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Life with a smart phone is so much better than life before a smart phone. It's hard to realise how recently they came around. I've probably only had the interne

Life with a smart phone is so much better than life before a smart phone. It's hard to realise how recently they came around. I've probably only had the internet on my phone for five years (I've had a smart phone for longer, but I couldn't get the data to work and data was expensive enough at the time I didn't care). I can communicate with my fiancee even when she's in another country (international sms = fail). I can have a fiancee who's in another country. When I'm on the train I can do something meaningful to me. When I'm not on the train, I can know when it's actually going to arrive so I can do something fun instead of waiting on the platform. If I'm having a discussion with friends I can call up the information I'm missing. I can listen to music and podcasts while I go for a walk or a ride. I can plan my trips instead of listening to the boring parts of conversations. I can take nice photos when I didn't expect it. I'm not going back to life without a phone. If you're not valuing your priorities with a phone, you won't value them without it. It might make a difference for a few weeks, but then you'll work out how to waste your time without your phone and you'll be back to square one.

Phantasmagoria 8y ago
>If you're not valuing your priorities with a phone, you won't value them without it. By all means, speak for everyone.
- clay_the_ripper 8y ago
  The comment is an opinion. He/she did not say for everyone nor do I think the intent was such.
  - socceroos 8y ago
    I think it would be also fair to say that the comment is about a principle - which are generally applied. I happen to agree with the principle though. But I think, ultimately, you therefore have to take a stand on what true meaning is.
- dang 8y ago
  Please don't post uncivil and/or unsubstantive comments to Hacker News. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
beefield 8y ago
> you'll work out how to waste your time without your phone and you'll be back to square one. I had a dumb phone for a year or so until maybe half a year ago. The ways I found to waste my time without smartphone were refreshingly different. Most importantly, thinking and wandering in my own mind without the urgent need to check every new thought from the internet. Long story short, there is now nokia 8110 with 4G and wifi available, I am likely going to get one of those soon and turn my smartphone off until I really need it.
- lihaciudaniel 8y ago
  What about audiobooks, discord/slack for team communication, or sometimes reading on public transport. You can easily block/mute notifications and all that. Don't use apps like Instagram (never used but some of my friends do) or other addictive apps and you'll be fine. To be honest smartphones are you the best way to push some (25 minutes) to practice skills when you have time window (apps like brilliant, Reedy) Phone game apps are the most addictive but if you never download them you won't get into it. Games have 4 caracteristics that makes them addictive: winnable, it has goals, novel challenge that keep you in state of flow, feedback. These things could also be used in reading books and that becomes addictive in a good way. Tl;Dr phone apps are the best thing to aquaire skills in the future. If you block or hide notification and not download addictive apps you will be fine.
  - krageon 8y ago
    If you use discord or slack for team communication your team communication features nothing important (ie you might as well not have it) or you work at a company that doesn't do communication security well.
    - netzone 8y ago
      Or you work at a company with no significant secrets that could potentially be shared through chatting. Priorities; why spend time and effort on some on-site solution when there's really nothing to gain security wise unless you have secrets? You won't be sharing passwords through Slack or Discord in any case, that's for a password manager, so you're really left with trade secrets, and why would there be trade secrets in a Slack channel for a web development company?
koolba 8y ago
I’m not a Luddite by any stretch and I’ve had smart phones since they were quite dumb, but your reasons don’t ring for me: > I can communicate with my fiancee even when she's in another country (international sms = fail). It facilitates instant communications. Email across the planet has been around since day one. > I can have a fiancee who's in another country. I can assure you this was possible pre-smart phone. > When I'm on the train I can do something meaningful to me. The counter point to this is millions of man years wasted streaming mind numbing video. > When I'm not on the train, I can know when it's actually going to arrive so I can do something fun instead of waiting on the platform. Mass transit has had posted schedules for many years. It is nice to see an updated one with up to the minute tracking but it wasn’t that inconvenient either. > If I'm having a discussion with friends I can call up the information I'm missing. I’m probably showing my age but I miss having a pointless yet heated argument that couldn’t be settled in 15 seconds on a smart phone. The feeling of being right when you finally do get to confirm the answer is worth so much more. > I can listen to music and podcasts while I go for a walk or a ride. You don’t need internet for that, just some planning to have the content downloaded in advance. > I can plan my trips instead of listening to the boring parts of conversations. If you’re describing zoning out of the real world people around you to doodle on your phone that’s sad. > I can take nice photos when I didn't expect it. Okay this one I agree. The best camera is the one you actually have. Counterpoint is we’re approaching peak photo.
