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 to play in certain company).
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), they're utterly toxic for teenagers (especially teenage girls - studies vary on just how bad it is, but "awful" is a good start), and on through the ages.
I think it's important for the "techie sorts" to very actively reject that which smartphones (and most of consumer tech, really...) has become, and that's one reason I carry a flip phone instead of a defanged smartphone - it's visually different and stands out as a "... wait, you carry one of those?" conversation starter.
I've been trying very hard to get back to an offline-first life. And dumping the smartphone is a key step there.
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.
The sole reason I've not had to carry around a wordbook is because I have a translation app on my phone.
It is much easier to choose to not carry a purse or bag, which sometimes makes me safer.
Not to mention that I have internet on my phone, which is better than phone books ever were. Looking stuff up saves money and time if you use it correctly.
You shouldn't expect folks to talk to you at the grocery store: That wasn't exactly a universal thing everywhere. Seems like this is just you missing something that others don't - and not everyone needs this stuff to fill their social interaction quotas.
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
Yep, i agree, it is a universal tool, a swiss knife, so to say. That is what i pay for.
Yet, many apps on it are addictive, that i would prefer not to be. Those things I don't want in my life, just like access to drugs. But it is tough, as these apps are mostly connected with other people, friends mostly... and i want that too.
- In my daily commutes, I dedicate my smartphone screen time to creating art and short animations.
- If I ever do feel the urge to read news, I'll pull up HN via the Harmonic app. If I stumble upon an interesting post with healthy comments threads, I'll bookmark it to read on a properly sized screen when I return home.
- My monthly data plan is purposefully capped at 4GB. I use an app firewall to whitelist the most essential apps while everything else is blocked by default from accessing cellular data.
- I don't use streaming services at all but I do occasionally pre-fetch longform podcasts for later consumption. I also disable all phone notifications and wear a "smartwatch" to tell time, track my step counter and monitor barometric pressure in that order.
> I can pass time while waiting - doctors office, etc - which makes me more pleasant.
If you need to suppress your thoughts by using a tool while being alone and not doing something (to be pleasant), maybe you should do something about these thoughts rather than suppress them?
> I can pass time while waiting - doctors office, etc - which makes me more pleasant.
You might believe that, a lot of people do. However, from what I understand the actual science doesn't support is assumption.
In short, for eons, humans lived in the shadow of boredom. The brain evolved in that context. That is, life without boredom has no historical precedent. When boredom is habitually removed you are doing the brain a disservice. You are stifling creativity, insights, and other growth that comes from the seeds planted by boredom and "down time."
Put another way, the convenience of constant access to your device comes with an opportunity cost. And often we're too distracted to consider the loses due to that cost.
Yes, smartphone are a tool. They are tools that come with costs, though, and whether or not the costs are worth it depends on your particular situation.
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.
> 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.
Honestly, it’s getting weird to read people’s unrealistically idealistic descriptions of life before smartphones. I don’t recall people striking up conversations in grocery lines before smart phones, nor would I have been interested in it.
I think people also downplay how much smartphones just replaced rampant TV consumption for people who like to be entertained constantly. The same people who can’t entertain themselves without their smartphone and who consume toxic content would probably be sitting in front of TVs and watching Jerry Springer type shows instead of scrolling /r/relationships or watching Fox News talking heads instead of whatever weird political thing they’re consuming.
Smartphones changed many things, but the idyllic offline-first fantasies I keep reading about weren’t reality before smartphones either.
If you find yourself unable to moderate consumption, then ditching the smartphone is a good idea for you. However, I reject the idea that all techies need to reject technology and smartphones and embrace an extremist anti-position on the matter. Personally, I handle smartphone usage just fine as do most of the adults around me.
People should recognize when they have a problem, but projecting their own solution on to everyone else is about as appealing as the person who had a problem with drinking too much trying to insist that nobody else should drink any alcohol at all either.
I also use my smartphone for important things like maps, taking photos, keeping lists, and even paying for groceries if I forget my wallet. The way some people talk about smartphones as if they were just social media scrolling devices and nothing more is entirely foreign to how I use my phone.
I'm in the age group that is just old enough to remember adult life before everyone had cellphones. And yes, it wasn't an idyllic ago. People my age were constantly texting on the phone, mashing the alphanumeric buttons multiple times simply to get a single character. Before that teens used to hang out at home on the phone (or, in my case, tying up the phone line with the modem) chatting with friends.
I think this dim world view of smartphones is a product of excess. Sure, you wouldn't have many random conversations with strangers at the grocery store, yet they did happen. I suspect they happen a lot less often these days. While those random conversations with strangers were not always welcome, I don't recall them being received with as much hostility as seen from some of the commenters here.
As for people projecting their own solutions on everyone else, I have mixed feelings about that. Ideally people would be able to curb their smartphone usage independent of the world around them. Yet that is easier said than done. You're going to have a challenging time curbing your smartphone usage if the social expectations of your friends or expectations of your employer depend upon using a smartphone. To use your alcohol analogy, it would be like an alcoholic trying to give up the bottle when their friends and colleagues meet up at the bar every night. It's not so much a case that everyone needs to stop drinking. It is a case of the people around them needing to respect that alcohol should not be a fundamental tool for social or professional interactions.
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 TV showed up.
I’m old enough to remember before everyone had a cellphone, let alone a smart phone. People interacted more in real life, you would chat with random strangers throughout your day. It brought people closer together, there was more of a community, and things were less polarized. Sure you would meet some crazy people, but it gave you something to talk about back home. You would also meet interesting people and even get some interesting experiences.
Now everyone is in their own social / information bubble, oblivious to their own surroundings. We are more polarized, lonely, and with less real life friends.
It's a dual-use lean back and lean forwards device. Lean back technologies like the TV and reddit are the problem. Your smartphone use is lean-forwards. For others it's lean back. Phones have accelerometers in them, maybe they could determine if you're leaning back and enforce a time limit if you are leaning too far back.
Also, I don’t think of smartphones as the distraction problem since the distractions are also on laptop and tablet. There are only a couple app that are only on phone, but there are also ones like Reddit and Hacker News that I don’t use on phone.
