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A practical guide to quitting your smartphone

• jjdeveloper 3y ago
  https://archive.is/FUWxi https://archive.is/FUWxi
• desmond373 3y ago
  I feel like i would like a phone with the sim and wifi module ripped out. Perhaps just bluetooth so my files can get auto transfered when i get home. Phones are great note takers and recorders but the social media and communication aspects can be problematic.
  • giancarlostoro 3y ago
    Get a tape recorder and the Remarkable or whatever that ink tablet is, and a dumb flip phone? Or the Nokia brick remake.
  • hammock 3y ago
    >I feel like i would like a phone…but the communication aspects can be problematic. That’s not a phone then. It’s a computer (?)
    • BeetleB 3y ago
      Exactly. Where can I get a device that I can use away from home, fits in my pocket, and does not receive calls/texts? I value the camera, the GPS, and occasionally the data (not OP).
      • mattl 3y ago
        iPod Touch if you can still find one?
      • 15457345234 3y ago
        Get a phone and a data-only SIM card? Plenty of options available.
      • klardotsh 3y ago
        Minus the camera thing, I'd almost say a PinePhone-esque device is the fit, given the dodgy telecoms stack (which isn't a dealbreaker to you). Otherwise, though, sounds like a phone in permanent airplane mode (or at least, without a SIM inserted) is the move for you.
      • Hackbraten 3y ago
        The Librem 5 may be a good fit for you. It has switches on the side that physically cut off power to the modem or WiFi whenever you want.
      • AltruisticGapHN 3y ago
        This used to be the iPod touch. iPhone 12 mini is my first smartphone late 2023. I have used iPads for ten years. Love how the iPad freed me from sitting at the PC. Now similarly I wonder if I’ll ever buy iPad again and just buy a good smartphone. Can go airplane mode anyway if I want to. iPhone is kinda like a iPad mini with the SIM card stuff. The convergence is inevitable, Apple Pay is great. My banking app is easier to use on phone than on PC WTF phone doesn’t require me to swipe card in some physical card trader, just type in a short code. It only makes sense someday the phone will be like your ID for everything. IMHO the core unease here is not really the device but just how apps are built, especially social media, which itself is symptomatic of a distorted way of life (cf koyaanisqatsi)
  • solresol 3y ago
    Like a Boox Palma? That doesn't have the SIM ripped out, it's a phone-sized device that isn't a phone. It has wifi though, but you can't watch videos or scroll fast because of the e-ink screen.
  • asystole 3y ago
    Then don't install those apps? I really don't understand the problem. Smartphones only have the apps we install on them.
• 2OEH8eoCRo0 3y ago
  I quit mine by making it a "landline" while I'm home. It's on the charger next to the bed unless I leave.
  • mjamesaustin 3y ago
    I like this approach!
  • 082349872349872 3y ago
    Having grown up in a different century, I'm even comfortable if the phone stays behind when I leave.
• darth_avocado 3y ago
  It is unfortunate that the phone hardware companies have an interest in you using their phone more, otherwise they'd make it easier to manage your phone usage better. The screentime app in iPhone for example is so easy to bypass as a user even when you were the one who limited certain apps usage. I want an app that strictly locks away my access to an app and also suppresses notifications. Is that so hard to build? It also needs to be a default functionality of browsers. The ability to limit time on websites.
  • ajot 3y ago
    > It also needs to be a default functionality of browsers. The ability to limit time on websites. There is LeechBlock for browsers. https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/ https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/
    • darth_avocado 3y ago
      > There is LeechBlock for browsers. Right, there’s plenty of extensions, paid and non paid for users. But what I said was: > It also needs to be a default functionality of browsers.
  • richardw 3y ago
    I'm using "Freedom", which locks my Mac and iPhone and includes apps and websites and I think blocks notifications. I don't use it as much as I should, but I think it does the things you said? Not "default functionality" though.
  • wincy 3y ago
    My wife and I both have iPhones and MacBooks as our primary computing devices, and have setup blocks for each other’s phones. So we voluntarily (I have to stress, this is something we both are 100% on board with, don’t be a creep) set a passcode, and from midnight to 8pm our browsers are locked down, we can only use a few apps, and we’re focused on the kids or work. The only problem with this is overriding it requires us to be together in person, but over a few weeks we’ve hammered it out pretty well. Each one can ask the other to unlock stuff, but just having that little extra hurdle goes a long way in helping reduce screen addiction. The only criticism I have of it so far is my wife gets really weird when everything unlocks because she’s in sort of a mad rush to watch her shows, haha.
• karaterobot 3y ago
  I just checked the Screen Time statistics, and my average daily screen time last week was 18 minutes, the week before that was 22 minutes. I've never been in danger of becoming addicted to smart phones, just like I've never been in danger of being addicted to alcohol or gambling: none of them really appeal to me that much. But there are plenty of things I know I am addicted to, and I'm pretty sure the way to treat that addiction is to address the underlying issue for which the addiction is a response or a coping mechanism. Not to buy something and then pat yourself on the back. I very strongly doubt that just buying a flip phone is going to fix it; sorry folks (seriously).
  • iojggg 3y ago
    [dead]
  • MattRix 3y ago
    This ignores the fact that many of the apps people use are designed and A/B tested to maximize time spent/wasted. The fact that it happens to not work on you does not mean it works for everyone. Sometimes an addiction really is because something is designed to be incredibly addictive, not because of some underlying psychological issue with the user.
    • dinkleberg 3y ago
      Uninstalling the apps is a good first step.
