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iPhone dumbphone

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Re: iPhone dumbphone

#321

Post by eighthourblink »

dakial1 wrote: post #307
miika wrote: post #264

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…

I never found a reason to buy a tablet but it seems that you have given a very good one. Moving all the distractions to another device that I can't carry around with me is a great idea and I'm going to try it! Thanks Miika!

This is what i do with the tablet i have. Its an Android tablet, but de-googled with a spoof account. That way i can play games / apps and not have any account tried to it.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#322

Post by RobertEva »

I did a “soft dumbphone” too: a Focus that only allows Phone/Texts/Maps/Camera. Screen Time has a passcode my partner keeps, and an automation re-enables the Focus if I toggle it off. Keeps utility, kills the slot-machine pull.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#323

Post by Lord-Jobo »

mixermachine wrote: post #290
miika wrote: post #264

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…

Also great video regarding this topic: "You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orQKfIXMiA8 I now regularly force myself to "actively" do nothing for 15 minutes and just think. All the things I put into my brain as "todo, please remember" at some point in time are coming back during these 15 minutes. I get quite a lot of clarity with this exercise. As soon I pick up my phone afterwards and…

Damn this really rings true to me, and makes me deeply wish I had my own office again. There are advantages to a cubicle environment but the noise means headphones which means distraction.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#324

Post by inanutshellus »

mrweasel wrote: post #308
djhn wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normalize checking notifications 1-3 times per day. Once in the morning, once after work, once some time later in the evening if you feel like it. During working hours there’s rarely any reason to touch or check your personal phone (and in many professions you simply aren’t able to). During after-work hobbies and/or family time you are for obvious reasons unable to have your phone on your person (it’s in a locker roo…

I have reasons to believe that my sister works like this. We joke that she has "office hours". She will rarely answer messages or calls that she does not expect right away. Then at around eight in the evening, every other days or so, messages will start trickling in. At first it was a bit annoying, but once you know that she works like that it perfectly fine. I'm starting to think that she's doing modern communicatio…

Knowing there'll be a delay in response if you text also makes using your phone as a telephone have value again, too...

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#325

Post by BobBagwill »

If smartphones were real computers, instead of expensive little closed portable TV's with cameras, we could run multiple VM's, each with their own network ID's, accounts, apps, etc.

Maybe these sexy AI LLM's can help us root all these closed devices and OS's, instead of being used to write yet another stupid web app faster?

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#326

Post by Lord-Jobo »

neya wrote: post #303

I took an easier path. I carry two phones - a smartphone and a dumb phone. The smartphone is usually turned off, and is only charged once every 3-4 days. It holds its charge. The dumbphone is actually a second-hand Sony Ericsson Walkman phone which I really love. It has basic web browsing, some very basic utility apps and excellent sound quality, which I care a lot about and bluetooth too. This physical, non-software…

I had a two phone lifestyle as well for different reasons: I needed car play but don't like iOS, and also needed to know Android and iOS quite well for my job.

One iPhone that was wifi only, had my entire music library local, used for car play and a few exclusive apps.

One android with a sim that had my communication apps, social media, and some custom tinkering stuff that doesn't exist on iOS.

I did this for about two years. The main takeaways: -I 100% could have just had the iPhone with a sim for communication apps and been fine. The social media was just annoying enough to swap to that I never felt that draw and barely used it on 2phones. -even though I despise how little customization iOS lets you do, without social media or game apps, the only actual pain point with it was the nightmare of managing notifications/alert/vibration/screen wake settings* -god it made me miss small phones so much. The android was a pixel 4a, the last real phone with real hardware that released at the actual ideal size for my hands(that has an unlocked bootloader, I really can't do the Samsung hellOS experience again).

Now Im on a pixel 8 only, with Glider for this site and no other social media or games. It's fine. Phones too big, car doesn't have AAuto, and Google is trying to rot the foundation of android, but for now it's fine and better than the two phone experience because it's less juggling.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#327

Post by mlinsey »

pj_mukh wrote: post #271
miika wrote: post #264

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…

Sorry basic question. You can still access all the social media from the browser eh?

I am experimenting with using freedom.to to block social media in the browser. It creates a VPN profile that blocks these sites in the browser (it also uses the Screen Time API to block specific apps). The downsides are that you can just go into iOS settings to disable the profile, and I am paying Freedom a subscription for something I could set up for free. The upside vs. managing it myself is that it's much easier to create a schedule (eg block during weekdays, instead of block 24/7).

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#328

Post by radeck »

The built in iPhone time limits work well if you have a partner - simply have them set the password and keep it secret.

You want to spend more time scrolling on twitter?

Fine, muster up the courage to ask your wife for it while she preps school lunches for the kids.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#329

Post by peder »

esperent wrote: post #269
yosito wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

Is that a distinction without a difference?

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#330

Post by bookofjoe »

miika wrote: post #264

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…

>I only allow music and podcasts as those don't require my active attention.

podcasts? How do you listen and benefit without paying active attention?

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