Why I’m Using a Flip Phone
pam-moore.com
pam-moore.com
I can communicate with my fiancee even when she's in another country (international sms = fail). I can have a fiancee who's in another country. When I'm on the train I can do something meaningful to me. When I'm not on the train, I can know when it's actually going to arrive so I can do something fun instead of waiting on the platform. If I'm having a discussion with friends I can call up the information I'm missing. I can listen to music and podcasts while I go for a walk or a ride. I can plan my trips instead of listening to the boring parts of conversations. I can take nice photos when I didn't expect it.
I'm not going back to life without a phone. If you're not valuing your priorities with a phone, you won't value them without it. It might make a difference for a few weeks, but then you'll work out how to waste your time without your phone and you'll be back to square one.
> I can communicate with my fiancee even when she's in another country (international sms = fail).
It facilitates instant communications. Email across the planet has been around since day one.
> I can have a fiancee who's in another country.
I can assure you this was possible pre-smart phone.
> When I'm on the train I can do something meaningful to me.
The counter point to this is millions of man years wasted streaming mind numbing video.
> When I'm not on the train, I can know when it's actually going to arrive so I can do something fun instead of waiting on the platform.
Mass transit has had posted schedules for many years. It is nice to see an updated one with up to the minute tracking but it wasn’t that inconvenient either.
> If I'm having a discussion with friends I can call up the information I'm missing.
I’m probably showing my age but I miss having a pointless yet heated argument that couldn’t be settled in 15 seconds on a smart phone. The feeling of being right when you finally do get to confirm the answer is worth so much more.
> I can listen to music and podcasts while I go for a walk or a ride.
You don’t need internet for that, just some planning to have the content downloaded in advance.
> I can plan my trips instead of listening to the boring parts of conversations.
If you’re describing zoning out of the real world people around you to doodle on your phone that’s sad.
> I can take nice photos when I didn't expect it.
Okay this one I agree. The best camera is the one you actually have. Counterpoint is we’re approaching peak photo.
>> I can communicate with my fiancee even when she's in another country (international sms = fail).
> It facilitates instant communications. Email across the planet has been around since day one.
Do you even need instant communication in that case? It's not like you're going to have a quick unexpected meetup or some "hey I'm quite busy can you go get the kids?" Not to mention time zone issues.
>> When I'm on the train I can do something meaningful to me.
People didn't die of boredom before. Read a book, magazine, work on something on your laptop if you must. Also people seem to lose the ability to just take a short timeout from everything, just to think about your life for a bit, remember some good old times with friends or family you might have lost, and so on.
>> When I'm not on the train, I can know when it's actually going to arrive so I can do something fun instead of waiting on the platform.
There will we information displayed at the platform and inside the station. Plus announcements on the speaker system, which are faster, more accurate, and I don't have to pull out my phone. Fun fact: at least in Germany, it's not that the train company is obliged to adhere to the prognosed delay. So if your smartphone tells you the train is an hour late and you decide to visit the nearest paintball establishment for an hour you might find yourself missing the train since it only arrived 45 minutes late in the end.
"help, I'm being detained in Paris!" "I was mugged and need a passport!" "My plane was late so I missed my connecting flight, so I am spending another night in Berlin."
etc.
>People didn't die of boredom before. Read a book, magazine, work on something on your laptop if you must. Also people seem to lose the ability to just take a short timeout from everything, just to think about your life for a bit, remember some good old times with friends or family you might have lost, and so on.
I actually agree with you totally here, but a counterpoint would be that I can get mundane stuff done while doing mundane stuff (riding a bus, taxi, etc.) so that when I get home I get more family time instead of "not now, I have to see why Comcast/Verizon/Etc. screwed up our bill again."
And they conveniently let you keep your 1000$ iPhone ;). But these are all situations where I could just make a regular call with my dumb phone as well. Sure roaming costs will kick in, but that's even worse for data. My current provider charges 2€/min for calls outside the EU and 1€ per 50kb (yes that's not a typo). In all seriousness though, sure, there's always situations where having a smartphone is beneficial, I won't deny that. Especially working in tech it might even be that suddenly shit hits the fan at your company and you'd desperately take a wonky ssh connection on a bus ride since every seconds counts.
