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A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

nytimes.com

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Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#181

Post by shmel »

Aurornis wrote: post #165
Syonyk wrote: post #83

I am so glad to see this backlash. It's been a long time coming. We've tried smartphones out for the past... oh, decade and change. They've been around longer, but were niche enough that they didn't dominate society, and even around the start of the iPhone era, "Crackberry" and such were common enough terms (with "Put all your devices in the center, whoever picks theirs up first buys the next round" being a fun game…

> The results are solidly in: They're an utter disaster for most people, and for society at large. In no particular order, they ruin social interactions in public situations (think "talking to people in the grocery line" - though I've seen fewer people on their phones lately and can get some conversations going), I’m in the age group that is just old enough to remember adult life before everyone had smartphones. Hone…

Totally agree. While I certainly spent too much time on reddit, there is so much more. I can add to your list messaging with friends, quick payments, uber/train/flight apps, 2FA auth, spotify, quick queries to chatgpt, tracking workouts. I even use instagram mainly to keep in touch with acquaintances outside of my close friend circle and learning about interesting events.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#182

Post by Affric »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #153
Syonyk wrote: post #83

I am so glad to see this backlash. It's been a long time coming. We've tried smartphones out for the past... oh, decade and change. They've been around longer, but were niche enough that they didn't dominate society, and even around the start of the iPhone era, "Crackberry" and such were common enough terms (with "Put all your devices in the center, whoever picks theirs up first buys the next round" being a fun game…

My smartphone has replaced things that I used to carry. It is a tool. And as a bonus, I can pass time while waiting - doctors office, etc - which makes me more pleasant. My smartphone functions as a watch, notetaking device, and communication device. I rarely get lost now that I almost always have a map. It is a music device, which is really helpful considering I walk and take busses for most of my transportation. Th…

You complain about people being friendly. You complain about having to actually learn a language.

It sounds like your phone is preventing you from the very normal human interactions that made society pleasant.

There’s no amount of asserting that others are uninteresting that can convince me that a society is better when strangers only interact transactionally.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#183

Post by okr »

deely3 wrote: post #108
Syonyk wrote: post #83

I am so glad to see this backlash. It's been a long time coming. We've tried smartphones out for the past... oh, decade and change. They've been around longer, but were niche enough that they didn't dominate society, and even around the start of the iPhone era, "Crackberry" and such were common enough terms (with "Put all your devices in the center, whoever picks theirs up first buys the next round" being a fun game…

> they ruin social interactions in public situations (think "talking to people in the grocery line" I DONT WANT TO TALK to people in grocery line, especially when I don't have a phone. I perfectly ok to just stand quietly. > they're utterly toxic for teenagers sometimes, and still we have to be sure that its a phone and not society.

It is just a theory, but i think, apps were often written by people, who want to avoid conversations with strangers, who can exert some kind of power, who say no arbitrarily, because they can. At some point it took off and it became business as usual and since then its rolling.

But i suspect there is much more and many people are not like that. It should be richer and not so monotone.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#184

Post by prmoustache »

jmfldn wrote: post #164

Does anyone here use both a dumbphone AND a smartphone? I was thinking I could call forward from my smartphone to my dumbphone when I'm leaving the former at home. Seems like a good compromise?

That sounds complicated.

I would say if one cannot live without a smartphone (for stuff like banking and all + instant messaging) a good middle ground between a dumb and a smartphone is a kaios (formerly FirefoxOS) phone + an android or ipad tablet for home. KaiOS phones usually have a small screen and are underpowered which limit the appeal of browsing and doing too much shit on social medias but the basics are there: - google maps - whatsapp - a web browser - wikipedia - note taking - audio player - a small camera (not for nice pictures but to snap information) - 2FA OTP app

Usually all the stuff you might really need an android for (banking, healthcare, whatever) can wait for you to be home but you can still decide to bring a tablet in a bag when you know you will need it for a specific task (or when travelling).

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#185

Post by maccard »

CalRobert wrote: post #173
maccard wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have those ever existed though, really? I used to take a long bus or train most weekends, before smartphones were everywhere, and the vast majority of people were using earphones or reading - not talking to strangers.

