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I've been coming to resent my smartphone more and more, essentially because of this. I recently quit using tobacco. I remembered all the warnings from my schoo

I've been coming to resent my smartphone more and more, essentially because of this. I recently quit using tobacco. I remembered all the warnings from my school health classes about how hard it was to quit once you start, how there's a physical dependence and all that. It was uncomfortable at times, and there were plenty of cravings to get over, but I was ultimately successful. I can compare this to the couple of times I've tried to "quit the Internet" (i.e. social media, reddit, etc.). The problem is that there's nowhere to run from the Internet. I can avoid tobacco stores, I can't avoid my iPhone. For what it's worth, I'd love to smash my phone and throw it in a ditch, but there are certain social and professional obligations that require me to hold onto it. I have to be able to check my work email on the go. I have to use Facebook to stay in the loop about social events because all my friends use Facebook to schedule those social events. I have to call my parents once in a while. One device is a tool for all of those, in addition to being an ultra-high-tech meme-box with which I can mainline information to make myself feel good. It is of course not all bad, but the wonderful connectivity of the Internet is inextricably wrapped up with the "DoS Attack on Your Free Will". To get back to the analogy, I'd like to think I was successful at quitting tobacco because I can avoid it. If I were giving someone tips to quit something, that's the best advice I could think to offer: avoid it. If you want to quit smoking, wouldn't it be preposterous to buy a pack of cigarettes and carry it everywhere? The temptation would always be there. So it is with smartphones. When the best minds in attention capitalism are trying to pull me in every time I send a text message, how can I quit that? It's always in my pocket, and I can't simply throw it away because there are now certain expectations that I carry that tool with me almost everywhere I go. There is nowhere to run from this modern media, and that terrifies me.