And if you really have that level of self control, as the OP of this discussion suggests, that you won't distract yourself more than you actually benefit than that's fine. I found myself barely managing to do that and switched to a dumb phone again in 2015ish. On trains and buses I'd mindlessly skim through HN or reddit or random tech sites, I eventually configured my work mail on my phone since sometimes it's more convenient, but then found myself reading mails in the evening during family time etc. Most colleagues confirm that they have similar patterns, but they're almost all single or childless so they probably don't care that much.
I still use it occasionally on the go and frequently at home as a laptop replacement when I'm just about to catch up on the news or post on HN. But I pretty much wiped all apps except the browser. I could not manage to do that when I used it as my main phone for almost 2 years.
Since this drifted somewhat away from the original topic let me add that I'm quite curious about KaiOS devices as it seems it might offer a suiting compromise for my needs. It got most popular messenger apps so I could take advantage of improved connectivity with people but the experience is still limited enough to prevent information overload and playing around with it too much. The selection of devices is just too limited at the moment.
..millions of man years wasted waiting.
>zoning out of the real world people around you to doodle on your phone that’s sad.
..humoring pointless gossip so people will like you, that's sad.
My point is that these seem very subjective and judgmental.
... to you.
My phone doesn't always have to be solving a problem or completing a task. The other day I was waiting for something and happened to look up the weather. I ended up going down a rabbit hole and re-discovering https://earth.nullschool.net - it was fascinating! It enriched my life, to no particular end. That sort of stuff happens all the time and immensely valuable to me.
Except. Now I only carry one device. vOv
And what does it even mean to say something is subjective? Contrary to what? And what does judgemental mean? That you can be whatever you want, and think of yourself however you want, but others may not see you how they see you? What's wrong with judgement?
semantics. you feel like you can only be critical of action, while inaction gets a pass? 'thinking' quietly is not inherently more valuable than being entertained. And while we are at it, nobody is just 'entertained' we learn, process, and yes 'think' at the same time
>to say something is subjective
In this context subjective means only applies to you Contrary to something that is a universal truth, something koolba seemed to be claiming.
>What's wrong with judgement[al]?
Its a weak argument, to say someone has 'failed' by your standards is to say they have failed by an arbitrary measure that may not have anything to do with their goals.
It has been present around the globe for ages, if you could find an internet cafe on holiday. Reading email on your phone also needs a smartphone.
> Mass transit has had posted schedules for many years. It is nice to see an updated one with up to the minute tracking but it wasn’t that inconvenient either.
You must be one of the blessed multitudes that live in a country with a public transport system that works well. If you have frequent, long-term delays it is fairly essential for your sanity to be able to know which routes are not currently completely fucked.
Nokia 6310 could both read and send emails, and I'm sure the functionality arrived slightly earlier too.
>>second point
I mean, if I'm in some 3rd world country without a reliable public transport system, then I'm not sure how internet access or a smartphone for that matter helps at all. In my experience in those places the bus/train just turns up when it does, no website would help you here.
Do you honestly think it's a binary choice? Either the public transport system is reliable, or it's a 3rd world country? This seems disingenuous.
Just to take an example: Southern Rail in the UK. It's notoriously unreliable, and journeys get cancelled or delayed all the time for various reasons, including strikes, weather, staff shortages and leaves on the tracks. I've saved countless hours from going to waste by keeping up to date on the schedule in real time. For this I need a smart phone. Is the UK a 3rd world country?
You have some valid points but it's like you feel compelled to reject all possible benefits put forward by OP. On this one you are objectively wrong.
There are numerous first world countries that have unreliable public transport. This is the US and also in the EU, I can't imagine you've never encountered what I mean unless you don't travel very much (there is nothing wrong with that, but then why do you discuss it like this). Sure in the situations that you talk about a smartphone would not matter, but in the ones I talk about (and that I actually meant originally) a smartphone will tell you why there is a delay (suddenly, generally) and what you can do to mitigate it. Something no PA system will tell you with any amount of reliability.
