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I reckon that all these "productive" takes on smartphones don't really solve the issue, they end up being too "dumb". The one big thing that makes smartphones a

I reckon that all these "productive" takes on smartphones don't really solve the issue, they end up being too "dumb". The one big thing that makes smartphones addictive is not all the apps: it's the big beautiful piece of glass at the front. The screen is what makes smartphones addictive. You can tell just by looking at the history of them. So my ideal productivity device would be a smartphone underneath - full android, great cameras, decent processor - but the screen would be small and rubbish. Let me do everything I want to do, just make it unpleasant to do it unless I really need to.

bee_rider 1y ago
I’m under the impression that the main problem of cellphone addiction is that stuff like short form video is too addictive—YouTube, and then TikTok just made it worse. IMO an e-ink (or whatever it is, black and white and, I think it is non-emissive?) screen with a small text-only OLED display is pretty good. But, to be called a productivity device, it needs a bigger screen and a full keyboard. This thing is a PDA. Which is fine. But a PDA is an organization and communication device, right? Not productivity. Making it unpleasant to use seems like a mistake. Productivity requires ergonomics, and ergonomic things are pleasant to use, there’s no getting around it. But we can maybe kill off the flashiness.
- Gigachad 1y ago
  It's so easy to get sucked in to scrolling short videos. You can uninstall the apps which makes it a bit better. The worst offender is Youtube which I keep for music but can't remove shorts from.
- magarnicle 1y ago
  An e-ink display allows me to get sucked into reading on my phone. It eliminates half my time-sinks but makes the other half a little nicer. A device with a bad screen would make my productivity go up overall, but I wouldn't be using the device to do any work. So perhaps what's needed for productivity on the device itself is in fact a much bigger screen. Those "tri-fold" phones might be big enough, if you could somehow also fit a usable keyboard in your pocket along with the phone.
  - bee_rider 1y ago
    I wonder if what we need is a device that only allows internet access to search ARXIV and get emails, or something.

bee_rider 1y ago

I’m under the impression that the main problem of cellphone addiction is that stuff like short form video is too addictive—YouTube, and then TikTok just made it worse. IMO an e-ink (or whatever it is, black and white and, I think it is non-emissive?) screen with a small text-only OLED display is pretty good. But, to be called a productivity device, it needs a bigger screen and a full keyboard. This thing is a PDA. Which is fine. But a PDA is an organization and communication device, right? Not productivity. Making it unpleasant to use seems like a mistake. Productivity requires ergonomics, and ergonomic things are pleasant to use, there’s no getting around it. But we can maybe kill off the flashiness.

Gigachad 1y ago
It's so easy to get sucked in to scrolling short videos. You can uninstall the apps which makes it a bit better. The worst offender is Youtube which I keep for music but can't remove shorts from.
magarnicle 1y ago
An e-ink display allows me to get sucked into reading on my phone. It eliminates half my time-sinks but makes the other half a little nicer. A device with a bad screen would make my productivity go up overall, but I wouldn't be using the device to do any work. So perhaps what's needed for productivity on the device itself is in fact a much bigger screen. Those "tri-fold" phones might be big enough, if you could somehow also fit a usable keyboard in your pocket along with the phone.
- bee_rider 1y ago
  I wonder if what we need is a device that only allows internet access to search ARXIV and get emails, or something.