13 ms·
Stop carrying your smartphone. Leave it at home. If you must because your family/work depends on you, then delete every app. Use your laptop as your main driver
by free_everybody 9y ago
Stop carrying your smartphone. Leave it at home. If you must because your family/work depends on you, then delete every app. Use your laptop as your main driver. If you need to, get a laptop with better battery life.
Start developing a personal philosophy of internet usage. Here is mine:
Category 3 [Abstain from completely] Reddit (Yes, all of reddit), Facebook ... Category 2 [Check once every couple days ~15 min total] Serious news sites (NYT, WashPo, WSJ)
... Category 3 [Check daily ~30 min total] Twitter (Follow helpful people only), HN, Medium
This article makes some really good points. Our media is becoming adversarial. Developing a time management plan is essential. I can't let my time fall victim to the system. I don't have enough to throw away.
- eckza 9y agoI love this, I love this, I love this. Right now, I am about a month along with no Facebook or Messenger. Previously I spent hours per day on both, running a pretty large community group and supporting its members. I disappeared; no explanation. Stress levels are down, I have so much more time to do things, and I have so much more attention for the things that really matter. Anybody that needs me, has my phone number; and at least for now, SMS isn't a gamified platform (I'm looking at you, Snapchat). Any social media apps (I compulsively install and uninstall Instagram a few times a week because on one hand, it's awesome; on the other hand, I end up putting too much time into it) have notifications disabled. Getting an Apple Watch was the real game changer. Now, if my phone goes off, I don't even have to look at it or stop what I'm doing. I can decide whether or not to engage with the incoming notification without risking getting sucked into "being on my phone". With LTE, I can even leave the god damn phone in the car, at my desk, or in my locker at the gym without having to worry about missing an important call. HN is my ground zero for everything and while it may be a little dangerous to only read news and articles that are posted on the same website, you all are pretty balanced and nuanced people from reasonably diverse backgrounds and worldviews, so I'm not that worried about it.
- vvanders 9y agoI love my Pebble for the same reason and I'm really dreading when they will become hard to come by. I already lost one Time Round to a swelling LiPo and nothing else has a similar form factor.
- letsgetphysITal 9y agoFitbit killed the original Pebble, or at least I couldn't get my Pebble connected reliably to my iPhone. Apple watch is a great upgrade.
- Angostura 9y agoCertainly a few months ago, there were Time Rounds going on Amazon on clearance (refurb stock) I know, I got one cut price.
- greggman 9y agointeresting. I would have thought a watch would be worse because it's basically a "hey, look at your phone alarm". I spend too much time futsing around the internet but I have almost all notifications turned off. no Twitter notifications, no Facebook notifications, no Instagram notifications. I only have messenger like app notifications on.
- rootusrootus 9y agoI have found my experience similar to the person you are responding to. With my Apple Watch I still see notifications, but I devote very little time to the interruption before dismissing most of it. It doesn't distract me long enough to derail my train of thought, and it is hard to get sucked into the Internet through the watch. I am working on tuning my notifications to just essentials, but even at full blast it has been a net win so far.
- ericd 9y agoI found it still creates those addictive little dopamine hits that prevents you from really being able to easily disengage, slow down, and think deeply. It keeps the addiction alive. It's useful for times when you need to respond quickly to messages, emails, and such, like during big deals or launches, but otherwise, I throw my smart watch in the drawer in favor of a mechanical one. I also aggressively uninstall apps that attempt to grab my attention, rather than waiting for me to call on them. Couldn't be happier with these decisions.
- ozmbie 9y agoI find the watch helps, because you distil your digital interactions down to a small number of important ones. Then go about your life without the constant pull of your phone nearby. The new Series 3 LTE watch has enough battery to get me through the day. The only notifications I have enabled are messages, phone calls, and reminders. I leave my phone at home but I'm still available for the important things.
