7 ms·

People get along fine without accounts in FAANG. You don't even need an account to use many Google services.

by a_nop 3y ago

franciscop 3y ago
Who lives fine without a smartphone today? See your sibling comment for an example.
- zogrodea 3y ago
  I do in the UK (use a desktop for digital services), but I will need a phone next year after my current contract ends since employers like to have a chat via phone after applications.
- cobbaut 3y ago
  I do.
  - franciscop 3y ago
    What do you do when you need it? Banking or CC app for mandatory 2FA? gvmt Covid mandatory app to travel anywhere? QR code for restaurants? Places that require an app in general? This is ofc locale-dependent, but if before the pandemic you could barely live without a smartphone, today is just impossible (at least in the 2 countries I visit often).
    - dcz_self 3y ago
      > Banking or CC app for mandatory 2FA? Switched banks. > gvmt Covid mandatory app to travel anywhere? There wasn't one, thank $DEITY (Germany). > QR code for restaurants? Never encountered one without a menu yet, but I'd just go to another one. > Places that require an app in general? Never encountered those, either. There was one on my offline backpacking trip which required digital payment. It was sad, but I had to forfeit.
      - cobbaut 3y ago
        Thanks, and indeed. Some places do require an app and while there are alternatives, there may not be another choice in the future. But not today, most of my elderly neighbours also don't own a smartphone and yet they survive in this city (Antwerp). Life without a smartphone is possible, and imho calmer and more relaxed.
    - BoxOfRain 3y ago
      To be fair even the surveillance-obsessed UK offered a paper alternative to the vaccine passport scheme, although Partygate completely crippled the government's political capital for keeping restrictions around anyway not long after if I remember correctly.
    - rex_gallorum2 3y ago
      Banks tend to have some back up, such as a TAN generator. I have used those for Euro bank accounts that require 2FA. US bank accounts are usually fine with a phone number, which can be a dumb phone. There were no real covid restrictions where I live, and no app, so that was not a problem (but that is definitely something people should push back against, as it's horrifying). I would never, ever eat in a restaurant that required you to use a QR code. They can simply go to hell. It's mostly trendy places that do that, anyway, and I prefer hole-in- the-wall restaurants anyway. I understand this stuff is a lot more advanced in some countries, but even in the US it's pretty easy to get by without any of it.
    - JohnFen 3y ago
      > Banking or CC app for mandatory 2FA? The easiest way to avoid this is by going physically to your bank branch. > gvmt Covid mandatory app to travel anywhere? Don't live in a country that does this, so I don't know. > QR code for restaurants? I ask for a menu. > Places that require an app in general? Haven't seen that happen yet. There are some parking lots that require an app to park in them, but I just park elsewhere. The laundry room in my apartment complex requires an app to pay, so I just go to the laundromat down the street instead. I do have a smartphone, although I'll switch to the dumbest phone I can find when this one dies. I do not use any apps for doing any commerce or the like, though. It's far too risky for my taste.
    - a_nop 3y ago
      Aside, one of the best hacks for networking without a smartphone is a small notepad and a pen in your pocket. Write things down for yourself and others e.g. phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, reminders.
- rex_gallorum2 3y ago
