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I just rediscovered my 5th Gen iPod Video...after a $12 battery swap, I have uninterrupted high fidelity music in over the ear headphones has been a revelation.

I just rediscovered my 5th Gen iPod Video...after a $12 battery swap, I have uninterrupted high fidelity music in over the ear headphones has been a revelation. -No interruptions from IMs, SMS, Facebook, Linked In, Slack, GCN, Ring, Nest, Apple+, Farmville, Solitaire, or any other application that thinks it must get a hold of your attention -It's a timecapsule of 2005 and before - When I curated my music myself...I had to like a song, and then Star it to make it to my player -Works everywhere, completely offline -I found myself REALLY listening to music again...and the notifications I needed while WFH generally had a visual component, too, so I could opt to respond to that meeting or join that Teams Chat without necessarily interrupting the music. -It dropped me back into iTunes Music (or ITunes...or Music...or whatever it's branded now) which is a much bigger view of my music that you just don't get looking at an iPhone screen. I'm pretty sure it's a two week distraction (because holy-smokes, that cable catches on EVERYTHING) but it's a fun one.

AshamedCaptain 6y ago
> No interruptions from IMs, SMS, Facebook, Linked In, Slack, GCN, Ring, Nest, Apple+, Farmville, Solitaire, or any other application that thinks it must get a hold of your attention Unwanted notifications are not a vice like snacking or the like where obviously you get some endorphins every time you do it and therefore you can get addicted, and thus it makes sense to "restrict access to sources of food" when you are trying to avoid it (e.g. self-control issues). No. _Unwanted_ notifications is something that is by definition not possible to get addicted to, so I really don't get this point of view. Just turn them off, dammit. Like you can in any operating system ever designed (so far) and then they are off. There's no need to go around fishing for a device which has no support for notifications. But I've seen a shitton of people saying they prefer this "dumbed down" device or the like for precisely this reason, which is absurd. Battery life, I get. Less maintenance, I might get. But "avoiding notifications", I don't get. I have a cheap no-name Android device as bed-side alarm clock since they are actually _cheaper_ than (off-shelf) bed-side alarm clocks and I can write my own alarm clock program for them (a big plus). I put it on Don't disturb mode the day I booted it for the first time. Never got a notification. Never woke me up in the middle of the night (unwantedly ;P ).
- Mirioron 6y ago
  Turning stuff off isn't easy when there are so many different sources for them. I want to have important notifications that I write down myself, but turning off all the other notifications has broken that for me. I get a 50-50 whether a given notification that I wrote myself will actually work for me. And all because I tried turning off notifications for things that I don't ever want to see a notification from.
- Damogran6 6y ago
  I’m not stupid. It’s the gamification of attention I’m done with. The iPod predates that, it returns control to me without ads between curated song lists, “app wants to send you notifications”, you could get premium for just $2 a month! You can absolutely turn it all off. But with the iPod, I didn’t have to.
  - AshamedCaptain 6y ago
    Actually, you have to turn those _on_, usually. Its not that by default it will start spamming you about programs you did not install on in the first place.
- surfpel 6y ago
  > Unwanted notifications are not a vice like snacking or the like where obviously you get some endorphins every time you do it and therefore you can get addicted Except they’re not unwanted, at least not completely. Sometimes apps don’t let you decide what you’ll get sent, so that you get a mix of wanted and unwanted notifications. Other times one just can’t resist looking at them. You can argue as to what brain chemistry causes this to resemble an addiction, but you can’t argue that they have an addictive, attention hogging effect for many. > Just turn them off, dammit. The ease by which this is reversible and the habit of checking apps is the problem with this solution. > self-control issues This is such an unrealistic expectation. This is always the go-to argument as well - pinning the blame on the user. Thousands of engineers design these apps to be addictive. Most people aren’t going to win against that. Furthermore, few other things in life are designed to do hog attention like these apps are. They can only be compared to slot machines which clearly have a strong effect on people.
Yetanfou 6y ago
You can do all these things on a modern phone, no need to dig out the Sansa, iPod or Nokia. Assuming you have a media collection at home and a working internet connection you just get any SBC - Raspberry Pi etc - and hang it off that internet connection. Install Airsonic or a similar media streamer, point it at your media collection. Install DSub or a similar Subsonic/Airsonic client on your devices and point these at your media streamer. There you go, self-curated music in your ears. Tell all those interruption-producing programs to shut up by either (the best solution) turning off sync, turning down notification volume to 0 or denying them access to notifications -> poof, no interruptions. People can still call you of course, you could turn that off as well if you want. There is no need to go back in time to get more control, all it takes it for you to take over the reins of current technology. The added advantage of doing so is a reduced stress load since you get to realise that you actually can take control.
- Mirioron 6y ago
  You just gave a laundry list of things to do, including buying a device that's worth as much as a used iPod. And to make matters worse, this is something you have to constantly keep on top of any time you install new apps. Otherwise those will throw notifications at you and you cab accidentally end up blocking notifications you do want.
  - Yetanfou 6y ago
    That "device that's worth as much as a used iPod" costs ~$40 including a power supply and has the potential to do far more than just allow you to play music without notifications (which was already possible on your phone). It can help you gain freedom on the 'net in general, not just play some music. If you turn down notification sounds or just switch the things off altogether you will not get notifications from any apps, new or old. In short, why complicate things by carrying around another device when you can put that effort into creating a single device which can help achieve digital freedom? In both cases you'll have to do some work, either by scouring the 'net (or thrift stores) for older equipment which can be refurbished or by building a 'personal server' (which could also be achieved using an old laptop which will give you higher performance but will use more power).
agumonkey 6y ago
There's something relating the depth/quality/density of experience there. You do less but you feel more, is that right ?
- Damogran6 6y ago
  Yes. It’s music..your music...and nothing else, poured directly into your brain.
  - agumonkey 6y ago
    not only that but the fact that people used to take pleasure in curating less quantity today is all about more music without having to even try, things done 'for' you, less work..
    - dingaling 6y ago
      I don't have the time or mental budget to 'curate' music, I want some algorithms to do that for me and create a mix of genres and artists that it thinks I'll like. In the absence of that I'd rather do without music, it's just not a high priority for me.
      - Damogran6 6y ago
        I didn’t swear off my smartphone. I have and use that, too. It’s not an either/or, it’s an and.

