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iPhone dumbphone

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Re: iPhone dumbphone

#261

Post by isolli »

duderific wrote: post #159
isolli wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's how my children's iPads are too. Permanent downtime, with a few always allowed apps, and the rest on demand. And indeed, the most frustrating part is when my daughter needs to do some research for school. I'd have to allow each and every website she visits, so I temporarily un-downtime her phone instead... Edited to add: for some reason, time limits never worked for my kids (they could always override them wit…

> time limits never worked for my kids (they could always override them with one click). Huh, that's weird. Seems to work ok for mine in limiting their iPad use. They can request more time and I can decide to grant it or not, I get choices of 15 minutes, 1 hour or all day.

I agree it's odd, and I've tried to fix this problem for a long time before giving up...

While we're at it, I wish there was a 30 minutes option! There are many situations where 15 minutes is too short, and 1 hour is too long.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#262

Post by jefozabuss »

roxolotl wrote: post #79

> It’s common to rack up 4 hours or more of screen time a day on your phone. Here’s one way to see the cost of that: every 20 years, you lose 5 years of your waking time looking at your phone. This is interesting because I suspect most people use their phone while doing other things. I’m in a meeting commenting on this article with my phone. I’ve got maybe 15min a day of “I’m only paying attention to my phone” but I…

You also accumulate screen time if you are using navigation while commuting, etc. I easily rack up 2 hours daily just from driving to my workplace and back home, so there are definitely some "passive" ways to increase those numbers.

I think focusing on numerical stats here is also a bit of a problem and while making these guardrails might help some people but the main issue should be addressed (overconsumption/addiction).

I wonder by reducing the screen time of the phone, how the screen time of the other devices (computer/tv/etc) changed.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#263

Post by blissofbeing »

StevenNunez wrote: post #42

Is there any way to do this with Android? I'd wish to get a modern snappy phone with a great camera but completely locked down.

andoff[1] works well. I use it to lock down DNS settings to nextdns to block all the sites I want. Then I use lockmeout[2] to lock opening andoff to change the settings.

Also there is limitphone[3], but it has less settings and is easier to uninstall than andoff, but works via the same mechanism.

1: https://docs.andoff.one/ 2: https://www.teqtic.com/lock-me-out 3: https://limitphone.com/

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#264

Post by miika »

This is how I cured my social media addiction.

I turned my iPhone into pure utility device by uninstalling all the entertainment apps. I only allow music and podcasts as those don’t require my active attention.

Then I have an iPad mini at home which has all the entertainment and social media stuff installed. However I don’t have many opportunities to use that device during the day..

After maybe a week of having this arrangement I found myself being less and less interested in grabbing that iPad. It’s been few months now and I only check my socials maybe twice a week.

Also since I deleted Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube and TikTok from my phone the battery life almost doubled. It was eye opening to see how much these apps drain battery even when the device is left untouched.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#265

Post by alternatex »

bornfreddy wrote: post #143
willio58 wrote: post #29

Interesting! I wish Apple would expand on "Assistive Access" mode. - https://support.apple.com/guide/assistive-access-iphone/set-... They made this for people with cognitive disabilities, but it also works great for older people. It just wouldn't work for me. I need Jira, Slack, and GitHub during work hours for example. But I don't want them during non-work hours. I realize I'm describing something actually doable in…

> It just wouldn't work for me. I need Jira, Slack, and GitHub during work hours for example. But I don't want them during non-work hours. Not an iPhone, but my solution to this is LineageOS + microG, where I just disable push notifications when I'm not working, or enable them for just the few select apps if I am expecting some messages there. The price for this is that I don't always receive the social app message w…

Plain Android has work profiles that will allow the user to enable/disable a "work profile" at will. This is what I use because we have on-call duties and on most weeks I don't need to be available on my work accounts.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#267

Post by that_guy_iain »

willio58 wrote: post #29

Interesting! I wish Apple would expand on "Assistive Access" mode. - https://support.apple.com/guide/assistive-access-iphone/set-... They made this for people with cognitive disabilities, but it also works great for older people. It just wouldn't work for me. I need Jira, Slack, and GitHub during work hours for example. But I don't want them during non-work hours. I realize I'm describing something actually doable in…

> I need Jira, Slack, and GitHub during work hours for example.

My question, why do you need them on your phone during work hours? Why aren't you using a desktop/laptop/something else?

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#268

Post by octatrack »

I often leave the house without my iPhone. Here is my full stack:

- Ask wife to set up screen time passcode and not tell me

- Block social media and other distracting websites in Screen Time

- Set a 1 minute time limit on distracting apps

- Keep the phone in the garage as much as possible

- Get an Apple Watch cellular so that I can still communicate with people, make payments, get directions etc when I am out and about

Not a perfect dumb phone but this has helped me reduce usage tremendously.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#269

Post by esperent »

yosito wrote: post #241
jaysonelliot wrote: post #130

Before installing all those apps the author listed, I'd recommend this exercise: Let the battery die on your phone, and live one week without it. Cold turkey. Tell people in advance if you need to, give them an alternate way to reach you. Replace your phone for that week with a small notebook that fits in your pocket. During that week, every time you want to do something that requires a smartphone, jot it down in you…

That would be a great idea if I were on vacation in a cabin in the woods. But realistically, I need my phone for just about everything I do on a daily basis, from payments, to navigation, to communicating with friends and family, and logging into accounts for work.

At least a few of these, like payments and basic communications, can be done from a watch.

Work accounts, camera, and maps are the big blockers for me. I know I can buy a camera but 90% of the times when I take a photo it's to instantly send it via a messaging app, mostly for work.

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