auggierose 9y ago
Don't check your work email on the go. Quit facebook. It is actually pretty simple!
- bdamm 9y ago
  I don't know why you got downvoted. It's both simple and hard. I quit facebook back in March. Yep, some people don't talk to me anymore. But you know what? I talk with other people more, and I'm enjoying those relationships more. It's also hard; this is a top-of-class addiction. There's nothing easy about rewiring the reward circuit of your brain. And definitely Facebook, work email and in my case ycombinator news, are wired in to the reward circuit - for the relief of boredom, or even the relief of hard work (or the appearance of that relief anyway.)
  - ShabbosGoy 9y ago
    Yeah, HN is scary because browsing it will give you a subconscious feeling that you worked on something important.
    - mulmen 9y ago
      This is true but at least HN has the noprocrast setting to fill the willpower void. Facebook could use the same thing but that means less eyeballs on ads.
      - bdamm 9y ago
        I had never noticed that noprocrast setting before. Thanks!
- Hextinium 9y ago
  This may work well for you but there are somethings that cause you to have to check email and Facebook for fear of external consequences which is what the OP is saying. For example Hangouts makes me lose at least half a hour of productity a day but if I uninstalled it and never checked it then I would never talk to all of my friends on Hangouts which is not a trade-off that I am willing to take. Same for email, if I stopped checking email on my phone I could lose my job because it requires prompt responses to emails and I like my job and not willing to take that trade off. But then I am stuck with this phone that also contains all of the other things a phone can do and rob me of my attention that way. It's a Catch-22 of productivity.
  - mquander 9y ago
    For example Hangouts makes me lose at least half a hour of productity a day but if I uninstalled it and never checked it then I would never talk to all of my friends on Hangouts which is not a trade-off that I am willing to take. A lot of people say this one (usually about Facebook), but I don't understand it. If you want to talk to those friends, why doesn't it suffice to schedule spending time with them in the same way you would have done it in 2000?
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - mulmen 9y ago
      Exactly. And not just 2000, Hangouts was released in 2013, are these friendships less than four years old? Phones and email still exist. If your relationship is predicated on a single internet based communication service then it's probably not a relationship worth maintaining. Just use a different communication mechanism. It's really not that hard. Send a postcard, it's fun, I promise.
      - UncleSam 9y ago
        For me, it's actually about having additional communication that didn't exist before Hangouts came out. My family is spread around the country and hardly visits or calls each other. With Hangouts, we suddenly started communicating more, and that's not something I want to revert.
- 946789987649 9y ago
  I really don't understand the hate for facebook, it really is what you make it. For me, it's a glorified messaging app and nothing more. Well...Maybe also a museum of my less than attractive younger years.
  - erikbye 9y ago
    From what I've seen addicts both hate and love their drug.
tj-teej 9y ago
A simple first step, which changed a lot for me: Keeping your phone on Do Not Disturb permanently. It (AT LEAST) frees you to decide when to check the phone, rather than letting these companies, (through notifications) decide for you when you're going to check your phone.
- SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
  Another benefit of this (at least on Android) is that you can set Do Not Disturb to "Priority Only" and have it allow calls/texts from your contacts, but not other notifications. This eliminates telemarketer robocalls, as they're very unlikely to get lucky and spoof a contact's number. I also turn off the ability of most apps to display notifications. That helps.
  - mitchty 9y ago
    Yep, you can do the same with iOS too with allowing contacts to get through. I turn off all notifications entirely is my first tip, at least to not be on the home screen. I have to actively want to look at notifications, push notifications are almost sheer evil. Second is to restrict your internet use to specific times or to just say an hour every night from 9-10pm. Lets say start out by saying internet only from 0-15 minutes on the hour (initially). The idea is to get you used to not reflexively use the internet to prevent boredom or distraction. How you accomplish that, say by killing your internal dns server to not respond or even firewall off your network from reaching the internet is up to you. But the key is to make it so you change your habit of when using the internet is ok. Oh also, leave the phone at your desk, only pick it up when you need to look at it or if it rings etc... Another good tip, reward yourself for each milestone, you want to encourage yourself to do the right thing. Don't use negative reinforcement unless you really know how to make that work. Its easier to do stuff like: if I don't go online at all today, I'll eat a container of ice cream (bad example if you do this every day but you get the gist) as a reward.
- dingaling 9y ago
  And once it's in DND mode, I trained myself to only unlock the phone when I saw a notification. I still pull the phone out of my pocket several times an hour, but a quick push of the home-button and a confirmation that there's nothing of interest leads to it going straight back into the pocket. It's liberating! Step 2 was removing the browser shortcut from the main screen, so there's less temptation to just 'fire it up and check HN quickly'.
cknoxrun 9y ago
I switched to a flip phone. The benefits strongly outweigh the advantages of being hooked on a smartphone. My sleep has improved, the quality-time I spend with my kids is actually quality-time now, and my night vision has even improved (this one shocked me the most). It's not for everyone, but I have a very addictive personality when it comes to technology. Edit: I see you can't do that because of professional obligations. What about carrying around an iPad - it could be more of a barrier to just random surfing?
submeta 9y ago
Actually I dont' think the analogy is valid. Tobacco is addictive, true. And tobacco has only one use. A smartphone has many use cases (mp3 player, camera, compass, notebook, encyclopedia and many more). And why would you like to "quit internet"? Yes, many sites try to get your attention, try to manipulate you into buying their products. But you can avoid that. Using ad blockers wherever you can. And regarding Facebook. You can use it more like a newsreader (subscribing to newspapers, ignoring my friend's posts mostly). Edit: Re smartphone. I also have my phone on `do not disturb', permanently. I try to educate my friends / family members that I don't necessarily pick up the phone when it rings, but I will always call back. They are ok with that.
- addicted 9y ago
  I agree that the analogy isn’t valid. Only because information technologies today are a lot worse than tobacco. Unlike apps, tobacco does not have a team of PHDs constantly reformulating itself to draw in those people who have found a way out of it, and ensuring that the ones already addicted remain.
  - BellsOnSunday 9y ago
    I think the tobacco industry has been no slouch in the marketing department, but the real difference is that there's no way to use tobacco that is safe and beneficial for you.
cousin_it 9y ago
Let's start a startup making a replacement for the internet! Some kind of locked down phone that lets you communicate with people you care about, but not get high on random information. With a built-in limitation to check for emails only a few times a day. Something you could buy and then ditch all other devices without remorse.
brucephillips 9y ago
Keep it turned off until you need it on. When you're done using it, turn it off again. This is what I do, and it's drastically reduced my information addiction.
eksemplar 9y ago
You can ditch Facebook and not lose out socially. My life got a lot more social after I got off social media because there weren't easy fixes to my social needs. Ditching reddit or hacker news is much harder. I mean, how do you even use the internet these days?
- 52-6F-62 9y ago
  Anecdotally, my life became less social after I quit Facebook. A lot less off-the-cuff chitchat occurs now. Funny thing, though: I don't feel like I lost a great deal. I didn't lose any lasting connections with people. I just don't have the surrogate standing in for time spent together. Though I also see people less, because I don't feel pulled to others' events. Now, I either mean to do it or I don't go. My social life certainly feels more organic: met my girlfriend at a former job, not social media. I get invited out with her colleagues from time-to-time or we go on a date or spend time together at home or I commit my time to studying or some other enjoyment. I'd like to think I can build a new social life in that way, but maybe it's a pipe dream now. It does feel like there's a whole other life going on that I'm not a part of sometimes. Without the Facebook, Twitter, etc thing, the internet is either topical discussion, news, study/research, music, or nil.