Telling people not use smartphones is like telling them to not use the Internet. People will need to figure out the distractions and social media with their phones.
Totally agree. While I certainly spent too much time on reddit, there is so much more. I can add to your list messaging with friends, quick payments, uber/train/flight apps, 2FA auth, spotify, quick queries to chatgpt, tracking workouts. I even use instagram mainly to keep in touch with acquaintances outside of my close friend circle and learning about interesting events.
Things have really started changing with when radio receivers became popular. Before them, there really was no technology for easy, cheap, endless, captivating passive entertainment. TV was radio on steroids, and Internet and smartphones are even more captivating.
> I don’t recall people striking up conversations in grocery lines before smart phones, nor would I have been interested in it.
I do. You may not quite be old enough to have seen/participated in this. Or maybe it wasn't happening where you live for some reason? (E.g., this was probably more common in the urbs than the sub-urbs, due to other alienating forces in the latter).
> people also downplay how much smartphones just replaced rampant TV consumption for people who like to be entertained constantly
It was (mostly) not possible to have a TV with you at all moments, on the bus, in line, in the toilet. This meant lots of times where people were with their thoughts or one another. Also, phones have not replaced TV but overlay it. Many (most) now watch their TV (even if streaming) while also layering distraction from their phone.
> Personally, I handle smartphone usage just fine as do most of the adults around me.
Good for you! I'm curious, what's your average phone usage in hrs/day?
IMO, the degrading effect of smart phones (and the distraction machines of the attention economy more generally) is something that should be discussed and problematized. If some are good at self-moderating, their contributions to the discussion may be especially helpful.
> I reject the idea that all techies need to reject technology and smartphones
Just to clarify, rejecting smart phones as they are currently designed and implemented as bad technology is not the same as rejecting all technology per se.
> projecting their own solution on to everyone else is about as appealing as the person who had a problem with drinking too much trying to insist that nobody else should drink any alcohol at all either
This is an interesting analogy b/c ["No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health"](https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-...). I doubt that smart phones are as unequivocally toxic as alcohol, but I do suspect that the current way they are used and developed may be, esp. thanks to gamification, nudge design, and surveillance. Research is coming out on this, but I think there is good reason to not assume it is systemically innocuous as you think it is.
However, b/c living in an inattentive society may actually be worse for everyone, it's possible that a better analogy may be smoking in public or drunk driving: if you smoke in public places or get behind a wheel, everyone is at greater risk.
> I also use my smartphone for important things like maps, taking photos, keeping lists, and even paying for groceries if I forget my wallet.
Imagine a utility that enabled these important functions but did not also constantly disrupt your attention with push notifications, harvest your data, or present the temptation of hours wasted in toxic digital fun-houses! :D It's possible!
I'm curmudgeonly enough that I'd tend to agree with you, however as someone who travels often I don't think I could ever give up my smartphone. I actually had a smartphone and some other similar devices well ahead of them being popular, and the reasons pretty much have not changed. Here are the things I don't have a reasonable alternative, because it's not just the capability, it's the capability backed by the Internet that is valuable:
1. Translation
2. Maps and Directions
3. Ticketing Services
4. Ride Hailing Services
5. Weather
6. Camera
7. Making calls from anywhere to anywhere
None of those are necessarily what people think of first when they hear "smartphone", but without them traveling would be a pretty difficult experience. I know firsthand, because I traveled prior to having these things. I had to deal with the expense policy at work trying to figure out how to get and handle cash in multiple countries so I could pay for a taxi and risk getting ripped off, or buy a train ticket. I had to carry around a phrase book and hope my pronunciation was close enough to get things done without offending anyone. I had to deal with paper maps, and get lost, and hope I made appointments on time. I had to roll around a wheeled pelican case with camera gear to get any decent photos, taking up precious space and making me stand out. And for the weather, well, I just looked outside and hoped I brought the right clothes.
I don't use social media, except Hacker News (if that counts). I don't really do any of the things you probably think of when you think of smartphones being problematic, but having this devices has made my life immeasurably better. So much so, that it's probably the most essential thing in my travel kit.
Really it's just social media that's terrible. If all the social media apps go away, you still get left with all the above and can contact people you know. Algorithmic recommendations and flame wars with strangers are the worst things about smartphones — and they're not limited to them either.
As an aside, I know for a fact that 4 (ridesharing) is possible without a smart phone... if you speak Yiddish. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn I saw an ad for an integration between flip phones and Lyft geared towards the Chasidic population many of whom believe that it is forbidden to own a smartphone but OK to have a flip phone. I haven't dug into the internal reasoning from a Jewish legal perspective, but from the outside, it's a fascinating place to draw the line.
I also find it fascinating from an engineering perspective. I wonder what other apps they've managed to integrate into the flip phone?
> 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.
I do! My day is almost always made better by a random encounter with a stranger. I wish I was confident enough to start those interactions myself, but I always inevitably think back to messages such as yours, and my anxiety gets the better of me.
> 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
It is just a theory, but i think, apps were often written by people, who want to avoid conversations with strangers, who can exert some kind of power, who say no arbitrarily, because they can. At some point it took off and it became business as usual and since then its rolling.
But i suspect there is much more and many people are not like that. It should be richer and not so monotone.
As is most things in life, the balance is the hardest thing to achieve.
I’d think of giving up my smartphone, but that’d mean I’d not be able to use WhatsApp to communicate with family and friends that are on it. Heck the parents group at my kids school is on WhatsApp. I’m not going to make everyone switch to “this other special” app. I gotta be where others are in this context.
Another is Maps - it is modern convenience that is hard to live without. Not only do I get turn-by-turn navigation, but I can quickly check whether the shop I want to go to is open or not. No, a Garmin device on a car doesn’t really solve that elegantly.
Thirdly, majority of my actions are on a web browser and it often happens when I’m mobile. Sure, I could remember things and then find them when I’m at my desk - yeah, I’m not going to remember that..
Fourth - my phone is my camera. I have pictures of my family memories, daily utility stuff.. even quickly taking a picture of a design I see somewhere as inspiration to stash it in my Notes. I can’t imagine giving up that convenience.
