I quit mine by making it a "landline" while I'm home. It's on the charger next to the bed unless I leave.
I like this approach!
A practical guide to quitting your smartphone
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Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone
#12I just checked the Screen Time statistics, and my average daily screen time last week was 18 minutes, the week before that was 22 minutes. I've never been in danger of becoming addicted to smart phones, just like I've never been in danger of being addicted to alcohol or gambling: none of them really appeal to me that much. But there are plenty of things I know I am addicted to, and I'm pretty sure the way to treat th…
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Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone
#13It is unfortunate that the phone hardware companies have an interest in you using their phone more, otherwise they'd make it easier to manage your phone usage better. The screentime app in iPhone for example is so easy to bypass as a user even when you were the one who limited certain apps usage. I want an app that strictly locks away my access to an app and also suppresses notifications. Is that so hard to build? It…
> It also needs to be a default functionality of browsers. The ability to limit time on websites.
There is LeechBlock for browsers.
Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone
#14I couldn't live without SMS and navigation, so I kept my smartphone and just disabled my browser and removed all social media apps. Occasionally I have to re-enable my browser to scan a QR code (including for parking as the article mentions), which annoyingly reminds me how to circumvent this restriction, but it hasn't really been a problem so far. I already had Kindle on my phone, and I also installed the Wikipedia…
Thanks for reminding me Wikipedia has an app. I need to use that more and the fast food internet less. I’ve often thought that a Wikipedia archive could be a great desert island choice. It’s the Library of Alexandria on a thumb drive. I guess it’s about 150gb now with images. So much human knowledge there!
>Each article would take a little over two minutes to read for an average adult. Reading all of Wikipedia would take about 140 000 hours, which is 5800 days, or almost sixteen years. That's assuming that you're reading 24 hours a day! Reading a standard eight-hour workday seems more reasonable.
Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone
#15I'd love to quit my smartphone and have looked at options like Lite Phone to replace it. The only issue is my smartphone is now my GPS, my payment method, my home lighting controller, my car/house key, and my health tracker. Plus, was a convenient way to keep tabs on work messages.
Half a decade ago I eliminated all my social media. Then about a year ago I started by removing work email and messaging from my phone.The next step will be having a designated spot for it to stay while I'm home.
I don't know if I will ever revert back to having a thick wallet and a pocket full of keys, but maybe someday I can evolve to look at the smartphone as a utilitarian device without the addictive qualities.
Now to get back to scrolling on Hacker News.
Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone
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Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone
#17Do people really want to quit their smartphone? I certainly don’t. It connects me to people, provides information, and lets me capture information when I want to. I do not feel overwhelmed by it. I do restrict notifications to specific apps and people. The rest, I check on a couple of times a day. Why would I want to quit?
Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone
#18It is unfortunate that the phone hardware companies have an interest in you using their phone more, otherwise they'd make it easier to manage your phone usage better. The screentime app in iPhone for example is so easy to bypass as a user even when you were the one who limited certain apps usage. I want an app that strictly locks away my access to an app and also suppresses notifications. Is that so hard to build? It…
> It also needs to be a default functionality of browsers. The ability to limit time on websites. There is LeechBlock for browsers. https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/
> There is LeechBlock for browsers.
Right, there’s plenty of extensions, paid and non paid for users. But what I said was:
> It also needs to be a default functionality of browsers.
Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone
#19I was never in the "heavy smartphone users" category, but one thing I found that nonetheless shrank my usage significantly was switching to the "Niagara" launcher app (Android). If you are somebody that doesn't want to keep getting "sucked" into your phone, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone
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