- mod 9y ago
  I frequently disable reddit, and sometimes HN, in my hosts file. I'm both happy and sad to discover that I don't even know what to do on the internet when they're not available. Happy because it forces me to do something else. Sad because I remember when I truly loved the internet, before reddit or HN, and I wonder why I don't have that love anymore. I really don't know how to use the internet these days.
  - jventura 9y ago
    > I really don't know how to use the internet these days. Same for me. Nowadays when I get bored and have some unproductive time to kill, I usually surf hacker news because I can't think of any other website to read as I quit other social media websites. It's the same happiness/sadness you mention, although the lack of options on the internet has been turning out to be more positive than negative as I've been reading much much more.
suneilp 9y ago
I disabled all facebook notifications and I don't get wrapped in other notifications. I just check in on stuff from my desktop when I feel like it instead of feeling compelled to do so. If waiting in a lobby then I might do something on my phone or just cross my legs and meditate (yeah I'm odd).
- p0nce 9y ago
  What I do is disable all email and desktop notification on every site I go. It's not worth the mental burden.
ThrustVectoring 9y ago
For using Facebook for social events only, you can minimize your actual interaction with Facebook itself. I have my account set up to email me event invites, so it gets bundled together with other email-checking only. If you need/want to search for events, you can probably bookmark that page directly and visit it every week or something like that.
tonystubblebine 9y ago
I commissioned a series of articles on the practical side of reconfiguring your phone and laptop for your own aims (based mostly on Tristan Harris' work). https://betterhumans.coach.me/three-articles-to-reclaim-your-productivity-and-focus-10ab47348344 https://betterhumans.coach.me/three-articles-to-reclaim-your... And I'm 100% with you. It was a huge revelation for me personally when I realized new technology doesn't necessarily make me happier. Probably like a lot of us, I grew up obsessed with new tech, new computers, new gaming consoles, new phones. 2 years ago, I traded my iPhone plus in for an SE (the smaller one). Then I moved all slot machine apps either off my phone or at least into a folder on the second screen. Primarily, my phone is for maps and camera. Everything else is suspect.
- maneesh 9y ago
  If you aren't familiar with the poster above (who I'm replying to) it's Tony from http://coach.me http://coach.me -- one of the best personal improvement products in the world. Tony's site provides people with a direct link to a coach -- for a very fair price -- who can hold you accountable and help you change your habits. Tony was the founder of Lift.do which became coach.me. His blog on betterhumans is fantastic and I highly recommend it. Keep up the fantastic work Tony!!!
- johnvega 9y ago
  Time Well Spent, a movement to demand technology platforms serves our best interests, not advertisers. https://goo.gl/fsW8Qq https://goo.gl/fsW8Qq
  - free_everybody 9y ago
    This was an amazing talk. Wow!
rokhayakebe 9y ago
I just ignore my phone sometimes. Nobody will ever call to give you money. I got off FB in 2010. Don't use Twitter. These things are a lot less hard than people make them to be. If some news is important it will arrive at some point. I agree for those with children it becomes a different story.
- jjawssd 9y ago
  If they only use phones and really want to get through to you they will leave a voicemail. Never pick up calls from unknown numbers.
losteric 9y ago
My solution was to switch to a capped data plan... unlimited talk/text (which I've never found to be a problem) and 1GB of 4G data. Having a cap forces me to be mindful about how I interact through my phone. If I use too much Reddit, for example, I run out of data and fallback to 3G - acceptable for social/professional obligations but way too slow for wasting time. Lately I've been considering switching to 3G entirely.
- rb808 9y ago
  Actually are there any good super cheap 3g only plans in the US? I went to Poland and they were a few bucks a month for unlimited 3G data which would be amazing.
senko 9y ago
Here's how I (try to) keep the Internet-based distractions to a minimum: * Uninstall twitter, facebook and other social apps from your phone; only use the computer (or other device that's not constantly in your pocket). * Even on your computer, log out of twitter, facebook and others. Only log in when you want to look into something (eg. check the social events, send a message), and use private/incognito mode for this; use 2FA - besides being good security practice, it's an extra hurdle so you won't default to "quickly check" the sites when your mental energy is low. * When you do use tw/fb/..., unfollow/block/opt out of all the meme/cute/funny stuff (at least n my fb feed, there's basically 10 sites that'd constantly crop up - blocking posts by all of these greatly increased Signal/Noise ratio on FB); * Have a reading list ready. I use iBooks on my iPhone to load up interesting articles, but you can use whichever method you prefer. The goal is to have something interesting/worthwhile to read available for the moments when you do want to look at your phone and/or kill some time (eg when in a long queue or waiting for a train). This something shouldn't require special focus or mental energy/capacity. * Develop heuristics to ignore content that you know is junk but that tends to drag you in. I suspect this is slightly different for anyone, mine is: anything cute, funny, outrageous, sad or is a list of things. I am aware this potentially cuts out some genuinely worthwhile stuff and I'm okay with it. Considering my attention & time is finite and the Internet is (for all purposes) not, I'd rather have false positives than false negatives. * I also have a high bar for what's newsworthy for me: anything that personally affects me (meaning I have to change my intentions or react in some way), and stuff that'll still be considered newsworthy in a month. Anything else gets ignored, no matter the medium. Again I'm okay with false positives. Also, since my friends are colleagues typically don't have the same approach, if I miss anything important (or really interesting), I'll probably hear it on the grapevine. Couldn't be happier.
- tammer 9y ago
  I follow a similar protocol & find it very helpful. The missing link for me was the events function of Facebook, which I find endlessly useful. Luckily FB now has a standalone app specifically for this, Facebook Local. Its no-nonsense, no ads, just relevant events. Plus, the feed it gives you actually ends!
  - 9y ago
Trav5 9y ago
I got a smart watch so I could stop carrying my phone everywhere. (Gear s3 with a cell modem) Due to idiosyncrasies in how it works, I'm now stuck with both!
- Trav5 9y ago
  Idiosyncrasies is the wrong word. The problem is that the watch is dependent on the phone for notifications. If the phone is off the watch will not get notifications for Gmail or Google Voice. I can setup the regular mail client but the I get the Primary, Social, and Updates Inbox from gmail instead of just the primary inbox. Google voice notifications do not come at all so i miss text messages to my google voice number which is my primary/public phone number. The workaround would be to port my number back to the carrier and use the carrier for SMS/Text messages. ATT has number sync so calls to the watch and phone will hit each other, but it is not as smooth as you would hope and gets disconnected sometimes. Battery life is much better using bluetooth than wifi or cell connection. Just lots of little issues that are a pain to try to work around. My goal was for me to have access to my important notifications but not have my phone "at hand" to tempt me.
erikbye 9y ago
> The problem is that there's nowhere to run from the Internet. I can avoid tobacco stores, I can't avoid my iPhone. What's stopping you from not having social media apps on your phone, or even using a web browser? Nothing. Like quitting your tobacco, stop making excuses and just do it. As for social events, if none of your "friends" choose to invite you to social stuff over an SMS or a phone call if you were to quit FB, then that's not friends I'd care to keep.
j45 9y ago