Outside of major towns, smart phone won't help you much to get most accurate time table. Paper timetable in the station is the only source of true information. You may find multiple contradicting timetables on the web and just hope they haven't been changed since then. Nobody cares to post emergency updates on the web. Sticker in the station it is. GPS live tracking is non existent.
We do have live tracking for public transit in 2 (maybe 3?) major towns. But that came before the era of smartphones - it was displayed in displays in stops. It's kinda cool to see your bus stuck in traffic one stop from you :)
I'm in Canada, my internet on my phone is more than good enough, yet it's not rare to see bus 10 minutes late and it happens often to need a second bus that may be 10 minutes after the first one. Traffic is not exclusive to third world country. Our bus have real time tracking so I can know 10 minutes earlier if taking another route is the right thing to do.
Blackberries were smartphones. They had enumerable apps shoved into that tiny display, and keyboard model, but they still looked like flip-phones and lacked touch displays.
To me, the 'flip' is just a mechanical implementation detail. The real divide is smart phones versus dumb phones.
A phone that comes with its own apps (like old flip-phones) but doesn’t offer any other extensibility, usually only has apps written by the manufacturer to support standard protocols like email and SMS, and no support for any company’s walled-garden social superstimulus factory. Even WAP was okay, since WAP only worked to deliver information, not interactive “experiences.”
(Admittedly, one of those apps could have been an IRC client, which would have been quite immersing. Luckily we never saw such from the manufacturers—they left that sort of thing to the J2ME sideloading ecosystem.)
Oh Simulation Creator, shudder I just remembered when Sears installed an internet cafe haha.
And I need to inform the person that I'm meeting with that I will arrive later (if I didn't have slack in my transit time).
Really having a smartphone does not mean you need to use it for much. IMO, the jump to cellphone vs not having one is a bigger downside as someone can call ar any time interrupting your thoughts. But even you can just turn them off, while still benefiting in an emergency.
IMNSHO, the parent is simply behaving reactively to the threat of new paradigms.
Email does not convey the emotion of a phone call, let alone a video call.
Easy access to information fosters discussion - by ending pointless, heated debates over nothing.
Only teenagers, and I now presume, older people, fuddle with their phones instead of talking to the person in front of them.
One hit on google and that's you! Nice!
Certainly does not, and it's a nice bonus, but when on earth do people use video calls? Since they are even better at conveying emotions, by your logic everybody carrying a smartphone should be making video calls at all times. But it's the contrary, people even prefer texting on Whatsapp over phone calls or even voice messages.
> Easy access to information fosters discussion - by ending pointless, heated debates over nothing.
They are the opposite of pointless. I feel the current/younger generation has completely lost the ability to have civilized, structured debates. If you can't solve a disagreement by a google search people freak out pretty quickly. And then we need safe spaces left and right and everybody is a victim and it's all society's fault. Those pointless debates over trifles serve a purpose, like kitten playfully fighting all day.
> Only teenagers, and I now presume, older people, fuddle with their phones instead of talking to the person in front of them.
Mostly teenagers yes, but them being the next generation of adults I doubt they'll just stop once they're into their twens. It'll just become the norm.
I actually see people using facetime in public all the time -- I think its one of those things if you aren't looking for it you won't notice. I've actually used google hangouts on my phone a few times -- recently I was in the airport w/o my computer on my Dad's birthday so we did a video call and other scenarios like that one. Also, I lived abroad for a few years and I used video chat extensively with my parents and other friends back in the states. (TBF though a majority of the time it was on my laptop -- but sometimes I did use my phone!)
> Mostly teenagers yes, but them being the next generation of adults I doubt they'll just stop once they're into their twens. It'll just become the norm.
That one is potentially true although I'll say based off of our interns they seem to be pretty good about not being on their phones all the time when the situation calls for it. I think like most things its super individual because of my coworkers the person who is on their phone the most is actually a middle aged guy.
