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A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

nytimes.com

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Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#191

Post by 946789987649 »

cortesoft wrote: post #65
wintorez wrote: post #55

The strategy that has worked for me so far is to delete all any addicting app (entertainment, social media, etc) that has a web version. I still can access them with browser, but the experience is not the same, so after a while, I get bored, and close them.

Well I am screwed, then, because I already only access everything via the web browser on my phone, I don’t have any entertainment or social media apps… but I still browse hackernews and Reddit too much.

Try using any extensions which let you block websites (even better if there's a schedule). I found a lot of my browsing came from just muscle memory opening it, which once you disconnect, actually ends up being fine.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#192

Post by toyg »

CalRobert wrote: post #175
Aurornis wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The results are solidly in: They're an utter disaster for most people, and for society at large. In no particular order, they ruin social interactions in public situations (think "talking to people in the grocery line" - though I've seen fewer people on their phones lately and can get some conversations going), I’m in the age group that is just old enough to remember adult life before everyone had smartphones. Hone…

I wish I had a photo to share, but there's a museum on Bere Island in southwestern Ireland about the island's people and history. It's a TINY island with a few hundred people on it. One of the exhibits shows pictures of how people would gather at the one street corner (I mean, it was a dirt path, not a "street" as you imagine it) and dance and play music on Friday nights until late. And then how that died out after T…

That's sad, but on the other hand - I bet nobody now has to deal with broken bottles, urine, and the other dreck that festive gatherings tend to produce.

Modern society is definitely more deliberate in how people interact. You lose some poetic spontaneity but gain in peace and order, which make society scale up. I'm not saying it's all good but it's a trade-off.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#193

Post by BlueTemplar »

jkepler wrote: post #136
CalRobert wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very often need to deal with 2fa when paying online, though I suppose a dumb phone could do.

I'm pretty sure you can deal with 2fa on Kai OS feature phones. They also include Gmail, Google maps, and WhatsApp access... on a tiny screen where you won't get sucked in for hours. However, they also come with a ton of tracking, and are a disaster for privacy.

Sounds like just a worse smartphone.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#194

Post by lm28469 »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #153
Syonyk wrote: post #83

I am so glad to see this backlash. It's been a long time coming. We've tried smartphones out for the past... oh, decade and change. They've been around longer, but were niche enough that they didn't dominate society, and even around the start of the iPhone era, "Crackberry" and such were common enough terms (with "Put all your devices in the center, whoever picks theirs up first buys the next round" being a fun game…

My smartphone has replaced things that I used to carry. It is a tool. And as a bonus, I can pass time while waiting - doctors office, etc - which makes me more pleasant. My smartphone functions as a watch, notetaking device, and communication device. I rarely get lost now that I almost always have a map. It is a music device, which is really helpful considering I walk and take busses for most of my transportation. Th…

That's good for you. Now do teenagers spending 6+ hours per day on average taking notes and looking at the time ? or is there something else going on for _most_ people

> Looking stuff up saves money and time if you use it correctly.

Living in a pod like in Matrix saves money and time too, if anything it's the most optimal way to live

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#195

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

I would like to see a pure pocket computer. No baseband, just a computer. No need for mobile data.

Ideally, I would have two devices: a mobile phone and a pocket computer.

Sometimes I might carry the computer. Other times not.

"He said he slept better, felt more productive at work and had more meaningful communications. Mr. Epstein, a Hasidic Jew, said his choice of device was not unusual in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which encourages the use of "kosher phones" with limited internet access."

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#196

Post by lm28469 »

deely3 wrote: post #108
Syonyk wrote: post #83

I am so glad to see this backlash. It's been a long time coming. We've tried smartphones out for the past... oh, decade and change. They've been around longer, but were niche enough that they didn't dominate society, and even around the start of the iPhone era, "Crackberry" and such were common enough terms (with "Put all your devices in the center, whoever picks theirs up first buys the next round" being a fun game…

> they ruin social interactions in public situations (think "talking to people in the grocery line" I DONT WANT TO TALK to people in grocery line, especially when I don't have a phone. I perfectly ok to just stand quietly. > they're utterly toxic for teenagers sometimes, and still we have to be sure that its a phone and not society.