- mooreds 8y ago
  What do you mean by "peak photo"?
  - WalterSear 8y ago
    They mean the Photomeggadon. The Photocalypse. The Big Kodak Moment. IMNSHO, the parent is simply behaving reactively to the threat of new paradigms. Email does not convey the emotion of a phone call, let alone a video call. Easy access to information fosters discussion - by ending pointless, heated debates over nothing. Only teenagers, and I now presume, older people, fuddle with their phones instead of talking to the person in front of them.
pavanred 8y ago
Its about 10PM here. I got back from work 3-4 hours ago and my phone just beeped and I could read the email with simply a flick of a finger and saw that it was a work related email though I was having dinner at that time. Now, though I am at home that's running on a thread at the background in my head since then. This is perhaps just one use case but it's hardly surprising that people now want to go back to way it was before. I still use my smart phone because it makes my life a lot more convenient in many other ways but I definitely understand if someone would find it compelling enough to stop using a smart phone. But, it does make me think, if I just want to connect to the internet, play music/podcasts, click a pic once a while etc. do I really need a device that's GPS enabled, bluetooth enabled, has NFC, accelorometers, face recognition, multicore processors etc. and costs a fortune ;)
- rpearl 8y ago
  don't put work email on your phone
  - deanclatworthy 8y ago
    In Finland at least, most employers provide your phone and contract. Of course you can take a separate one but then you’re carrying two phones. I’ve been dying for gmail and workplace (fb for work) to add a feature so I can stop work related notifications after 17. Having this at iOS level would be great also.
    - TomMarius 8y ago
      Xiaomi phones (not sure about others) allow you to have two separate "spaces". Not sure how it works under the hood, but it's basically like rebooting into another Android instance - even the Google account is not shared, apps are not shared, nothing. You can switch between these spaces from lock screen simply by entering a correct password for the one you want, you can configure what notifications and when can "bubble up" to the primary space, etc. It's an awesome feature.
    - systemtest 8y ago
posting2fast 8y ago
> If you're not valuing your priorities with a phone, you won't value them without it. It might make a difference for a few weeks, but then you'll work out how to waste your time without your phone and you'll be back to square one. Or, as someone below puts it > I'm mystified by the number of people who think that they've solved the fundamental problem by getting rid of their phone: being that unable to control one's immediate impulses, is worthy of attention. Maybe getting rid of a smart phone means "lack of impulse control", okay. The cited study claims the average American looking at their phone every six minutes on average, so it's not exactly cool to ignore that bit and berate the person who took the time writing an article citing that study. And maybe it's not even a lack of impulse control, but a singular act of will? Would people also be "concerned" for someone who stops smoking but doesn't keep cigarettes around the house? Or hey, what if someone were to say that Linters are for people who don't get it right the first place, and that itself deserves attention? We know humans are imperfect, and find it sensible to guard ourselves against making mistakes in all sorts of ways. Why are smartphones different to you? A portable mini computer with internet access is useful for a lot of cool things, no doubt. Though to the usefulness on the internet it's like putting a low table on a huge mountain, makes no overall difference to me. None of the upsides you mentioned seem smartphone specific, and you address none of the smartphone specific issues mentioned in the article, other than with a sweeping "I'm not going back". > When I'm not on the train, I can know when it's actually going to arrive so I can do something fun instead of waiting on the platform. Partly (or depending on where you are, rather) that's because thanks to smartphones, they don't display it in many places where they used to. Just like you can't buy a ticket from a person anymore. This cam be a huge problem for elderly people or those with disabilities. If a smartphone saves one so much time, that time should also be used to help one's fellow citizens by noticing and criticzing such things, to help remove barriers even though they are no barriers to you. Smartphones were ceded their initial social acceptance solely on being optional. If this turned out to be a lie, the acceptance should likewise be withdrawn, and we can save the the discussion about the mass surveillance and marketing aspects I see completely not mentioned here as a bonus, too. > I can plan my trips instead of listening to the boring parts of conversations. This probably sounds more rude to me as you are in practice, but it conjure up nothing good in my mind, honestly. The first thing that comes to mind is a Mitchell and Webb sketch about a guy in a pub interrupting the others because their conversation isn't good enough for them, but also not contributing to make it better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKJ5w-HQ9b0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKJ5w-HQ9b0
paavoova 8y ago