I’m however conscious of the bad effects of having the social drug on my hands. I don’t have Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, games or the like Apps on my phone. My battery usage report says 70% of the time was spent on web browser, and my mini iPhone lasts 1.5 days on a full charge.
Dumbphones have cameras, so if you can't or don't want to remember a map, you can take its photo. My short term memory if good enough for that. Random installable apps are really the only edge smartphones have.
i have been back on a dumbphone for quite some time now. i use the web almost exclusively on laptop - when i am mobile i don't want to be connected to it.
whatsapp works great in the browser on a laptop. if you only have a dumbphone you can use your number to register the whatsapp "app" on any tablet and can then log in on any other browser you want to use it on. works super nice.
I can't speak for anyone else, but for me, getting rid of my smartphone is very important.
There are very large benefits to having one, but I think that the drawbacks, of the sort you're talking about as well as the privacy/security issues with them, are larger than the benefits. They are a net negative. And I don't even use social media.
It wasn't always so. This equation became unfavorable just a handful of years ago.
And the fact that it's hard enough to give them up that I need a transition period gives even greater urgency to the need for me to give them up.
When TikTok first came out, I thought it was ridiculous that people would just keep scrolling short videos for hours. I got sick one day, check it out, and spent half a day scrolling. I immediately uninstalled it.
I like having a smartphone. And as I have no kids, I only go home a few hours before I am to sleep. I can't have my workstation in my car, but the phone suffices most days.
But your opinion got me thinking: what gadget would I replace my phone with?
Maybe a flip phone, a kindle, and one of those AI rabbit gadgets.
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.
The videos coming out of people walking around, driving, on the subway, or otherwise in public places with Vision Pros interacting with invisible computers I hope is a shocking enough image that we don’t go down that road but I guess it’s just going to become what people see as normal.
If nothing else it makes it obvious who is trying to plug themselves into the matrix so you can stay away.
I'm not convinced it's not just a viral marketing stunt with each of those videos being "paid" actors. It's heavily in apple's profit interest if people stop thinking of those things as cringey to be seen with. But honestly I'm not convinced anyone other than the ubiquitous 'clout chasers' and 'scamfluencers' actually thinks it's acceptable to wear one of those in public.
I'd love to quit my smartphone and have looked at options like Lite Phone to replace it. The only issue is my smartphone is now my GPS, my payment method, my home lighting controller, my car/house key, and my health tracker. Plus, was a convenient way to keep tabs on work messages.
Half a decade ago I eliminated all my social media. Then about a year ago I started by removing work email and messaging from my phone.The next step will be having a designated spot for it to stay while I'm home.
I don't know if I will ever revert back to having a thick wallet and a pocket full of keys, but maybe someday I can evolve to look at the smartphone as a utilitarian device without the addictive qualities.
> The only issue is my smartphone is now my GPS, my payment method, my home lighting controller, my car/house key, and my health tracker.
If you use GPS only for navigation in a car, get a Garmin or something similar.
Payment: Is it that hard to use a CC like most people do...? I only recently used my phone for payments (lost card and was waiting for replacement), and did not find it any more convenient than using a card.
Lighting: Do you need to do this only at home or away from home? If the former, buy a Google Home (albeit that has its own issues...)
Car/house key: Sorry, no experience with this. I'd be terrified of using my phone that way.
Health tracker: No experience with this, so I don't know how you use it and what the alternatives are.
> Half a decade ago I eliminated all my social media. Then about a year ago I started by removing work email and messaging from my phone.The next step will be having a designated spot for it to stay while I'm home.
Good steps. I never allowed work stuff on my phone. And if I take it out at home, I'll leave it wherever I took it out. I have a PC so I don't need the phone (and yes, it's great that the PC is not mobile). I use my VoIP line as my main phone, so I have those all around the house. People know I may not answer my cell phone at home due to me not hearing it ring.
> thick wallet
How thick is thick? 1-2 credit cards, 1-2 debit cards. Not that thick.
Not OP, but in a similar place for the phone somewhat dominating on the go stuff. Its just incredibly freeing leaving the house with only my phone. These days it can handle payment most places. It is my library card. My bus pass. My car key. My camera. My paperback novel. My guide. My gym pass. It lets me know when my bus or train is running late. It lets me know when that store is going to close, or if its even open on a Sunday. All the while providing music while on the go and entertainment when sitting around.
When I've got my phone, I don't need my keys. I don't need my wallet. I don't need a book. I can have a whole night out with the only thing on me is my phone, other than a few bucks stashed in my shoe for emergency bus fare.
My macro point was that the smartphone introduced several very sticky conveniences, so I kept my smartphone instead of adopting a light phone or similar device. Instead, I am working on treating it as an appliance or a utility device vs. a constant extension of my arm.
For example, my two vehicles can be accessed via a smartphone key/app or a card in my wallet. So my wallet is slimmer than before, but it has a credit card, vehicle access cards, insurance, license, etc. I now carry one credit card instead of multiple physical cards since my phone wallet has several to choose from for tap to pay.
I can unlock my home remotely or via a phone tap, watch tap, physical key, passcode, or remotely. Most phone lighting controls are convenient instead of getting up and going to the switch. But the phone allows for finer-grained control of light temperatures, brightness, electrical usage, etc.
If I was determined to rid my life of a smartphone, I could sell my vehicles, buy a non-smart lock for my home, and stop tracking my workouts and diet with the phone app.
At the moment, ditching my smartphone isn't an option. I'm taking steps to treat it like any other appliance or a utility vs. an entertainment or consumption platform, which is where I believe the addictiveness lies.
> maybe someday I can evolve to look at the smartphone as a utilitarian device without the addictive qualities.
Good luck.
You won't though, "because sekhurity" - the trend points at everything using your phone as a second factor, and not even via the authenticator app, but vendor-specific push notifications, on a remotely attested phone. Banks and media companies are pushing hard for it.
And this in spite of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US strongly recommending against using SMS as a 2nd factor authentication since 2016!
You can get a lot of those things n an Apple Watch. I like to go out with just my Apple Watch sometimes. It covers your GPS, payment, and health tracking use cases. I’m not sure if the lighting controller and house key would be covered.
