5 ms·

What are you gaining in exchange for making your life harder?

gdulli 8y ago
I don't know what you mean about making my life harder. I don't see what I have to gain by using location services outside the rare moments I need it. I'm gaining privacy by not keeping it on.
- Inconel 8y ago
  You're probably gaining significant battery life as well.
- kuhhk 8y ago
  I think you’re fortunate to not need it, but I lived in an unfamiliar place for a few months and I used my map apps to identify the best routes (public transit, biking, should I walk, or should I Uber?) nearly 3-4 times a day. Turning it off/on would be difficult, but I do set most apps to only allow location services during use... but the maps I have set to always. I also don’t have the Facebook app installed
  - Scoundreller 8y ago
    The alternative is to keep location on (while in use), but download offline maps. No idea if the app phones home with all historical location data if you re-enable data though... Maybe that’s why Google likes to expire it’s offline maps ?
    - emj 8y ago
      OsmAnd and MapsWithMe are good apps that you can use offline maps on indefinetly once downloaded. They use Openstreetmap of course.
- BurningFrog 8y ago
  > I don't know what you mean about making my life harder You're spending time and effort turning this on and off. The rest of us don't.
  - astronautjones 8y ago
    What are you going to do with the additional ~5 minutes that not spending that time and effort has added to your life?
maoeurk 8y ago
Increased battery life for one. It used to be easier to toggle on older Android phones because there was a default shortcut in the slide-down menu, now it requires going through the settings at least on Google Android. edit: Huh, turns out you can add a toggle. I can't believe I never noticed that, thanks!
- emasirik 8y ago
  On newer versions of Android, I believe there ought to be an option to edit the slide-down menu in the slide-down menu itself. Expand it all the way, and look for a pencil icon. You should be able to add a location toggle that way.
  - mrep 8y ago
    There is. Invert colors is very useful when reading HN at night.
ryanchoi 8y ago
Above user might not find it to be a hassle at all. I turn GPS off whenever I notice it on as well, but it's pretty far down the list of ux concerns when using my phone. Sometimes an app reminds me I need to turn it on before continuing, but that's all handled smoothly in-app these days. (unlike sibling comment my phone has gps toggle in the slide down menu) In my case it's a longstanding habit from when I was told that GPS could drain battery faster :p (maybe it still? does, I don't know)
_emacsomancer_ 8y ago
With something like Tasker this doesn't need to be laborious at all (I have location turn on while certain apps are in use, e.g. Osmand~, and turn off otherwise). And, tin-hattery aside, it has power-saving advantages.
dingoegret 8y ago
Imagine your life being so wired to devices that turning on and off the GPS button is making life harder.
quotemstr 8y ago
What is an insurance customer getting in exchange for making himself poorer? With respect to privacy, the price of peace of mind is all over the place at this point: the tech-ization is society is recent enough that even well-informed people have big differences of opinion on the likelihood and costs of privacy-related calamities. If you estimate privacy risk as high, then you're naturally willing to make your life harder to avoid this risk, and you naturally come to regard those with lower risk estimates as reckless. Likewise, if you're in the other camp, privacy-preserving measures look like wastes of time and money. It's hard to say at this point who's right. We haven't actually seen a lot of privacy-related disasters, the lack of which might seem to promote the low-risk camp, but the high-risk people would reply that the breaches that do occur will only become more damaging over time as we move online. I'm not in the high-risk camp myself, but I do think that this camp has some valid points, since information is power, and power is ultimately a corrupting force. It should be easier to live a privacy-risk-mitigating lifestyle.
VvR-Ox 8y ago
You gain more conscious decision making and that can help you a lot in life. Sure you could just give in and "go with the flow" because that's what majority does and it's very convenient. Also people as social beings want to belong to groups and doing the same stuff they do is the easiest way to gain access to groups. That's the reason why so many use WA and FB and don't even care about their data. They already gave up and make fun about those who haven't. If you have courage and a strong personality you can withstand this peer pressure. If you are cool enough there will be others to follow you. If not you can also learn to deal with that and in the end it's only necessary to have a few really good friends in your life. TLDR; You gain more control over your life and strengthen your personality.
- icebraining 8y ago
  How is using location services "going with the flow", but you using the Internet isn't? Are you ceding to the majority rather than having courage and a strong personality?