> Life with a smart phone is so much better than life before a smart phone. But at what cost? The software and OS is a locked-down ecosystem for most consumers. The hardware even more so. Such mass adoption forces one to conform in order to participate, meaning even for the privacy-conscious, consumer trends dictate all. Just a couple months ago US carriers were found to be selling realtime customer location data. Whether or not they're selling, they can track your phone via cellular triangulation. The baseband is a proprietary black box that runs its own privileges OS, can read memory and disk, and basically transmits at all times (mandated by law in some countries, for emergency network connectivity) to whoever picks up the signal, and this includes a unique IMEI. No removable batteries, and no hardware switches means masses of phones are being tracked at all times from point A to B, whether or not for nefarious purposes. Add the ever-growing trend of cashless transactions, OS-level third-party GPS tracking, and the reality becomes a slippery slope nightmare. I feel that sentiments like yours, one's where "life" and "phone" are nearly synonymous, are fostering a dangerous future where one is obligated to own a phone else be left in the dust. This is already nearly the case socially, and in some careers also. Literature classics warn of mass surveillance and control, of chip implants under the scalp, but why go there when the populace already wear a tracking device willingly of their own accord, and grow to depend on it ever more?
- andai 8y ago
  What are you doing to combat this?
  - paavoova 8y ago
    Nothing, besides refusing to succumb to the idea that a mobile device is a necessity of modern life. The benefits don't outweigh the immediate concerns, but of course many disagree.
- oblio 8y ago
  If the average person doesn't care enough to: * vote into power people that actually care about privacy * or to only buy products that protect their privacy what makes you think all this matters? The average person has decided that life is better for him like this...
archie35c 8y ago
> If you're not valuing your priorities with a phone, you won't value them without it. Exactly right. I hear more and more people complaining about the internet, their smartphones or tech in general. If you listen to those people long enough you realize what they are actually talking about is social media and to a lesser degree gaming. I just don't get it. If you don't like those services, don't use them. Have some self restraint, for crying out loud.
- ajuc 8y ago
  - Hi, I'm anonymous alcoholic, I decided not to carry a bottle of alcohol with me at all times. - Have some self restraint for crying out loud.
  - itsmenotyou 8y ago
    100% agree, even for those who are not addicts, we're not always perfectly aware of/or in control of our actions, and social media platforms are designed to take advantage of this. When I deleted facebook on my phone I'd often find myself in a quiet moment idly scrolling through my apps looking to open it again.
    - exegete 8y ago
      But it sounds like you identified and solved the problem without throwing out your smart phone completely.
      - archie35c 8y ago
        Thus exercising self restraint. My point was not to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
        itsmenotyou 8y ago
        Each person needs to set their own limits. For me this barrier was enough, but some may need more drastic barriers. I wouldn't judge people for trying to effect positive change in their life.
DisruptiveDave 8y ago
I think the challenge that people like myself see in these phones is captured in at least half of the actions you listed. They can be categorized under "my phone helps me avoid spending time with myself and whatever my immediate surroundings are presenting to me." Perhaps my biggest beef with phones is most people's instinct to avoid any slight dis-ease or innocent boredom by throwing up a screen filled with (often) nonsense. That's a real problem that will have negative impact downstream. Boredom is good. Waiting is good. Not having what you want every second of the day is good.
Vinnl 8y ago
I mean, even just being able to see the message I'm reply to makes a smartphone worth it to me.
codingdave 8y ago
There were things to read on trains before phones. There were small portable cameras before phones. You could listen to music on your walkman before phones. People carried books, newspapers, sketch books, journals, and music before phones. We even played games before phones - when I was growing up, everybody knew how to play at least a few card games, and there was always a deck of cards to be found. Life before phones was in many ways totally different than life now. But in others ways, we're still the same people, doing the same things, with newer tools. Everyone can make their own decisions on what tools they want to use, but I'm just not buying the argument that life is better or worse. It is different.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  Your comment brought back happy memories of playing rummy and blackjack on the train with my grandparents when I was a kid. Thanks for that!
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ThorinJacobs 8y ago
While on the train, I've started knitting instead of futzing around on my phone that I had been doing before. For me, it's been a very therapeutic exercise - a good time to deliberately shut out the noise of the internet and social media in general. Now that I'm becoming more comfortable with the new hobby, I've started listening to audiobooks or streaming music while I knit - it seems to strike a nice balance. Certainly the phone has enriched my life - it enables me to stream music and listen to audiobooks easily, but in my experience it's a dangerous tool as well, since it enables you to check social media more than is healthy. Everything in moderation I suppose.