There's a few things that have minimized how much my smartphone interrupts me: 1) Accept that my phone should be working for me, and I shouldn't be working for it. 2) Disable all non call notifications except a small favorite group. Not much can't wait 15-60 minutes, and if so, they will call. I mute WhatsApp groups liberally. 3) I access facebook via web browser, at https://mbasic.facebook.com https://mbasic.facebook.com, including for instant messaging. You'll be surprised how less you use it when it's painful to use. Now I just go interact with the events I need, and take messaging offline. 4) No more push emails - that benefits no one except the person asking the questions and most often having others do their work for them. 5) Install separate chat apps for small circles of people. I use one with my wife, another with friends, WhatsApp is the generic muted text, and I have let myself have LinkedIn as an app on my phone (minus notifications) to message work stuff. Compartmentalizing helps.
beaverkiwi 9y ago
Here's what i did (nuclear option): Ditch your sim card/mobile plan, get a voip number, phone only works on wifi like a home phone. When out and about you only have the media you pre-downloaded (podcasts, mp3s, audiobooks, offline maps) no more staring at the screen in public. Move all personal communication to email/signal, check it in the morning after your routine (exercise, meditation etc). Ditch instagram/twitter/reddit(turned to shit anyway) etc, keep facebook just for contacts but a single post with your email and never log on. (We really need a different phonebook platform). Never look at news sites except this one and other neutral biased ones like economically focused news. Take a note of everything you want to google, allow 1 hour a day internet/research time where you google the questions of the day. You find the phone is inferior to desktop when at home so you spend little time on your phone. Make a life plan and use your new 4 hours a day to achieve these goals. No screens 2 hours before bedtime. The downside is you cant receive calls when out and about (for me an upside), there has been 2 times in the past 2 years I've had to stop at a coffee shop to send off a message, worth the $2000 savings. Phone is still a great tool, camera, mp3 player, maps, guitar tuner etc etc. Knowing the latest tweet from your favorite celebrity while walking in the park isn't adding to your life. Unless there is a nuclear strike or a national draft then news wont effect you. edit, should have read the replies, seems there's a bunch of similar responses
- greymeister 9y ago
  I switched back to an old Nokia, use Garmin for GPS and an old iPod touch for music. Limiting my usage on my home desktop sounds like a good next step, I like the idea of limiting Internet crawling as part of time management.
- otterpro 9y ago
  Wow, I've done something similar. I've gotten rid of internet completely at home (Goodbye Comcast) and I have internet access only at the office at work (9-6pm weekdays). I've been consuming all my media through podcasts, audiobooks, youtube (via gPodder), and renting physical DVDs for movies. I've made effort to buy only paper books. Also, I've switched from AT&T to a pre-paid plan on Tracfone with limited internet access ( 1GB/month ).
alexashka 9y ago
This post has a lot of hyperbole. I'd suggest you visit a third world country for some perspective. There are plenty of people having real problems. If a phone in your pocket is the biggest problem you're having - you're not doing enough with your life.
MandieD 9y ago
Maybe it’s more like a food addiction; people suffering from that cannot just absolutely drop the substance they abuse - they have to strike a balance, with temptation always in front of them, and too many people saying, “you just need to control yourself and know when to put down the fork!" Anyone who has managed to get control back from an addiction has my admiration, but I have a special extra bit for people who are successfully coping with a food addiction.
zmj 9y ago
> I have to use Facebook to stay in the loop about social events because all my friends use Facebook to schedule those social events. Facebook has an API. Script a poll on those events and push them to somewhere you'll see them? Log in once a week to see if your script missed anything you cared about, and modify the script if yes?
ben_w 9y ago
Similar problem. Accidentally broke my Nexus 5, got a 10 year old blackberry to tide myself over, and found I didn’t benefit from a smartphone. Still have an iPad, but I’m an iOS developer. (Perhaps I should change that?)
JoshMnem 9y ago
I'm in the process of cutting back (deleting apps, etc.) and will get a non-smartphone to replace my current phone soon. I plan to write some custom scripts to send me text messages when someone @-mentions me on Slack -- or they can send me text messages directly in an emergency. I was an adult before Internet use was widespread, and many things were better back then. People don't really need to be connected to everyone on the planet at all times of the day. I already left Facebook, and it was a great decision. I avoid all of their products, including their software libraries whenever possible.
- pksadiq 9y ago
  > I plan .... I would recommend you to write these plans in a notebook (real notebook with pen/pencil). Write all of your plans, whenever you plan. The problem with software solutions is that once you reschedule, its history is lost. I have such a book which has now almost run out of pages. Once a week I read them. Most of them are not yet done. But it makes me feel good, and helps me prioritize better than software solutions.
  - JoshMnem 9y ago
    I recently got a small paper notebook that I carry around now. I'm moving all of my digital notes to Org Mode[1], so I'll have the history there too (git). [1] http://orgmode.org/ http://orgmode.org/
    - pksadiq 9y ago
      I myself use org-mode on my system. On my phone I use orgzly[0] which may be worth looking. [0] https://github.com/orgzly/orgzly-android https://github.com/orgzly/orgzly-android
alphaalpha101 9y ago
The way I see this is that it's like quitting tobacco but being required to have cigarettes and a lighter on your person at all times while doing so. That's a much harder proposition than quitting tobacco normally.
agumonkey 9y ago
forget the paradox of answering to that here, last month my dsl line broke down. For a week it would stabilize, then drop after a minute, repeating this forever. One day it stopped entirely and my brain expanded. Suddenly I would have to find enjoyment around me, and as most people know, suddenly time stops. Usually one might feel a dreadful bore (I used to) but this time it was relief plain and simple. At that point I know very well that a connected computer has a weird spot in ones mind, it's the source of satisfaction that is too shallow to really do so and keeps leaving you asking for more.
aato 9y ago
I might get a lot of flack for this, but the one option no one ever seems to mention in discussions like these is to “simply” cancel both your wifi and data plan. I did this almost nine months ago and neither my tech. career nor my social life has been impacted by any meaningful margin. Granted, I make more trips to Starbucks/other free wifi locations now, but my evenings are my own - they’re also significantly more peaceful.
huntie 9y ago
If you want to quit the smartphone, what I did was to set a random 10 letter password, which I kept on a piece of paper in my wallet. Change the password every 3 days. For me this made using my phone enough of a hassle to break any habit I had. It's been a few months now and I have the password memorized, but I still almost never use my phone.
Chathamization 9y ago
I think this is a good point. People are social animals, and most of us need a community, but much of that community today is deeply tied into this modern distraction society. For instance, you mentioned quitting tobacco - I bet this is much, much harder to do in the places and times where smoking is/was an important social activity. It's not only that these distractions are everywhere, but that avoiding them can lead to some degree of isolation. It would be nice to find some sort of community that's pushing back against these things. It's hard to do alone - for instance, when I tried going back to writing long e-mail to friends instead of merely liking Facebook posts, I got little response. People had moved on, and weren't interested in going back.
lucaspiller 9y ago
What helped me a lot was being rigorous in changing notifications so I only get alerts for important things. The defaults are really stupid, I really don’t care that “X posted a video” - why is it important and why does it need my attention NOW? I always have my phone on silent, and the only time it even vibrates is when I receive a phone call. IM notifications are displayed on the screen, but as it doesn’t make a noise or vibrate I might not find out until a few hours later. For group chats I usually set them to muted, so I need to purposely go in and see what’s going on. For most other apps I usually have notifications disabled, and some I have a badge count displayed - one day I will probably get around to sorting out those 2382 unread emails, but I’ve learned to ignore the 101 unlistened podcasts.
rsync 9y ago
"The problem is that there's nowhere to run from the Internet." Please allow me to recommend my two favorite print magazines: New Yorker London Review of Books Highly recommended. Please subscribe. I read the New Yorker on my Kindle but I read LRB in print.

