Will Switching to a Flip Phone Fight Smartphone Addiction? (omanobserver.om) 152
"This December, I made a radical change," writes a New York Times tech reporter — ditching their $1,300 iPhone 15 for a $108 flip phone.
"It makes phone calls and texts and that was about it. It didn't even have Snake on it..." The decision to "upgrade" to the Journey was apparently so preposterous that my carrier wouldn't allow me to do it over the phone.... Texting anything longer than two sentences involved an excruciating amount of button pushing, so I started to call people instead. This was a problem because most people don't want their phone to function as a phone... [Most voicemails] were never acknowledged. It was nearly as reliable a method of communication as putting a message in a bottle and throwing it out to sea...
My black clamshell of a phone had the effect of a clerical collar, inducing people to confess their screen time sins to me. They hated that they looked at their phone so much around their children, that they watched TikTok at night instead of sleeping, that they looked at it while they were driving, that they started and ended their days with it. In a 2021 Pew Research survey, 31 percent of adults reported being "almost constantly online" — a feat possible only because of the existence of the smartphone.
This was the most striking aspect of switching to the flip. It meant the digital universe and its infinite pleasures, efficiencies and annoyances were confined to my computer. That was the source of people's skepticism: They thought I wouldn't be able to function without Uber, not to mention the world's knowledge, at my beck and call. (I grew up in the '90s. It wasn't that bad...
"Do you feel less well-informed?" one colleague asked. Not really. Information made its way to me, just slightly less instantly. My computer still offered news sites, newsletters and social media rubbernecking.
There were disadvantages — and not just living without Google Maps. ("I've got an electric vehicle, and upon pulling into a public charger, low on miles, realized that I could not log into the charger without a smartphone app... I received a robot vacuum for Christmas ... which could only be set up with an iPhone app.") Two-factor authentication was impossible.
But "Despite these challenges, I survived, even thrived during the month. It was a relief to unplug my brain from the internet on a regular basis and for hours at a time. I read four books... I felt that I had more time, and more control over what to do with it... my sleep improved dramatically."
"I do plan to return to my iPhone in 2024, but in grayscale and with more mindfulness about how I use it."
"It makes phone calls and texts and that was about it. It didn't even have Snake on it..." The decision to "upgrade" to the Journey was apparently so preposterous that my carrier wouldn't allow me to do it over the phone.... Texting anything longer than two sentences involved an excruciating amount of button pushing, so I started to call people instead. This was a problem because most people don't want their phone to function as a phone... [Most voicemails] were never acknowledged. It was nearly as reliable a method of communication as putting a message in a bottle and throwing it out to sea...
My black clamshell of a phone had the effect of a clerical collar, inducing people to confess their screen time sins to me. They hated that they looked at their phone so much around their children, that they watched TikTok at night instead of sleeping, that they looked at it while they were driving, that they started and ended their days with it. In a 2021 Pew Research survey, 31 percent of adults reported being "almost constantly online" — a feat possible only because of the existence of the smartphone.
This was the most striking aspect of switching to the flip. It meant the digital universe and its infinite pleasures, efficiencies and annoyances were confined to my computer. That was the source of people's skepticism: They thought I wouldn't be able to function without Uber, not to mention the world's knowledge, at my beck and call. (I grew up in the '90s. It wasn't that bad...
"Do you feel less well-informed?" one colleague asked. Not really. Information made its way to me, just slightly less instantly. My computer still offered news sites, newsletters and social media rubbernecking.
There were disadvantages — and not just living without Google Maps. ("I've got an electric vehicle, and upon pulling into a public charger, low on miles, realized that I could not log into the charger without a smartphone app... I received a robot vacuum for Christmas ... which could only be set up with an iPhone app.") Two-factor authentication was impossible.
But "Despite these challenges, I survived, even thrived during the month. It was a relief to unplug my brain from the internet on a regular basis and for hours at a time. I read four books... I felt that I had more time, and more control over what to do with it... my sleep improved dramatically."
"I do plan to return to my iPhone in 2024, but in grayscale and with more mindfulness about how I use it."
ditch the device (Score:2)
Switch to a flip phone? Why do you need a phone at all?
