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iPhone dumbphone

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Re: iPhone dumbphone

#351

Post by 10729287 »

zenmac wrote: post #299
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. I just bought a cheap MP3 player and it has significantly reduced my smartphone usage to the point that sometimes I forgot where left it.

https://gpodder.github.io is a great app to subscribe to podcasts, download them as mp3s, and syncing them to a offline player.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#352

Post by red-iron-pine »

devnullbrain wrote: post #302
pj_mukh wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yes but social media companies have helpfully made this experience unpleasant.

deliberately so, so as to force you to install their app that can get deeper into your device than any cookie ever could

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#353

Post by unethical_ban »

crazygringo wrote: post #117
ubermonkey wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WAT.

...do you check for texts if you don't have any text notifications telling you to? I certainly don't.

Yes, if I know I don't have notifications for them!

I have email notifications disabled. I check my email in the morning.

I don't get a notification every time I receive a letter. I check my mailbox every other day.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#354

Post by red-iron-pine »

dhon_ wrote: post #195
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…

I switched to a candy-bar style dumb phone for a month and did something similar. My list was pretty much the same as the one in the article with a few small changes. The most jarring was probably maps - other things like email, messaging etc could be delayed until I could reach a computer but not knowing how to get somewhere right now was problematic and required planning in advance. I usually kept my smart phone in…

same experience. switches to an old school dumb phone. my neighbor joked that I was a drug dealer, lol.

but man did I miss maps. need to go somewhere? get in the car, start the engine, look it up on some map app, and then I'm off.

text messaging and being able to send simple photos was also a loss. definitely missed being able to text the wife a photo of something on sale in the grocery store ("hey, 10% off X, wanna give that a try for dinner?"), and I missed how good some of the auto-fill was after a while.

to a much lesser degree, a phone was nice during some downtime. waiting in line for something, killing time in a doctor's office waiting room, etc. 20 years ago they had magazines, now they don't...

eventually after getting lost a couple of times I just tapped out and went back to the Pixel 4

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#355

Post by unethical_ban »

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.

One trick, even though it doesn't "lock it down" the same way, is to use a minimalist launcher. Check out OLauncher. It is a text-based launcher, it only has room for a few apps on the homepage, and it discourages fiddling with your phone.

https://github.com/tanujnotes/Olauncher?tab=readme-ov-file

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#357

Post by ivanovm »

one underrated approach more and more people are finding success with: apple watch ultra as a primary device (optionally with a case for a more phone-like factor)

you can do most things an iphone does, but you can't doom scroll. you don't have to eject out of apple ecosystem, you get payments, 2fa, navigation, notifications. your iphone can remain as a backup that's always in sync for when you need it (e.g. traveling)

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#358

Post by highonl1fe »

I'm on the exact same journey as OP but I think I have a solution that is a little easier to setup.

Simply use Apple's Screen Time but lock all of the Screen Time settings behind a pin. Have a friend or loved one create the pin and keep it secret from you and voila.

With Screen time you can have an "Always Allowed" list and if you use the "Downtime" setting it doesn't actually let you set limits past a one minute exception per app.

You also have to make sure that the downtime setting is 24 hours of downtime.

*Edit: seems like a lot of people are suggesting the same exact thing.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#359

Post by mdavid626 »

10729287 wrote: post #348
mdavid626 wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I unsubscribed from most of mailing lists/sites/social media. I barely get any email. When I get email, it’s highly likely, that’s important.

Or filter your emails to the word “unsubscribe” and get them in /newsletters.

What for? If you never look at it again, why even receive it?

For me it’s mostly spam/garbage I don’t intend to swift through or even look at.

Re: iPhone dumbphone

#360

Post by crazygringo »

ubermonkey wrote: post #319
crazygringo wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...do you check for texts if you don't have any text notifications telling you to? I certainly don't.

Texts? Generally no. Mail? Absolutely. Because most mail doesn't produce a notification.

> Because most mail doesn't produce a notification.

It does if you turn them on.

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