      • MattRix 3y ago
        The problem is that most of these apps have good and bad stuff on them. I get a lot of value out of high quality content on youtube, but I also have to try really hard to not get sucked into watching an endless stream of garbage youtube shorts. Also even if you delete the apps, most people are in social groups with people who still use them and send links to content on them. It’s hard to avoid them entirely.
    • 15457345234 3y ago
• tayo42 3y ago
  Last year I got all into trying to, idk what to call it, "un-tech" my life. I started excitedly telling my wife I was going to get a one of these dumb phones and start using it. The next day a broken car on an incline rolled back into my car damaging it. I had to pull out my smartphone document the whole thing with pictures. I got a whole "what would you do with your dumb phone" and dropped the whole thing. There is probably a middle ground like this article suggests that's more realistic. Just take the addictive stuff off, control notifications, add timers, add friction where you can etc. Just leaving my facebook account logged out basically killed my random scrolling habit.
  • Syonyk 3y ago
    It's funny how reality tends to "test your resolve" with things like that. I've got a flip phone (Sonim XP3+) with a viable camera in it. It's not amazing, but it's more than good enough to document stuff like that, and I can send things with a computer when I get back home (though admittedly, I carry a powered off laptop with me often enough - that plus tethering off my phone gets me a backup for just about everything I could want, though I almost never use it). Or just carry a cheap point-n-shoot digital camera in your bag. I've started doing that too - the rugged/tough variety are well suited to banging around with you until you need them for something.
  • SoftTalker 3y ago
    You didn't have to "document the whole thing with pictures." That's simply not required, and not reasonable to expect.
  • vonjuice 3y ago
    How many times has your car been damaged since then?
• senderista 3y ago
  I couldn't live without SMS and navigation, so I kept my smartphone and just disabled my browser and removed all social media apps. Occasionally I have to re-enable my browser to scan a QR code (including for parking as the article mentions), which annoyingly reminds me how to circumvent this restriction, but it hasn't really been a problem so far. I already had Kindle on my phone, and I also installed the Wikipedia app and Dropbox so I can quickly look up facts, browse articles, or read a book or paper when I have nothing else to do. The main effect is that I spend most time on my phone reading stuff I actually want to read instead of aimlessly browsing the web.
  • Mistletoe 3y ago
    Thanks for reminding me Wikipedia has an app. I need to use that more and the fast food internet less. I’ve often thought that a Wikipedia archive could be a great desert island choice. It’s the Library of Alexandria on a thumb drive. I guess it’s about 150gb now with images. So much human knowledge there! >Each article would take a little over two minutes to read for an average adult. Reading all of Wikipedia would take about 140 000 hours, which is 5800 days, or almost sixteen years. That's assuming that you're reading 24 hours a day! Reading a standard eight-hour workday seems more reasonable.
    • crashmat 3y ago
      It will be much larger with images. Measured in TB.
• allthecybers 3y ago
  I'd love to quit my smartphone and have looked at options like Lite Phone to replace it. The only issue is my smartphone is now my GPS, my payment method, my home lighting controller, my car/house key, and my health tracker. Plus, was a convenient way to keep tabs on work messages. Half a decade ago I eliminated all my social media. Then about a year ago I started by removing work email and messaging from my phone.The next step will be having a designated spot for it to stay while I'm home. I don't know if I will ever revert back to having a thick wallet and a pocket full of keys, but maybe someday I can evolve to look at the smartphone as a utilitarian device without the addictive qualities. Now to get back to scrolling on Hacker News.
  • yaomtc 3y ago
    Pocket full of keys? Sounds like a recipe for pain. Carabiner!
  • BeetleB 3y ago
    > The only issue is my smartphone is now my GPS, my payment method, my home lighting controller, my car/house key, and my health tracker. If you use GPS only for navigation in a car, get a Garmin or something similar. Payment: Is it that hard to use a CC like most people do...? I only recently used my phone for payments (lost card and was waiting for replacement), and did not find it any more convenient than using a card. Lighting: Do you need to do this only at home or away from home? If the former, buy a Google Home (albeit that has its own issues...) Car/house key: Sorry, no experience with this. I'd be terrified of using my phone that way. Health tracker: No experience with this, so I don't know how you use it and what the alternatives are. > Half a decade ago I eliminated all my social media. Then about a year ago I started by removing work email and messaging from my phone.The next step will be having a designated spot for it to stay while I'm home. Good steps. I never allowed work stuff on my phone. And if I take it out at home, I'll leave it wherever I took it out. I have a PC so I don't need the phone (and yes, it's great that the PC is not mobile). I use my VoIP line as my main phone, so I have those all around the house. People know I may not answer my cell phone at home due to me not hearing it ring. > thick wallet How thick is thick? 1-2 credit cards, 1-2 debit cards. Not that thick.
• wetpaws 3y ago
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• Tagbert 3y ago
  Do people really want to quit their smartphone? I certainly don’t. It connects me to people, provides information, and lets me capture information when I want to. I do not feel overwhelmed by it. I do restrict notifications to specific apps and people. The rest, I check on a couple of times a day. Why would I want to quit?
  • darth_avocado 3y ago
    People don’t want to quit smartphones, they want to quit what’s in them and that can be hard. Sometimes you just have apps that are a time sink. You can obviously delete them and call it a day, but sometimes you want to keep it around for a small use case, but then want to limit your usage to a minimum, which can be hard because these apps are literally designed to make you spend as much time on them as possible.
    • XorNot 3y ago
      This triggers my "learn some self-discipline" instinct. It's such a learned helplessness statement "oh no, I can't possibly not open the reddit app 30 times a day. Save me from myself." Like, I get it, it's not easy but it's also a pretty basic part of being an adult. Like brushing your teeth, eating healthily or doing exercise (which is to say: if you think "I have problems with those too" then the problem really isn't your smartphone).