Re:ditch the device (Score:5, Funny)
calling and texting family and friends is good thing for many people.
this is slashdot and I know many have no friends and mom is just a holler up the basement stairs away
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Yet some how society functioned throughout all of human history just fine without a constant tether to everyone one knows.
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It did, yes. But one of the problems is that society has also changed. We don't live in small tribal villages anymore where if you want to talk to Ugg you just yell his name and he'll hear you.
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It did, yes. But one of the problems is that society has also changed. We don't live in small tribal villages anymore where if you want to talk to Ugg you just yell his name and he'll hear you.
I was alive in the 1990s. It wasn't like that.
Re:ditch the device (Score:5, Insightful)
As was I, and you are right, of course.
But society has also changed since the 90s. For one thing, in the 90s people would pick up the phone when you called them (and they were at home, of course). They wouldn't just let it go to voice mail or the answering machine, only to then ignore the message left. They do that now.
In the 90s you would agree to meet someone several days in the future, and you would both trust the other would be there at roughly the specified time. That is not a thing anymore. If you can't be reached shortly before the agreed upon time the agreement to meet is now assumed to be cancelled.
The world has changed. So much of what we do now has been centered around smart phones and being reachable 24/7, yet without anyone actually wanting to be reachable anymore. It's fine to want to get out of that cycle, I certainly do, but if one person leaves the cycle that does not make the rest of society follow suit. It just means that one guy needs to come up with a lot of workarounds to keep up with the rest of society.
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but since we all carry a phone
The whole premise of this specific thread was "Why do you need a phone at all?"
So yes, a quick message or a quick call about change in plans is the whole argument in favor of "it's nice when folks have a phone on them". Meanwhile the person saying the 90s were fine without cellphones wouldn't be able to make a quick call or message.
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There were solutions to that problem, but one no longer exists and the other would be weird today. If the person could still be reached at home then pay phones were very commonly used. Otherwise sometimes you could call the venue to leave a message for the person you had to cancel last minute on.
Of course this is all in support of the thesis: times have changed, for better or worse (arguably both... it's all trade offs).
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But society has also changed since the 90s. For one thing, in the 90s people would pick up the phone when you called them (and they were at home, of course). They wouldn't just let it go to voice mail or the answering machine, only to then ignore the message left.
Just about everyone I knew did that in the 90s. It was called "call screening." Before "voice mail", physical answering machines would play the message aloud while it recorded. Many people would wait to listen for the person leaving the message and if they wanted to talk to them would pick up. Then caller ID became a thing and people started screening more that way. However, before answering machines and caller ID you're correct ... people would likely pick up unless they didn't want to talk to anyone.
That
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While true, however:
-Meeting up was a pain. You had to declare a time and a place and when someone was hung up in traffic or forgot and did something else, you had no way of knowing.
-On long road trips in multiple cars, it was a pain in the ass if the cars got separated, especially if one got lost
-Any problem on the road became a huge hike hoping to find a pay phone down the road and/or hoping someone else would come along *and* stop to help you
-Parents waiting for kids to come back from a school trip woul
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There's a glaring several hundred (or even several thousand) year gap in your logic there.
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Social isolation? This article is about addiction to screen time and no "socializing" via the internet is not the same as socializing in real life.
As for productivity, yes and no. Plenty of people waste plenty of time on their phones both at work and at home. I'd be surprised if smart phones were a net gain in fact as even flip phones can handle most communication needs.
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The idea is not a a tether "to everyone one knows" but to guarantee quick response to the very few that matter. I don't talk to my parents frequently, but I would not want to miss a call, as it might be their last.
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calling and texting family and friends is good thing for many people.
this is slashdot and I know many have no friends and mom is just a holler up the basement stairs away
=D Please mod parent up!
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Makes little sense when you live where there is no cell service.
I have smartphones, I seem to be required to use one as a Starlink terminal. Little mobile computers I can write apps for my own personal. But I also have a copper-line that is regulated to be functional by the state, with (pitiful) recourse. That's nice, although most around me have thrown that out for legacy sat service or now Starlink with IP connections all on a grid that dips every time it rains hard. Battery backups are essential for mome
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because I need to let my ride know to come pick me up, and pay phones are no longer common
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because I need to let my ride know to come pick me up, and pay phones are no longer common
Payphones are now free in Australia! It was too much hassle to maintain them, so now they are free. IIRC there is some kind of government mandate of a minimum payphone density, so the remaining phones are unlikely to be removed.
