My phone is turned off for roughly half my waking hours. The remaining waking hours, I have access to a real computer, or I have reason to not touch a phone or computer at all. A smartphone would be pointless.
I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
131–140 of 267 posts
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do smart TVs require an app? Or do they have a self-hosted setup process?
I know at one point Vizio TVs required you to install the app and enable location to be able to setup a new TV out of the box.
Yuck. I still fancy my chances buying an app-free toilet seat for a while.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
I cannot envision what a traditional, but smart toilet may do. By traditional, not Japanese or anything of the sort. I'm sure it's also not taking medical samples. So what on earth could it do?! Report the flushes!?! Why? Are you going to magically decide not to crap as much? Just baffling.
There are smart toilet devices that have cameras, so, it's about as bad as one could imagine.
Probably connected to your wi-fi and with a default password, as is customary for IoT.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#134I've always admired people who can live without a smartphone. I met one linux contributor at an open source conference who doesn't have a smartphone. He uses an old dumb phone, doesn't have any socials and always carries cash! In a country like India, where every payment runs on a QR code, it's crazy that he can survive without it. He asked me to look up directions to the metro, memorized it, and left. One other thin…
I wonder if the convenience of a smart phone makes social awkwardness worse. As in: I'm already not very socially comfortable but my phone makes it that I never get any practice either.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#135I agree with the thesis that expecting an app is a non-trivial ask of the user, particularly for those with relevant disabilities. But if you purchase a toilet that needs an app, it’s not really the toilet that obligated you to use the app.
It's no longer possible to buy any non-low-end TV that is not smart. "Vote with your wallet" doesn't help you much if there aren't any good candidates to vote for.
A few years ago I got an "Ok" TV, sold in Germany, house-brand of Saturn/Mediamarkt.
It was the only model in the store that wasn't smart.
My next purchase is gonna be a projector, so I hope those also don't get infested.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
I tried to remove the browser from my smartphone and it was impossible because of all these stupid QR scanning requirements everywhere.
The word "requirements" is doing a lot of work there. I've never met a QR code where scanning it was required of me.
a bit off topic but the construction of the phrase: some word + "doing a lot of work" sounds so much like a claudism
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#137As a T1 diabetic, I wish that we weren't tying things like medical devices to smart phones. It's just one more failure point.
What's the alternative though? A smartphone is a device you can pretty much guarantee people will keep with themselves and in good working order.
It's less of a failure point then any bespoke interface device and more durable.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
I tried to remove the browser from my smartphone and it was impossible because of all these stupid QR scanning requirements everywhere.
The word "requirements" is doing a lot of work there. I've never met a QR code where scanning it was required of me.
Anecdotal, but I've encountered a number of places where it's more or less required.
- Restaurants: Menu is QR only. In one case, ordering food was QR only.
- Queueing up at my local Costco optical department requires scanning a QR code.
- Various other check-ins for various other government agencies and businesses.
- Urgent care check-in paperwork requiring QR code. No paper, and typing the loooong URL in manually is horrific.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#139I actually don't have a smartphone. Unfortunately I did get a tablet, as I need it for MFA to access some websites that I need. It's quite annoying to be forced into this though. There is a push towards making this mandatory. The ideal perma-ID governments dreamed about.
Do you need the tablet? For the usual 2fa that generates a six digit code you can just install an app on your laptop. Of course it's not actually 2fa but the website doesn't know that.
Re: I don't have a smartphone or at least I wish I didn't
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're missing the point entirely. You're opting in and enjoying it, great! Do you really believe you chose to opt in? The author is saying that opting out is extremely painful and that THAT is wrong. We should all get to choose if we want to walk around with a smart phone or not. It's now basically required to invest in a privacy destroying device that makes huge corporations that much richer to function in society.…
> Do you really believe you chose to opt in? Yes, in that I am of free enough will to choose not to use something or do my homework before making purchases. I'm also not saying that you shouldn't be able to walk around without a smartphone, but choices, like speech, aren't without consequence. If you want to pay for something at a location that only takes cash, but you won't carry cash because it's easily stolen or l…
I've run into bizarre situations where smartphones were required. Went to Royale in Boston, and it's bad enough I have to use an app to pay for tickets, but at least I knew that ahead of time and accepted it. But then they wanted me to install another app to use the coat check when I got inside. How would one anticipate the latter ahead of time? Complete lunacy.
Ultimately I declined to use the app and hid my coat under a chair lol and I will not return to the venue.