- vram22 9y ago
- caconym_ 9y agoI have been considering the Apple Watch with LTE for this reason. I don't want to supplement my phone; I want to largely replace it with something that's less intrusive and offers less potential for wasting time. Thanks for sharing your experience.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago> Previously I spent hours per day on both, running a pretty large community group and supporting its members. I disappeared; no explanation. I'm glad you're feeling better, but I'm not sure why you'd choose to leave people in the lurch rather than even a brief message.
- idrios 9y agoIf I'm not wrong, the message would disappear after the person deleted their Facebook so for people to see it the parent would have needed to stay on Facebook long enough for people to see it (which is an easy way to get sucked back into staying)
- ardillaroja 9y ago> reasonably diverse backgrounds and worldviews Definitely agree with the rest of your comment. Not sure about this bit though, I love the HN community but I think we're a pretty homogenous bunch. I would guess a lot of us work in technology, relatively well-educated, relatively wealthy, left-leaning, english speaking etc. Disclaimer: I've no data on this...
- Retric 9y agoI generally think of HN as far right not far left. But, I think it's bias in how we react to things not HN. Granted, not an American Republican party sounding board, but in terms of actual right and left political spectrum.
- enraged_camel 9y agoI carry my smartphone with me but I keep it on DND most of the time unless I'm expecting a call or an email. That way I get the best of both worlds: lack of constant interruptions and the ability to use important features such as maps, camera, etc. when I need.
- mjevans 9y agoMy smartphone is used mostly for the combination of checking emails (if necessary sending a quick reply that I'll follow up on later), and predominantly as a portable entertainment device. I have setup SOME trusted contacts (mostly family, skilled coworkers who understand decorum) to pierce the DnD veil.
- jmcgough 9y agoI always keep mine on DND, but I find that I impulsively check news sites and social media. It puts me in this constant state of never really being bored, so I'm less likely to pursue new and interesting things (reading books, practicing hobbies, exploring new interests).
- asabjorn 9y agoMuch of our news media is currently designed to be sports-like, so if your goal is to be informed then this strategy is very wise. To make news more sports-like news channels like CNN offer generous pay to people that are willing to spout controversial cartoonish opinions on national news as explained here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pS4x8hXQ5c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pS4x8hXQ5c It is very questionable if these controversial opinions are representative of anything except an antagonistic "other" that is similar to who we want our opposing political side to be, so that we don't have to actually spend the effort to speak together and find common ground. Generous pay would probably not be necessary if anything else was the case. This way of avoiding civic discourse and not listen is in my opinion incredibly dangerous for our democracy, as the default state of a society is not a working democracy and you have to fight to keep it.
- free_everybody 9y agoGreat points. If you stop consuming cable television and take a step back, you can see that pundit news shows and professional sports have so much in common. It's "right" vs "wrong", "red" vs "blue", "stupid" vs "smart", "weak" vs "strong", etc. There's a winner. There's a loser. You aren't a loser, are you? Don't forget to buy Doritos. Since media isn't going way, we really need to create alternative systems that stimulate our empathy instead of our anger. >...the default state of a society is not a working democracy and you have to fight to keep it. That's something to think about.
- projektir 9y ago> There's a winner. There's a loser. You aren't a loser, are you? The whole world runs on this. If you catch it at the right time, you can avoid a lot of mental traps.
- jackstraw14 9y agoTook me 30 years to think I've finally kicked that bullshit. I'm still not sure.
- 9y ago
- xster 9y agoCorporate media like NYT and WashPo etc that writes things like you must be crazy to not believe there are WMDs in Iraq are not serious news sites. Rich != serious. And hegemonic news smearing all sources of independent journalism and grassroot progressive political movements is just about the opposite of the point of this article.
- jmcgough 9y agoLike them or not, the NYT and WashPo do some of the best, factual investigative journalism in the world. Have they been wrong? Sure. But they have extremely high standards for publishing a story, so you can generally assume that they're accurate. They also are the ones who break a lot of the biggest, most impactful stories. I think a better criticism of them would be wash po turning a blind eye to Bezos and others that have influence of it.