Re: ditch the device (Score:2)
First world problems. The rest of us have to drive our own transport.
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If you have a job function where you provide input, feedback, support... then your colleagues or your customers often need to call. At my workplace they use MS Teams for that, but it works just as well with a good old phone number. It also helps filtering. Things like Teams/Slack with a directory enable anyone at the company to call everyone else instantly, and they don't even feel bad about it. While calling on the mobile phone number somehow feels like an invasion of privacy so people are reluctant you ge
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As a flip phone user I can answer that. A phone exists to make and receive phone calls. In an emergency I might need to call someone. The best feature of the phone is that I can see who is calling. If I don't recognize the number I do not answer. If it's important they'll leave a message. Often they leave a message even if it's not important, in that case I also ignore it, or at least fail to respond.
The other function is to send and receive text messages, by which I mean SMS. These are useful for emergenc
Why bother? (Score:4, Interesting)
For most people, the ability to make or receive phone calls is the least important function on a phone (it's amazing we even still call it a "phone").
Other than teenage girls, the ability to send/receive text messages on a device that CAN'T DO ANYTHING ELSE, is of similar limited utility.
Ego, if all a phone does is these two things, why bother having it at all? Just get rid of the damned thing entirely.
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I use an old phone for work - I call clients (or they call me) and I get SMS from our monitoring system. It works great. I would rather talk to someone over the phone than type a long message in a chat program (even on PC with a normal keyboard). A phone call is immediate, and both sides know that the other side has heard what was said.
Re:Why bother? (Score:5, Interesting)
I hate to receive phonecalls, messages are much more convenient. Calls always come at the worst time, and there are lots of public places where its quite obnoxious for people to be taking calls. Calling someone also screams "stop whatever your doing, the trivial matter i'm calling about is more important than whatever you're already doing".
With a message i will ignore it until i'm free to respond, then i'll respond without any pressure.
Re:Why bother? (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of times when I call (or when someone calls me) it is urgent - some server is down etc. A phonecall provides confirmation that the other person heard me. If he does not pick up, then I know for sure and can call someone else if it is really important (or just wait if it is not that important). The alternative is sending a message and then what? Did he read it? Is he doing anything about it? How long should I wait until I send a message to his boss or whoever?
How long do I stand outside in -10C weather waiting for someone to come unlock the door to let me in wondering if that person heard my text message? If I call and he doesn't pick up, then I at least know he didn't pick up.
There is another reason messages are annoying to me is latency. For example, I need someone to unplug a network cable and then plug it back in (or to some other port), while I check the port status, tcpdump or whatever. This is easy during a call, but doing it over text means increased latency and time spent refreshing the port status output or whatever while wondering - did he read it? Maybe I should go do something else because he'll take 30 minutes to read he message?
Similar with email (though, of course, I use email for stuff that is less urgent) - how long should I wait for a reply before going to do something else? 5 minutes? 10? more? I do not want to be interrupted by the reply, but I also do not want our conversation to take days if he responds quickly.
Another thing is that I do not like to have long conversations over typing - if it's some long discussion, but is not urgent, then let's schedule a phone call when we both have time. There are multiple reasons for it. One, it seems that when I take my time to type a long text, the other person may just skim it and ask questions to which I already provided the answers in that long text. If I send one sentence at a time (like it's IRC), then the other person may again start asking questions because I did not type the answers fast enough. Then I have to scrap whatever I was typing and type something else. Talking is faster, especially if I need to go on various tangents based on the responses of the other person.
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The key takeaway is that calls should be scheduled when it's convenient for both parties, or only used for urgent matters.
The vast majority of unscheduled calls i receive are not urgent at all - scam calls, marketing calls, and a small handful of work related calls which would have been much better handled via email or some other form of messaging, to the extent that i have the phone ignore calls unless i'm expecting a scheduled call.
I still end up with too many pointless scheduled calls, where someone want
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Oh yes, when its urgent, do call. Urgent means I know it necessary to drop what I'm doing and help you.
When you need to discuss something, write first, then we call.