auggierose 9y ago

Don't check your work email on the go. Quit facebook. It is actually pretty simple!

bdamm 9y ago
I don't know why you got downvoted. It's both simple and hard. I quit facebook back in March. Yep, some people don't talk to me anymore. But you know what? I talk with other people more, and I'm enjoying those relationships more. It's also hard; this is a top-of-class addiction. There's nothing easy about rewiring the reward circuit of your brain. And definitely Facebook, work email and in my case ycombinator news, are wired in to the reward circuit - for the relief of boredom, or even the relief of hard work (or the appearance of that relief anyway.)
- ShabbosGoy 9y ago
  Yeah, HN is scary because browsing it will give you a subconscious feeling that you worked on something important.
  - mulmen 9y ago
    This is true but at least HN has the noprocrast setting to fill the willpower void. Facebook could use the same thing but that means less eyeballs on ads.
    - bdamm 9y ago
      I had never noticed that noprocrast setting before. Thanks!
Hextinium 9y ago
This may work well for you but there are somethings that cause you to have to check email and Facebook for fear of external consequences which is what the OP is saying. For example Hangouts makes me lose at least half a hour of productity a day but if I uninstalled it and never checked it then I would never talk to all of my friends on Hangouts which is not a trade-off that I am willing to take. Same for email, if I stopped checking email on my phone I could lose my job because it requires prompt responses to emails and I like my job and not willing to take that trade off. But then I am stuck with this phone that also contains all of the other things a phone can do and rob me of my attention that way. It's a Catch-22 of productivity.
- mquander 9y ago
  For example Hangouts makes me lose at least half a hour of productity a day but if I uninstalled it and never checked it then I would never talk to all of my friends on Hangouts which is not a trade-off that I am willing to take. A lot of people say this one (usually about Facebook), but I don't understand it. If you want to talk to those friends, why doesn't it suffice to schedule spending time with them in the same way you would have done it in 2000?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - mulmen 9y ago
    Exactly. And not just 2000, Hangouts was released in 2013, are these friendships less than four years old? Phones and email still exist. If your relationship is predicated on a single internet based communication service then it's probably not a relationship worth maintaining. Just use a different communication mechanism. It's really not that hard. Send a postcard, it's fun, I promise.
    - UncleSam 9y ago
      For me, it's actually about having additional communication that didn't exist before Hangouts came out. My family is spread around the country and hardly visits or calls each other. With Hangouts, we suddenly started communicating more, and that's not something I want to revert.
946789987649 9y ago
I really don't understand the hate for facebook, it really is what you make it. For me, it's a glorified messaging app and nothing more. Well...Maybe also a museum of my less than attractive younger years.
- erikbye 9y ago
  From what I've seen addicts both hate and love their drug.

tj-teej 9y ago

A simple first step, which changed a lot for me: Keeping your phone on Do Not Disturb permanently. It (AT LEAST) frees you to decide when to check the phone, rather than letting these companies, (through notifications) decide for you when you're going to check your phone.

SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
Another benefit of this (at least on Android) is that you can set Do Not Disturb to "Priority Only" and have it allow calls/texts from your contacts, but not other notifications. This eliminates telemarketer robocalls, as they're very unlikely to get lucky and spoof a contact's number. I also turn off the ability of most apps to display notifications. That helps.
- mitchty 9y ago
  Yep, you can do the same with iOS too with allowing contacts to get through. I turn off all notifications entirely is my first tip, at least to not be on the home screen. I have to actively want to look at notifications, push notifications are almost sheer evil. Second is to restrict your internet use to specific times or to just say an hour every night from 9-10pm. Lets say start out by saying internet only from 0-15 minutes on the hour (initially). The idea is to get you used to not reflexively use the internet to prevent boredom or distraction. How you accomplish that, say by killing your internal dns server to not respond or even firewall off your network from reaching the internet is up to you. But the key is to make it so you change your habit of when using the internet is ok. Oh also, leave the phone at your desk, only pick it up when you need to look at it or if it rings etc... Another good tip, reward yourself for each milestone, you want to encourage yourself to do the right thing. Don't use negative reinforcement unless you really know how to make that work. Its easier to do stuff like: if I don't go online at all today, I'll eat a container of ice cream (bad example if you do this every day but you get the gist) as a reward.
dingaling 9y ago
And once it's in DND mode, I trained myself to only unlock the phone when I saw a notification. I still pull the phone out of my pocket several times an hour, but a quick push of the home-button and a confirmation that there's nothing of interest leads to it going straight back into the pocket. It's liberating! Step 2 was removing the browser shortcut from the main screen, so there's less temptation to just 'fire it up and check HN quickly'.

cknoxrun 9y ago

I switched to a flip phone. The benefits strongly outweigh the advantages of being hooked on a smartphone. My sleep has improved, the quality-time I spend with my kids is actually quality-time now, and my night vision has even improved (this one shocked me the most). It's not for everyone, but I have a very addictive personality when it comes to technology. Edit: I see you can't do that because of professional obligations. What about carrying around an iPad - it could be more of a barrier to just random surfing?