Phantasmagoria 8y ago

>If you're not valuing your priorities with a phone, you won't value them without it. By all means, speak for everyone.

clay_the_ripper 8y ago
The comment is an opinion. He/she did not say for everyone nor do I think the intent was such.
- socceroos 8y ago
  I think it would be also fair to say that the comment is about a principle - which are generally applied. I happen to agree with the principle though. But I think, ultimately, you therefore have to take a stand on what true meaning is.
dang 8y ago
Please don't post uncivil and/or unsubstantive comments to Hacker News. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

beefield 8y ago

> you'll work out how to waste your time without your phone and you'll be back to square one. I had a dumb phone for a year or so until maybe half a year ago. The ways I found to waste my time without smartphone were refreshingly different. Most importantly, thinking and wandering in my own mind without the urgent need to check every new thought from the internet. Long story short, there is now nokia 8110 with 4G and wifi available, I am likely going to get one of those soon and turn my smartphone off until I really need it.

lihaciudaniel 8y ago
What about audiobooks, discord/slack for team communication, or sometimes reading on public transport. You can easily block/mute notifications and all that. Don't use apps like Instagram (never used but some of my friends do) or other addictive apps and you'll be fine. To be honest smartphones are you the best way to push some (25 minutes) to practice skills when you have time window (apps like brilliant, Reedy) Phone game apps are the most addictive but if you never download them you won't get into it. Games have 4 caracteristics that makes them addictive: winnable, it has goals, novel challenge that keep you in state of flow, feedback. These things could also be used in reading books and that becomes addictive in a good way. Tl;Dr phone apps are the best thing to aquaire skills in the future. If you block or hide notification and not download addictive apps you will be fine.
- krageon 8y ago
  If you use discord or slack for team communication your team communication features nothing important (ie you might as well not have it) or you work at a company that doesn't do communication security well.
  - netzone 8y ago
    Or you work at a company with no significant secrets that could potentially be shared through chatting. Priorities; why spend time and effort on some on-site solution when there's really nothing to gain security wise unless you have secrets? You won't be sharing passwords through Slack or Discord in any case, that's for a password manager, so you're really left with trade secrets, and why would there be trade secrets in a Slack channel for a web development company?

koolba 8y ago

I’m not a Luddite by any stretch and I’ve had smart phones since they were quite dumb, but your reasons don’t ring for me: > I can communicate with my fiancee even when she's in another country (international sms = fail). It facilitates instant communications. Email across the planet has been around since day one. > I can have a fiancee who's in another country. I can assure you this was possible pre-smart phone. > When I'm on the train I can do something meaningful to me. The counter point to this is millions of man years wasted streaming mind numbing video. > When I'm not on the train, I can know when it's actually going to arrive so I can do something fun instead of waiting on the platform. Mass transit has had posted schedules for many years. It is nice to see an updated one with up to the minute tracking but it wasn’t that inconvenient either. > If I'm having a discussion with friends I can call up the information I'm missing. I’m probably showing my age but I miss having a pointless yet heated argument that couldn’t be settled in 15 seconds on a smart phone. The feeling of being right when you finally do get to confirm the answer is worth so much more. > I can listen to music and podcasts while I go for a walk or a ride. You don’t need internet for that, just some planning to have the content downloaded in advance. > I can plan my trips instead of listening to the boring parts of conversations. If you’re describing zoning out of the real world people around you to doodle on your phone that’s sad. > I can take nice photos when I didn't expect it. Okay this one I agree. The best camera is the one you actually have. Counterpoint is we’re approaching peak photo.

