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My year with a distraction-free iPhone

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Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone

#171

Post by Theodores »

SCdF wrote: post #45

So I've gone the other way: everything that is distracting (fb, twitter, reddit, ideally HN but android apps suck for this) is on my phone. Then, my computer is for work, and my phone is for being bored. That way (in theory) there is no reason to be logged into timesinks on my computer, so I can use it without distraction.

This is the best thing I ever did. On my work PC there are precisely zero 'leisure surf' items in my browser history. If I am working with someone then that autocomplete is never going to suggest anything other than work related. Switch to any tab, same again - work.

I go for a walk at lunchtime rather than read clickbait. Even if I work s-l-o-w-l-y, at least I am working rather than brazenly procrastinating. I never take my work home, I just get in early and get it done.

This 'regime' is like freedom, it does not require any discipline, now that I am set into it I see no reason to change. The news will still be there when I get home, as will sports results, HN and anything else. I have no need to read any of this trivia at work. If I want to read I have plenty of time for that outside of work where I can read something more substantial on my own clock.

We had a bright intern with us recently, he needed little help, however, I was most keen to stress to him how liberating it was to not recreationally surf at work and to have a phone for personal emails.

Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone

#172

Post by hnriot »

blutoot wrote: post #50
hnriot wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or just exercise some self control! I don't have to hide the kitchen knives in case I stab guests... It's not that's hard to ignore an icon.

It doesn't work for me - I've tried. Self-control works really well for me when the task at hand is really interesting and I want to give my everything to it. I don't know about you but so far those tasks haven't come to me at a regular pace. And I tend to seek out these online distractions as a diversion tactic when the task I'm supposed to be working on is really boring or uninteresting. So it's all about one's per…

It sounds like even if you removed these distractions, you'd simply seek out others. As in replace one addiction with another, a very common behavioural characteristic.

The only way to deal with this is to better understand your own personality and try to learn how to get self control. There are lots of cognitive therapy based behavioural modification techniques. Self control only when it's interesting isn't really self control.

Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone

#173

Post by nanidin »

yodsanklai wrote: post #140
Gracana wrote: post #11

As someone who owns a dumb flip phone, it's funny to read someone's enthusiastic account of their life-changing experience of... living exactly the way I do. But on the other hand, I get it. This sort of thing (facebook, hacker news, freaking imgur ) sucks up so much of my time (albeit on the desktop), and for what? Occasional interesting tidbits, and frequent annoyance and frustration? Some of it is straight-up bad…

To me, the worst one are the regular news, especially if there are comments. Not only you don't learn anything, but it leads to bitterness and anxiety and give you a wrong perception of the world. At least, hacker news is informative and the comments are of high-quality. However, I wish I was able to read some articles more thoroughly rather that passively browse.

> To me, the worst one are the regular news, especially if there are comments. Not only you don't learn anything, but it leads to bitterness and anxiety and give you a wrong perception of the world

This is known as Mean World Syndrome, and it's a real thing[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_world_syndrome

Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone

#174

Post by dredmorbius »

joesmo wrote: post #143
dredmorbius wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember a time when people were reachable by location. You could call me at home and reach me early mornings (but that's rude), evenings, or weekends. Or at work at my desk. This was a time when toll charges were high enough that unsolicited calls were something of a rarity. That's definitely changed (and lack of caller-ID on landlines is all but unbearable now). There was even a time when answering machines didn'…

Totally agree. The most egregious violators of such calls are recruiters. Put your phone number on a resume and submit it to a few sites, assuming you work in IT, and they will call non-stop. Sometimes, I refuse the call and they keep calling back a few more times. Nowadays, I only pick up calls from people I recognize. Google has started to provide "caller ID" for many businesses that don't have it now, which helps…

Worst was the guy who called, I dismissed him with "not interested ". He called back. And chewed me out.

SRSLY?!!!

I patiently (?) explained that his first call was a waste of both our time. And the second far worse than that. But I'd be more than happy to spread his and his employer's name over teh Intarnets.

He didn't call back.

Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone

#175

Post by dredmorbius »

pyre wrote: post #155
w1ntermute wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet he continues to be mocked on sites like HN.

Things that don't help: - When people want to point out that "Stallman predicted this X years ago," they phase it as, "Richard Stallman was right, as usual." Richard Stallman is not infallible. Overstating one's case doesn't win any new friends. - There are many of Stallman's "followers" that are very aggressive at promoting the GPLv3 over all other open source licenses. While this might not be Stallman's personal po…

I certainly am not claiming infallability.

But in a corner of the world where predictions are a dime a gross, Stallman's made many, and his record of hits is considerable.

Adding to his credibility and significance are the fact that:

⚫ He's not commercially vested in his predictions. Unlike virtually everyone else in the space, whose "technology forecaster" title is followed by some company name.

⚫ His logic is Talmudic in its rigor. If Stallman has a position on something, it's virtually always because he's thought it through very thoroughly. Even if you don't agree with the conclusions (or if it turns out he was wrong), you're almost always better off knowing why he came to that conclusion.

⚫ He gores sacred cows. Much of the antipathy toward Stallman comes from those whose business model he's just invalidated. Or worse, proven to be utterly and completely socially and morally indefensible.

Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone

#176

Post by dredmorbius »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #130
dredmorbius wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the phone's off, that's going to be less useful. And the tower-tracking location granularity's much lower than GPS Though I don't know what the reporting intervals are. Some smartphones (or their apps) were reporting location data every 10 seconds , with accuracy measured within a few feet. Can't find that article at the moment, though another reports that location information is logged "at least several times an…

Except in certain situations when you're probably pretty lucky to have it on. I had a friend who ran off the side of a mountain in Colorado. He called 911, but had no idea where he was (he was from the Midwest). Within about 40 minutes, they had triangulated his location and had a tow truck and emergency vehicles routed to get him out. Without his phone and the ability to locate him, he was pretty sure he wouldn't ha…

If he's called 911 then ipso facto 1) his phone is on and 2) all location features are activated (on pretty much any phone of recent memory), as dialing 911 enables just this.

The fact that the exception proves useful doesn't mean my phone should transmit and the telco provider, app manufacturers, and others record, possibly indefinitely my location data every few seconds.

If you haven't read Maciej Cegłowski "The Internet with a Human Face", do. It's quite simply one of the best and most completely cogent arguments against the advertising-supported services model I've seen ever and anywhere. He's "idlewords" here on HN.

http://idlewords.com/bt14.htm

Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone

#177

Post by 97s »

Gracana wrote: post #11

As someone who owns a dumb flip phone, it's funny to read someone's enthusiastic account of their life-changing experience of... living exactly the way I do. But on the other hand, I get it. This sort of thing (facebook, hacker news, freaking imgur ) sucks up so much of my time (albeit on the desktop), and for what? Occasional interesting tidbits, and frequent annoyance and frustration? Some of it is straight-up bad…

I am on a computer all day long, I still have a flip phone, and people look at me like I am crazy. They all know I am a tech type guy, but question why I have a flip phone. Thing is, when I am off the computer. I dont want to think about more computer things. Glad others are finally realizing how terrible this is. You go out in public and everyone is sitting down at dinner with their friends surfing the biggest social media site at the moment.

Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone

#178

Post by halfcat »

dredmorbius wrote: post #33
ggreer wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A stripped-down smartphone has quite a few advantages over a dumbphone. Notice which apps are installed: Google Maps, subway maps, Rdio, Uber, Instacart. As he says, these things are like living in the future.

It's still really hard to get around the privacy invasions of a smartphone, though. I'd like something without GPS and for which I can completely control the OS and environment. CyanogenMod seems to be as close as I'm likely to get to that at present.

>It's still really hard to get around the privacy invasions of a smartphone, though. I'd like something without GPS...

I have only ever wished for the opposite, an app/feature that will log my location, frequently. I don't particularly care if it's stored in the cloud, as long as it's also stored on something of mine in a portable format (CSV, etc). I am thinking of this in terms of potentially catastrophic events where proving my location at some given time would be incredibly helpful, say, when the spouse/boss/police need to know, and the stakes are risking my marriage/job/freedom. Even more helpful would be if the app integrated with the fingerprint reader, to help prove that not only was my phone at this location, but with very high probability, so was I.

Why are people so interested in destroying this information about themselves? Is it "because freedom"? Or is there a real, practical threat that we open ourselves to when this information is out there? I am genuinely interested in knowing.

Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone

#179

Post by ggreer »

97s wrote: post #177
Gracana wrote: post #11

As someone who owns a dumb flip phone, it's funny to read someone's enthusiastic account of their life-changing experience of... living exactly the way I do. But on the other hand, I get it. This sort of thing (facebook, hacker news, freaking imgur ) sucks up so much of my time (albeit on the desktop), and for what? Occasional interesting tidbits, and frequent annoyance and frustration? Some of it is straight-up bad…

I am on a computer all day long, I still have a flip phone, and people look at me like I am crazy. They all know I am a tech type guy, but question why I have a flip phone. Thing is, when I am off the computer. I dont want to think about more computer things. Glad others are finally realizing how terrible this is. You go out in public and everyone is sitting down at dinner with their friends surfing the biggest socia…

I apologize. I tried to click on your username and accidentally hit downvote. My bad.

Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone

#180

Post by lifeformed »

ggreer wrote: post #24
Gracana wrote: post #11

As someone who owns a dumb flip phone, it's funny to read someone's enthusiastic account of their life-changing experience of... living exactly the way I do. But on the other hand, I get it. This sort of thing (facebook, hacker news, freaking imgur ) sucks up so much of my time (albeit on the desktop), and for what? Occasional interesting tidbits, and frequent annoyance and frustration? Some of it is straight-up bad…

A stripped-down smartphone has quite a few advantages over a dumbphone. Notice which apps are installed: Google Maps, subway maps, Rdio, Uber, Instacart. As he says, these things are like living in the future.

Regarding maps: is there an app that lets you save out Google Map info offline? I'd like to be able to type in a city and have it save all the data.

I was thinking of having my setup just be a dumbphone plus a wifi-only tablet. The tablet would have utility apps, including this offline-map app. I'd just need it when I'm lost or need to find something nice to eat. It should also have Yelp data on it, and have the ability to update the map and Yelp data when I'm wifi connected.

If I'm travelling to somewhere, I can preload the tablet with the new city info at home.

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