submeta 9y ago

Actually I dont' think the analogy is valid. Tobacco is addictive, true. And tobacco has only one use. A smartphone has many use cases (mp3 player, camera, compass, notebook, encyclopedia and many more). And why would you like to "quit internet"? Yes, many sites try to get your attention, try to manipulate you into buying their products. But you can avoid that. Using ad blockers wherever you can. And regarding Facebook. You can use it more like a newsreader (subscribing to newspapers, ignoring my friend's posts mostly). Edit: Re smartphone. I also have my phone on `do not disturb', permanently. I try to educate my friends / family members that I don't necessarily pick up the phone when it rings, but I will always call back. They are ok with that.

addicted 9y ago
I agree that the analogy isn’t valid. Only because information technologies today are a lot worse than tobacco. Unlike apps, tobacco does not have a team of PHDs constantly reformulating itself to draw in those people who have found a way out of it, and ensuring that the ones already addicted remain.
- BellsOnSunday 9y ago
  I think the tobacco industry has been no slouch in the marketing department, but the real difference is that there's no way to use tobacco that is safe and beneficial for you.

cousin_it 9y ago

Let's start a startup making a replacement for the internet! Some kind of locked down phone that lets you communicate with people you care about, but not get high on random information. With a built-in limitation to check for emails only a few times a day. Something you could buy and then ditch all other devices without remorse.

brucephillips 9y ago

Keep it turned off until you need it on. When you're done using it, turn it off again. This is what I do, and it's drastically reduced my information addiction.

eksemplar 9y ago

You can ditch Facebook and not lose out socially. My life got a lot more social after I got off social media because there weren't easy fixes to my social needs. Ditching reddit or hacker news is much harder. I mean, how do you even use the internet these days?

52-6F-62 9y ago
Anecdotally, my life became less social after I quit Facebook. A lot less off-the-cuff chitchat occurs now. Funny thing, though: I don't feel like I lost a great deal. I didn't lose any lasting connections with people. I just don't have the surrogate standing in for time spent together. Though I also see people less, because I don't feel pulled to others' events. Now, I either mean to do it or I don't go. My social life certainly feels more organic: met my girlfriend at a former job, not social media. I get invited out with her colleagues from time-to-time or we go on a date or spend time together at home or I commit my time to studying or some other enjoyment. I'd like to think I can build a new social life in that way, but maybe it's a pipe dream now. It does feel like there's a whole other life going on that I'm not a part of sometimes. Without the Facebook, Twitter, etc thing, the internet is either topical discussion, news, study/research, music, or nil.
mod 9y ago
I frequently disable reddit, and sometimes HN, in my hosts file. I'm both happy and sad to discover that I don't even know what to do on the internet when they're not available. Happy because it forces me to do something else. Sad because I remember when I truly loved the internet, before reddit or HN, and I wonder why I don't have that love anymore. I really don't know how to use the internet these days.
- jventura 9y ago
  > I really don't know how to use the internet these days. Same for me. Nowadays when I get bored and have some unproductive time to kill, I usually surf hacker news because I can't think of any other website to read as I quit other social media websites. It's the same happiness/sadness you mention, although the lack of options on the internet has been turning out to be more positive than negative as I've been reading much much more.

suneilp 9y ago

I disabled all facebook notifications and I don't get wrapped in other notifications. I just check in on stuff from my desktop when I feel like it instead of feeling compelled to do so. If waiting in a lobby then I might do something on my phone or just cross my legs and meditate (yeah I'm odd).

p0nce 9y ago
What I do is disable all email and desktop notification on every site I go. It's not worth the mental burden.

ThrustVectoring 9y ago

For using Facebook for social events only, you can minimize your actual interaction with Facebook itself. I have my account set up to email me event invites, so it gets bundled together with other email-checking only. If you need/want to search for events, you can probably bookmark that page directly and visit it every week or something like that.

tonystubblebine 9y ago

I commissioned a series of articles on the practical side of reconfiguring your phone and laptop for your own aims (based mostly on Tristan Harris' work). https://betterhumans.coach.me/three-articles-to-reclaim-your-productivity-and-focus-10ab47348344 https://betterhumans.coach.me/three-articles-to-reclaim-your... And I'm 100% with you. It was a huge revelation for me personally when I realized new technology doesn't necessarily make me happier. Probably like a lot of us, I grew up obsessed with new tech, new computers, new gaming consoles, new phones. 2 years ago, I traded my iPhone plus in for an SE (the smaller one). Then I moved all slot machine apps either off my phone or at least into a folder on the second screen. Primarily, my phone is for maps and camera. Everything else is suspect.

maneesh 9y ago
If you aren't familiar with the poster above (who I'm replying to) it's Tony from http://coach.me http://coach.me -- one of the best personal improvement products in the world. Tony's site provides people with a direct link to a coach -- for a very fair price -- who can hold you accountable and help you change your habits. Tony was the founder of Lift.do which became coach.me. His blog on betterhumans is fantastic and I highly recommend it. Keep up the fantastic work Tony!!!
johnvega 9y ago
Time Well Spent, a movement to demand technology platforms serves our best interests, not advertisers. https://goo.gl/fsW8Qq https://goo.gl/fsW8Qq
- free_everybody 9y ago
  This was an amazing talk. Wow!

rokhayakebe 9y ago

I just ignore my phone sometimes. Nobody will ever call to give you money. I got off FB in 2010. Don't use Twitter. These things are a lot less hard than people make them to be. If some news is important it will arrive at some point. I agree for those with children it becomes a different story.

jjawssd 9y ago
If they only use phones and really want to get through to you they will leave a voicemail. Never pick up calls from unknown numbers.