- drdrey 9y agoAnd when they make factual errors, they publish errata
- xster 9y agoTechnically legal https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/930510825617543173 https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/930510825617543173 is the name of the game. Smear than obscurely retract is the news of 2016.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- croon 9y agoWhy are you linking twitter screenshots about something relating to buzzfeed?
- rorykoehler 9y agoThey practice the worst type of disinformation. Correct most of the time but when it really counts they publish incorrect propaganda (eg wmds in Iraq).
- drvdevd 9y agoBefore I jumped back on Hacker News here, I browsed Twitter. I set a timer for 7 minutes. I closed the window after 7 minutes. It was slightly painful as it was just enough time for me to get interested. Hacker News is not perfect either, but I consider it generally healthier than Twitter now. This all reminds me of when I used to be a smoker and had to use psychological tricks or less harmful alternatives to curb cravings. The good news is: I eventually quit.
- csharpminor 9y agoI have a similar strategy and highly recommend Self Control App: https://github.com/SelfControlApp/selfcontrol/ https://github.com/SelfControlApp/selfcontrol/ Once I started blocking sites from myself I realized I was reflexively jumping over to distraction sites, particularly when I felt stuck or discouraged. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that willpower is the only way to get more focused. Use software to level the playing field. Another thing that's helped: placing my phone on the other side of the room to charge at night. I also have a strict no using tech while in bed rule. Waking up and checking Instagram/Twitter/News on a phone is a terrible way to start the day.
- free_everybody 9y agoHey thanks for the tip. Just installed Self Control App to block Reddit. I love that it's open sourced.
- 013a 9y agoStayFocused on the Chrome App Store is another great one, and a bit easier to install.
- zmb_ 9y agoFor me it was very useful to understand that there are three things that need to coincide for an action to occur: 1) motivation, 2) ability, 3) trigger. Remove any one of them and the action won't occur. When trying to get rid of undesired actions, many people (and guides) focus on the first one -- willpower. But that is the most fickle and difficult one to attack. It is much more effective to attack the other two: remove the ability (multiple layers of blocking certain websites, for example) and the trigger (identify the trigger and either find ways to avoid it or reprogram it by internalizing if-X-then-Y behaviors where X is the trigger). This also works for building desired actions: make it as easy as possible to take the action, and program triggers to start them.
- tjridesbikes 9y agoI used to use SelfControl, but once I figured out how it blocks sites, it stopped being as useful. Don't fall victim to your inner Software Engineer and try to figure out how it works!
- asteli 9y agoI nuked my Facebook entirely. I don't miss it. Took about 2 weeks to stop reflexively typing in "fa" in the address bar when bored. Everyone worries about event discovery and getting invited to things. Turns out, the people that you actually care about (and who care about you) will tell you regardless. Additionally, I suspect that I'm influencing my social circle toward using email for event coordination. Facebook's only selling point is the network, universal buy-in. When you break that, even in a small way, the value drops significantly.
- warent 9y agoYes, I've noticed this disturbing trend myself. I'm ashamed to admit there's been more than one time that I've closed Facebook, opened a new tab, and immediately navigated to Facebook. Of course, I take full personal responsibility for my behaviors, but this is definitely the result of intentional unconscious conditioning; it's made this way by design. Now I use the "News Feed Eradicator" Chrome extension and no longer have that problem :)
- pandler 9y agoNews Feed Eradicator has seriously improved my day-to-day life in a noticeable way. Enough useful social activity is contained on Facebook in the form of events and various pages that I have a hard time quitting it completely. I don't, however, get sucked into the bottomless pit of news feed anymore, and I don't miss it. Checking facebook has gone from compulsive addiction to maybe once a few days, or "when I think of it" when I am helping organize events.