  I do. I am beginning to feel the costs though. Even telling people that I don't have one is getting a bit awkward. Imagine the look of incomprehension. A lot of people talk about 'needing' a smartphone for services/stuff I have never used, and probably would never use. I suppose I just kept living my life as I did before the 2010s, while everyone else changed. I was already in my 30s at that time, so not subject to the same social pressures a younger person would have felt, so perhaps it was easier.
  - MandieD 3y ago
    When I tell people that, sorry, I don't have WhatsApp, they either look at me like I have a screw loose, or offer to help me install it (I am a middle-aged lady, so technical incompetence must be my excuse). I'd love to see the reaction to pulling out an old-school flip-phone, or providing an obvious land-line number! That and my avoidance of Facebook didn't really matter until I had a kid and he started nursery school. I somehow got myself elected head of the Parents' Council, but it's been tough dealing with the mental block the slightly-younger generation has for email, and Signal is apparently a little too out there for non-techy 20/30-somethings of either gender. I'm not as privacy-conscious as you, as I have a fairly recent iPhone; I'd probably be better described as social-media-skeptical, but your right to live a normal life without a smartphone is tied to my right to live a normal life without intrusive social media.
    - rex_gallorum2 3y ago
      I've encountered the WhatsApp issue too. It's the communication tool in some parts of the world, but not others. In some circles people cannot imagine that you are a living breathing person who does not have it. I use a bottom tier flip phone in the US, and a 13 year old Nokia with a pay-as-you go SIM in Europe. I've noticed that there has been a generational shift towards smartphone-only communications, but I haven't really had to deal with it. I'd like to hear more about that. Oddly I use some of the same communication tools that young kids use, namely Discord, as it doesn't require a phone number. Linking online accounts and communications to a phone number has always put me off.
- taxcoder 3y ago
  Here, desktop for online services, flip phone when traveling, VOIP for most phone usage.
toomim 3y ago
You can't download apps on your phone without logging into a FAANG account in the app store.
- smeej 3y ago
  This is patently false. I've been using GrapheneOS with F-droid and Aurora Store without logging into a Google account for years. I've yet to run into a single thing I either couldn't use or couldn't work around.
  - jlokier 3y ago
    Does that include banking and credit card apps? Most of my bank and card accounts require their own phone app to authorise transactions from time to time, and several accounts require their phone app to authenticate login to online banking, even if I'm opening it in a regular desktop browser on another computer. Three of those accounts don't have any other way of being managed than online, so their phone app (or tablet app) is mandatory to do anything with the account. I had to buy a replacement phone in a hurry last year when my old phone's screen stopped working, just so I could login to make an urgent bank transfer. I would have preferred to take my time over what to buy, but so many financial things I use are blocked without a smartphone now.
    - smeej 3y ago
      Yes, it does. Even my podunk little credit union's app works absolutely fine.
    - ThePowerOfFuet 3y ago
      Yes, every banking and financial app I have tried runs just fine on GrapheneOS.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
    - tapland 3y ago
trashtester 3y ago
Increasingly, even public agencies require/assume people to have a smartphone now, either an iPhone or an Android. At that point, you literally cannot live as an adult in the society without FAANG dependence, even if it's a third party Android phone, at least not legally.