losteric 9y ago

My solution was to switch to a capped data plan... unlimited talk/text (which I've never found to be a problem) and 1GB of 4G data. Having a cap forces me to be mindful about how I interact through my phone. If I use too much Reddit, for example, I run out of data and fallback to 3G - acceptable for social/professional obligations but way too slow for wasting time. Lately I've been considering switching to 3G entirely.

rb808 9y ago
Actually are there any good super cheap 3g only plans in the US? I went to Poland and they were a few bucks a month for unlimited 3G data which would be amazing.

senko 9y ago

Here's how I (try to) keep the Internet-based distractions to a minimum: * Uninstall twitter, facebook and other social apps from your phone; only use the computer (or other device that's not constantly in your pocket). * Even on your computer, log out of twitter, facebook and others. Only log in when you want to look into something (eg. check the social events, send a message), and use private/incognito mode for this; use 2FA - besides being good security practice, it's an extra hurdle so you won't default to "quickly check" the sites when your mental energy is low. * When you do use tw/fb/..., unfollow/block/opt out of all the meme/cute/funny stuff (at least n my fb feed, there's basically 10 sites that'd constantly crop up - blocking posts by all of these greatly increased Signal/Noise ratio on FB); * Have a reading list ready. I use iBooks on my iPhone to load up interesting articles, but you can use whichever method you prefer. The goal is to have something interesting/worthwhile to read available for the moments when you do want to look at your phone and/or kill some time (eg when in a long queue or waiting for a train). This something shouldn't require special focus or mental energy/capacity. * Develop heuristics to ignore content that you know is junk but that tends to drag you in. I suspect this is slightly different for anyone, mine is: anything cute, funny, outrageous, sad or is a list of things. I am aware this potentially cuts out some genuinely worthwhile stuff and I'm okay with it. Considering my attention & time is finite and the Internet is (for all purposes) not, I'd rather have false positives than false negatives. * I also have a high bar for what's newsworthy for me: anything that personally affects me (meaning I have to change my intentions or react in some way), and stuff that'll still be considered newsworthy in a month. Anything else gets ignored, no matter the medium. Again I'm okay with false positives. Also, since my friends are colleagues typically don't have the same approach, if I miss anything important (or really interesting), I'll probably hear it on the grapevine. Couldn't be happier.

tammer 9y ago
I follow a similar protocol & find it very helpful. The missing link for me was the events function of Facebook, which I find endlessly useful. Luckily FB now has a standalone app specifically for this, Facebook Local. Its no-nonsense, no ads, just relevant events. Plus, the feed it gives you actually ends!
- 9y ago

Trav5 9y ago

I got a smart watch so I could stop carrying my phone everywhere. (Gear s3 with a cell modem) Due to idiosyncrasies in how it works, I'm now stuck with both!

Trav5 9y ago
Idiosyncrasies is the wrong word. The problem is that the watch is dependent on the phone for notifications. If the phone is off the watch will not get notifications for Gmail or Google Voice. I can setup the regular mail client but the I get the Primary, Social, and Updates Inbox from gmail instead of just the primary inbox. Google voice notifications do not come at all so i miss text messages to my google voice number which is my primary/public phone number. The workaround would be to port my number back to the carrier and use the carrier for SMS/Text messages. ATT has number sync so calls to the watch and phone will hit each other, but it is not as smooth as you would hope and gets disconnected sometimes. Battery life is much better using bluetooth than wifi or cell connection. Just lots of little issues that are a pain to try to work around. My goal was for me to have access to my important notifications but not have my phone "at hand" to tempt me.

erikbye 9y ago

> The problem is that there's nowhere to run from the Internet. I can avoid tobacco stores, I can't avoid my iPhone. What's stopping you from not having social media apps on your phone, or even using a web browser? Nothing. Like quitting your tobacco, stop making excuses and just do it. As for social events, if none of your "friends" choose to invite you to social stuff over an SMS or a phone call if you were to quit FB, then that's not friends I'd care to keep.

j45 9y ago

There's a few things that have minimized how much my smartphone interrupts me: 1) Accept that my phone should be working for me, and I shouldn't be working for it. 2) Disable all non call notifications except a small favorite group. Not much can't wait 15-60 minutes, and if so, they will call. I mute WhatsApp groups liberally. 3) I access facebook via web browser, at https://mbasic.facebook.com https://mbasic.facebook.com, including for instant messaging. You'll be surprised how less you use it when it's painful to use. Now I just go interact with the events I need, and take messaging offline. 4) No more push emails - that benefits no one except the person asking the questions and most often having others do their work for them. 5) Install separate chat apps for small circles of people. I use one with my wife, another with friends, WhatsApp is the generic muted text, and I have let myself have LinkedIn as an app on my phone (minus notifications) to message work stuff. Compartmentalizing helps.

beaverkiwi 9y ago

Here's what i did (nuclear option): Ditch your sim card/mobile plan, get a voip number, phone only works on wifi like a home phone. When out and about you only have the media you pre-downloaded (podcasts, mp3s, audiobooks, offline maps) no more staring at the screen in public. Move all personal communication to email/signal, check it in the morning after your routine (exercise, meditation etc). Ditch instagram/twitter/reddit(turned to shit anyway) etc, keep facebook just for contacts but a single post with your email and never log on. (We really need a different phonebook platform). Never look at news sites except this one and other neutral biased ones like economically focused news. Take a note of everything you want to google, allow 1 hour a day internet/research time where you google the questions of the day. You find the phone is inferior to desktop when at home so you spend little time on your phone. Make a life plan and use your new 4 hours a day to achieve these goals. No screens 2 hours before bedtime. The downside is you cant receive calls when out and about (for me an upside), there has been 2 times in the past 2 years I've had to stop at a coffee shop to send off a message, worth the $2000 savings. Phone is still a great tool, camera, mp3 player, maps, guitar tuner etc etc. Knowing the latest tweet from your favorite celebrity while walking in the park isn't adding to your life. Unless there is a nuclear strike or a national draft then news wont effect you. edit, should have read the replies, seems there's a bunch of similar responses

greymeister 9y ago
I switched back to an old Nokia, use Garmin for GPS and an old iPod touch for music. Limiting my usage on my home desktop sounds like a good next step, I like the idea of limiting Internet crawling as part of time management.
otterpro 9y ago
Wow, I've done something similar. I've gotten rid of internet completely at home (Goodbye Comcast) and I have internet access only at the office at work (9-6pm weekdays). I've been consuming all my media through podcasts, audiobooks, youtube (via gPodder), and renting physical DVDs for movies. I've made effort to buy only paper books. Also, I've switched from AT&T to a pre-paid plan on Tracfone with limited internet access ( 1GB/month ).

