooks for long runs. Podcasts started feeling too short. That’s been…

How easy is it to get papers on? Do you email the PDFs or similar?

drag and drop on the app and they sync.

Re: Ask HN: What are some mentally healthy apps to have?

#170

Post by Infernal »

wsc981 wrote: post #4

The 7 Minute Workout [0] app from Johnson & Johnson is nice. Free & no advertising. "Mens sana in corpore sano" [1] as my dad used to say :) --- [0]: https://7minuteworkout.jnj.com [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_sana_in_corpore_sano

I got excited about the J&J app, but requires creating an account to use it at all, and for some reason the iCloud “hide my email” isn’t available on the account creation page.
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