I'd argue that email (and video calls, etc) have killed our ability to convey emotion via written word. What used to take time and thought has been reduced to quick blurbs given with little effort.
Get off my lawn! <shakes cane>
When they seemingly replace a phone call, its usually because the institution would have liked to use only letter writing but couldn't for some non-technical reason.
Like a company processing refunds and cancelations by phone in order to have the opportunity to convince clients not to cancel (i.e. non-technical reason), now uses email or chat systems to accomplish the same thing.
FaceTime / video calls always available at your fingertips while you are waiting somewhere is also something I wouldn’t want to miss.
I agree about WhatsApp issue.
smartphones enable you to channel a lot of your time to other things instead of "having to download podcasts in advance" or "check posted transit schedules".
You counterpoints all seem to distill down to some variation of being opposed to people having options or embracing convenience.
But at what cost? The software and OS is a locked-down ecosystem for most consumers. The hardware even more so. Such mass adoption forces one to conform in order to participate, meaning even for the privacy-conscious, consumer trends dictate all. Just a couple months ago US carriers were found to be selling realtime customer location data. Whether or not they're selling, they can track your phone via cellular triangulation. The baseband is a proprietary black box that runs its own privileges OS, can read memory and disk, and basically transmits at all times (mandated by law in some countries, for emergency network connectivity) to whoever picks up the signal, and this includes a unique IMEI. No removable batteries, and no hardware switches means masses of phones are being tracked at all times from point A to B, whether or not for nefarious purposes. Add the ever-growing trend of cashless transactions, OS-level third-party GPS tracking, and the reality becomes a slippery slope nightmare.
I feel that sentiments like yours, one's where "life" and "phone" are nearly synonymous, are fostering a dangerous future where one is obligated to own a phone else be left in the dust. This is already nearly the case socially, and in some careers also. Literature classics warn of mass surveillance and control, of chip implants under the scalp, but why go there when the populace already wear a tracking device willingly of their own accord, and grow to depend on it ever more?
Also, PTSN can be easily eavesdropped as well, and paying by the minute isn't attractive. The phone companies squeezed us long enough.
We're discussing mostly location tracking here (GPS etc), but we also shouldn't neglect the impact of cameras or mics. Nor the way GPS coordinates are embedded in pictures we ourselves take and we ourselves share on Instagram.
Yesterday on TV there was a talkshow about the decline on Facebook due to privacy reasons (with which they seemingly agreed), and someone went how Instagram was the next hottest thing (owned by the same parent company). I wanted to bash my head...
Right now I'm watching Tour de France and the 24/7 in-ears/mics and cameras make it a vastly different game than how it was before the TV era and during the TV but not yet everyone having ears.
* vote into power people that actually care about privacy
* or to only buy products that protect their privacy
what makes you think all this matters?
The average person has decided that life is better for him like this...
The most dystopian tools ever imagined can be perfectly harmless if the people using them don't want to use them for dystopian purposes.
It's only moving towards a dystopy because people don't care or know enough. That's what has to be fixed.
Indeed, I do. You want to track the stores I drive by and what websites I visit? In exchange I can have real-time commnuication with friends all over the world without having to align scheduled to make phone calls of varying connection quality, I can get step by step directions on how to do just about anything including get from point A to B, I can take photos and share them, I can read, I can consume video and audio, I can track my macros, I can get immediate weather alerts, track ODB-II data for my car, get curated news, get raw news, augment my memory with drive/dropbox/evernote, I can track my finances? DEAL!
Boredom is good. Waiting is good. Not having what you want every second of the day is good.
Life before phones was in many ways totally different than life now. But in others ways, we're still the same people, doing the same things, with newer tools. Everyone can make their own decisions on what tools they want to use, but I'm just not buying the argument that life is better or worse. It is different.
I had a dumb phone for a year or so until maybe half a year ago. The ways I found to waste my time without smartphone were refreshingly different. Most importantly, thinking and wandering in my own mind without the urgent need to check every new thought from the internet. Long story short, there is now nokia 8110 with 4G and wifi available, I am likely going to get one of those soon and turn my smartphone off until I really need it.