- kortex 9y agoI have facebook locked-out on my phone. LastPass keeps it on only chrome desktop browsers with Newsfeed killer. I use uBlock (microBlock) to hide dumb residual elements, like Stories. Result is I can stay in touch with events and messages, without the toxic news feed. Also, Reddit has a 20 minute timer on desktop. I use Adguard to block it on my phone, but I bounce between use and disuse like a junkie :p. Initially it's hard as your brain screams for its old habits, but like all things, it adapts.
- 9y ago
- dredmorbius 9y agoWhilst I largely agree (and follow) the suggestions here, I take extreme exception to providing this sort of response as a solution to the problem. We're living in a world in which, individually and atomically, our willpower is being tested against AI-driven, algorithmic, electronic colossi whose own goal-seeking behaviour is to maximise demands on our attention. And the systems mentioned -- smartphones, the Internet, email, messaging systems, even specific platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, are increasing less optional luxury choices and far more necessary, if not for transacting all life, then at least significant portions of it. The bottom-up response doesn't scale or work, and it fails to address the consequences of the behaviours of others who do not, or can not, follow the advice. I've spent much of the past year occupied with studying the history of media, communications, and the interactions they have with society. And those impacts are absolutely massive. The printing press, cheap paper, mass literacy, high-speed printing, telegraph, radio (and its very strong co-evolution with fascism and Nazism, as well as other populist political cults), had absolutely disruptive effects, and not at all uniformly in a good way. Which is to say that the Internet giants, and Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon specifically, are toying with our fundamental social and cultural infrastructure whilst externalising massive costs and risks. One school of thought, and it's gaining credible voices by the day, demands regulation. A growing question I'm developing is whether, or what, changes are absolutely inevitable, and how our tomorrows won't look in the least like our yesterdays. Professor Stuart's "Slaughterbots" video plays on a similar, and very closely related theme, and suggests a level of potential impact I suspect is of roughly similar magnitude.
- hsuresh 9y agoI like (and do follow) your suggestion. However, i disagree on Twitter. Twitter is a cacophony of misinformation, misquotes, comments taken out of context, and or responses to really fringe & stupid opinions.
- alanfalcon 9y agoIt truly depends on who you follow (and who they follow, lately).
- xab9 9y agoYep, but occasionally "normal" people go nuts, people with tech tweets start to talk about their newborn child or a sick dog (with pictures of course), not to mention a rare political rant from someone you wouldn't expect it from. Maybe I followed the wrong bunch, who knows.
- intended 9y agoAnother option is to get a dumb phone.
- superkuh 9y agoYup. My ancient nokia works for me. All it does is make voice calls, send/receive texts, and last for a week on a charge (when left on 24/7). I carry it turned off and turn it on if I really need to make a call or expect someone to contact me.
- brianmarti 9y agoCompletely agree, psychological warfare is alive and well and the media is its main carrier. Its really frightening how people are being manipulated by the mainstream media thru social channels. I think developing a personal philosophy of internet usage is what we all should be doing. Right on!
- devmunchies 9y ago> Reddit (Yes, all of reddit) ... Twitter (Follow helpful people only) I swap those. I only follow a few helpful subreddits to pick up things that don't make it to HN and I don't use twitter.
- free_everybody 9y agoIf that works for you, then cheers. I get so sucked into Reddit's front page that I just need to avoid it all entirely. With Twitter, I'm less inclined to explore.
- rootusrootus 9y agoBest thing I ever did with reddit was to subscribe to the subreddits that are useful to me and then never ever go to the front page again.
- dionidium 9y agoIf you don't do this then it's like you bought a TV that was programmed to only show you the most popular channels. And then you never manually changed the channel yourself. So, sure, that would obviously suck. You have to change the channel.
- jholman 9y agoWhat's a "front page"?
