3 ms·

I think the seduction of going phoneless stems from the idea that because taking a few steps along this axis (using social media less) improved your life, then

I think the seduction of going phoneless stems from the idea that because taking a few steps along this axis (using social media less) improved your life, then running all the way to some logical conclusion (not using a smartphone at all) will improve your life further. I think this is a flawed temptation. Perhaps you would be better off finding the middleground that maximizes your life like exercising the self-domination of not pulling out your phone just because you are in an awkward social situation. Just tank the situation with full conscious attention like a badass instead of escaping.

t_mann 4y ago
> Perhaps you would be better off exercising the self-domination of finding a middleground Frankly, I could imagine that for a lot of people that ship has sailed already. I wouldn't be surprised if the brain chemistry patterns were similar (enough) to substance addictions for a lot of heavy users, and afaik the only truly sustainable advice for addicts is to stay just stay clean (because addiction is strongly related to loss of self-control). The question is whether the 'substantial harm' part of the definition of addiction is fulfilled, but that might mean that a lot of people are in an undesirable limbo where they can't control their consumption anymore but don't experience sufficiently intense negative consequences to warrant abstention.
shepherdjerred 4y ago
> I think the seduction of going phoneless stems from the idea that because taking a few steps along this axis (using social media less) improved your life, then running all the way to some logical conclusion (not using a smartphone at all) will improve your life further. Is there a name for this? I think you've come to a reasonable conclusion. Maybe there is some happy middle-ground. > I think this is a flawed temptation. Perhaps you would be better off finding the middleground that maximizes your life like exercising the self-domination of not pulling out your phone just because you are in an awkward social situation. I wish I had the self-control to do this. I've definitely gotten better, and it has gotten _much_ easier since I've uninstalled all non-essential apps and deleted social media. I think to some extent my tendencies have transferred over. For example, instead of checking Instagram when I'm bored, I now check Slack, email, Hacker News, the news, etc. It's something psychological but I'm not really sure what to do about it.
User23 4y ago
For many people phone addiction is just that, an addiction. For those people, this advice is like telling an alcoholic to be a badass and stop with just one drink.
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  Sure, but plenty of people are giving advice for that, and I’m not going to assume anyone asking this question is helplessly addicted. That’s only something they can know after exhausting other options.

t_mann 4y ago

> Perhaps you would be better off exercising the self-domination of finding a middleground Frankly, I could imagine that for a lot of people that ship has sailed already. I wouldn't be surprised if the brain chemistry patterns were similar (enough) to substance addictions for a lot of heavy users, and afaik the only truly sustainable advice for addicts is to stay just stay clean (because addiction is strongly related to loss of self-control). The question is whether the 'substantial harm' part of the definition of addiction is fulfilled, but that might mean that a lot of people are in an undesirable limbo where they can't control their consumption anymore but don't experience sufficiently intense negative consequences to warrant abstention.

shepherdjerred 4y ago

> I think the seduction of going phoneless stems from the idea that because taking a few steps along this axis (using social media less) improved your life, then running all the way to some logical conclusion (not using a smartphone at all) will improve your life further. Is there a name for this? I think you've come to a reasonable conclusion. Maybe there is some happy middle-ground. > I think this is a flawed temptation. Perhaps you would be better off finding the middleground that maximizes your life like exercising the self-domination of not pulling out your phone just because you are in an awkward social situation. I wish I had the self-control to do this. I've definitely gotten better, and it has gotten _much_ easier since I've uninstalled all non-essential apps and deleted social media. I think to some extent my tendencies have transferred over. For example, instead of checking Instagram when I'm bored, I now check Slack, email, Hacker News, the news, etc. It's something psychological but I'm not really sure what to do about it.

User23 4y ago

For many people phone addiction is just that, an addiction. For those people, this advice is like telling an alcoholic to be a badass and stop with just one drink.

hombre_fatal 4y ago
Sure, but plenty of people are giving advice for that, and I’m not going to assume anyone asking this question is helplessly addicted. That’s only something they can know after exhausting other options.