> The next step will be having a designated spot for it to stay while I'm home.
Sounds like a good compromise, like a basket where you put all your keys you need when leaving home.
I think the core issue with attention is ultimately the same as with infinite scroll, and the reward mechanism.
For me the unease can be felt as soon as I unlock phone, it’s like a bunch of candies and there is this implicit feeling that you need to do something, to interact with something.
Then there is this angst like when you get physical mail and you anticipate who it might be from back when we wrote more letters. Only now with smartphones it gets repeated endlessly throughout the day.
Can we really force ourselves to slow down ? To live a simpler life ? I think it’s not possible until profound changes in our society such as basic income.
The smartphone in a sense is symptomatic of the rat race. It’s the only way we found to make things better when better is « doing more things in less time ».
As others have pointed out alternatives, you can also just ask yourself whether the convenience of those things you listed in total are worth more than the drawbacks. If you constantly lose time by mindless scrolling, if you are unable to focus anymore, if you start suffering from FOMO all the time, if you social interactions and friendships suffer etc. the question is whether the comfort of those conveniences are worth the drawbacks. And some very obvious point about that: All of the things you mentioned, you didn't have 10 years ago. Was your life that bad (becaues of the lack of those things) at that time?
> The next step will be having a designated spot for it to stay while I'm home.
I put my phone charger in a drawer by drilling a hole in the back in order to run a power cord. I found that just having the phone on silent and out of sight helps a lot.
It also helps with clutter, instead of having a ton of random devices and cables, all of that mess is in a drawer that doesn't bother me.
I appreciate how this article acknowledges that once an addicting device is in our hands, we are to some degree at its mercy. So the best intervention is environmental: get rid of the device.
I employ a lightweight version: in my home is a "charging station" where it is easy to place a device and then forget about it. Some days I don't even see my phone until noon. If I drop my device at the charging station when I walk past it or when I get home, it's likely I won't pick it up for many hours. This practice has been a game changer for elongating my attention span and conducting myself with greater presence.
Notes:
- There's no downside to this strategy; I still have a 2-factor auth device, maps for travel, music for car rides, convenient contactless payment, etc.
- The charging station should be away from the main living areas and bedroom – mine is in a hallway's open cupboard near the main entrance.
- The "charging" part of the charging station is a misnomer, you don't have to charge anything, but the label serves as an enticement to drop off the device.
I do this, though using a different term for the station. Mine is called a "key catch" since I also plop my wallet, keys and the rest of my EDC on this shelf that is also fitted to charge my phone.
My trouble is that it's not necessarily the phone I'm addicted to, but screens in general. I have a tablet that floats around the house, and my laptop is never far away, so without the phone in hand, I'm reaching for one of those two preferred devices.
The justification is that I'm not playing games or endlessly scrolling social media. If I'm on my tablet, I'm reading news or a book. If I'm on my laptop, I'm working on a project or learning something.
I view my devices as tools, so any use of them is intended to inform me or further my understanding on something. Still, I arguably spend too much time on all of them collectively and I am not clear if this is healthy or not, but it does make me happier than my actual job or going out into the community which inevitably involves spending money I don't need to spend. Of the people who know me and understand this, nobody seems alarmed by my behavior.
I mentioned that because I deal with substance abuse in my life as a 12-year-sober recovering alcoholic. When we start applying the word "addiction" and it's barbed hooks to things like technology, I take notice. I'd argue that it depends on what you are doing with said device. Doom scrolling? Gambling? Eroding your self-worth by comparing yourself to people on Instagram? Watching vapid YouTubers read listicles from Reddit?
The activity matters...BUT, is the person performing the activity getting some joy from it without harming themselves or others?
It's a sticky subject, to me, but one worth discussing.
I have an e ink smartphone, specifically a Hisense A9. It has the same screen as a Kindle. It is wonderful for productive stuff like reading, messaging is passable, and videos are pretty much unusable. It's wonderful, I've read so many books now.
It has Android 11 as of today; with no information of upgradability. I would not ever recommend anyone to use such an outdated OS in today's world even on their secondary phone. It's just unsafe.
If it is to be used as a "reader" device then, well, whatever. But in that case why not just use a "reader device" then.
This sort of overemphasized paranoia about security is something which makes me, I dunno, irritated. If you decide to go to extreme, everything is unsafe but you don't want an old device even as a secondary device?
I'd rather work on my paranoia than on getting a fully secured device.
By the way, I am writing this on a mobile with 2 GB RAM and running Android 9 as my other mobile got broken.
I considered the Hisense but talked myself out of it because of Android and lack of updates.
Part of me thinks I should just go for it, because I read a lot on my smartphone and miss Android’s Moon+ Reader - with Goldendict for Startdict/Lingvo dictionaries, it made a killer combo for reading foreign language texts with many new words.
Videos being unusable would be a fantastic QoL feature.
I've tried reading on phones, reading on tablets, etc, and the problem is that there's always so much else to do - or, at least, things that interrupt you (SMS messages and such on a phone).
I moved... oh, 10+ years ago, I think, to a Kobo (e-ink reader, not Kindle, far more hackable and open, swallows everything except some DRM which I strip on a desktop). I now have several, as they're just such good devices for reading text. I've also moved a lot of my "web reading" to them via Pocket, in which I send a link to Pocket and get the article, on my device, as long form text without any of the nonsense that's in most web articles (most images work, but not all).
It's far better than trying to have a combo device. And my 10+ year old Kobo Auras still work just fine for reading.
Onyx Palma plus my iPhone SE dual carrying is the ticket.
I use the phone as a 4G hotspot, Apple Music, plus apps such as Uber, Waze, wallet, etc. No social networks (LinkedIn and Reddit only on desktop browser), no messaging.
Apple Watch replaced with Casio GShock (solar powered and automatically adjusted via radio, expect it to last 20 years)
Palma has WhatsApp and telegram, outlook (closed most of the time) and reading apps.Podcasts too.
Most sites are consumed via RSS. PDF to Readwise for read later, notes on desktop Obsidian.
