I recently spent a week without my phone and it was incredible. When I got my phone again, I had hundreds of missed alerts and I realized 99.99% of them were not worth having. I'm now leaving my phone in another room rather than carrying it around. I'm really enjoying not getting interrupted by alerts or being tempted to look at it every now and then. I wish I could just get a dumb phone, but I at least need communic…
Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
21–30 of 48 posts
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#22Here is how you can have a smartphone and enjoy it: - Disable notifications from all applications that are not vital to your life. I enjoy instagram, but notifications are hard-off for me. I check it on my time. - Turn off all sounds, period, only do vibrations - Shift from being pushed information to pulling it. Only check apps, SMS, etc... when you want to check them, not when your phone buzzes or blinks at you. -…
> - Shift from being pushed information to pulling it. Only check apps, SMS, etc... when you want to check them, not when your phone buzzes or blinks at you. Do you ever find this sometimes makes things worse? I've tried it with specific apps, and I often find myself checking those apps more to make sure I haven't missed anything! With notifications, I feel comfortable that if I haven't been notified, there's nothing…
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#23People have unreasonable expectations about getting replies to texts or emails. Those are asynchronous channels of communication on a smartphone. If you want an answer now, use the telephone as intended, call me. If it's not worth the seemingly endless stress of using a telephone as intended, then please patiently wait for my reply. ;-)
The only time I miss having one is getting around traffic (I know how to get places, I grew up before the internet). Sure, traffic news on the radio helps, but it's not repeated often enough to be useful.
The reason I don't own a smartphone is simple... I know I'd get addicted to it, and become a worse person as a result.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#24Here is how you can have a smartphone and enjoy it: - Disable notifications from all applications that are not vital to your life. I enjoy instagram, but notifications are hard-off for me. I check it on my time. - Turn off all sounds, period, only do vibrations - Shift from being pushed information to pulling it. Only check apps, SMS, etc... when you want to check them, not when your phone buzzes or blinks at you. -…
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#25Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
> - Shift from being pushed information to pulling it. Only check apps, SMS, etc... when you want to check them, not when your phone buzzes or blinks at you. Do you ever find this sometimes makes things worse? I've tried it with specific apps, and I often find myself checking those apps more to make sure I haven't missed anything! With notifications, I feel comfortable that if I haven't been notified, there's nothing…
That just means you have identified a weakness to strengthen through meditation! You are reaching for those apps for a dopamine hit.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
That just means you have identified a weakness to strengthen through meditation! You are reaching for those apps for a dopamine hit.
I read it more as they were worried they were missing something.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read it more as they were worried they were missing something.
Which is a common excuse, but makes no sense, because nobody's Instagram feed is reading "come to hospital, your mum's dying".
I started graduate school this fall, and went down to part-time at my job. I'd originally planned to keep Slack notifications turned off on days I was focused on school. Everyone was aware I wasn't working on those days, and the rest of the team is perfectly competent and able to handle themselves. In the event of a true emergency, Slack gives colleagues the option to override snoozed notifications, and some people also had my phone number and instructions to send a text.
I kept checking Slack anyway. I never saw anything that couldn't have waited—there were no "oh my god, I'm so glad I saw this" moments—but I kept doing it. I finally gave up and decided to leave the notifications on, and now I check the app less.
So, am I worried about missing something important, or is it just dopamine? I really don't know!