AshamedCaptain 6y ago

> No interruptions from IMs, SMS, Facebook, Linked In, Slack, GCN, Ring, Nest, Apple+, Farmville, Solitaire, or any other application that thinks it must get a hold of your attention Unwanted notifications are not a vice like snacking or the like where obviously you get some endorphins every time you do it and therefore you can get addicted, and thus it makes sense to "restrict access to sources of food" when you are trying to avoid it (e.g. self-control issues). No. _Unwanted_ notifications is something that is by definition not possible to get addicted to, so I really don't get this point of view. Just turn them off, dammit. Like you can in any operating system ever designed (so far) and then they are off. There's no need to go around fishing for a device which has no support for notifications. But I've seen a shitton of people saying they prefer this "dumbed down" device or the like for precisely this reason, which is absurd. Battery life, I get. Less maintenance, I might get. But "avoiding notifications", I don't get. I have a cheap no-name Android device as bed-side alarm clock since they are actually _cheaper_ than (off-shelf) bed-side alarm clocks and I can write my own alarm clock program for them (a big plus). I put it on Don't disturb mode the day I booted it for the first time. Never got a notification. Never woke me up in the middle of the night (unwantedly ;P ).

Mirioron 6y ago
Turning stuff off isn't easy when there are so many different sources for them. I want to have important notifications that I write down myself, but turning off all the other notifications has broken that for me. I get a 50-50 whether a given notification that I wrote myself will actually work for me. And all because I tried turning off notifications for things that I don't ever want to see a notification from.
Damogran6 6y ago
I’m not stupid. It’s the gamification of attention I’m done with. The iPod predates that, it returns control to me without ads between curated song lists, “app wants to send you notifications”, you could get premium for just $2 a month! You can absolutely turn it all off. But with the iPod, I didn’t have to.
- AshamedCaptain 6y ago
  Actually, you have to turn those _on_, usually. Its not that by default it will start spamming you about programs you did not install on in the first place.
surfpel 6y ago
> Unwanted notifications are not a vice like snacking or the like where obviously you get some endorphins every time you do it and therefore you can get addicted Except they’re not unwanted, at least not completely. Sometimes apps don’t let you decide what you’ll get sent, so that you get a mix of wanted and unwanted notifications. Other times one just can’t resist looking at them. You can argue as to what brain chemistry causes this to resemble an addiction, but you can’t argue that they have an addictive, attention hogging effect for many. > Just turn them off, dammit. The ease by which this is reversible and the habit of checking apps is the problem with this solution. > self-control issues This is such an unrealistic expectation. This is always the go-to argument as well - pinning the blame on the user. Thousands of engineers design these apps to be addictive. Most people aren’t going to win against that. Furthermore, few other things in life are designed to do hog attention like these apps are. They can only be compared to slot machines which clearly have a strong effect on people.

Yetanfou 6y ago

You can do all these things on a modern phone, no need to dig out the Sansa, iPod or Nokia. Assuming you have a media collection at home and a working internet connection you just get any SBC - Raspberry Pi etc - and hang it off that internet connection. Install Airsonic or a similar media streamer, point it at your media collection. Install DSub or a similar Subsonic/Airsonic client on your devices and point these at your media streamer. There you go, self-curated music in your ears. Tell all those interruption-producing programs to shut up by either (the best solution) turning off sync, turning down notification volume to 0 or denying them access to notifications -> poof, no interruptions. People can still call you of course, you could turn that off as well if you want. There is no need to go back in time to get more control, all it takes it for you to take over the reins of current technology. The added advantage of doing so is a reduced stress load since you get to realise that you actually can take control.

Mirioron 6y ago
You just gave a laundry list of things to do, including buying a device that's worth as much as a used iPod. And to make matters worse, this is something you have to constantly keep on top of any time you install new apps. Otherwise those will throw notifications at you and you cab accidentally end up blocking notifications you do want.
- Yetanfou 6y ago
  That "device that's worth as much as a used iPod" costs ~$40 including a power supply and has the potential to do far more than just allow you to play music without notifications (which was already possible on your phone). It can help you gain freedom on the 'net in general, not just play some music. If you turn down notification sounds or just switch the things off altogether you will not get notifications from any apps, new or old. In short, why complicate things by carrying around another device when you can put that effort into creating a single device which can help achieve digital freedom? In both cases you'll have to do some work, either by scouring the 'net (or thrift stores) for older equipment which can be refurbished or by building a 'personal server' (which could also be achieved using an old laptop which will give you higher performance but will use more power).

agumonkey 6y ago

There's something relating the depth/quality/density of experience there. You do less but you feel more, is that right ?

Damogran6 6y ago
Yes. It’s music..your music...and nothing else, poured directly into your brain.
- agumonkey 6y ago
  not only that but the fact that people used to take pleasure in curating less quantity today is all about more music without having to even try, things done 'for' you, less work..
  - dingaling 6y ago
    I don't have the time or mental budget to 'curate' music, I want some algorithms to do that for me and create a mix of genres and artists that it thinks I'll like. In the absence of that I'd rather do without music, it's just not a high priority for me.
    - Damogran6 6y ago
      I didn’t swear off my smartphone. I have and use that, too. It’s not an either/or, it’s an and.