- Sagittary 9y agoThe Reddit front page is simply reddit.com. It shows the most upvoted content from all the subreddits you are subscribed to. Alternatively the most popular ones from the standard subreddits if you don't have an account.
- vile 9y agoI've found the personalized frontpage has been okay since I've unsubscribed from all the junk default subs and only subbed to useful/interesting ones.
- donw 9y agoI still carry my smartphone, but have disabled all app notifications, and removed anything that isn't a tool or a direct text messaging app. No Twitter, no Facebook, no Snapchat, etc. It's amazing how much happier I became after doing that.
- intrasight 9y agoThe smartphone is no problem at all. Hardly anybody "calls" anymore, and the only time I look at the thing is when I'm sitting on the crapper (and in that case I'd say I'm not wasting time but multitasking). It could be because I was very late to the smartphone party and never got addicted.
- rdiddly 9y agoYeah same here, although it's not so much that I was late to it, as it was late getting to me. In other words I was born early. In other words I'm older. Smartphones came along after I'd already lived a few decades without them. So there was never any question whether I could get along without one.
- KozmoNau7 9y agoI stuck with my feature phone for years, and only had to replace it with a smartphone when I dropped it and broke the screen. There weren't any usable non-smartphone alternatives, so I bit the bullet and got a smartphone. After originally going completely app-crazy and installing just about everything, I'm on my second smartphone now, with ~10 apps installed over the stock LineageOS lineup, and a home screen that looks like this: https://i.imgur.com/6CndpKw.png?1 https://i.imgur.com/6CndpKw.png?1 I only have the most necessary apps installed, such as Firefox, Spotify, Messenger and couple of others, no social media. Google Calendar and Gmail are still there, but I'm working to move to a different email provider and find a different calendar solution.
- QML 9y agoI don’t think smartphones are the main issue here — problem is people can’t delay gratification. I’m sure if we ran the Marshmellow experiment again, a higher proportion of people won’t be able to wait. Among my peers, I’m noticing an inability to study continuously for more than 30 minutes; even in my friend group, a couple can’t watch a whole movie without checking their phones. However, keeping your smartphone at home in my opinion is a non optimal solution. My recommendation is to specially allot a time for checking your phone and reading the news; and forcing yourself to work on a single task otherwise.
- analog31 9y agoAmusing anecdote: I started college in 1982, and couldn't study continuously for more than 30 minutes. Still can't. I've gotten to where I am in my career -- for better or worse -- with virtually zero attention span. There are some exceptions: I can concentrate on math or programming for hours.
- terminalcommand 9y agoI found that if I distract myself enough, I can start doing a task and the time just flies. Currently my solution is to listen to classical music full volume. That way I can concentrate 1-1.5 hours a day. On the other hand I too can focus without any problems when I'm programming. The problem is that I'm studying law :/.
- acobster 9y agoI agree with you on some level, but tech has no small part to play in this phenomenon. It's not just the presence of the technology itself, it's the technology's essential design and purpose. The article's thesis, as I see it, opposes your point head-on: > That kind of rhetoric implicitly grants the idea that it’s okay for technology to be adversarial against us. The whole point of technology is to help us do what we want to do better. Why else would we have it? ... I don’t think personal responsibility is unimportant. I think it’s untenable as a solution to this problem ... It’s not realistic to say you need to have more willpower. That’s the very thing being undermined!
- 9y ago
- kkylin 9y agoGreat advice! And I absolutely agree with the idea that this list is highly personal -- for me, I can't spend more than a few minutes on FB per week w/o feeling like it's a complete waste of time (I only have the acct to receive various announcements related to things I do). But NYT & HN are big time sinks for me. Especially since I always learn something, so it doesn't feel like a waste of time, per se, but does get in the way of actually getting stuff done. (I think PG has an essay on this.)
- int_19h 9y agoIt's rather telling that you say "delete every app", but you really mean "delete every social media app" (for many people, these are, indeed, equivalent).