Bought one yesterday, I have to say that KaiOS is still veeeery immature, so far very far behind series 40/60 nokias. If you can find a Nokia 208 or 515 which are the last they made with 3G+ you might be better off.
Phone game apps are the most addictive but if you never download them you won't get into it. Games have 4 caracteristics that makes them addictive: winnable, it has goals, novel challenge that keep you in state of flow, feedback. These things could also be used in reading books and that becomes addictive in a good way.
Tl;Dr phone apps are the best thing to aquaire skills in the future. If you block or hide notification and not download addictive apps you will be fine.
In that case, why not communicate via Twitter or the Blockchain (tm)? Do you post pictures of yourself naked on Instagram as well?
Every person and every company has significant secrets.
I can also easily take my smartphone with me when I think there is a real need. The 4g dumbphone can share the internet to my smartphone.
Exactly right. I hear more and more people complaining about the internet, their smartphones or tech in general. If you listen to those people long enough you realize what they are actually talking about is social media and to a lesser degree gaming. I just don't get it. If you don't like those services, don't use them. Have some self restraint, for crying out loud.
- Have some self restraint for crying out loud.
Might be a good idea to read a bit on psychology. Your experience != everyone else's experience.
This is perhaps just one use case but it's hardly surprising that people now want to go back to way it was before. I still use my smart phone because it makes my life a lot more convenient in many other ways but I definitely understand if someone would find it compelling enough to stop using a smart phone.
But, it does make me think, if I just want to connect to the internet, play music/podcasts, click a pic once a while etc. do I really need a device that's GPS enabled, bluetooth enabled, has NFC, accelorometers, face recognition, multicore processors etc. and costs a fortune ;)
So this is not a reason not to have a smartphone it's only a matter of setting up the phone properly, so notifications reach me only when they should be checked.
I check my mail a couple times a day during work hours, usually when I arrive in the morning, after our standup, after my lunch break, sometime during the afternoon and before I leave (but not right when I want to leave, at least a couple of minutes beforehand).
I always pay close attention to immediately deal with all mail I receive, i.e. complete the task immediately (usually if less than five to ten minutes are required), write a to-do item or (my favorite option) archive the mail. The important part is to get it out of your brain and besides archiving or doing it, the best other way is to write it down.
This obviously only works if real time critical information is not usually sent via email (unexpected, action required immediately and minutes to hours required, depending on the complexity) and if no one expects email to be used for time critical information. Luckily we have policies in place to both ensure that email is used for non time-critical information and other more direct channels (Slack, phone, coming over in person) are used for actual time critical information.
I know that this culture part is often the actual hard one. If people expect you to immediately react to email then there is not much you can do inside the expectations and you probably have to turn notifications on.
Even if you leave notifications on, dealing with email immediately (picking doing it immediately, writing a to-do, archiving it) is still a time-management basic and extremely helpful, but it doesn’t work very well if you have that notification gnawing your nerves somewhere in your brain. Dealing with email immediately actually has to mean dealing with it immediately, i.e. the first time you take notice of it.
(This is a very German perspective, though. My probably biased and also very limited experience in communicating with people in the US was one of general hyperactivity and I had the impression that many treated email sort of like a real time communications channel with weird expectations about response times.)
Granted, I don't know how much the "Betriebsrat" was prompting that, but I doubt that people themselves are that much different, despite German Gemütlichkeit.
I found that both IT workers and MBAs are IT/MBA first, nationals second.
I’ve been dying for gmail and workplace (fb for work) to add a feature so I can stop work related notifications after 17. Having this at iOS level would be great also.
The work phone gets left in a locker at work along with my work laptop, I refuse to bring it home with me until I have agreed in advance to work from home for some specific task. I know a lot of employers expect their employees to be available at odd hours, but I refuse to participate in that.
I made this decision after suffering under a boss who would call and email at 22:00 and expect results to be ready on his table next morning by 8:00.