People get along fine without accounts in FAANG. You don't even need an account to use many Google services.

by a_nop 3y ago

People get along fine without accounts in FAANG. You don't even need an account to use many Google services.

franciscop 3y ago

Who lives fine without a smartphone today? See your sibling comment for an example.

zogrodea 3y ago
I do in the UK (use a desktop for digital services), but I will need a phone next year after my current contract ends since employers like to have a chat via phone after applications.
cobbaut 3y ago
I do.
- franciscop 3y ago
  What do you do when you need it? Banking or CC app for mandatory 2FA? gvmt Covid mandatory app to travel anywhere? QR code for restaurants? Places that require an app in general? This is ofc locale-dependent, but if before the pandemic you could barely live without a smartphone, today is just impossible (at least in the 2 countries I visit often).
  - dcz_self 3y ago
    > Banking or CC app for mandatory 2FA? Switched banks. > gvmt Covid mandatory app to travel anywhere? There wasn't one, thank $DEITY (Germany). > QR code for restaurants? Never encountered one without a menu yet, but I'd just go to another one. > Places that require an app in general? Never encountered those, either. There was one on my offline backpacking trip which required digital payment. It was sad, but I had to forfeit.
    - cobbaut 3y ago
      Thanks, and indeed. Some places do require an app and while there are alternatives, there may not be another choice in the future. But not today, most of my elderly neighbours also don't own a smartphone and yet they survive in this city (Antwerp). Life without a smartphone is possible, and imho calmer and more relaxed.
  - BoxOfRain 3y ago
    To be fair even the surveillance-obsessed UK offered a paper alternative to the vaccine passport scheme, although Partygate completely crippled the government's political capital for keeping restrictions around anyway not long after if I remember correctly.
  - rex_gallorum2 3y ago
    Banks tend to have some back up, such as a TAN generator. I have used those for Euro bank accounts that require 2FA. US bank accounts are usually fine with a phone number, which can be a dumb phone. There were no real covid restrictions where I live, and no app, so that was not a problem (but that is definitely something people should push back against, as it's horrifying). I would never, ever eat in a restaurant that required you to use a QR code. They can simply go to hell. It's mostly trendy places that do that, anyway, and I prefer hole-in- the-wall restaurants anyway. I understand this stuff is a lot more advanced in some countries, but even in the US it's pretty easy to get by without any of it.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    > Banking or CC app for mandatory 2FA? The easiest way to avoid this is by going physically to your bank branch. > gvmt Covid mandatory app to travel anywhere? Don't live in a country that does this, so I don't know. > QR code for restaurants? I ask for a menu. > Places that require an app in general? Haven't seen that happen yet. There are some parking lots that require an app to park in them, but I just park elsewhere. The laundry room in my apartment complex requires an app to pay, so I just go to the laundromat down the street instead. I do have a smartphone, although I'll switch to the dumbest phone I can find when this one dies. I do not use any apps for doing any commerce or the like, though. It's far too risky for my taste.
  - a_nop 3y ago
    Aside, one of the best hacks for networking without a smartphone is a small notepad and a pen in your pocket. Write things down for yourself and others e.g. phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, reminders.
rex_gallorum2 3y ago
I do. I am beginning to feel the costs though. Even telling people that I don't have one is getting a bit awkward. Imagine the look of incomprehension. A lot of people talk about 'needing' a smartphone for services/stuff I have never used, and probably would never use. I suppose I just kept living my life as I did before the 2010s, while everyone else changed. I was already in my 30s at that time, so not subject to the same social pressures a younger person would have felt, so perhaps it was easier.
- MandieD 3y ago
  When I tell people that, sorry, I don't have WhatsApp, they either look at me like I have a screw loose, or offer to help me install it (I am a middle-aged lady, so technical incompetence must be my excuse). I'd love to see the reaction to pulling out an old-school flip-phone, or providing an obvious land-line number! That and my avoidance of Facebook didn't really matter until I had a kid and he started nursery school. I somehow got myself elected head of the Parents' Council, but it's been tough dealing with the mental block the slightly-younger generation has for email, and Signal is apparently a little too out there for non-techy 20/30-somethings of either gender. I'm not as privacy-conscious as you, as I have a fairly recent iPhone; I'd probably be better described as social-media-skeptical, but your right to live a normal life without a smartphone is tied to my right to live a normal life without intrusive social media.
  - rex_gallorum2 3y ago
    I've encountered the WhatsApp issue too. It's the communication tool in some parts of the world, but not others. In some circles people cannot imagine that you are a living breathing person who does not have it. I use a bottom tier flip phone in the US, and a 13 year old Nokia with a pay-as-you go SIM in Europe. I've noticed that there has been a generational shift towards smartphone-only communications, but I haven't really had to deal with it. I'd like to hear more about that. Oddly I use some of the same communication tools that young kids use, namely Discord, as it doesn't require a phone number. Linking online accounts and communications to a phone number has always put me off.
taxcoder 3y ago
Here, desktop for online services, flip phone when traveling, VOIP for most phone usage.

toomim 3y ago

You can't download apps on your phone without logging into a FAANG account in the app store.

smeej 3y ago
This is patently false. I've been using GrapheneOS with F-droid and Aurora Store without logging into a Google account for years. I've yet to run into a single thing I either couldn't use or couldn't work around.
- jlokier 3y ago
  Does that include banking and credit card apps? Most of my bank and card accounts require their own phone app to authorise transactions from time to time, and several accounts require their phone app to authenticate login to online banking, even if I'm opening it in a regular desktop browser on another computer. Three of those accounts don't have any other way of being managed than online, so their phone app (or tablet app) is mandatory to do anything with the account. I had to buy a replacement phone in a hurry last year when my old phone's screen stopped working, just so I could login to make an urgent bank transfer. I would have preferred to take my time over what to buy, but so many financial things I use are blocked without a smartphone now.
  - smeej 3y ago
    Yes, it does. Even my podunk little credit union's app works absolutely fine.
  - ThePowerOfFuet 3y ago
    Yes, every banking and financial app I have tried runs just fine on GrapheneOS.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - tapland 3y ago

trashtester 3y ago

Increasingly, even public agencies require/assume people to have a smartphone now, either an iPhone or an Android. At that point, you literally cannot live as an adult in the society without FAANG dependence, even if it's a third party Android phone, at least not legally.