I can use Organic Maps in the Palma, and most tickets via QR. I try to force myself not to use the iPhone at all on the street except one of those cases (recharge public transport ticket, camera, payment, etc)
I found the following 3 measures quite helpful to make my smartphone less intrusive in my daily life:
1: I don't bring my smartphone into my bedroom. My bedroom is a personal and intimate space, no need for the outside world to barge in via smartphone.
2: I disable or silence every notification I get. The only time my phone draws my attention is if I am getting a phone call, my wife texts me, or if I get a Pagerduty.
3: I uninstalled or disabled all social media apps.
Number 2 had the biggest impact on my family and work life. When I spend time with my kids, my phone only rarely interrupts me.
My phone is like yours, it only rings for a certain few. I do not know what "Pagerduty" is, but I purchased numeric telephone paging service [to a "beeper"] and give this number to the few important people in my life that need to be able to get my attention.
Surprisingly, paging services still exist across metro-US, even in 2024 [I use pagerdirect, no affiliation].
#4: I rarely leave my house with a cell phone, and it is heavenly. Asking anybody to "leave their phone behind" invokes constant anxiety in most travel companions...
Skip pagerduty. When I was oncall I carried a regular pager. Cost about $10 bucks a month, took 1 AA battery per month, very reliable, clipped onto my belt, and it gets service Everywhere. basements, underground garages, top of the towers. And it beeps VERY loudly.
It is unfortunate that the phone hardware companies have an interest in you using their phone more, otherwise they'd make it easier to manage your phone usage better. The screentime app in iPhone for example is so easy to bypass as a user even when you were the one who limited certain apps usage. I want an app that strictly locks away my access to an app and also suppresses notifications. Is that so hard to build?
It also needs to be a default functionality of browsers. The ability to limit time on websites.
My wife and I both have iPhones and MacBooks as our primary computing devices, and have setup blocks for each other’s phones.
So we voluntarily (I have to stress, this is something we both are 100% on board with, don’t be a creep) set a passcode, and from midnight to 8pm our browsers are locked down, we can only use a few apps, and we’re focused on the kids or work. The only problem with this is overriding it requires us to be together in person, but over a few weeks we’ve hammered it out pretty well. Each one can ask the other to unlock stuff, but just having that little extra hurdle goes a long way in helping reduce screen addiction.
The only criticism I have of it so far is my wife gets really weird when everything unlocks because she’s in sort of a mad rush to watch her shows, haha.
I never found Screentime usable because something like turn-by-turn navigation would count against the global screen time, with no option to exclude it. worthless.
You can specify the apps and domains that screentime tracks. I have set a daily time limit for social media and certain domains like news sites and hn but don‘t include maps, mail or messengers
Apple Maps can display directions on the lock screen. It seems to also work with turn-by-turn navigation. Does this count toward the global screen time?
I had this exact problem and I found an app called ScreenZen, which is built on top of Screentime in iOS and you can use it to block specific sites and apps pretty effectively. It just minimizes the app and doesn't let you access it.
I am now using it to easy off some sites and I've set a couple of 7 minutes sessions per day and I've limited my time time considerably in the last month
I'm using "Freedom", which locks my Mac and iPhone and includes apps and websites and I think blocks notifications. I don't use it as much as I should, but I think it does the things you said? Not "default functionality" though.
Focus modes are meant to be exactly that, although it doesn’t prevent you from getting out of it. Do you really need something so strong? If so, why not consider just locking away your phone or getting rid of it?
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.
Of course, the companies fight back, e.g. Facebook messaging isn't (last I checked) available through the Facebook-in-the-browser; it requires the Messenger app.
https://mbasic.facebook.com - at least for now a cut down version that still allows messenger designed for those with low bandwidth.
I would be curious to hear your experience - it's been functional for me for quite some time, but just recently it's had a banner declaring that it was going away....
This is correct for messenger.com itself, but you can access Messenger through Facebook.com - it's just another tab on the website. If you don't want to visit Facebook.com, though, then yes you're out of luck.
Readit News
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 to play in certain company).
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), they're utterly toxic for teenagers (especially teenage girls - studies vary on just how bad it is, but "awful" is a good start), and on through the ages.
I think it's important for the "techie sorts" to very actively reject that which smartphones (and most of consumer tech, really...) has become, and that's one reason I carry a flip phone instead of a defanged smartphone - it's visually different and stands out as a "... wait, you carry one of those?" conversation starter.
I've been trying very hard to get back to an offline-first life. And dumping the smartphone is a key step there.
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.
The sole reason I've not had to carry around a wordbook is because I have a translation app on my phone.
It is much easier to choose to not carry a purse or bag, which sometimes makes me safer.
Not to mention that I have internet on my phone, which is better than phone books ever were. Looking stuff up saves money and time if you use it correctly.
You shouldn't expect folks to talk to you at the grocery store: That wasn't exactly a universal thing everywhere. Seems like this is just you missing something that others don't - and not everyone needs this stuff to fill their social interaction quotas.
> 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
Yet, many apps on it are addictive, that i would prefer not to be. Those things I don't want in my life, just like access to drugs. But it is tough, as these apps are mostly connected with other people, friends mostly... and i want that too.
- In my daily commutes, I dedicate my smartphone screen time to creating art and short animations.
- If I ever do feel the urge to read news, I'll pull up HN via the Harmonic app. If I stumble upon an interesting post with healthy comments threads, I'll bookmark it to read on a properly sized screen when I return home.
- My monthly data plan is purposefully capped at 4GB. I use an app firewall to whitelist the most essential apps while everything else is blocked by default from accessing cellular data.
- I don't use streaming services at all but I do occasionally pre-fetch longform podcasts for later consumption. I also disable all phone notifications and wear a "smartwatch" to tell time, track my step counter and monitor barometric pressure in that order.
If you need to suppress your thoughts by using a tool while being alone and not doing something (to be pleasant), maybe you should do something about these thoughts rather than suppress them?
You might believe that, a lot of people do. However, from what I understand the actual science doesn't support is assumption.
In short, for eons, humans lived in the shadow of boredom. The brain evolved in that context. That is, life without boredom has no historical precedent. When boredom is habitually removed you are doing the brain a disservice. You are stifling creativity, insights, and other growth that comes from the seeds planted by boredom and "down time."