mooreds 8y ago
What do you mean by "peak photo"?
- WalterSear 8y ago
  They mean the Photomeggadon. The Photocalypse. The Big Kodak Moment. IMNSHO, the parent is simply behaving reactively to the threat of new paradigms. Email does not convey the emotion of a phone call, let alone a video call. Easy access to information fosters discussion - by ending pointless, heated debates over nothing. Only teenagers, and I now presume, older people, fuddle with their phones instead of talking to the person in front of them.

pavanred 8y ago

Its about 10PM here. I got back from work 3-4 hours ago and my phone just beeped and I could read the email with simply a flick of a finger and saw that it was a work related email though I was having dinner at that time. Now, though I am at home that's running on a thread at the background in my head since then. This is perhaps just one use case but it's hardly surprising that people now want to go back to way it was before. I still use my smart phone because it makes my life a lot more convenient in many other ways but I definitely understand if someone would find it compelling enough to stop using a smart phone. But, it does make me think, if I just want to connect to the internet, play music/podcasts, click a pic once a while etc. do I really need a device that's GPS enabled, bluetooth enabled, has NFC, accelorometers, face recognition, multicore processors etc. and costs a fortune ;)

rpearl 8y ago
don't put work email on your phone
- deanclatworthy 8y ago
  In Finland at least, most employers provide your phone and contract. Of course you can take a separate one but then you’re carrying two phones. I’ve been dying for gmail and workplace (fb for work) to add a feature so I can stop work related notifications after 17. Having this at iOS level would be great also.
  - TomMarius 8y ago
    Xiaomi phones (not sure about others) allow you to have two separate "spaces". Not sure how it works under the hood, but it's basically like rebooting into another Android instance - even the Google account is not shared, apps are not shared, nothing. You can switch between these spaces from lock screen simply by entering a correct password for the one you want, you can configure what notifications and when can "bubble up" to the primary space, etc. It's an awesome feature.
  - systemtest 8y ago

posting2fast 8y ago

> If you're not valuing your priorities with a phone, you won't value them without it. It might make a difference for a few weeks, but then you'll work out how to waste your time without your phone and you'll be back to square one. Or, as someone below puts it > I'm mystified by the number of people who think that they've solved the fundamental problem by getting rid of their phone: being that unable to control one's immediate impulses, is worthy of attention. Maybe getting rid of a smart phone means "lack of impulse control", okay. The cited study claims the average American looking at their phone every six minutes on average, so it's not exactly cool to ignore that bit and berate the person who took the time writing an article citing that study. And maybe it's not even a lack of impulse control, but a singular act of will? Would people also be "concerned" for someone who stops smoking but doesn't keep cigarettes around the house? Or hey, what if someone were to say that Linters are for people who don't get it right the first place, and that itself deserves attention? We know humans are imperfect, and find it sensible to guard ourselves against making mistakes in all sorts of ways. Why are smartphones different to you? A portable mini computer with internet access is useful for a lot of cool things, no doubt. Though to the usefulness on the internet it's like putting a low table on a huge mountain, makes no overall difference to me. None of the upsides you mentioned seem smartphone specific, and you address none of the smartphone specific issues mentioned in the article, other than with a sweeping "I'm not going back". > When I'm not on the train, I can know when it's actually going to arrive so I can do something fun instead of waiting on the platform. Partly (or depending on where you are, rather) that's because thanks to smartphones, they don't display it in many places where they used to. Just like you can't buy a ticket from a person anymore. This cam be a huge problem for elderly people or those with disabilities. If a smartphone saves one so much time, that time should also be used to help one's fellow citizens by noticing and criticzing such things, to help remove barriers even though they are no barriers to you. Smartphones were ceded their initial social acceptance solely on being optional. If this turned out to be a lie, the acceptance should likewise be withdrawn, and we can save the the discussion about the mass surveillance and marketing aspects I see completely not mentioned here as a bonus, too. > I can plan my trips instead of listening to the boring parts of conversations. This probably sounds more rude to me as you are in practice, but it conjure up nothing good in my mind, honestly. The first thing that comes to mind is a Mitchell and Webb sketch about a guy in a pub interrupting the others because their conversation isn't good enough for them, but also not contributing to make it better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKJ5w-HQ9b0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKJ5w-HQ9b0

