As a T1 diabetic, I wish that we weren't tying things like medical devices to smart phones. It's just one more failure point.
I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
41–50 of 267 posts
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#42> 1. That person owns a smartphone (which is at least a couple hundred dollars). I live in South Africa, and even the poor townships are full of smartphones these days. My gardener has a fairly recent Samsung. They literally borrow money to buy these things. So if they can afford it, so can you. It's not that I don't get your point though - it could easily be seen as unnecessary spending when you have all kinds of ex…
Affordability is not the OP's point.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#43Not having a smartphone is a new status symbol flex. The poorer you are, the more of your life you must waste looking at a screen instead of gazing upon beautiful landscapes and friendly faces. Still it’s a step up as usual. Next stage will be probably those too poor to afford anti aging vs the muti centenarians that can. And yet those that can’t afford multi centenarian lifestyle will live super well compared to tod…
> The poorer you are, the more of your life you must waste looking at a screen instead of gazing upon beautiful landscapes and friendly faces.
"Must", perhaps. But plenty of people of any wealth are addicted
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#44We could all be a bit more humble about the onerous “tools” we’ve built . I have a lot of sympathy for the elderly, and the ridiculous rituals they go through just to book an appointment, fill a subscription, buy tickets to a concert, order groceries. The McDonalds app is 15+ screens to order a burger. Compare that to walking in a, “hi, how are you, I’d like a Big Mac meal with a Coke, here’s my money, thanks”. Let’s…
But think how high the engagement needles go on the app!
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#45“Just in my toilet, I’m supposed to have an app for the seat, an app for the flush and one for the ventilation.”
Ok that explains where the hate for apps comes from…
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#46I 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…
> Every time my son needs a few bucks in his account, my wife has to do it if we're out So the burden is on her?
Of course, privacy seeking is a selfish personality trait. I'm protecting myself, everyone else be damned.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#47I 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…
Depending on where I park in the city, I have to install a different parking app. And create an account, and pay with a credit card via the app. There was a time, however brief, when some of the parking meters just accepted credit cards, or get this, coins.
This is what happens when a large number of people claim they "don't seem to feel the pain" and comply with the data broker's wishes. We all get stuck in the data brokers web, or we have to break the law to park on a public street.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#48I 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…
> - Not having any banking apps on my phone. Every time my son needs a few bucks in his account, my wife has to do it if we're out.
This is the most tyrannical things about smart phones -- banking apps. I get it, the bank wants to ensure the platform is not a liability. But it forces most of us to use one of the only two "trusted" mobile providers on earth: Google or Apple, both of which are American (and I'm an American.) The only alternative is a browser which comes with its own set of problems.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#49From 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…
> On the other hand, I have turned my laptop into a dumb computer using cold turkey blocker. Very easily bypassed at least on MacOS unfortunately.
Not if you set up a separate admin account and demote yourself to standard user.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#50That’ll get you detained for a while at the border.