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Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

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Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's not a single person (myself included) I have seen use screen time not automatically bypass the limitation instantly as it pops up. You can take the more drastic approach and lock yourself out of your phone by changing it's unlock code and use a timelock [0] to prevent yourself from bypassing it for a given time. Works also with parental-control like Apps that require you to enter a password/code to unlock.…

I think that's extremely dangerous and I would never consider this to be honest. My phone is my only phone, and I need to be able to call emergency services, or answer an important call, at unexpected times. If I reached the point where I was comfortable literally being unable to use my phone for a period of time, I would just not have a phone or not carry it with me.

You literally can do both without entering your unlock code. That is the whole point, locked phones are pretty useful, but not to kill time.

You can even do more like make outgoing calls using Siri/Google Assistant, Take Photos/videos etc. This is default setting at least on iOS.

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#273
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not GP, but I'm okay installing that stuff on my personal phone because it's isolated via Android Work Profile.

How is that keeping Microsoft from accessing your GPS, sensor data, wifi, camera/microphone etc? Sure, they can't get at SMS or your other apps and your work won't have access to your entire device but it means MS can still access your location (using GPS and nearby bluetooth/wifi), record audio/video, read/control sensors (accelerometer, proximity, gravity, temperature, pressure, magnetic field etc), have full netwo…

That's true with a separate work phone too right? And once I turn off the AWP for the day, all of that stops.

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#274

I installed this in the morning to give it a test drive, and after several hours, I learned the following: it's great when I reach for the phone as a distraction; it's a big annoyance otherwise. E.g. each time I want to change the currently playing song, what was muscle memory gets scrambled by the interruption. Or, when I'm taking a lot of photos (like on my daughter's kindergarten event today), I tend to keep the s…

This sounds like a good case for an allowlist for certain applications - Camera, Spotify, Notes, etc.

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#275
post #269
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not GP, but I'm okay installing that stuff on my personal phone because it's isolated via Android Work Profile.

No way I'm doing anything work related on any of my personal devices. I have a separate work phone. I turn it off at the end of the work day, and leave it at work. I used to answer emails from bosses and managers while at home (at a previous employer), but it gets out of hand quickly and then they expect you to do it. Never again. Set boundaries immediately. At 15:00 I'm gone.

Leaving it at work goes one step further than my flow. I have AWP configured to automatically turn off at the end of the workday, so I become unavailable after that. There's always the possibility I can turn it back on after hours, but that extra step works well enough as a deterrent for me :)

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#276

Needs an option for “my employer turned on shitty Microsoft ten-billion-factor auth settings”. To login to my work Microsoft account requires a passcode and then three face scans.

This has always boggled my mind - If you don't trust me to pick a decent password and maintain my own machine, why in God's name would you trust me to write code or deploy/maintain company infrastructure?

They _don't_ trust you to do that stuff. Not unilaterally at least. In a healthy system you generally aren't able to change anything without sign off from multiple other people.

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#277
post #243

I installed this in the morning to give it a test drive, and after several hours, I learned the following: it's great when I reach for the phone as a distraction; it's a big annoyance otherwise. E.g. each time I want to change the currently playing song, what was muscle memory gets scrambled by the interruption. Or, when I'm taking a lot of photos (like on my daughter's kindergarten event today), I tend to keep the s…

This is solved by having dedicated devices for camera and music player! (At least for these two examples, which are also my top non-distraction / non-social phone usage.) I don't have those yet but I wish I did! I was just thinking back to how cool the iPod was back in the day. (The one before touchscreens!) (I was also thinking how cool it would be if it had the iPod's UI but Rockbox's (and every other mp3 player in…

That is a solution, but not an ideal one for many (most?). One of the great innovations of the smartphone is that I have all 3 devices in one small form factor, so I don't need to carry/travel with the bulk of many.

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#278
post #2

Cool idea. Amazingly they've found a way to put "in-app purchases" though. This app could just be an image set as your lock screen background. I've found a good way to discourage mindless phone staring is to set the display to monochrome (e.g. through colorblind emulation). The decreased visual stimulation seems to have an effect on me, at least until I want to see a photo or video in colour and go back to normal.

you can find a balance here by setting on bedtime mode in Android where after sunset, your screen glows black and white and they added the ability to pause for 30 minutes.

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#279

I installed this in the morning to give it a test drive, and after several hours, I learned the following: it's great when I reach for the phone as a distraction; it's a big annoyance otherwise. E.g. each time I want to change the currently playing song, what was muscle memory gets scrambled by the interruption. Or, when I'm taking a lot of photos (like on my daughter's kindergarten event today), I tend to keep the s…

Thanks for giving it a test drive!

I'm thinking also about adding an option to have like 50% chance of a popup or a 75% chance, so it's less predictable. I first made it as every 2nd, 3d and so on, but maybe adding a randomness to it will be better? WDYT?

Re: Show HN: App that asks ‘why?’ every time you unlock your phone

#280

I installed this in the morning to give it a test drive, and after several hours, I learned the following: it's great when I reach for the phone as a distraction; it's a big annoyance otherwise. E.g. each time I want to change the currently playing song, what was muscle memory gets scrambled by the interruption. Or, when I'm taking a lot of photos (like on my daughter's kindergarten event today), I tend to keep the s…

Better solution: add in increasing delay before opening a time waster, increasing 1 second between each open over the course of the day. Openning Reddit for the 15th time today? 15 second wait (or longer).
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