- suprfnk 9y agoYeah. I'm not about to delete the app I use to generate background noise when the people in my office are being too loud. Or the app in which I track my weightlifting progress. Or the app I use to digitize and archive all important letters I receive. Or any of these kinds of apps. The difference is, these aren't time wasting apps. I couldn't waste hours in my fitness tracker or digitizing important letters. Remove all time wasting apps. Keep functional apps. The smartphone is a great tool if used right.
- intrasight 9y agoAbstain from Facebook? For me, that's like saying "abstain from talking to your friends". Why would you choose to be so antisocial? Besides that, your other suggestions match my usage. What I am trying to do with FB is treat it like talking to my friends on the phone - which I would not do during the workday other than by exception. I thought that I could do this with self-control but I have not succeeded. So I think that I am going to have to add time filters to my router configuration.
- KozmoNau7 9y agoI've come to the conclusion that I cannot cut out Facebook completely. It's simply too good of a tool, for keeping up to date on bands I like, upcoming concerts and similar events. But I have unliked, unfollowed and hidden as many time wasters as I possibly can, to pare down my FB experience to the basics. I am very vigilant in hiding any that still happen to pop up due to being shared by friends. If someone shares too much junk, I either unfollow them or (in extreme cases) unfriend them completely. I have noticed often that I go on Facebook, check up on an event invitation, take a look at the news feed and think "meh, there's nothing interesting". That is a good thing in the context of Facebook. I have also uninstalled the FB app from my phone, to slightly increase the effort needed to go there, since I have to open my browser and go to facebook.com. It's a tiny thing that makes a huge difference.
- thanatropism 9y agoYou'd think Tumblr is better for following up on new artists (painters etc.) but it isn't. I have an alt facebook for looking at artists. But frankly I wish the kind of stuff I enjoy (mostly asemic writing and related) was on reddit or tumblr. The facebook interface isn't good for looking at art.
- KozmoNau7 9y agoMaybe in an ideal world, Tumblr would be better. However Facebook has much higher penetration, so it's the defacto site of choice.
- 9y ago
- dingo_bat 9y agoMost days, I use my phone in ultra power saving mode. Only whatsapp, sms, phone, and the internet browser is available. And the battery life is phenomenal. 10% literally gives me 24 hour standby time. Oh and I can whitelist maps if I need to. My only issue is uber, which is accessible only in normal mode and has no alternative when I need a cab.
- CrystalLangUser 9y agoI agree, but not with all of reddit. You can follow only helpful subs just like you can only follow helpful people or read HN.. there's a difference between normal reddit and say /r/clojure, etc.
- H1Supreme 9y agoTotally agree. There are plenty of good subs on reddit.
- StanislavPetrov 9y agoBeen a techie for more than three decades. Never saw the appeal in a smartphone or social media. I don't understand the fascination in broadcasting all of your personal information to the world (both via facebook and via wi-fi from your "smartphone") at all times. We all have desktops and laptops, why the need for a smartphone? I'd be willing to wager that I enjoy my leisurely train ride with my newspaper and my coffee far more than people who have their face glued to their phones. I believe there is more value in talking to a friend or a family member that you haven't seen in several months to catch up, rather than to be spammed daily with the inconsequential details of their lives (and they with yours). And god forbid you send a letter through snail mail! Life should be like a good meal or a fine wine, consumed slowly, thoughtfully, and with enjoyment.
- xab9 9y agoImo facebook is not that bad if you unfollow everyone and everything. A hassle at first, but whenever you add someone (because he or she is only willing to use facebook or communicates via a group, like a trainer, a tutor or a teacher), just automatically press unfollow. I usually check if someone tried to message me once or twice a week, but ymmv.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y agoI'm an aggressive unfollower. Too much clickpait, virtue signaling, feel-good meaningless inspirational quotes, suspect sources, self-promotion, etc., and I unfollow.