> we have to be sure that its a phone and not society.

Are we really at that level of discussion ? Smartphones, and the web, clearly have a magnifying effect on many topics which are detrimental in a lot of cases

Human nature didn't magically change in 2007 when god emperor Steve Jobs shat out the first smartphone

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#197

Post by jfko8 »

lm28469 wrote: post #194
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My smartphone has replaced things that I used to carry. It is a tool. And as a bonus, I can pass time while waiting - doctors office, etc - which makes me more pleasant. My smartphone functions as a watch, notetaking device, and communication device. I rarely get lost now that I almost always have a map. It is a music device, which is really helpful considering I walk and take busses for most of my transportation. Th…

That's good for you. Now do teenagers spending 6+ hours per day on average taking notes and looking at the time ? or is there something else going on for _most_ people > Looking stuff up saves money and time if you use it correctly. Living in a pod like in Matrix saves money and time too, if anything it's the most optimal way to live

How’s it different from getting home from work and watching TV all night? Except that TV is censored for thin skinned sensibilities by the networks?

People been complaining about walkmans, comic books, DND, rock music, rap…

Raise your hand if you’ve blown airplane smog in others neighborhoods from flying lately. Going on road trips?

Being sedate on a phone might actually be good for the planet and thus future of the species.

Is it social media screwing people up or the meta awareness of how shitty existence is and how few fucks we seem to give despite all the rhetoric about caring?

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#198

Post by saiya-jin »

Syonyk wrote: post #83

I am so glad to see this backlash. It's been a long time coming. We've tried smartphones out for the past... oh, decade and change. They've been around longer, but were niche enough that they didn't dominate society, and even around the start of the iPhone era, "Crackberry" and such were common enough terms (with "Put all your devices in the center, whoever picks theirs up first buys the next round" being a fun game…

Wait till you see folks with fashion smartwatch being constantly immediately interrupted with all stupid notifications, its like advanced OCD factory for almost 0 added value. Then they turn it off, but usually this won't last, you can't brag about it so much and that 2s dopamine kick is missing.

Maybe some secret cabal of psychologists are actually behind it to raise their revenue.

Re: A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

#199

Post by Broken_Hippo »

Affric wrote: post #182
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My smartphone has replaced things that I used to carry. It is a tool. And as a bonus, I can pass time while waiting - doctors office, etc - which makes me more pleasant. My smartphone functions as a watch, notetaking device, and communication device. I rarely get lost now that I almost always have a map. It is a music device, which is really helpful considering I walk and take busses for most of my transportation. Th…

You complain about people being friendly. You complain about having to actually learn a language. It sounds like your phone is preventing you from the very normal human interactions that made society pleasant. There’s no amount of asserting that others are uninteresting that can convince me that a society is better when strangers only interact transactionally.

I'm not complaining about learning a language. I'm simply stating that I have had a much better tool that can help me - which covers more than a wordbook could and is faster and means that I wasn't carrying around a book. Merely a phone/watch/communication device.

I'll add that not everyone needs to learn a language to make use of wordbooks and translation apps. Vacations exist. Temporary work assignments exist, the sort of which are much shorter than the time it would take to learn a language to even an intermediate level. Heck, my required language classes lasted 2 years at 18 hours a week of classroom time, which is definitely longer than work assignments.

And no, forced pleasantries at a gas station doesn't make people friendly. Plus it is labor for the cashier. I shouldn't be shamed for not paying attention to everyone on a bus and listening to music instead. This stuff isn't people being nice, it is people doing obligatory thing. A heart-felt thanks isn't the same as the one your mother made you say - greater society is similar. And I'll add that it isn't really making society pleasant: That sort of smalltalk isn't universal. I moved from the US Midwest to Norway, which really hasn't expected folks to chat up cashiers or talk to strangers on the bus. Society here isn't unpleasant, though.

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