Latency is the point of text messaging: When you call and/or request immediate action, it implies that your task/request/time/focus is more important than whatever your counterpart's. See the text you wrote:
> Maybe I should go do something else
> how long should I wait
> I do not want to be interrupted by the reply
All from the perspectiv
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The other party probably thinks the same.
Same applies to the other party. He sent me an email, how long should he wait for my reply before going to do something else or calling if it is urgent? I mean I don't check my email that frequently, maybe once per hour unless I expect an email, in which case I'll do exponential backoff - 1 minutes, 2, 4, 8 ...
Most of the time the issue is important for both of us. I'm sure the client wants his system to go back online as soon as possible, just like I want him to restart something or do something else I ask
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Sounds like you're in some kind of support role.
Indeed, I'm talking from my view from a developer role. That might change perspectives quite a bit.
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Yeah, I'm an admin. I expect people to write an email about some issue if it is not urgent (no problem if I get to it in an hour or two or the next working day) and call me if it is (especially if it's outside working hours, because I can't be bothered to check work email when I'm not working).
When I call them back about the same issue, I expect them to pick up. A text message can be easily missed, a phone call is more difficult to miss and I at least know that he did not pick up.
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A lot of times when I call (or when someone calls me) it is urgent - some server is down etc. A phonecall provides confirmation that the other person heard me.
If you find a lot of your messages get ignored, you either need to take audit of your social circles or seriously look at the content.
People who waffle on are one of the reasons I don't like phone calls.
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I was talking mostly about work stuff. For personal stuff I will text unless 1) it's urgent ("I have arrived as we have scheduled, let me in") or the discussion has to be long (explaining someone over the phone how to reinstall Windows - I am not typing all of that out).
A message is easy to miss and it does not provide any confirmation if the other party received/read it. I sometimes write someone asking if he can talk on the phone and if I got a positive answer, I call him. If I notice that our conversatio
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Yeah that's still two minutes wasted, and disrupts whatever you're doing.
Phone starts ringing, you panic thinking it might be something urgent so you drop what you're doing, take off your gloves or wash your hands as you were in the middle of cooking or working on an oily engine etc, then find out it's a call centre in some far away country trying to ask you questions for some stupid survey and when you tell them you're busy they keep trying until you forcibly hang up on them.
Then you have to resume your ac
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Yeah that's still two minutes wasted, and disrupts whatever you're doing.
You must have every minute of every day planned out to maximize your busy schedule if you're worried about the moment or two it takes to look at an incoming call to see if it's someone you know.
The literal definition of first world problems.
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Other than teenage girls, the ability to send/receive text messages on a device that CAN'T DO ANYTHING ELSE, is of similar limited utility.
I take you don't know many teenage girls... My daughter is pre-teen and she has no use for text-only messaging, with no emoji, no pictures, no files, no links... She and her friends are all on WhatsApp.
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While it's hilarious to read basement dwelling nerd's opinions of what they think teenage girls are like, on the other hand, you know phones have done emojis in text messaging for quite a while right? Even my first phone (Phillips Savvy, with a 2 line LCD matrix screen in about 2000) had limited emoji support. Not universally, and it was very fragmented (which is WHY the unicode consortium added emoji pretty much). Some of my older relatives have dumbphones, and even they can send pictures by some system (M
Re: Why bother? (Score:2)
I donâ(TM)t even use a phone at work. All communication is email, slack or webex. Similarly I may place or accept one actual phone call per week for personal business. My family are all busy and in various blackout windows for school and we mostly use group text to leave messages.
A flip phone is a waste of money at any price. The problem is not smartphones, itâ(TM)s social media. Just delete it.
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Smartphone not included (Score:3, Interesting)
It's annoying how many appliances "require" wifi access these days and further "require" a smartphone to connect to them first so as to actually configure them.
Of course nothing actually should require wifi to function, it's all about manufacturers hoovering up all the data they can on you. Have you looked at all the requests from your Samsung SmartTV, for example, going through your firewall? Apple, AWS, Netflix, etc., all getting a bite at your apple even when you don't have those apps installed or enabled!
For me, it's easy (Score:5, Interesting)
I use a desktop computer for everything, unless I'm on the road, and I'm almost never on the road
My smartphone sits idle on my desk. I only use it when I'm on the road to make phone calls and use google maps. I don't text
I can't imagine how anybody could use that tiny screen and awful touch keypad for anything other than the most dire emergency
Smartphone addiction mystifies me
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I end up using my phone quite a bit for 2 factor authentication, even though I hate it. There just isn't a "universal" alternative. Some sites only allow phones.