I don't know what you mean about making my life harder. I don't see what I have to gain by using location services outside the rare moments I need it. I'm gaining privacy by not keeping it on.

Inconel 8y ago
You're probably gaining significant battery life as well.
kuhhk 8y ago
I think you’re fortunate to not need it, but I lived in an unfamiliar place for a few months and I used my map apps to identify the best routes (public transit, biking, should I walk, or should I Uber?) nearly 3-4 times a day. Turning it off/on would be difficult, but I do set most apps to only allow location services during use... but the maps I have set to always. I also don’t have the Facebook app installed
- Scoundreller 8y ago
  The alternative is to keep location on (while in use), but download offline maps. No idea if the app phones home with all historical location data if you re-enable data though... Maybe that’s why Google likes to expire it’s offline maps ?
  - emj 8y ago
    OsmAnd and MapsWithMe are good apps that you can use offline maps on indefinetly once downloaded. They use Openstreetmap of course.
BurningFrog 8y ago
> I don't know what you mean about making my life harder You're spending time and effort turning this on and off. The rest of us don't.
- astronautjones 8y ago
  What are you going to do with the additional ~5 minutes that not spending that time and effort has added to your life?

maoeurk 8y ago

Increased battery life for one. It used to be easier to toggle on older Android phones because there was a default shortcut in the slide-down menu, now it requires going through the settings at least on Google Android. edit: Huh, turns out you can add a toggle. I can't believe I never noticed that, thanks!

emasirik 8y ago
On newer versions of Android, I believe there ought to be an option to edit the slide-down menu in the slide-down menu itself. Expand it all the way, and look for a pencil icon. You should be able to add a location toggle that way.
- mrep 8y ago
  There is. Invert colors is very useful when reading HN at night.

ryanchoi 8y ago

Above user might not find it to be a hassle at all. I turn GPS off whenever I notice it on as well, but it's pretty far down the list of ux concerns when using my phone. Sometimes an app reminds me I need to turn it on before continuing, but that's all handled smoothly in-app these days. (unlike sibling comment my phone has gps toggle in the slide down menu) In my case it's a longstanding habit from when I was told that GPS could drain battery faster :p (maybe it still? does, I don't know)

_emacsomancer_ 8y ago

With something like Tasker this doesn't need to be laborious at all (I have location turn on while certain apps are in use, e.g. Osmand~, and turn off otherwise). And, tin-hattery aside, it has power-saving advantages.

dingoegret 8y ago

Imagine your life being so wired to devices that turning on and off the GPS button is making life harder.

quotemstr 8y ago

What is an insurance customer getting in exchange for making himself poorer? With respect to privacy, the price of peace of mind is all over the place at this point: the tech-ization is society is recent enough that even well-informed people have big differences of opinion on the likelihood and costs of privacy-related calamities. If you estimate privacy risk as high, then you're naturally willing to make your life harder to avoid this risk, and you naturally come to regard those with lower risk estimates as reckless. Likewise, if you're in the other camp, privacy-preserving measures look like wastes of time and money. It's hard to say at this point who's right. We haven't actually seen a lot of privacy-related disasters, the lack of which might seem to promote the low-risk camp, but the high-risk people would reply that the breaches that do occur will only become more damaging over time as we move online. I'm not in the high-risk camp myself, but I do think that this camp has some valid points, since information is power, and power is ultimately a corrupting force. It should be easier to live a privacy-risk-mitigating lifestyle.

VvR-Ox 8y ago

You gain more conscious decision making and that can help you a lot in life. Sure you could just give in and "go with the flow" because that's what majority does and it's very convenient. Also people as social beings want to belong to groups and doing the same stuff they do is the easiest way to gain access to groups. That's the reason why so many use WA and FB and don't even care about their data. They already gave up and make fun about those who haven't. If you have courage and a strong personality you can withstand this peer pressure. If you are cool enough there will be others to follow you. If not you can also learn to deal with that and in the end it's only necessary to have a few really good friends in your life. TLDR; You gain more control over your life and strengthen your personality.

icebraining 8y ago
How is using location services "going with the flow", but you using the Internet isn't? Are you ceding to the majority rather than having courage and a strong personality?