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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

#211

Post by j4yav »

Aurornis wrote: post #168
GoblinSlayer wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dumbphones have cameras, so if you can't or don't want to remember a map, you can take its photo. My short term memory if good enough for that. Random installable apps are really the only edge smartphones have.

This kind of compromise probably sounds reasonable to someone trying to break an intractable smartphone addiction. But as someone who has never really had a problem with my smartphone, taking photos of a map and trying to pan around on a dumb phone sounds like pure torture. I can’t imagine it working well for any of the locations I actually need to pull up a map for, which are almost exclusively far away and require…

It’s funny what different people will consider torture or not

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#212

Post by crashmat »

Mistletoe wrote: post #14
senderista wrote: post #10

I 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…

It will be much larger with images. Measured in TB.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#214

Post by batch12 »

geokon wrote: post #142
crossroadsguy wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 I would not ever recommend anyone to use such an outdated OS in today's world even on their secondary phone.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.

What attack vector are you envisioning?

Sms, email, web browsing, messaging apps, wireless networks with other infected devices, or physical access to the device, for starters.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#215

Post by wholinator2 »

j4yav wrote: post #210
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 videos coming out of people walking around, driving, on the subway, or otherwise in public places with Vision Pros interacting with invisible computers I hope is a shocking enough image that we don’t go down that road but I guess it’s just going to become what people see as normal. If nothing else it makes it obvious who is trying to plug themselves into the matrix so you can stay away.

I'm not convinced it's not just a viral marketing stunt with each of those videos being "paid" actors. It's heavily in apple's profit interest if people stop thinking of those things as cringey to be seen with. But honestly I'm not convinced anyone other than the ubiquitous 'clout chasers' and 'scamfluencers' actually thinks it's acceptable to wear one of those in public.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#216

Post by wholinator2 »

saiya-jin wrote: post #198
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…

Wait till you see folks with fashion smartwatch being constantly immediately interrupted with all stupid notifications, its like advanced OCD factory for almost 0 added value. Then they turn it off, but usually this won't last, you can't brag about it so much and that 2s dopamine kick is missing. Maybe some secret cabal of psychologists are actually behind it to raise their revenue.

It's not secret [1]. It's very well known that tech companies will consult psychologists with the goal to make their products more addictive.

[1] https://nypost.com/2019/08/13/big-tech-is-using-psychology-t...

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#217

Post by refurb »

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…

Yup. People wasted plenty of time before smart phones. “My kid is always watching videos on the iPad” just replaced “My kid is glued to the TV”.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#218

Post by jmfldn »

prmoustache wrote: post #184
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 ther…

Agreed, it is a bit complex.

I've looked into KaiOS, but I read that its future looks murky at best. In principle though, I like this idea.

https://www.reddit.com/r/KaiOS/comments/15wn0co/is_kaios_dea...

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#219

Post by debok »

I found the following 3 measures quite helpful to make my smartphone less intrusive in my daily life:

1: I don't bring my smartphone into my bedroom. My bedroom is a personal and intimate space, no need for the outside world to barge in via smartphone.

2: I disable or silence every notification I get. The only time my phone draws my attention is if I am getting a phone call, my wife texts me, or if I get a Pagerduty.

3: I uninstalled or disabled all social media apps.

Number 2 had the biggest impact on my family and work life. When I spend time with my kids, my phone only rarely interrupts me.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#220

Post by jlokier »

maccard wrote: post #154
BeetleB wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what do you do if you run out of batteries? Or lose the phone? Or it gets wet and won't turn on? You can't even drive your car? My phones have failed me on multiple occasions over the years.

Not OP but > And what do you do if you run out of batteries? My battery lasts 2 days. If I'm away for a night I pack a charger along with my toothbrush and clothes. I genuinely cannot remember the last time I was caught off guard by this. > Or lose the phone? Short term - same as if I lose my keys or my wallet. It's a giant pain in the ass. longer term, doesn't matter, new phone + restore from backup. I don't need to…

Fwiw, my 2022 IP67-rated Samsung phone failed after a few mild water splashes recently. It's supposed to be resistant to 1m submersion for 30 minutes, but failed with much less water exposure.

I was stuck without essential functions until I could get it repaired or replaced. Luckily I was able to get it opened, cleaned and dried and a new screen fitted by a local repair shop within 2 days.

Without my phone, I can't pay things on my credit card sometimes (some payments require phone app 2FA), and I can't login to several of my bank accounts (they use authentication by mobile app even for web-based banking on my laptop).

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