      • lethologica 3y ago
        This is like saying to addicts “Just stop smoking crack”. Everyone knows smoking crack is bad for you. A lot of people want to quit but are unable to no matter how much “self discipline” they have. And app developers have teams of people dedicated to making sure you stay on these apps longer and longer. Now imagine your dealer is in your pocket 24/7.
        • skidd0 3y ago
          Except crack and other drugs form physical dependencies which leads to withdrawal. Smart phone addicts have a more psychological battle. That's the willpower/self-discipline part. How do you build discipline? Practice! So, yeah, it can be as simple as telling yourself "just stop using the apps" as often as you can to build up the skill.
• chias 3y ago
  I was never in the "heavy smartphone users" category, but one thing I found that nonetheless shrank my usage significantly was switching to the "Niagara" launcher app (Android). If you are somebody that doesn't want to keep getting "sucked" into your phone, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
  • jskherman 3y ago
    I also switched to Niagara Launcher, and it's great especially with the new icons update (everything looks so consistent)! It decreased my usage as well but I still find myself going back to old habits whenever stress mounts, despite having Niagara Pro, enabling Morning mode, and Notification summaries. Any tips you could share that have helped you further decrease your usage?
    • johndhi 3y ago
      Why would you recommend Niagara?
      • jskherman 3y ago
        Niagara is very clean and a unique take on launchers. I don't need to fiddle with "home screens" anymore and just have my most used apps right there. And for the less frequently used ones, it's just one swipe with my thumb (see the demo) or with a more targeted search. The launcher was designed of having one hand (primarily thumb use) to use in mind. It prevents me from going down the rabbit hole of adjusting widgets and swiping a lot to find things. It also has a new update on icons. I finally now have consistent icons even for rare apps (e.g. specific to your country/locale) after a long long time. It honestly feels a lot better when specific apps (designed to catch your attention with the "notification dots") don't stand out.
    • chias 3y ago
      Do not put the apps you want to reduce usage of in your favorites. The act of pulling them out of the alphabetized list or searching for them when you want to use them adds just enough (for me) friction that it becomes a necessarily deliberate action. Make your homescreen boring.
• justina20 3y ago
  [dead]
• RossBencina 3y ago
  It's a shame Nokia/HMD Global seem to have dropped KaiOS for their latest feature phones. I'm struggling to find a viable VoLTE-compatible alternative to my 8110 4G.
• seam_carver 3y ago
  I have an e ink smartphone, specifically a Hisense A9. It has the same screen as a Kindle. It is wonderful for productive stuff like reading, messaging is passable, and videos are pretty much unusable. It's wonderful, I've read so many books now.
  • crossroadsguy 3y ago
    It has Android 11 as of today; with no information of upgradability. I would not ever recommend anyone to use such an outdated OS in today's world even on their secondary phone. It's just unsafe. If it is to be used as a "reader" device then, well, whatever. But in that case why not just use a "reader device" then.
    • girvo 3y ago
      > But in that case why not just use a "reader device" then. Which there are much cheaper options in the same form factor! The InkPalm 5 is 1/3rd the cost. Neat little gadget too.
    • geokon 3y ago
      What attack vector are you envisioning?
      • rrr_oh_man 3y ago
        Stealing all them ebookz
      • batch12 3y ago
        Sms, email, web browsing, messaging apps, wireless networks with other infected devices, or physical access to the device, for starters.
        • geokon 3y ago
          Are you trolling? Please show me an SMS I can send to someone with an Android 11 phone that will give me access to it
• Apocryphon 3y ago
  As important as this issue is, I have to wonder if it has eclipsed desktop addiction, after all both are just manifestations of browser, or rather internet addiction.
  • code_duck 3y ago
    Mobile devices have hooked a lot of people who weren't interested in desktops or laptops. They also created the ability to use the internet or play games in places people would have been unlikely to use computing devices before, like at a restaurant or on the bus. I’d ask how much it’s related TV, but on the other hand I often see people doing both at once.
    • Apocryphon 3y ago
      That’s fair, and I’m sure compulsive use in public isn’t great, but it feels like such addiction is comparatively less time spent than an office worker who’s on a desktop for the majority of the day.
  • Syonyk 3y ago
    Oh, absolutely. A desktop is far, far less "fanged" than a phone. It's not with you all the time, and it generally can't send notifications if you don't have a webpage open (I know there are the "web notifications" every shady site wants to use, but they're off by default, vs on by default for phones). Going back to a desktop computer that you turn off regularly (so there's some friction waiting for it to boot) is one of the best ways to approach the internet these days.
    • Apocryphon 3y ago
      Yeah, but these days almost all white collar workers are on a desktop at least eight hours a day, and when you go home at night wouldn’t you prefer the form factor of a larger screen rather than a handheld one?
      • Syonyk 3y ago
• insearchoflost 3y ago
  When my last android died in a freak accident all I had was a spare iPhone mini. I find simply not having a good screen size for reading has cut down on my usage by easily half. I suspect e-ink phone users probably have similar effective phone aversion. iPhone text prediction constantly messing with me didn’t help either. I’m sure it’s tunable somewhere, I just don’t care anymore.
  • 0x38B 3y ago
    I also have a small iPhone, but have had the opposite experience; text looks great thanks to the quality and resolution of the display and I far prefer it to my laptop for reading, with the exception of PDFs (my iPad was great for those).
• wintorez 3y ago
  The strategy that has worked for me so far is to delete all any addicting app (entertainment, social media, etc) that has a web version. I still can access them with browser, but the experience is not the same, so after a while, I get bored, and close them.
