My First Year Without an iPhone • Hacker News Board

Re: My First Year Without an iPhone

#11

Post by closetohome » Mon, Sep 15, 2025, 6:31 PM UTC

greenie_beans wrote: post #3

i went almost three years without a smartphone. was always too embarrassed by this decision to blog about it. i went back to smartphone so i could have a reliable navigation system for giving rides to a politically sensitive group of people who don't need to experience the pains of getting lost / me fumbling with my gps / cops. i ended up spending a lot of time on my laptop, so it didn't really cut down on my screen…

If you want to go minimal on the backcountry device as well, PLBs are nice as a barebones alternative that only require a battery change every few years and don't need a subscription.

Re: My First Year Without an iPhone

#12

Post by sombragris » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 12:51 AM UTC

From the title, I thought the lady had switched to Android. It turned out she wrote about ditching smartphones, not just iPhones.

Re: My First Year Without an iPhone

#13

Post by 627467 » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 3:26 AM UTC

baggachipz wrote: post #7

I could never go back to not using a smartphone; texting on-the-go, maps, contactless payments, and ride-sharing are too important to miss out on. That said, it's possible to avoid most of the bad things about smartphones: Don't install any Meta products, and discontinue their use entirely. Don't use any Google products. Be extremely judicious and stingy about which apps you install. If it can be done in the mobile b…

> it's a pull rather than push

This is under appreciated, low effort'ish perspective. The simple fact of disabling all notifications (but for a couple basic ones like calendar) returns a good 80% of control back to you.

Pair with battery saving mode - that on iOS and Android - even locks involuntary notifications and saves you from battery anxiety.

Re: My First Year Without an iPhone

#14

Post by matt-attack » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 7:37 AM UTC

627467 wrote: post #13

baggachipz wrote: post #7

I could never go back to not using a smartphone; texting on-the-go, maps, contactless payments, and ride-sharing are too important to miss out on. That said, it's possible to avoid most of the bad things about smartphones: Don't install any Meta products, and discontinue their use entirely. Don't use any Google products. Be extremely judicious and stingy about which apps you install. If it can be done in the mobile b…

> it's a pull rather than push This is under appreciated, low effort'ish perspective. The simple fact of disabling all notifications (but for a couple basic ones like calendar) returns a good 80% of control back to you. Pair with battery saving mode - that on iOS and Android - even locks involuntary notifications and saves you from battery anxiety.

I’m always blown away, when someone shows me something on their phone, let’s see a photo or something, and during the brief demo, I see an on slot of random notifications popping up. Retailers, email, promotions, etc..

Like seriously? I completely blew my mind. I think I basically have just iMessage and calendar.

Re: My First Year Without an iPhone

#15

Post by baggachipz » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 12:08 PM UTC

matt-attack wrote: post #14

627467 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's a pull rather than push This is under appreciated, low effort'ish perspective. The simple fact of disabling all notifications (but for a couple basic ones like calendar) returns a good 80% of control back to you. Pair with battery saving mode - that on iOS and Android - even locks involuntary notifications and saves you from battery anxiety.

I’m always blown away, when someone shows me something on their phone, let’s see a photo or something, and during the brief demo, I see an on slot of random notifications popping up. Retailers, email, promotions, etc.. Like seriously? I completely blew my mind. I think I basically have just iMessage and calendar.

And, far as I can tell, that's the vast majority of users. Like, most people live like this. I think they don't know how to disable that shitshow (or even that it's possible) and have just learned to live with it. And we wonder why everything's shit.

Re: My First Year Without an iPhone

#16

Post by seec » Wed, Sep 17, 2025, 2:17 AM UTC

imcritic wrote: post #6

The author clearly has graphomania. I am not reading that.

I agree with the sentiment. A lot of words were written but not a whole lot of valuable information was laid out. I made an effort but it was impossible to not just skim past the second picture.