And I use a tablet for any serious browsing. Only reason I'm not still using it as a phone instead is that I couldn't get a 5G one at a reasonable price.
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I use Authy Desktop and gauth. I NEVER EVER use 2FA on my smartphone UNLESS I’m away from my laptop and on my smartphone (very rare).
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https://www.ghacks.net/2024/01... [ghacks.net]
According to the above, authy desktop is being discontinued.
And GAuth looks interesting, but requires that the site use an authenticator rather than, you know, texting you a one time code when you try to logon. Or want you to poke their android app on your phone.
The texting-only sites, without the option for an authenticator, is why I mentioned "only allow phones".
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I have the 'Phone companion' app for Windows on my work computer so if I need to send/reply to SMS during work hours, I can type on a desktop keyboard.
KDE connect does something similar, I believe, on Linux desktops.
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So you actually signed in to Windows with your Microsoft account? Yikes!
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I use a desktop computer for everything, unless I'm on the road, and I'm almost never on the road My smartphone sits idle on my desk. I only use it when I'm on the road to make phone calls and use google maps. I don't text I can't imagine how anybody could use that tiny screen and awful touch keypad for anything other than the most dire emergency Smartphone addiction mystifies me
Through the wonders of VPN your phone can remote to your desktop computer, so you can have it in your pocket and use it even when you are not actually physically sitting at your desktop. Yeah, the tiny screen and keyboard sucks. That is the tradeoff for having your desktop in your pocket.
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"use it"
So you concede that you do not manage without a smartphone.
In fact, here you are trying to mislead people about whether you are going without a smartphone. That's the difference between getting drunk a lot and being an alcoholic.
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I can't imagine how anybody could use that tiny screen and awful touch keypad for anything other than the most dire emergency
You can't imagine one of the most common things in the world? You should go out and meet people, kids preferably and talk to them. The fact you can't imagine this says a lot about how much you interact with and understand fellow human beings.
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I use a desktop computer for everything, unless I'm on the road, and I'm almost never on the road
My smartphone sits idle on my desk. I only use it when I'm on the road to make phone calls and use google maps. I don't text
I can't imagine how anybody could use that tiny screen and awful touch keypad for anything other than the most dire emergency
Smartphone addiction mystifies me
Its because it doesn't exist, smartphone addiction I mean.
Its something luddites made up to justify their hate and fear... People cant possibly "like" smartphones, nononono it must be an addiction. It means they can continue to pretend they aren't the issue.
I've a gaming desktop, laptop and phone (also a tablet, but that has one job), all 3 devices have similar uses but different use cases. The phone is a device that can go anywhere but isn't as ergonomic to use, this can include to the kitchen where
Yeah I did this in 2015 (Score:2)
Yeah did that in 2015, carried a flip phone around manhattan. Everyone at work thought I was crazy as a software engineer. Why could you love technology and hate it.
Then I left and fully enjoyed my Iphone. 8 years laterâ¦.
You know... (Score:2)
While it's difficult for many of us, it is quite possible to just turn your smart phone off for a while. Or sign out of your Apple / Android accounts.
I've done cell-free Sundays whenever I can. Fighting the urge to go check it is sometimes overwhelming though.
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Banking will be the biggest issue. (Score:5, Interesting)
Banking today (not counting USA, which I guess is the major readers of this forum), is at least in various part of Europe
very much dependent on Smartphones basically because of the Authenticator and Banking ID login apps.
Some banks still provide you with a "Authorizer" calculator, a small calculator like device where you can
punch in a given code upon visiting the banks website, and then punch in the resulting code the calculator gives you.
There's also an RFID tag you can get for your EV's (even works on Gas stations, if you have an agreement).
I never use my phone for the EV's charging stations, I just use the RFID tag in my keychain, works everywhere, at least where I live.
As for the smartphone addiction, it's funny how that's a problem for people today, I remember when I was young, I sort of
pioneered that with my nerdy behaviour. I ran around with a suitcase with a Casio PB1000 (a pocket computer), connected
to a Serial interface - connected to a Radio Modem (Packet radio, Radio amateur stuff, look it up), and a radio.