  • hilux 3y ago
    I do this too. Of course, the companies fight back, e.g. Facebook messaging isn't (last I checked) available through the Facebook-in-the-browser; it requires the Messenger app.
    • davesmylie 3y ago
      https://mbasic.facebook.com https://mbasic.facebook.com - at least for now a cut down version that still allows messenger designed for those with low bandwidth. I would be curious to hear your experience - it's been functional for me for quite some time, but just recently it's had a banner declaring that it was going away....
      • kmstout 3y ago
        It also provides easy access to the "poke" functionality.
    • interbased 3y ago
      This is correct for messenger.com itself, but you can access Messenger through Facebook.com - it's just another tab on the website. If you don't want to visit Facebook.com, though, then yes you're out of luck.
  • cortesoft 3y ago
    Well I am screwed, then, because I already only access everything via the web browser on my phone, I don’t have any entertainment or social media apps… but I still browse hackernews and Reddit too much.
    • 3y ago
• NaOH 3y ago
  “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety, the opposite of addiction is connection.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs
• deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
• avensec 3y ago
  This mantra has served me well for the past five years: My phone is there when I need it, not when the infinity of the internet wants my attention. My work/friends/family have gotten used to the full-time Do Not Disturb. They can call me if they need me, which my Garmin watch will show.
• Syonyk 3y ago
  I am so glad to see this backlash. It's been a long time coming. We've tried smartphones out for the past... oh, decade and change. They've been around longer, but were niche enough that they didn't dominate society, and even around the start of the iPhone era, "Crackberry" and such were common enough terms (with "Put all your devices in the center, whoever picks theirs up first buys the next round" being a fun game to play in certain company). The results are solidly in: They're an utter disaster for most people, and for society at large. In no particular order, they ruin social interactions in public situations (think "talking to people in the grocery line" - though I've seen fewer people on their phones lately and can get some conversations going), they're utterly toxic for teenagers (especially teenage girls - studies vary on just how bad it is, but "awful" is a good start), and on through the ages. I think it's important for the "techie sorts" to very actively reject that which smartphones (and most of consumer tech, really...) has become, and that's one reason I carry a flip phone instead of a defanged smartphone - it's visually different and stands out as a "... wait, you carry one of those?" conversation starter. I've been trying very hard to get back to an offline-first life. And dumping the smartphone is a key step there.
  • deely3 3y ago
    > they ruin social interactions in public situations (think "talking to people in the grocery line" I DONT WANT TO TALK to people in grocery line, especially when I don't have a phone. I perfectly ok to just stand quietly. > they're utterly toxic for teenagers sometimes, and still we have to be sure that its a phone and not society.
    • dorkwood 3y ago
      > I DONT WANT TO TALK to people in grocery line, especially when I don't have a phone. I perfectly ok to just stand quietly. I do! My day is almost always made better by a random encounter with a stranger. I wish I was confident enough to start those interactions myself, but I always inevitably think back to messages such as yours, and my anxiety gets the better of me.
      • 3y ago
• omoikane 3y ago
  Articles about feature phones seem to show up every few months, this thread has a list of pointers to previous articles: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37875480 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37875480
• sandbx 3y ago
  check out How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy (Odell, Jenny) ... the punchline is that it is always there, you just have to find a reason to not want it. Also, going through the feature checklist on https://www.dumbphones.org/ https://www.dumbphones.org/ made me realize how many of these things are so helpful. I checked all the ones I would want, and there were no dumbphones that supported them. GPS Navigation, Group Text, Hotspot, WiFi Calling, Rideshare, Camera, Calendar Sync. And, if it can do all those things, its not that dumb.
  • slothtrop 3y ago
    That's why I liked my blackberry so much. It was a tool first and foremost, whereas consumers now want a multimedia delivery experience. I didn't care that BB fell short at that, but the market did.
• sampli 3y ago
  I just have a smartphone but with no addicting apps on it. I find having features like mobile banking and a basic web browser are necessary to stay efficient. Also mobile 2fa (not sms)
• hiddencost 3y ago
  I've been enjoying a smart watch. I turned off notifications and it only wakes when I tap it.
  • gnicholas 3y ago
    Is it a cellular watch? Do you allow anything to punch through DND, like if someone calls multiple times in a row, or a Favorite contact messages you?
  • vonjuice 3y ago
    I'm wondering what would stop me from tapping it every 5 minutes.
• gnicholas 3y ago
  I've considered trying to reduce my smartphone usage by getting a cellular AW. I need to be reachable in emergences, want to be trackable by family, and want to be able to navigate and take an Uber if needed. But not having an easily-scrollable app interface would help me cut down on mindless internet consumption. Has anyone tried this?
  • red369 3y ago
    I’ve often been keen to try this, but I’ve never been convinced the battery life is long enough. From reading Reddit anecdotes, sounds like 11-12 hours might be possible with minimal usage - would that be enough for you?
• anonzzzies 3y ago
  I use my smartphone mostly like a computer for work; research or look up stuff I want to implement. I don’t have dead-scroll social media apps installed and I don’t call; people can send text via different chat apps because that’s async so no chance of distracting me. It’s always on dnd or sleep. Done this for almost a decade now; works well.
• 6510 3y ago
  I imagine a 3 minute delay on everything would work.