Put another way, the convenience of constant access to your device comes with an opportunity cost. And often we're too distracted to consider the loses due to that cost.
Did you get this opinion from others, or is this your own rationalization?
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 in the age group that is just old enough to remember adult life before everyone had smartphones.
Honestly, it’s getting weird to read people’s unrealistically idealistic descriptions of life before smartphones. I don’t recall people striking up conversations in grocery lines before smart phones, nor would I have been interested in it.
I think people also downplay how much smartphones just replaced rampant TV consumption for people who like to be entertained constantly. The same people who can’t entertain themselves without their smartphone and who consume toxic content would probably be sitting in front of TVs and watching Jerry Springer type shows instead of scrolling /r/relationships or watching Fox News talking heads instead of whatever weird political thing they’re consuming.
Smartphones changed many things, but the idyllic offline-first fantasies I keep reading about weren’t reality before smartphones either.
If you find yourself unable to moderate consumption, then ditching the smartphone is a good idea for you. However, I reject the idea that all techies need to reject technology and smartphones and embrace an extremist anti-position on the matter. Personally, I handle smartphone usage just fine as do most of the adults around me.
People should recognize when they have a problem, but projecting their own solution on to everyone else is about as appealing as the person who had a problem with drinking too much trying to insist that nobody else should drink any alcohol at all either.
I also use my smartphone for important things like maps, taking photos, keeping lists, and even paying for groceries if I forget my wallet. The way some people talk about smartphones as if they were just social media scrolling devices and nothing more is entirely foreign to how I use my phone.
I think this dim world view of smartphones is a product of excess. Sure, you wouldn't have many random conversations with strangers at the grocery store, yet they did happen. I suspect they happen a lot less often these days. While those random conversations with strangers were not always welcome, I don't recall them being received with as much hostility as seen from some of the commenters here.
As for people projecting their own solutions on everyone else, I have mixed feelings about that. Ideally people would be able to curb their smartphone usage independent of the world around them. Yet that is easier said than done. You're going to have a challenging time curbing your smartphone usage if the social expectations of your friends or expectations of your employer depend upon using a smartphone. To use your alcohol analogy, it would be like an alcoholic trying to give up the bottle when their friends and colleagues meet up at the bar every night. It's not so much a case that everyone needs to stop drinking. It is a case of the people around them needing to respect that alcohol should not be a fundamental tool for social or professional interactions.
Now everyone is in their own social / information bubble, oblivious to their own surroundings. We are more polarized, lonely, and with less real life friends.
Telling people not use smartphones is like telling them to not use the Internet. People will need to figure out the distractions and social media with their phones.
I do. You may not quite be old enough to have seen/participated in this. Or maybe it wasn't happening where you live for some reason? (E.g., this was probably more common in the urbs than the sub-urbs, due to other alienating forces in the latter).
> people also downplay how much smartphones just replaced rampant TV consumption for people who like to be entertained constantly
It was (mostly) not possible to have a TV with you at all moments, on the bus, in line, in the toilet. This meant lots of times where people were with their thoughts or one another. Also, phones have not replaced TV but overlay it. Many (most) now watch their TV (even if streaming) while also layering distraction from their phone.
> Personally, I handle smartphone usage just fine as do most of the adults around me.
Good for you! I'm curious, what's your average phone usage in hrs/day?
IMO, the degrading effect of smart phones (and the distraction machines of the attention economy more generally) is something that should be discussed and problematized. If some are good at self-moderating, their contributions to the discussion may be especially helpful.
> I reject the idea that all techies need to reject technology and smartphones
Just to clarify, rejecting smart phones as they are currently designed and implemented as bad technology is not the same as rejecting all technology per se.
> projecting their own solution on to everyone else is about as appealing as the person who had a problem with drinking too much trying to insist that nobody else should drink any alcohol at all either
This is an interesting analogy b/c ["No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health"](https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-...). I doubt that smart phones are as unequivocally toxic as alcohol, but I do suspect that the current way they are used and developed may be, esp. thanks to gamification, nudge design, and surveillance. Research is coming out on this, but I think there is good reason to not assume it is systemically innocuous as you think it is.
However, b/c living in an inattentive society may actually be worse for everyone, it's possible that a better analogy may be smoking in public or drunk driving: if you smoke in public places or get behind a wheel, everyone is at greater risk.
> I also use my smartphone for important things like maps, taking photos, keeping lists, and even paying for groceries if I forget my wallet.
Imagine a utility that enabled these important functions but did not also constantly disrupt your attention with push notifications, harvest your data, or present the temptation of hours wasted in toxic digital fun-houses! :D It's possible!
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1. Translation
2. Maps and Directions
3. Ticketing Services
4. Ride Hailing Services
5. Weather
6. Camera
7. Making calls from anywhere to anywhere
None of those are necessarily what people think of first when they hear "smartphone", but without them traveling would be a pretty difficult experience. I know firsthand, because I traveled prior to having these things. I had to deal with the expense policy at work trying to figure out how to get and handle cash in multiple countries so I could pay for a taxi and risk getting ripped off, or buy a train ticket. I had to carry around a phrase book and hope my pronunciation was close enough to get things done without offending anyone. I had to deal with paper maps, and get lost, and hope I made appointments on time. I had to roll around a wheeled pelican case with camera gear to get any decent photos, taking up precious space and making me stand out. And for the weather, well, I just looked outside and hoped I brought the right clothes.
I don't use social media, except Hacker News (if that counts). I don't really do any of the things you probably think of when you think of smartphones being problematic, but having this devices has made my life immeasurably better. So much so, that it's probably the most essential thing in my travel kit.
I also find it fascinating from an engineering perspective. I wonder what other apps they've managed to integrate into the flip phone?
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.
I do! My day is almost always made better by a random encounter with a stranger. I wish I was confident enough to start those interactions myself, but I always inevitably think back to messages such as yours, and my anxiety gets the better of me.
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
But i suspect there is much more and many people are not like that. It should be richer and not so monotone.
I’d think of giving up my smartphone, but that’d mean I’d not be able to use WhatsApp to communicate with family and friends that are on it. Heck the parents group at my kids school is on WhatsApp. I’m not going to make everyone switch to “this other special” app. I gotta be where others are in this context.