With this, I could communicate with my fellow radio amateur friends, and we had a Packet Radio based bulletin-board-system
that relayed mails and messages for each other, worldwide, but it was all done via radio packet relaying. Sending messages could
take up to 24 hours since the BBS'es would collect the mails, then mass-relay them via packet-relay setups everywhere and eventually
reach the destination. Kinda like smartphones today, we could also send simple images, software and whatnot.
Today - I don't even want to use my smartphone for that. What I like the most about it is the excellent video and photography features
it have, besides the occasional phone call - that's what I use it the most for. I read messages like max. 2 times a day in case someone
sent me an SMS or similar on it, or e-mail notifications for something important, but that's all - 2 times a day, I leave it next to my bed
so people don't get the idea they can just message me whenever they feel like it and expect an instant response.
And I think that's the magic sauce - if you constantly let your friends get used to your instant-replies, then you're going to develop
a habit of "oh, wonder what they wrote now... gotta check", and like all addictions I guess that becomes a habit.
Whether this is a bad thing or just very social - I'll leave for others to judge, for me it's too annoying and I have other things to do.
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The problem with these tags (and things like loyalty cards etc) is that you end up with too many tags/cards. It's much more convenient to consolidate all of these things onto a single phone so you've much less chance of forgetting things.
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Why the hell did your lines wrap like that?!
In over 26 years of browsing slashdot, I’ve never once seen that! Did you type in some hard-wrap editor and then paste it in?!
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Why the hell did your lines wrap like that?!
In over 26 years of browsing slashdot, I’ve never once seen that! Did you type in some hard-wrap editor and then paste it in?!
It's my trademark - I nearly always do that, realtime, no extra editors - the prison that is my mind.
Nonsense (Score:2)
"Banking today (not counting USA, which I guess is the major readers of this forum), is at least in various part of Europe
very much dependent on Smartphones basically because of the Authenticator and Banking ID login apps."
What a load of rubbish. All banks allow you to do almost everything from a web browser and the functionality is usually a lot better than the phone app.
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GPP didn't say banking app: it said login app. Banks require some kind of 2FA to do a lot of tasks from the browser, and I believe the EU has regulations making this compulsory for certain transactions. However, SMS auth codes are an approved 2FA. My bank went through a phase of requiring me to type in a code sent by SMS just to log in to the website, and then a second one to make a transfer. Currently I can log in with just the password, so I only have to handle one SMS auth code per transaction.
Betteridge will help you out (Score:2)
The answer is: no.
Orbic (Score:2)
I just googled the company, Orbic, that makes the flip phone she bought for $108. That phone probably costs no more than $2 to make. Must be nice to make insane profits.
Re: Orbic (Score:2)
Just buy a nokia.. All the modern flip and candybar phones are shit anyway, including nokias.
I mean this in the sense that they're worse to use than 12 year old phones. All of them have shit documentation about features and the menu systems are slow and confusing now. None of them have proper multitasking either and are pieces of shit code glued together.
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That's true. I've got a Nokia 8210 4G (a retro feature phone). It thinks it is connected to my car kit via Bluetooth but it doesn't work. Battery time is also not as good as expected. But at least since they are abandoning 2g here, it works on modern networks. It looks like the good old solid Nokia, but it is definitely less quality.
I use it in a hybrid fashion. For work I need a smartphone. When working I use that. The Nokia has a cheap prepaid sim. I've set the work phone to forward calls after 5 times (*
you can text fast on a 9 pad. (Score:2)
Pretty much almost as fast as on a touch screen. And you can do it while moving easier.
With a trained t9 you can do it faster.
I mean thats what we used to do with our smartphones before toucscreens anyway...
And people don't want to spend more time on their device because you want to spend less so sending some voicemail that just needs them to call you to ask the stuff anyway does them no favors. You're likely to outsource a bunch of stuff like tickets ordering and such to them anyway if you can't do it.
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Made-up problem driven by industry. (Score:2)
But hey, if a flip-phone is the symbolic step you need to acknowledge that this bullshit is not only not reality, but infinitely inferior to it, then do it. If that's the case, you'll probably feel empowered.