• Stranger43 3y ago
  It's not the smartphone as much as the negative synergy between many to many shortform social media and the always there smartphone that is creating all of the damage. If you uninstall every social media app from the smartphone and configure every one to one communication app to silent mode most if not all of the negative impact that your smartphone have on your life will probably go away or become trivial issues. But then again that's kind of like turning your smartphone into an dumpphone, and decrease the need for a big new expensive one every 18-24 months. The problem with smartphone centric asocial media is that they discourage one to one and longform messages so what you get is the equivalent of a crowd of people shouting slogans at each other and while that can be tremendeusly entertaining it's mentally draining and rarely lead to closer relationships or constructive dialogue. Add to this is the fact that.there is indications that being bored is actually beneficial to long term mental health.
• primax 3y ago
  I find disabling all notification sounds and vibrations, with the exception of the phone ringer does the job for me. I'd like to get rid of the smartphone entirely, but it's a great podcast and audiobook delivery device.
• system2 3y ago
  There is nothing wrong with smartphones, it is what people use them for. Remove social media from your phones and you are good. If you are unable to delete social media apps then you have an addiction problem. Consult a doctor or just simply become a responsible adult.
• arthurofbabylon 3y ago
  I appreciate how this article acknowledges that once an addicting device is in our hands, we are to some degree at its mercy. So the best intervention is environmental: get rid of the device. I employ a lightweight version: in my home is a "charging station" where it is easy to place a device and then forget about it. Some days I don't even see my phone until noon. If I drop my device at the charging station when I walk past it or when I get home, it's likely I won't pick it up for many hours. This practice has been a game changer for elongating my attention span and conducting myself with greater presence. Notes: - There's no downside to this strategy; I still have a 2-factor auth device, maps for travel, music for car rides, convenient contactless payment, etc. - The charging station should be away from the main living areas and bedroom – mine is in a hallway's open cupboard near the main entrance. - The "charging" part of the charging station is a misnomer, you don't have to charge anything, but the label serves as an enticement to drop off the device.
  • 0xEF 3y ago
    I do this, though using a different term for the station. Mine is called a "key catch" since I also plop my wallet, keys and the rest of my EDC on this shelf that is also fitted to charge my phone. My trouble is that it's not necessarily the phone I'm addicted to, but screens in general. I have a tablet that floats around the house, and my laptop is never far away, so without the phone in hand, I'm reaching for one of those two preferred devices. The justification is that I'm not playing games or endlessly scrolling social media. If I'm on my tablet, I'm reading news or a book. If I'm on my laptop, I'm working on a project or learning something. I view my devices as tools, so any use of them is intended to inform me or further my understanding on something. Still, I arguably spend too much time on all of them collectively and I am not clear if this is healthy or not, but it does make me happier than my actual job or going out into the community which inevitably involves spending money I don't need to spend. Of the people who know me and understand this, nobody seems alarmed by my behavior. I mentioned that because I deal with substance abuse in my life as a 12-year-sober recovering alcoholic. When we start applying the word "addiction" and it's barbed hooks to things like technology, I take notice. I'd argue that it depends on what you are doing with said device. Doom scrolling? Gambling? Eroding your self-worth by comparing yourself to people on Instagram? Watching vapid YouTubers read listicles from Reddit? The activity matters...BUT, is the person performing the activity getting some joy from it without harming themselves or others? It's a sticky subject, to me, but one worth discussing.
• jmfldn 3y ago
  Does anyone here use both a dumbphone AND a smartphone? I was thinking I could call forward from my smartphone to my dumbphone when I'm leaving the former at home. Seems like a good compromise?
  • prmoustache 3y ago
    That sounds complicated. I would say if one cannot live without a smartphone (for stuff like banking and all + instant messaging) a good middle ground between a dumb and a smartphone is a kaios (formerly FirefoxOS) phone + an android or ipad tablet for home. KaiOS phones usually have a small screen and are underpowered which limit the appeal of browsing and doing too much shit on social medias but the basics are there: - google maps - whatsapp - a web browser - wikipedia - note taking - audio player - a small camera (not for nice pictures but to snap information) - 2FA OTP app Usually all the stuff you might really need an android for (banking, healthcare, whatever) can wait for you to be home but you can still decide to bring a tablet in a bag when you know you will need it for a specific task (or when travelling).
    • jmfldn 3y ago
      Agreed, it is a bit complex. I've looked into KaiOS, but I read that its future looks murky at best. In principle though, I like this idea. https://www.reddit.com/r/KaiOS/comments/15wn0co/is_kaios_dead_maybe_not_or_maybe/ https://www.reddit.com/r/KaiOS/comments/15wn0co/is_kaios_dea...
• Covalence_ 3y ago
  Most of my time-wasters (games, forums, youtube) are better on the bigger screen, which helps keep it from leaving the house with me (and keeps my smartphone usage down, in turn). The apps are there, but I don't pull out the phone for much except texts, pictures, or when I'm stuck in a quiet waiting room.
• kpmcc 3y ago
  I've been using the Cat S22 as my main device for the past month or so and have found it to be pretty much exactly what I was looking for. It's a flip phone that runs android, so can still use whatsapp, signal, email, maps, use rideshare apps, scan qr codes, and play music, but is limited enough that I'm not scrolling on it during free interstitial moments. The screen is too small to really be useful for reading the internet or using something like instagram, but I'm not totally cut off from friends and family. I've used other dumbphones in the past, notably the Punkt MP01 and the Light Phone II and the Cat feels like one I could use indefinitely and not have to have another device handy. The only exception I would note is that I recently got back from traveling to a foreign country and a city I'd never been and I think I would have rather had a smart phone there.
• RamblingCTO 3y ago
  I like my smartphone and just use it consciously. How about less black/white? I don't want to quit it. And I don't think most people don't want to either, they probably just want to quit behaviour/apps and not the whole thing. It connects me to my family and friends very well. Pictures, voice messages etc. I can dump my thoughts into a notes app to be transferred into my journal later on. I can check insta for a bit of motivation (using it mindfully!). I only have hiking, offroading and trailrunning content and I'm happy with that. Checking some nature motivates me. And if the algorithm tries to fuck me over (which happens very fast), I let it be. Works for me.
