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I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

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Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#21

Post by ocd »

I've been able to say this truthfully up until 4 years ago. I was perfectly familiar with iOS and Android, and I could pick one up and use it as competently as anyone else. Was the same even when I decided to get one 4 years ago. Not having a Google and Meta account remains true for me. Never had a Meta/Facebook account at any point in time, and I deleted my Google account a decade ago.

It is frustrating dealing with people not willing to accept this is an option people have, and anything requiring an app is a dealbreaker for me. I didn't realize it was quite as bad as the author suggests with his various household items, but I am worried it will continue to get worse in that way without laws in manufacturing partitioning technology from life.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#23

Post by Gecko4072 »

From my experience modified iPhones make the perfect dumb phones that you will actually end up sticking with and it's free if you already have one.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45171200

I use this method ^ which lets you keep essential apps but otherwise have dumb phone (no browser, no App Store). Highly recommend.

On the other hand, I have turned my laptop into a dumb computer using cold turkey blocker. I've never seen anyone talking about this here. I'm a standard user (for hardening reasons). And set up so I haven't watched YouTube largely for years because it's blocked and not at all in the past few days. It's flexible to configure and then because it's literally impossible to bypass you never try and then just end up living a calm life. (No ai, no reddit, no crappy news sites, etc.)

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#24

Post by bilekas »

> They are willing to accept all the conditions of your apps, including sending you personal data, registering an account, etc.

I've had this exact problem this morning, I wanted to download the ASD-STE100 https://www.asd-ste100.org/STE_downloads.html#article02-2l and they use a request form to get the download.

Unfortunately the last question:

> Do you consent to us collecting your data? This form has the only purpose of requesting a copy of ASD-STE100. Details are for record and statistical purposes only and will not be used or disclosed in any form to anyone. You can find out more about STEMG privacy policy here.

Only has a "Yes" option, and so I couldn't submit the form.

Great success.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#25

Post by _whiteCaps_ »

hi41 wrote: post #4

I went back to a old Motorola phone not once but twice. Both attempts were unsuccessful. For directions I got a Garmin potable gos navigator. Once I was coming back from somewhere with my kids and it was 10:30 pm. They were hungry and wanted pizza. I used the Garmin gps and went to the restaurant but it was closed. That happened because the gps unit did not have the latest information. My family was mad and I went ba…

> they couldn’t call me on WhatsApp

Some might consider that a benefit.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#26

Post by rootsudo »

I agree with all the assumptions, but it is a moving goalpost on being included in society.

Same as in some areas being a productive member of society includes: have a job, have a car, have a permenant address.

The only exceptiosn seem to skew to the top and bottom 10%? And even then it can steer more closet to top/bottom 5%? 1%? Where it doesn't matter you have enough or a complete lack of social proof that it doesn't matter.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#27

Post by sodapopcan »

I got a Sunbeam F1 in January and have been pleased with it. The hardest part is when I lost it, there is no find-my-phone (at least not that I know of, I should look, they are always adding new features). It has GPS and weather which is perfect for me. I just can't go to restaurants that don't have paper menus, which is fine.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#28

Post by MostlyStable »

eddieroger wrote: post #9

I do have a smartphone, but I don't seem to feel the pain the author feels about being inundated by QR codes and apps. Maybe I have all the apps I need already? Maybe I just don't mind having an app on my phone because I know that I can set it to basically never bother me. Most of my apps have notifications silenced. My home screen is empty, save the handful of apps I do want. And for the little bit of effort I put f…

I don't think he's complaining about having a lot of apps, or the ability to have a lot of apps. He's complaining about being required to use apps for hundreds of small interactions every day that don't, or shouldn't, require an app. And he's correct. Companies are doing this not because they think it's better, but because they believe that if they can worm their way onto your device, and insert their cloud service (even if it's initially free), that they can turn you into a more reliable and/or recurring revenue stream in the future, either because you feel locked into their ecosystem so you will buy other products from their lineup, or, even better, buy a subscription service.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#29

Post by dave78 »

burningChrome wrote: post #18

I have a motorola smartphone. I don't have google play installed. I mainly use obtainium for app installation. Its a bare bones phone and it drives my business partner crazy. "Just log into our instagram account and. . .right, you don't have insta installed on your phone." "Can you log into our scheduling app and. . . right, you don't have that installed on your phone either." Some of the more painful things you have…

> The open source weather apps are not very accurate. Usually with a few degrees, and the radar is hit or miss.

If you are in the US, check out wX: https://f-droid.org/packages/joshuatee.wx/

It's fairly technical and it is very configurable (so it can take some fussing to get it set up the way you like), but it pulls data directly from NWS and has been very accurate for my family.

Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't

#30

Post by kibwen »

megous wrote: post #11

So what do you do if your flushing app breaks? Or the manufacturer goes out of business and flush tracking servers go down? Or google decides to suspend it while you're on the toilet?

> Or google decides to suspend it while you're on the toilet?

If anyone at Google is reading this, please answer urgently, my legs are starting to go numb.

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