Cut off your nose to spite your face? (Score:5, Insightful)
The way I read this:
"I am unable to organise my day and my time correctly and have an incredibly short attention span."
"In order to fix this I will make my life harder and consider it a job well done."
The idea of a computer in your pocket, 30 years ago, was in the realm of science fiction.
The idea you could bring up any information you chose, in the middle of nowhere on a device the size of a wallet? - crazy talk.
And here we have people actively pushing against it simply because they cannot control their impulses.
I'd say the problem isn't with the device or the content, the problem lies with them and surely it exists in all areas of their lives, not just when they are in front of a pocket computer.
Yes, it's absolutely true that big tech have successfully found ways to engage us in addictive behaviours, but like any addiction, you can beat it with some mindfulness.
Turn ALL notifications except important ones off - those would be emergency contact notifications.
Ditch the social media apps on the device - actually enjoy being in the REAL world and socialising.
And there we have it, you still have a computer in your pocket when you need it, but have removed all the distractions.
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>here we have people actively pushing against it simply because they cannot control their impulses.
As long as they only push against it for themselves, if it's the best choice for them I applaud it. You have one life to live, make it your best, right?
Personally, I cannot go back to a world where if I wanted to know something I had to plan a trip to the library and the 'search engine' was a giant indexed card file. I use my phone as a phone, for quick texts, for location tracking, as an interface to my
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Turn ALL notifications except important ones off
You'd be amazed at the number of people who have no idea how to manage the annoyances of their phone. The number of complaints you get about notifications being distracting on all systems despite that fact that every system has a function to either selectively or completely mute or block all notifications is incredible.
The problem with a computer in every pocket is that people need to learn to use their damn computers.
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The way I read this:
"I am unable to organise my day and my time correctly and have an incredibly short attention span."
"In order to fix this I will make my life harder and consider it a job well done."
This. Before their excuse for being tardy was that they were using their smartphone, after their excuse for being tardy is that they don't have a smartphone.
It's not like they could have looked up how long it would take to get their, understand their habits well enough to start doing their going out preparations early enough that they can leave with sufficient time to get where they're going on time. Nah, must be the phones fault.
I'd love to replace the work phone with a flip phone though, realistical
Dumbphone Finder (Score:2, Informative)
This might be helpful for those looking for a more minimal phone possibility:
https://dumbphones.pory.app/ [pory.app]
The problem is... (Score:2)
Less the phone itself, and more that a lot of the content is (as designed) quite compulsive, and that the phone notifies you when there's new content, which is all the time.
To make your smartphone life easier, just turn off all the notifications. And if you find yourself compulsively checking an app (TikTok, imgur, Instagram, whatever), remove it for a while to break the habit.
No it's not (Score:2)
Two-factor authentication was impossible.
You can still receive a phone call or text message. I do for one of my accounts on my flip phone. They're probably thinking of those half-assed pieces of "authenticator" software which is on their other phone. A flip phone is perfectly capable of 2FA so long as the company isn't married to software.
The phone used still has Internet (Score:2)
The phone in question is an Orbic Journey: https://orbic.us/products/orbi... [orbic.us]
From the description: 'Don’t Feel Disconnected from the Internet - The Orbic Journey V still connects to the Internet like a smartphone.'
It comes with a built-in web browser.
I had need to get a phone with absolutely no Internet capability or potential whatsoever. This device would not qualify.
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It is however, form-factor specific. Mobile access to all these things that you carry around in your pants and can access at any time in less than 30 seconds is the issue.
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If I just used it for Pokemon Go it would be fine, but I find it to result in a kind of mental deficiency for other reasons. I no longer remember things that I can just look up in 10 seconds on my phone. If my phone is in another room, I struggle to remember simple facts that I should know. It's a dependency of a sort, but I agree that calling it an addiction sensationalizes it a bit. Maybe the tween zoomers who only interact with others through Instagram have it worse, though.
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I decided to trade in my 2020 Silverado for a 1919 Model T truck. Now I won’t be addicted to speed and can surf the roads at a safe 30mph, maybe 40mph if I push it.
