3 ms·

I haven’t tested this idea, but what about using a regular smartphone, and simply uninstall or not enable most of the features? Don’t want to be distracted? Tu

I haven’t tested this idea, but what about using a regular smartphone, and simply uninstall or not enable most of the features? Don’t want to be distracted? Turn off notifications. Don’t want access to email? Don’t set up the email account.

posting2fast 8y ago
Imagine someone asks what graphics editors are available on the C64, and people suggest using Photoshop at low resolution because that's what they are interested in, and because hey, it could be that that person hasn't heard about Photoshop yet. "About your question, that's a good question, but let me answer a better question."
msftie 8y ago
Frankly, addiction and bad habits make it very difficult to sustain that when it’s easy to re-enable things. I have hardly any notifications, my phone is perpetually on silent with vibrate disabled (I often miss calls and texts), and I have no “social media” apps beyond iMessage/Signal. But I still reach for it at every idle moment (most time being spent in the browser). The one app I truly need is a keepass client. Not sure how I will overcome that without a smartphone.
- cgoecknerwald 8y ago
  I agree. Mobile internet is a double-edged sword: super useful, super distracting / addicting. Several years ago, I rooted my android to add sites such as reddit and nytimes (news junkie) to map to 0.0.0.0 in the hostfile, effectively blocking them. Then, I removed the file navigator (ES File Explorer). I have found this sufficient.
  - pnloyd 8y ago
    Why not block hacker news? Not as addicting as the others? Edit: oops didn't see your list wasn't exhaustive.
    - cgoecknerwald 8y ago
      HackerNews also seems to be designed to be less addicting and immediately rewarding, don't you think? It's more geared towards technical deep reads than BBC or something similar.
- iamnothere 8y ago
  It's possible to disable the stock browser. If you really need browsing capability for something, you can temporarily install it, or carry a tablet for "emergency" web use. This is the only method I've found that can completely crush smartphone addiction. Re-enabling the browser and waiting to install updates seems to be a big enough hurdle to prevent any casual browsing.
Nition 8y ago
The problems I see with that option would be: - More expensive - Lower battery life - More fragile - No physical buttons (might be a positive if you like touch keyboards) - Temptation to use the features anyway
- omnimus 8y ago
  Recently i got myself xaiomi m1a1 and flashed lineageos. I didnt install google play services instead i just use few things from fdroid. Suprisingly i probably doubled battery life when i rooted phone and added some battery managment apps like greenify. Also with firewall you are pretty good blocking all outgoing stuff.
  - drewmol 8y ago
    I second this. Currently waiting the 72 hour 'phone being paired to an xaiomi-account' period so I can unlock the bootloader and install lineagos for use as my new daily driver. I find this (using a custom, configurable and minimal android rom) satisfies my desire for settings tinkering and software control, provides the utility I'd like to keep (calls/email/sms-mms/mfa-otp/hotspot/calender/music/alarms/browser-when-needed) but is also boring enough to limit most of the distractions and helps alleviate alert-fatigue.
    - omnimus 8y ago
      Just note with xiaomi phones not all phones are the same in terms of rooting. Some phones need 'pairing with xiaomi account' some of them don't. It depends on preinstalled flavor of Android. For example my M1A1 does not require that becuase it is "Android One" phone - making the stock quite good. The problem with rooting this phone specifically is that Android One phones use some sort of A/B partition system for seamless updating. https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/ab/ https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/ab/ There are not so many guides on this and it was a littlebit of hustle. But i guess more and more phones will be like this so it will get easier. Of course if you don't mind just buy OnePlus where everything it is very easy (i had OnePlus one before).
cimmanom 8y ago
How do you turn off the web browser, though?
- msftie 8y ago
  In iOS: Settings > General > Restrictions > Toggle Safari

posting2fast 8y ago

Imagine someone asks what graphics editors are available on the C64, and people suggest using Photoshop at low resolution because that's what they are interested in, and because hey, it could be that that person hasn't heard about Photoshop yet. "About your question, that's a good question, but let me answer a better question."

msftie 8y ago

Frankly, addiction and bad habits make it very difficult to sustain that when it’s easy to re-enable things. I have hardly any notifications, my phone is perpetually on silent with vibrate disabled (I often miss calls and texts), and I have no “social media” apps beyond iMessage/Signal. But I still reach for it at every idle moment (most time being spent in the browser). The one app I truly need is a keepass client. Not sure how I will overcome that without a smartphone.

cgoecknerwald 8y ago
I agree. Mobile internet is a double-edged sword: super useful, super distracting / addicting. Several years ago, I rooted my android to add sites such as reddit and nytimes (news junkie) to map to 0.0.0.0 in the hostfile, effectively blocking them. Then, I removed the file navigator (ES File Explorer). I have found this sufficient.
- pnloyd 8y ago
  Why not block hacker news? Not as addicting as the others? Edit: oops didn't see your list wasn't exhaustive.
  - cgoecknerwald 8y ago
    HackerNews also seems to be designed to be less addicting and immediately rewarding, don't you think? It's more geared towards technical deep reads than BBC or something similar.
iamnothere 8y ago
It's possible to disable the stock browser. If you really need browsing capability for something, you can temporarily install it, or carry a tablet for "emergency" web use. This is the only method I've found that can completely crush smartphone addiction. Re-enabling the browser and waiting to install updates seems to be a big enough hurdle to prevent any casual browsing.

Nition 8y ago

The problems I see with that option would be: - More expensive - Lower battery life - More fragile - No physical buttons (might be a positive if you like touch keyboards) - Temptation to use the features anyway

omnimus 8y ago
Recently i got myself xaiomi m1a1 and flashed lineageos. I didnt install google play services instead i just use few things from fdroid. Suprisingly i probably doubled battery life when i rooted phone and added some battery managment apps like greenify. Also with firewall you are pretty good blocking all outgoing stuff.
- drewmol 8y ago
  I second this. Currently waiting the 72 hour 'phone being paired to an xaiomi-account' period so I can unlock the bootloader and install lineagos for use as my new daily driver. I find this (using a custom, configurable and minimal android rom) satisfies my desire for settings tinkering and software control, provides the utility I'd like to keep (calls/email/sms-mms/mfa-otp/hotspot/calender/music/alarms/browser-when-needed) but is also boring enough to limit most of the distractions and helps alleviate alert-fatigue.
  - omnimus 8y ago
    Just note with xiaomi phones not all phones are the same in terms of rooting. Some phones need 'pairing with xiaomi account' some of them don't. It depends on preinstalled flavor of Android. For example my M1A1 does not require that becuase it is "Android One" phone - making the stock quite good. The problem with rooting this phone specifically is that Android One phones use some sort of A/B partition system for seamless updating. https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/ab/ https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/ab/ There are not so many guides on this and it was a littlebit of hustle. But i guess more and more phones will be like this so it will get easier. Of course if you don't mind just buy OnePlus where everything it is very easy (i had OnePlus one before).

cimmanom 8y ago

How do you turn off the web browser, though?

msftie 8y ago
In iOS: Settings > General > Restrictions > Toggle Safari