• nonrandomstring 3y ago
  Some years after publishing Digital Vegan [0] I still get occasional messages from people thanking me profoundly for helping them get free. Maybe I got a few things right. AFAIK the review epub [1] has been on the torrents for ages. [0] https://digitalvegan.net https://digitalvegan.net [1] https://digitalvegan.net/review/digital-vegan-reviewerscopy.epub https://digitalvegan.net/review/digital-vegan-reviewerscopy....
• Findecanor 3y ago
  The trick is to never start. In the early noughties I had saved a woman from being hit by a train: she had been texting and walking without minding her surroundings. That scared me, and I vowed to never become like her. I got my first and only smartphone in 2020, mostly to get a inexpensive, decent digital camera — because simple cameras that are not smartphones are not made any more. I had been evaluating different models for several months, and mostly been disappointed with how bad the smartphone landscape is compared to computers. I chose the one I thought was the least bad (Google Pixel 4a). The biggest problem I have had without a cellphone is with other people who just blatantly make assumptions about how I have/use it. I had to start using SIM cards in late 2022 only for 2FA to my online health records.
• brainzap 3y ago
  We call each other out: "No phones", in the family and company.
• prmoustache 3y ago
  Wait, do people get their smartphone out of their pocket or look at it while in a meeting? I am working remote nowadays but pre covid I would have found this rude and that person would have been called out during the meeting and asked to keep attention or leave. Obviously when everybody is talking from their laptop in a videocall, source of distractions and the lure of multitasking is much stronger.
• csvm 3y ago
  On my family's iPhones, we have a Shortcut (automation) that kicks in every evening at 9 pm: 1. Turn Mobile Data Off 2. Turn Bluetooth Off 3. Turn WiFi Off 4. Turn AppleTV off (this one is fun because it can cut off a show mid-sentence) 5. Set brightness to 10%. Then, a reverse of the above at 6am the following day. Normal phone signal is still enabled for any emergency calls, but most apps become useless without the internet.
  • causal 3y ago
    That's cool, but also a testament to the adversarial relationship we have with our phones.
• vbezhenar 3y ago
  I'm using my iPhone at home. I need it, because in my country there are banking apps and government apps which are almost mandatory to use. My car has some crappy navigation which is good enough along with my memory for most of my routes. Other that that, I bought vintage samsung phone and using it as my main phone. Sometimes I'm carrying my iPhone, but not often. I also don't use it regularly for stuff other people use like instagram, etc. My work chats are in the browser and my auxiliary chats can live with one-two check-ups in a week. And if someone need me, he can just call me. I didn't really made it a crusade or something like that, I just found at some point that I don't need smartphone for most of my use-cases. Ordinary phone battery works for few weeks. I have watch on my wrist to check on time.
• 1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago
  I would like to see a pure pocket computer. No baseband, just a computer. No need for mobile data. Ideally, I would have two devices: a mobile phone and a pocket computer. Sometimes I might carry the computer. Other times not. "He said he slept better, felt more productive at work and had more meaningful communications. Mr. Epstein, a Hasidic Jew, said his choice of device was not unusual in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which encourages the use of "kosher phones" with limited internet access."
• b800h 3y ago
  The real killer is the lack of an authenticator app. I'd be interested to know what other people use for that purpose if they're not carrying a mobile.
  • evrimoztamur 3y ago
    I use my password manager’s built-in TOTP generator, and a Yubikey whenever possible. There are some SMS-only services but that’s a very small minority.
• seba_dos1 3y ago
  "systemctl poweroff" is usually enough.
  • syncbehind 3y ago
    Watch out, you don't want to be too edgy.
• debok 3y ago
  I found the following 3 measures quite helpful to make my smartphone less intrusive in my daily life: 1: I don't bring my smartphone into my bedroom. My bedroom is a personal and intimate space, no need for the outside world to barge in via smartphone. 2: I disable or silence every notification I get. The only time my phone draws my attention is if I am getting a phone call, my wife texts me, or if I get a Pagerduty. 3: I uninstalled or disabled all social media apps. Number 2 had the biggest impact on my family and work life. When I spend time with my kids, my phone only rarely interrupts me.
  • calvinmorrison 3y ago
    Skip pagerduty. When I was oncall I carried a regular pager. Cost about $10 bucks a month, took 1 AA battery per month, very reliable, clipped onto my belt, and it gets service Everywhere. basements, underground garages, top of the towers. And it beeps VERY loudly.
  • ProllyInfamous 3y ago
    Re: #2 My phone is like yours, it only rings for a certain few. I do not know what "Pagerduty" is, but I purchased numeric telephone paging service [to a "beeper"] and give this number to the few important people in my life that need to be able to get my attention. Surprisingly, paging services still exist across metro-US, even in 2024 [I use pagerdirect, no affiliation]. #4: I rarely leave my house with a cell phone, and it is heavenly. Asking anybody to "leave their phone behind" invokes constant anxiety in most travel companions...
    • valbaca 3y ago
      > I do not know what "Pagerduty" is You lucky bastard. It's for getting paged into on-call events. It shows you don't go on-call which makes me want to know...is your company hiring? haha
• lofaszvanitt 3y ago
  I'm an early anti smartphone person. I have an old RAZR v6 and love it. For starters: Don't bring your phone to the grociers, to walks, turn off all kinds of notifications, read mail once a day, or week. All kinds of apps that require your attention should be removed/muted.