It depends on where you are. I found that older people in Ireland (not ancient, just didn't grow up with phones) were often very happy to chat on the bus. Now I'm in the Netherlands and most of my chance interactions lately come from talking to other parents while my kids play in the street or playground. Funny enough I was at a playground a few weeks ago and my kids envied another kid's sled, they talked and the oth…

That weekly bus/train was in Ireland, funnily enough.

> most of my chance interactions lately come from talking to other parents while my kids play in the street or playground.

I think there's a signal here that's the difference. If I'm on a bus, I probably don't want to talk to anyone. Similarly, if I'm in a grocery store, I don't want to talk to someone in the baking aisle, I just want sugar. But if I'm out with my kid/dog, I know that's an inherently more sociable situation that may end in an interaction.

> Sure, usually it's a pleasant hello and then not much, but sometimes you meet people you get on with really well.

I've a dog and live in Edinburgh, I've found that the people I get on with are people I see repeatedly. Neither of us made the effort the first time, but after 2 weeks of seeing each other every morning at 8:30 in the rain and the dogs saying hello to each other, you can end up talking. I immediately have more in common with this person than going to the same destination as them, for example!

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#186

Post by csvm »

On my family's iPhones, we have a Shortcut (automation) that kicks in every evening at 9 pm:

1. Turn Mobile Data Off

2. Turn Bluetooth Off

3. Turn WiFi Off

4. Turn AppleTV off (this one is fun because it can cut off a show mid-sentence)

5. Set brightness to 10%.

Then, a reverse of the above at 6am the following day.

Normal phone signal is still enabled for any emergency calls, but most apps become useless without the internet.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#187

Post by vbezhenar »

I'm using my iPhone at home. I need it, because in my country there are banking apps and government apps which are almost mandatory to use.

My car has some crappy navigation which is good enough along with my memory for most of my routes.

Other that that, I bought vintage samsung phone and using it as my main phone.

Sometimes I'm carrying my iPhone, but not often. I also don't use it regularly for stuff other people use like instagram, etc. My work chats are in the browser and my auxiliary chats can live with one-two check-ups in a week. And if someone need me, he can just call me.

I didn't really made it a crusade or something like that, I just found at some point that I don't need smartphone for most of my use-cases. Ordinary phone battery works for few weeks. I have watch on my wrist to check on time.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#188

Post by anonymousDan »

billywhizz wrote: post #129
reacharavindh wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As is most things in life, the balance is the hardest thing to achieve. I’d think of giving up my smartphone, but that’d mean I’d not be able to use WhatsApp to communicate with family and friends that are on it. Heck the parents group at my kids school is on WhatsApp. I’m not going to make everyone switch to “this other special” app. I gotta be where others are in this context. Another is Maps - it is modern conveni…

i have been back on a dumbphone for quite some time now. i use the web almost exclusively on laptop - when i am mobile i don't want to be connected to it. whatsapp works great in the browser on a laptop. if you only have a dumbphone you can use your number to register the whatsapp "app" on any tablet and can then log in on any other browser you want to use it on. works super nice.

Wait what? Since when can you use Whatsapp on a laptop? That and maps are the only reason I still have a smart-phone.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#189

Post by mayankkaizen »

crossroadsguy wrote: post #47
seam_carver wrote: post #36

I have an e ink smartphone, specifically a Hisense A9. It has the same screen as a Kindle. It is wonderful for productive stuff like reading, messaging is passable, and videos are pretty much unusable. It's wonderful, I've read so many books now.

It has Android 11 as of today; with no information of upgradability. I would not ever recommend anyone to use such an outdated OS in today's world even on their secondary phone. It's just unsafe. If it is to be used as a "reader" device then, well, whatever. But in that case why not just use a "reader device" then.

This sort of overemphasized paranoia about security is something which makes me, I dunno, irritated. If you decide to go to extreme, everything is unsafe but you don't want an old device even as a secondary device?

I'd rather work on my paranoia than on getting a fully secured device.

By the way, I am writing this on a mobile with 2 GB RAM and running Android 9 as my other mobile got broken.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#190

Post by ctrlw »

laweijfmvo wrote: post #43
darth_avocado wrote: post #6

It 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…

I never found Screentime usable because something like turn-by-turn navigation would count against the global screen time, with no option to exclude it. worthless.

You can specify the apps and domains that screentime tracks. I have set a daily time limit for social media and certain domains like news sites and hn but don‘t include maps, mail or messengers
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