alexashka 9y ago

This post has a lot of hyperbole. I'd suggest you visit a third world country for some perspective. There are plenty of people having real problems. If a phone in your pocket is the biggest problem you're having - you're not doing enough with your life.

MandieD 9y ago

Maybe it’s more like a food addiction; people suffering from that cannot just absolutely drop the substance they abuse - they have to strike a balance, with temptation always in front of them, and too many people saying, “you just need to control yourself and know when to put down the fork!" Anyone who has managed to get control back from an addiction has my admiration, but I have a special extra bit for people who are successfully coping with a food addiction.

zmj 9y ago

> I have to use Facebook to stay in the loop about social events because all my friends use Facebook to schedule those social events. Facebook has an API. Script a poll on those events and push them to somewhere you'll see them? Log in once a week to see if your script missed anything you cared about, and modify the script if yes?

ben_w 9y ago

Similar problem. Accidentally broke my Nexus 5, got a 10 year old blackberry to tide myself over, and found I didn’t benefit from a smartphone. Still have an iPad, but I’m an iOS developer. (Perhaps I should change that?)

JoshMnem 9y ago

I'm in the process of cutting back (deleting apps, etc.) and will get a non-smartphone to replace my current phone soon. I plan to write some custom scripts to send me text messages when someone @-mentions me on Slack -- or they can send me text messages directly in an emergency. I was an adult before Internet use was widespread, and many things were better back then. People don't really need to be connected to everyone on the planet at all times of the day. I already left Facebook, and it was a great decision. I avoid all of their products, including their software libraries whenever possible.

pksadiq 9y ago
> I plan .... I would recommend you to write these plans in a notebook (real notebook with pen/pencil). Write all of your plans, whenever you plan. The problem with software solutions is that once you reschedule, its history is lost. I have such a book which has now almost run out of pages. Once a week I read them. Most of them are not yet done. But it makes me feel good, and helps me prioritize better than software solutions.
- JoshMnem 9y ago
  I recently got a small paper notebook that I carry around now. I'm moving all of my digital notes to Org Mode[1], so I'll have the history there too (git). [1] http://orgmode.org/ http://orgmode.org/
  - pksadiq 9y ago
    I myself use org-mode on my system. On my phone I use orgzly[0] which may be worth looking. [0] https://github.com/orgzly/orgzly-android https://github.com/orgzly/orgzly-android

alphaalpha101 9y ago

The way I see this is that it's like quitting tobacco but being required to have cigarettes and a lighter on your person at all times while doing so. That's a much harder proposition than quitting tobacco normally.

agumonkey 9y ago

forget the paradox of answering to that here, last month my dsl line broke down. For a week it would stabilize, then drop after a minute, repeating this forever. One day it stopped entirely and my brain expanded. Suddenly I would have to find enjoyment around me, and as most people know, suddenly time stops. Usually one might feel a dreadful bore (I used to) but this time it was relief plain and simple. At that point I know very well that a connected computer has a weird spot in ones mind, it's the source of satisfaction that is too shallow to really do so and keeps leaving you asking for more.

aato 9y ago

I might get a lot of flack for this, but the one option no one ever seems to mention in discussions like these is to “simply” cancel both your wifi and data plan. I did this almost nine months ago and neither my tech. career nor my social life has been impacted by any meaningful margin. Granted, I make more trips to Starbucks/other free wifi locations now, but my evenings are my own - they’re also significantly more peaceful.

huntie 9y ago

If you want to quit the smartphone, what I did was to set a random 10 letter password, which I kept on a piece of paper in my wallet. Change the password every 3 days. For me this made using my phone enough of a hassle to break any habit I had. It's been a few months now and I have the password memorized, but I still almost never use my phone.

Chathamization 9y ago

I think this is a good point. People are social animals, and most of us need a community, but much of that community today is deeply tied into this modern distraction society. For instance, you mentioned quitting tobacco - I bet this is much, much harder to do in the places and times where smoking is/was an important social activity. It's not only that these distractions are everywhere, but that avoiding them can lead to some degree of isolation. It would be nice to find some sort of community that's pushing back against these things. It's hard to do alone - for instance, when I tried going back to writing long e-mail to friends instead of merely liking Facebook posts, I got little response. People had moved on, and weren't interested in going back.

lucaspiller 9y ago

What helped me a lot was being rigorous in changing notifications so I only get alerts for important things. The defaults are really stupid, I really don’t care that “X posted a video” - why is it important and why does it need my attention NOW? I always have my phone on silent, and the only time it even vibrates is when I receive a phone call. IM notifications are displayed on the screen, but as it doesn’t make a noise or vibrate I might not find out until a few hours later. For group chats I usually set them to muted, so I need to purposely go in and see what’s going on. For most other apps I usually have notifications disabled, and some I have a badge count displayed - one day I will probably get around to sorting out those 2382 unread emails, but I’ve learned to ignore the 101 unlistened podcasts.

rsync 9y ago

"The problem is that there's nowhere to run from the Internet." Please allow me to recommend my two favorite print magazines: New Yorker London Review of Books Highly recommended. Please subscribe. I read the New Yorker on my Kindle but I read LRB in print.