- thanatropism 9y agoMy Chromebook runs a copy of emacs with my org-mode and I love the ergonomics of the near-tablet sized/weighted, full keyboard style. But: if I walk with that under my arm (I walk to work!) I'm going to get it robbed. For some reason, street thugs care much less about cell phones. Too hard to visualize from safe distance whether you have a latest model or a quad-chip cheapo.
- rimliu 9y agoOr just be responsible for what you are doing. No need in ditching your phone, Facebook or Reddit. If one is not capable of weeding out the non-productive things on smartphone I am sure he will be able to fill his day with other useless things not requiring one.
- listic 9y agoI'm not talking about voice calling tremendously simplifying meetups, since this is not a smartphone feature. But how about navigation? I really wouldn't like to go back to the time without navigation.
- dionidium 9y ago> Serious news sites (NYT, WashPo, WSJ) ... Category 3 [Check daily ~30 min total] My suggestion: don't visit these sites at all. Instead, get your local daily delivered. You don't need the news up to the last minute. A daily summary is fine. Plus, it gets you away from your computer while you read it.
- bhollan 9y agoDid no one else notice?: Category 3.... Category 2.... Category 3.... Am I taking crazy pills??!?! But in all seriousness, this is a fantastic idea. I'm wondering though if it's 100% of a "personal preference" which platforms go in which categories. For example, I keep in touch with family/friends over Facebook, and I find twitter to be too noisy to truly lose myself in enjoyment. But in all honesty, I should probably actually _focus_ on spending more time in twitter in my field for networking. I love the analogy of a DoS attack though. (now I just have to figure out how to explain a DoS attack to all my friends)
- pbkhrv 9y agoIt's a firewall for attention. One day somebody will build an app like that for AR glasses.
- dgwight 9y agoOn an iPhone you can see how much time you spend with each app open in the last week. (Go to the Battery section and toggle the clock button). I think I’m going to start keeping a log to help be more conscious of this. In the last week, I’ve had 28 hours total screen time. My top 3 are MiniHack 8.8 hrs, Safari 7.5hrs, and Reddit 3.6hrs
- AmIFirstToThink 9y agoMy categories... 1) Ditch traditional media completely. No CNN, MSNBC, Fox, BBC, NTY, WashPo, WSJ. Get local and world news on reddit. If it is worth it, it is being covered there. One page and you are up to date with most important things. These outlets are essentially "argument from authority", trust us because we are CNN. No thanks. 2) No TV (No breaking bad, no homeland, no NFL) 3) Facebook: I was never into it. Not searchable by google/duckduckgo, not interested. I am sucked into WhatsApp because of social circles. 4) Twitter: If it shows up as links in the web pages then I am reading those tweets. Same for Instagram. 5) Netflix: It's been a year or more since I had good couple of hours with Netflix. I pay just so that I wouldn't crave for it. I don't mind paying $2 or 3 for a movie rental and then watch it with family or friends. Paying for Youtube Red and Google Music is best value I get out of $9 these days. That use to be Netflix but then it stopped being best value once most of the past top movies were watched, and the new cookie cutter stuff that Netflix produces is not original, AI produced movies are not as gripping or flawed enough to relate to. And Netflix needs to learn about selective focusing, blurred backgrounds, bokeh etc. Everything in perfect focus all the time looks hyper-real and cartoonish at the same time. 6) HN/Medium/Blogs/Youtube/some-reddit/forums related to my hobbies: My peer-to-peer entertainment. Mostly consumed on laptop. Out of these Youtube is the only thing that I would use my phone for, and for youtube you need to pay attention to consume, you can't watch video when you are with other people, it just doesn't work. You can't get distracted by youtube as you do with facebook/twitter/whatsapp. No deals/shopping/promotions alert subscriptions, that wouldn't work of course. 7) Emails: Checked only when I know someone had sent me an email because that person told me so through other means, or when I want to send an email. Outside of work, email is no more a distraction.