• melenaboija 3y ago
  I would love to see a youtube/spotify… only, bluetooth, phone size device. I listen to podcasts while working and to go to bed, listen to music and play music for my daughter (youtube time is 90% listening). Does someone have a recommendation?
  • penjelly 3y ago
    use an old phone after you upgrade, turn off LTE and use wifi only, then use parental controls to prevent installing new apps
• swah 3y ago
  Smartphones are awesome. You can use them to play chess, read books on the go, pay your bills while taking a dump and send your mom pictures of your baby.
• jlengrand 3y ago
  I'm surprised more people are not talking about the main reason I keep a high end smartphone in my pocket : photo quality. I got rid of social media apps a while ago, and except for Spotify I feel like I could manage without a smartphone; but none of them have a good enough photo quality for me (that and the icloud sync)? Am I missing something?
  • apwell23 3y ago
    >Am I missing something? I don't really care about taking high quality photos ( or any photos)
    • jlengrand 3y ago
      Well, indeed in that case it doesn't matter as much. But with 2 kids, taking high quality photos is number 2 on my phone whishlist, right after being an actual phone
    • joenot443 3y ago
      When you experience something novel or special, do you not feel inclined to capture a moment of it so it can be better remembered? When you go out with friends you haven't seen in a while, isn't it nice to have a photo to compare with to see how much you've changed? I think given the options of a) having a photographical recollection of your life and b) having nothing, I'm not sure why would one pick the latter.
  • natdempk 3y ago
    No, but this is a big reason for your average person that your typical HN commenter might overlook. :) Most people I talk to these days notice the camera quality as one of the main upgrades on new phone, and the behavior of caring about the person with the latest and greatest phone taking the group picture is almost universal. I think this especially applies to parents/families.
• zkid18 3y ago
  I bought a KaiOS device a few years ago and use it mostly on weekends. It supports basic messaging and internet browsing, so I won't get lost if something emergent happens. No news, feeds, or any other unnecessary stuff.
• chiefalchemist 3y ago
  Probably not popular to go off on this branch but... The Problem is not the tool. The problem isn't even the users per se. The Problem is that the "curators" (?) of the experience(s) provided by the tool have their own best interests in mind. They're not working to better us, they have their own self-serving agenda. I recently read "Stand Out of Our Light". To paraphrase what was for me a key paragraph: "Some of the best and brightest experts on human behavior are being generously funded by some of the most influential and wealthiest companies in the history of the world...to tilt as much as possible in their own favor (not our own). Given that reality, we don't stand a chance.' It's not us. It's them. To believe other at this pount is naive. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/stand-out-of-our-light/3F8D7BA2C0FE3A7126A4D9B73A89415D https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/stand-out-of-our-light/...
• bigie35 3y ago
  FWIW I've had a lot of success with this neat little device: https://getbrick.app/ https://getbrick.app/ $40 and no subscription. No affiliation with the founders (who I believe have bootstrapped their business).
• bowsamic 3y ago
  If you want to reduce your addiciton to your smartphone you should analyse the psychological origins of your addiction. Quitting just your smartphone feels a bit like treating the symptom, rather than the cause. That said, modern psychology is often dismissive of causes bc they are harder to empirically study, and this kind of thinking has really dominated pop psychology now
• darrmit 3y ago
  I did this back in 2012 after using Android and iPhone for the previous 4-5 years and despite really finding it a good experience, even then it was becoming difficult to live without maps and a camera. I've been thinking about it again, though, and the one thing I've tried to find is a decent keyboard phone for texting. I don't mind going without a browser, etc. on my phone, but I do find communication via text to be valuable and I don't want to go back to T9 or a phone keypad to try to do it.
  • causal 3y ago
    Same story for a lot of people: Smartphones are indispensable because of like 5 utilities, that come attached to like 50 more things that clamor for your time and attention. Super useful: - Maps / Travel - Messaging/Calling - Camera / Gallery - Search / information lookup - Banking - Authentication But then there's: - Ads everywhere - Notifications clamoring for attention, even from the useful apps. - 10 flavors of social media (which has to include HN, even if it's less intrusive than most). It's like the utility and connections it gives you are bait. I seldom feel at rest, never fully trusting an app on my phone to want to give me the best experience possible.
• al2o3cr 3y ago
  There was some grumbling when the initiative was proposed, with some predicting that people would quit. But that didn’t happen, Mr. Epstein said. A completely unbiased datapoint, clearly! /eyeroll
• blakeburch 3y ago
  I recently switched to a flip phone in January as an experiment. My main goal was to eliminate my scrolling habits in any form of downtime, as I was becoming increasingly unhappy and noticed it was affecting my eyes negatively. Most of the benefits came from the friction the device itself causes. The texting experience was terrible, so I texted less. The internet browser was laughable, so I just pulled out my laptop when I needed to look something up. Did I enjoy the flip phone? Absolutely not. The experience was terrible. But I did learn some lessons. It made me appreciate my smart phone for what it was - a computer in my pocket. The more I can think of it as a tool to use at my disposal, the less of a distraction the device itself becomes. By disabling notifications for every app, I essentially get the same experience as a flip phone. I browse the web through apps to do a specific activity when the need strikes. Other than that, it stays in my pocket (or more likely at home, in the couch cushion). Plus, I also learned that I like the idea of memorizing directions more than using turn-by-turn nav. It makes me pay more attention to the roads and I gain a better familiarity with my area.
• hospitalJail 3y ago
  I've done stuff like this. Actually made me socially isolated, I had a few close friends, but lost my acquaintances and people I was familiar with. I don't really buy into these anti-society articles anymore.