paavoova 8y ago

> Life with a smart phone is so much better than life before a smart phone. But at what cost? The software and OS is a locked-down ecosystem for most consumers. The hardware even more so. Such mass adoption forces one to conform in order to participate, meaning even for the privacy-conscious, consumer trends dictate all. Just a couple months ago US carriers were found to be selling realtime customer location data. Whether or not they're selling, they can track your phone via cellular triangulation. The baseband is a proprietary black box that runs its own privileges OS, can read memory and disk, and basically transmits at all times (mandated by law in some countries, for emergency network connectivity) to whoever picks up the signal, and this includes a unique IMEI. No removable batteries, and no hardware switches means masses of phones are being tracked at all times from point A to B, whether or not for nefarious purposes. Add the ever-growing trend of cashless transactions, OS-level third-party GPS tracking, and the reality becomes a slippery slope nightmare. I feel that sentiments like yours, one's where "life" and "phone" are nearly synonymous, are fostering a dangerous future where one is obligated to own a phone else be left in the dust. This is already nearly the case socially, and in some careers also. Literature classics warn of mass surveillance and control, of chip implants under the scalp, but why go there when the populace already wear a tracking device willingly of their own accord, and grow to depend on it ever more?

andai 8y ago
What are you doing to combat this?
- paavoova 8y ago
  Nothing, besides refusing to succumb to the idea that a mobile device is a necessity of modern life. The benefits don't outweigh the immediate concerns, but of course many disagree.
oblio 8y ago
If the average person doesn't care enough to: * vote into power people that actually care about privacy * or to only buy products that protect their privacy what makes you think all this matters? The average person has decided that life is better for him like this...

archie35c 8y ago

> If you're not valuing your priorities with a phone, you won't value them without it. Exactly right. I hear more and more people complaining about the internet, their smartphones or tech in general. If you listen to those people long enough you realize what they are actually talking about is social media and to a lesser degree gaming. I just don't get it. If you don't like those services, don't use them. Have some self restraint, for crying out loud.

ajuc 8y ago
- Hi, I'm anonymous alcoholic, I decided not to carry a bottle of alcohol with me at all times. - Have some self restraint for crying out loud.
- itsmenotyou 8y ago
  100% agree, even for those who are not addicts, we're not always perfectly aware of/or in control of our actions, and social media platforms are designed to take advantage of this. When I deleted facebook on my phone I'd often find myself in a quiet moment idly scrolling through my apps looking to open it again.
  - exegete 8y ago
    But it sounds like you identified and solved the problem without throwing out your smart phone completely.
    - archie35c 8y ago
      Thus exercising self restraint. My point was not to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
      - itsmenotyou 8y ago
        Each person needs to set their own limits. For me this barrier was enough, but some may need more drastic barriers. I wouldn't judge people for trying to effect positive change in their life.

DisruptiveDave 8y ago

I think the challenge that people like myself see in these phones is captured in at least half of the actions you listed. They can be categorized under "my phone helps me avoid spending time with myself and whatever my immediate surroundings are presenting to me." Perhaps my biggest beef with phones is most people's instinct to avoid any slight dis-ease or innocent boredom by throwing up a screen filled with (often) nonsense. That's a real problem that will have negative impact downstream. Boredom is good. Waiting is good. Not having what you want every second of the day is good.

Vinnl 8y ago

I mean, even just being able to see the message I'm reply to makes a smartphone worth it to me.

codingdave 8y ago

There were things to read on trains before phones. There were small portable cameras before phones. You could listen to music on your walkman before phones. People carried books, newspapers, sketch books, journals, and music before phones. We even played games before phones - when I was growing up, everybody knew how to play at least a few card games, and there was always a deck of cards to be found. Life before phones was in many ways totally different than life now. But in others ways, we're still the same people, doing the same things, with newer tools. Everyone can make their own decisions on what tools they want to use, but I'm just not buying the argument that life is better or worse. It is different.

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
Your comment brought back happy memories of playing rummy and blackjack on the train with my grandparents when I was a kid. Thanks for that!

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ThorinJacobs 8y ago

While on the train, I've started knitting instead of futzing around on my phone that I had been doing before. For me, it's been a very therapeutic exercise - a good time to deliberately shut out the noise of the internet and social media in general. Now that I'm becoming more comfortable with the new hobby, I've started listening to audiobooks or streaming music while I knit - it seems to strike a nice balance. Certainly the phone has enriched my life - it enables me to stream music and listen to audiobooks easily, but in my experience it's a dangerous tool as well, since it enables you to check social media more than is healthy. Everything in moderation I suppose.