Another is Maps - it is modern convenience that is hard to live without. Not only do I get turn-by-turn navigation, but I can quickly check whether the shop I want to go to is open or not. No, a Garmin device on a car doesn’t really solve that elegantly.
Thirdly, majority of my actions are on a web browser and it often happens when I’m mobile. Sure, I could remember things and then find them when I’m at my desk - yeah, I’m not going to remember that..
Fourth - my phone is my camera. I have pictures of my family memories, daily utility stuff.. even quickly taking a picture of a design I see somewhere as inspiration to stash it in my Notes. I can’t imagine giving up that convenience.
I’m however conscious of the bad effects of having the social drug on my hands. I don’t have Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, games or the like Apps on my phone. My battery usage report says 70% of the time was spent on web browser, and my mini iPhone lasts 1.5 days on a full charge.
whatsapp works great in the browser on a laptop. if you only have a dumbphone you can use your number to register the whatsapp "app" on any tablet and can then log in on any other browser you want to use it on. works super nice.
There are very large benefits to having one, but I think that the drawbacks, of the sort you're talking about as well as the privacy/security issues with them, are larger than the benefits. They are a net negative. And I don't even use social media.
It wasn't always so. This equation became unfavorable just a handful of years ago.
And the fact that it's hard enough to give them up that I need a transition period gives even greater urgency to the need for me to give them up.
I like having a smartphone. And as I have no kids, I only go home a few hours before I am to sleep. I can't have my workstation in my car, but the phone suffices most days.
But your opinion got me thinking: what gadget would I replace my phone with? Maybe a flip phone, a kindle, and one of those AI rabbit gadgets.
Maybe some secret cabal of psychologists are actually behind it to raise their revenue.
[1] https://nypost.com/2019/08/13/big-tech-is-using-psychology-t...
If nothing else it makes it obvious who is trying to plug themselves into the matrix so you can stay away.
Half a decade ago I eliminated all my social media. Then about a year ago I started by removing work email and messaging from my phone.The next step will be having a designated spot for it to stay while I'm home.
I don't know if I will ever revert back to having a thick wallet and a pocket full of keys, but maybe someday I can evolve to look at the smartphone as a utilitarian device without the addictive qualities.
Now to get back to scrolling on Hacker News.
If you use GPS only for navigation in a car, get a Garmin or something similar.
Payment: Is it that hard to use a CC like most people do...? I only recently used my phone for payments (lost card and was waiting for replacement), and did not find it any more convenient than using a card.
Lighting: Do you need to do this only at home or away from home? If the former, buy a Google Home (albeit that has its own issues...)
Car/house key: Sorry, no experience with this. I'd be terrified of using my phone that way.
Health tracker: No experience with this, so I don't know how you use it and what the alternatives are.
> Half a decade ago I eliminated all my social media. Then about a year ago I started by removing work email and messaging from my phone.The next step will be having a designated spot for it to stay while I'm home.
Good steps. I never allowed work stuff on my phone. And if I take it out at home, I'll leave it wherever I took it out. I have a PC so I don't need the phone (and yes, it's great that the PC is not mobile). I use my VoIP line as my main phone, so I have those all around the house. People know I may not answer my cell phone at home due to me not hearing it ring.
> thick wallet
How thick is thick? 1-2 credit cards, 1-2 debit cards. Not that thick.
When I've got my phone, I don't need my keys. I don't need my wallet. I don't need a book. I can have a whole night out with the only thing on me is my phone, other than a few bucks stashed in my shoe for emergency bus fare.
My macro point was that the smartphone introduced several very sticky conveniences, so I kept my smartphone instead of adopting a light phone or similar device. Instead, I am working on treating it as an appliance or a utility device vs. a constant extension of my arm.
For example, my two vehicles can be accessed via a smartphone key/app or a card in my wallet. So my wallet is slimmer than before, but it has a credit card, vehicle access cards, insurance, license, etc. I now carry one credit card instead of multiple physical cards since my phone wallet has several to choose from for tap to pay.
I can unlock my home remotely or via a phone tap, watch tap, physical key, passcode, or remotely. Most phone lighting controls are convenient instead of getting up and going to the switch. But the phone allows for finer-grained control of light temperatures, brightness, electrical usage, etc.
If I was determined to rid my life of a smartphone, I could sell my vehicles, buy a non-smart lock for my home, and stop tracking my workouts and diet with the phone app.
At the moment, ditching my smartphone isn't an option. I'm taking steps to treat it like any other appliance or a utility vs. an entertainment or consumption platform, which is where I believe the addictiveness lies.
GPS: Garmin, or use a map.
Payments: use a card, or cash.
Car keys: use the keys that came with the car.
House keys: Carry them with you, or get a keypad lock.
Lights: use the switch on the wall
Health tracker: notebook and pencil
GPS, check.
Payment, check.
Lighting, check.
Car/house key, no.
Health tracker, check.
Good luck.
You won't though, "because sekhurity" - the trend points at everything using your phone as a second factor, and not even via the authenticator app, but vendor-specific push notifications, on a remotely attested phone. Banks and media companies are pushing hard for it.
Sounds like a good compromise, like a basket where you put all your keys you need when leaving home.
I think the core issue with attention is ultimately the same as with infinite scroll, and the reward mechanism.
For me the unease can be felt as soon as I unlock phone, it’s like a bunch of candies and there is this implicit feeling that you need to do something, to interact with something.
Then there is this angst like when you get physical mail and you anticipate who it might be from back when we wrote more letters. Only now with smartphones it gets repeated endlessly throughout the day.
Can we really force ourselves to slow down ? To live a simpler life ? I think it’s not possible until profound changes in our society such as basic income.
The smartphone in a sense is symptomatic of the rat race. It’s the only way we found to make things better when better is « doing more things in less time ».
I put my phone charger in a drawer by drilling a hole in the back in order to run a power cord. I found that just having the phone on silent and out of sight helps a lot.
It also helps with clutter, instead of having a ton of random devices and cables, all of that mess is in a drawer that doesn't bother me.