  • causal 3y ago
    The article is about spending less time on your phone in order to be more present in-person. Calling that "anti-society" is wild. That said, I'll agree that it is increasingly difficult to participate in some spheres without specific apps. The article discusses this too. It is an alarming trend that excludes those who are unable to or cannot afford to use smartphones.
• magicmicah85 3y ago
  I would rather not go back to a flip phone, so good on anyone that can and is happy with it. I do not miss T9 texting. What worked for me was I shifted my mind to stop thinking of my phone as a daily necessity and more as a multi-function tool. Screen Time helped to identify the apps I'm using the most. I started with deleting the time wasting apps - Reddit, twitter, tiktok, instagram - all gone. If it's really important, I'll go on a computer or use safari but otherwise I just don't care for anything happening on there anymore. For awhile I would pick up my phone, realize there's nothing interesting on it and go do something else. I've read 6 books so far this year. I'm on pace to 5x my reading from last year. I'm watching movies or tv with complete attention, where I used to be confused as to what was going on cause I'd be on my phone. Whatever helps you get rid of your unskillful habits, keep at it. The rest of the world is always going to be vying for your attention, it's yours to spend how you choose.
  • Syonyk 3y ago
    > I do not miss T9 texting. I don't mind it. It's easier to do half-blind and just sanity check your results. But more importantly, it's been a thing I use to move some longer form interactions to email. I won't have a long form conversation via text anymore, I go to a proper keyboard.
• throw4847285 3y ago
  Smartphones have certainly made my life significantly worse. I'm so glued to my smartphone that it has even replaced other kinds of time-wasting considered to be frivolous. I don't play video games, I don't watch TV. I'm just scrolling all the time. It's hard to explain to my therapist that, no, I would like to spend more time playing video games. From there I think it will be much easier to build in more time for reading books or being a good partner and parent. The smart phone feels like the biggest obstacle. Of course I know that it takes two to tango, and if I didn't have treatment-resistant ADHD the phone wouldn't have it's hooks in me the way it does. Back to the treatment drawing board, I guess.
  • nehal3m 3y ago
    In a lot of cases I'd argue getting rid of the thing costs you more than you'd gain but in your case a year long retreat might help a lot. It sounds like your phone (and the services running on it) is literally siphoning away your life, maybe getting rid if your home internet connection (gasp!) should be part of the consideration.
• greenie_beans 3y ago
  the cat phone looks sick! wish it was available for verizon customers. i've been using the light phone for a while but tired of carrying a gps everywhere.
• kbf 3y ago
  I think it’s weird how we talk about phones like they are the problem and not social media. I love my phone, it’s one of the most useful things I own. I also had problems with wasting time and attention on social media and I solved it by uninstalling whatever apps I felt had a negative effect on my life.
• Ostrogoth 3y ago
  I was a relative early adopter of smartphones, and have used one for most of my adult life (since university). For me it is an incredibly useful and almost irreplaceable daily tool: - photography and audio recording - note taking - maps/navigation/compass - email - file management - messaging/audio communication - tickets and traveling - language translation (does anyone have a recommendations for a less privacy invasive tool similar to Google Lens translation?) - calculators - emergency flashlight - fitness and health tracking - time keeping/alarms/timers - weather - quickly looking up information online - reminders/calendars and task management - books (both text and audio) - music storage and playback - banking/finance/payments - passwords and token management is far more convenient I’m also on call for work 24/7, so quickly having access to employer’s and customer’s communication service, software, and files is a requirement. All of these tasks could be completed using multiple different tools, but with immensely greater friction and difficulty. It amplifies and augments mental capabilities. The downsides as I see them so far: - Constant access to data, distractions, news, communication reduces ability to focus and can create mental fatigue (but I already had issues with focusing anyway, so the benefits of time management outweigh the cons) - Social media…enough said - probably reduces memory and mental capacity as its easier to simply look something up or run a quick calculation than to remember data or do mental math. So while it can augment mental capacity, it can also become a crutch. Like every new technology there are both benefits and cons. It requires leveraging the new technology in a way that benefits you, and mitigating or managing any negative impacts.
• theodric 3y ago
  Tell ya what I want (and actually built a prototype of, but gave up on in favor of alcoholism mid-pandemic): a Bluetooth A2DP-enabled, Wi-Fi capable podcast playing device. I don't want to have to go power on a computer to sync my player with the latest episodes, and I also don't want to be stuck with wired headphones like it's 2007 again. Give me that and I will walk away from the smartphone with little to no negative impact on my life.
• EasyMark 3y ago
  I came up with a practical way of moderating your smartphone. Turn off the sound and alerts. If there are a few people you need to let through (wife/kids/boss) then put them on a white list. Log out of all your social media accounts when you're done with them immediately. Log in when you want to check them, that pain point will reduce your usage, especially if you're smart and have turned on TOTP or other 2FA. That's pretty much all it took.
• lrvick 3y ago
  A run a B2B tech company in Silicon Valley and have been without any mobile phone for 3 years. Started as an experiment but at this point I enjoy my increased privacy and renewed attention span too much to have an interest in going back. I have enough internet access on laptops and desktops. I do not also need to be online every second between access to those devices.
• rldjbpin 3y ago
  having used a candybar nokia during early 4g smartphone era, things like not being able to find your way in a new city and paying unreasonable price for international phone calls are not something i'd like to go back to. i believe that once you disconnect social media and games from your phone usage, you take care of 99% of the issues people have with modern devices. i understand that doing that also is a big task, but so is going back to flip phones of the past. personally i am plenty distracted without my phone, and i get my fair share without using it a lot. but in my profession i cannot afford to get rid of all tech altogether. i hope there are ways people go about it.