The author does not see the obvious trend of society towards the smartphone as a required device to access services. We cannot always live in the past, as much as some may want to. Even the Amish were caught with cellphones thanks to the recent government emergency test
Re:There is no such thing (Score:5, Insightful)
That said, not every service should require an app. Like the EV charging example. This is bloody stupid. How is it that Tesla got this right with plug-and-go autopayment a decade ago and other manufacturers are still struggling with this one? You should NOT have to have an app, have a keyfob, register for a service, or anything to use a public charger. Your car should have an secure ID, you should leave a credit card or other payment method on file, and any charger anywhere should be able to bill you automatically just by plugging in and charging, with no further interaction needed on your part.
Thankfully the US is standardizing on NACS, which has autopayment. We in Europe are going to have to live with this mess for a long longer :P
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Also, the EU has plans to mandate "pay at the pump" for electric chargers, similar to gas pumps. You charge up and pay what you owe with your debit or credit card at the charging terminal, or pay a cashier.
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"Has plans". And pay-at-the-pump, while certainly better than the mess of apps, keyfobs, memberships, etc, is still far from the convenience of just plug-in-and-go autopayment.
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Where I live in EU you can activate a charger with a card (credit card style) and a PIN. It's not as automated as your proposal, but you don't need an app (though they are supported as well).
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Where I live (Iceland), third party chargers remain a mess. Some are so complicated that I've seen people give up on trying to use them and leave. It's an entirely unacceptable situation, and baffling that it's gone on this long.
Also, pay-at-the-pump (as opposed to autobilling) adds an expense to chargers. A relatively small one vs. the cost of a powerful DC fast charger, but vs. the cost of low-power public AC chargers, a relatively significant one.
Autobilling is consumer-friendly (fast and easy, just p
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towards the smartphone as a required device to access services
Which is the problem. Now you've introduced a known security issue into people's personal information. As we see every week, cell phones are veritable gold mines for nefarious actors.
This doesn't get into people such as the blind or physically disabled who either have difficulty using such software or can't use it all together.
And let us not forget, when you lose your phone or have it stolen or it gets broken, you are now screwed. All the auth
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Nobody is addicted to "their phone." It's social media attention and drama, entertainment, gaming, etc
This sounds reasonable, but I'd be surprised if it were true. Replace someone's pack of cigarettes with some nicotine gum, and they won't be nearly as addicted to the gum. It would contain the chemical but not the ritual.
why am I not addicted (Score:2)
Well, i grew up with land lines, so yes, I am a relic, Mister Sosumi. Please pass me the mustard. Ignore that ringing; if it's important, they'll call back later.
I work facing
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Please pass me the mustard.
Pardon me. Do you have any Grey Poupon?
Re: why am I not addicted (Score:2)
LOL I defo wasn't expecting that Thanks for the chuckle
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Nobody is addicted to "their phone." It's social media attention and drama, entertainment, gaming, etc and that's not platform-specific.
Of course it is. Back when phones were just phones, and you needed a PC to get Internet, you weren't stuck to Facebook or YouTube or checking email all the damned time. There was a "cooling off" period between bouts on the Internet. We all pulled some all-nighters back in the day, but we didn't do it every day. A modern smartphone means complete symbiosis with your phone to get that constant Internet connection. The temptation is just too great for most people to resist. Social Media companies and Mobile pr
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Token-based 2FA is a thing that exists, yes.
But my bank as an example does not support this. You can authenticate with their app or you can ... not really do anything else.
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Just use Authy Desktop or gauth.
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And that is not how my bank's system works. It has a dedicated authentication app paired specifically to my bank account and nothing else will work. I asked. It's that or no online banking at all. It's not an SMS code (though it used to be just a couple of years ago) but a program specifically made for confirming with a password for that program that you are who you say you are.
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Many are phasing out the SMS because of the added cost with the operator. They can handle TOTP codes for no cost at all.
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my bank as an example does not support this
Yes but you don't need homebanking on the go. You can keep a tablet or older phone at home for those applications where the mobile phone is compulsory. The article identified the major issues are those related to mobility: taxi transport, EV charging (possibly parking payment if your local place does not support other payments). Apart from that and getting phone calls and text messages, everything else can be done alternate ways or wait until you're back home.
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'Older' is a different problem. My phone from 2017 was deemed too old last year to support my home country's solution for digital ID, and so I had to get a token for that.
Yes, I sound like I'm contradicting myself now. That's because I have bank accounts in two different countries, each with their own different solutions; Denmark and Germany.