I employ a lightweight version: in my home is a "charging station" where it is easy to place a device and then forget about it. Some days I don't even see my phone until noon. If I drop my device at the charging station when I walk past it or when I get home, it's likely I won't pick it up for many hours. This practice has been a game changer for elongating my attention span and conducting myself with greater presence.
Notes:
- There's no downside to this strategy; I still have a 2-factor auth device, maps for travel, music for car rides, convenient contactless payment, etc.
- The charging station should be away from the main living areas and bedroom – mine is in a hallway's open cupboard near the main entrance.
- The "charging" part of the charging station is a misnomer, you don't have to charge anything, but the label serves as an enticement to drop off the device.
My trouble is that it's not necessarily the phone I'm addicted to, but screens in general. I have a tablet that floats around the house, and my laptop is never far away, so without the phone in hand, I'm reaching for one of those two preferred devices.
The justification is that I'm not playing games or endlessly scrolling social media. If I'm on my tablet, I'm reading news or a book. If I'm on my laptop, I'm working on a project or learning something.
I view my devices as tools, so any use of them is intended to inform me or further my understanding on something. Still, I arguably spend too much time on all of them collectively and I am not clear if this is healthy or not, but it does make me happier than my actual job or going out into the community which inevitably involves spending money I don't need to spend. Of the people who know me and understand this, nobody seems alarmed by my behavior.
I mentioned that because I deal with substance abuse in my life as a 12-year-sober recovering alcoholic. When we start applying the word "addiction" and it's barbed hooks to things like technology, I take notice. I'd argue that it depends on what you are doing with said device. Doom scrolling? Gambling? Eroding your self-worth by comparing yourself to people on Instagram? Watching vapid YouTubers read listicles from Reddit?
The activity matters...BUT, is the person performing the activity getting some joy from it without harming themselves or others?
It's a sticky subject, to me, but one worth discussing.
If it is to be used as a "reader" device then, well, whatever. But in that case why not just use a "reader device" then.
I'd rather work on my paranoia than on getting a fully secured device.
By the way, I am writing this on a mobile with 2 GB RAM and running Android 9 as my other mobile got broken.
Which there are much cheaper options in the same form factor! The InkPalm 5 is 1/3rd the cost. Neat little gadget too.
Part of me thinks I should just go for it, because I read a lot on my smartphone and miss Android’s Moon+ Reader - with Goldendict for Startdict/Lingvo dictionaries, it made a killer combo for reading foreign language texts with many new words.
Videos being unusable would be a fantastic QoL feature.
I've tried reading on phones, reading on tablets, etc, and the problem is that there's always so much else to do - or, at least, things that interrupt you (SMS messages and such on a phone).
I moved... oh, 10+ years ago, I think, to a Kobo (e-ink reader, not Kindle, far more hackable and open, swallows everything except some DRM which I strip on a desktop). I now have several, as they're just such good devices for reading text. I've also moved a lot of my "web reading" to them via Pocket, in which I send a link to Pocket and get the article, on my device, as long form text without any of the nonsense that's in most web articles (most images work, but not all).
It's far better than trying to have a combo device. And my 10+ year old Kobo Auras still work just fine for reading.
I use the phone as a 4G hotspot, Apple Music, plus apps such as Uber, Waze, wallet, etc. No social networks (LinkedIn and Reddit only on desktop browser), no messaging.
Apple Watch replaced with Casio GShock (solar powered and automatically adjusted via radio, expect it to last 20 years)
Palma has WhatsApp and telegram, outlook (closed most of the time) and reading apps.Podcasts too.
Most sites are consumed via RSS. PDF to Readwise for read later, notes on desktop Obsidian.
I can use Organic Maps in the Palma, and most tickets via QR. I try to force myself not to use the iPhone at all on the street except one of those cases (recharge public transport ticket, camera, payment, etc)
1: I don't bring my smartphone into my bedroom. My bedroom is a personal and intimate space, no need for the outside world to barge in via smartphone.
2: I disable or silence every notification I get. The only time my phone draws my attention is if I am getting a phone call, my wife texts me, or if I get a Pagerduty.
3: I uninstalled or disabled all social media apps.
Number 2 had the biggest impact on my family and work life. When I spend time with my kids, my phone only rarely interrupts me.
My phone is like yours, it only rings for a certain few. I do not know what "Pagerduty" is, but I purchased numeric telephone paging service [to a "beeper"] and give this number to the few important people in my life that need to be able to get my attention.
Surprisingly, paging services still exist across metro-US, even in 2024 [I use pagerdirect, no affiliation].
#4: I rarely leave my house with a cell phone, and it is heavenly. Asking anybody to "leave their phone behind" invokes constant anxiety in most travel companions...
You lucky bastard.
It's for getting paged into on-call events. It shows you don't go on-call which makes me want to know...is your company hiring? haha
It also needs to be a default functionality of browsers. The ability to limit time on websites.
So we voluntarily (I have to stress, this is something we both are 100% on board with, don’t be a creep) set a passcode, and from midnight to 8pm our browsers are locked down, we can only use a few apps, and we’re focused on the kids or work. The only problem with this is overriding it requires us to be together in person, but over a few weeks we’ve hammered it out pretty well. Each one can ask the other to unlock stuff, but just having that little extra hurdle goes a long way in helping reduce screen addiction.
The only criticism I have of it so far is my wife gets really weird when everything unlocks because she’s in sort of a mad rush to watch her shows, haha.
The only unexpected bit is that you two need to be together when replacing the phone (such as erasing it, transferring contents, or similar).
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There is LeechBlock for browsers.
https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/
Right, there’s plenty of extensions, paid and non paid for users. But what I said was:
> It also needs to be a default functionality of browsers.
I am now using it to easy off some sites and I've set a couple of 7 minutes sessions per day and I've limited my time time considerably in the last month
My news is literally only a digital newspaper subscription on my phone. So once I've read that, there's nothing more to read for the rest of the day.
Of course, the companies fight back, e.g. Facebook messaging isn't (last I checked) available through the Facebook-in-the-browser; it requires the Messenger app.
I would be curious to hear your experience - it's been functional for me for quite some time, but just recently it's had a banner declaring that it was going away....