Only a very select trusted few of my colleagues have my private phone number, and they will only ever use it in a dire emergency.
My circle of friends is entirely separate from work, there is no overlap, which is just fine by me. I prefer keeping work and my personal life separate.
That way you don't have to carry two phones, be tied to a dual-sim phone or have troubles when you leave the company (in case you use the company phone number for private calls too).
Now that I'm becoming more comfortable with the new hobby, I've started listening to audiobooks or streaming music while I knit - it seems to strike a nice balance.
Certainly the phone has enriched my life - it enables me to stream music and listen to audiobooks easily, but in my experience it's a dangerous tool as well, since it enables you to check social media more than is healthy. Everything in moderation I suppose.
Or, as someone below puts it
> I'm mystified by the number of people who think that they've solved the fundamental problem by getting rid of their phone: being that unable to control one's immediate impulses, is worthy of attention.
Maybe getting rid of a smart phone means "lack of impulse control", okay. The cited study claims the average American looking at their phone every six minutes on average, so it's not exactly cool to ignore that bit and berate the person who took the time writing an article citing that study.
And maybe it's not even a lack of impulse control, but a singular act of will? Would people also be "concerned" for someone who stops smoking but doesn't keep cigarettes around the house? Or hey, what if someone were to say that Linters are for people who don't get it right the first place, and that itself deserves attention? We know humans are imperfect, and find it sensible to guard ourselves against making mistakes in all sorts of ways. Why are smartphones different to you?
A portable mini computer with internet access is useful for a lot of cool things, no doubt. Though to the usefulness on the internet it's like putting a low table on a huge mountain, makes no overall difference to me. None of the upsides you mentioned seem smartphone specific, and you address none of the smartphone specific issues mentioned in the article, other than with a sweeping "I'm not going back".
> When I'm not on the train, I can know when it's actually going to arrive so I can do something fun instead of waiting on the platform.
Partly (or depending on where you are, rather) that's because thanks to smartphones, they don't display it in many places where they used to. Just like you can't buy a ticket from a person anymore. This cam be a huge problem for elderly people or those with disabilities. If a smartphone saves one so much time, that time should also be used to help one's fellow citizens by noticing and criticzing such things, to help remove barriers even though they are no barriers to you.
Smartphones were ceded their initial social acceptance solely on being optional. If this turned out to be a lie, the acceptance should likewise be withdrawn, and we can save the the discussion about the mass surveillance and marketing aspects I see completely not mentioned here as a bonus, too.
> I can plan my trips instead of listening to the boring parts of conversations.
This probably sounds more rude to me as you are in practice, but it conjure up nothing good in my mind, honestly. The first thing that comes to mind is a Mitchell and Webb sketch about a guy in a pub interrupting the others because their conversation isn't good enough for them, but also not contributing to make it better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKJ5w-HQ9b0
As if everyone was expected to pretend they are super perfect in totally everything and admission of some completely normal fault that needs to be worked around or fixed deserved punishment and shame.
Sometimes people get compulsive habit and if buying flip phone or whatever helps them, it is legit to talk about it.
By all means, speak for everyone.
I happen to agree with the principle though. But I think, ultimately, you therefore have to take a stand on what true meaning is.
Most people find this utterly unthinkable and seem to project their anxiety of not having a phone on to me. What about emergencies? How do you do this? How do you do that? What if this happens?
Truth is, most of those things don't happen and I get along just fine. I talk to people in my life via email or in person. I use videochat on my laptop to talk to people if we need a more intimate and immediate communication than email. I schedule things ahead of time and request that others please do their best to keep to that scheduled appointment. I'm ready to handle a few minutes of uncertainty if they're slightly late or be outright stood up in the case of genuine emergencies. Or I just tell people that I'll be available whenever and that they can come at their convenience between this hour and that hour.
I like my life this way. It's not bad. It's pretty okay.
> Most people find this utterly unthinkable and seem to project their anxiety of not having a phone on to me. What about emergencies? How do you do this? How do you do that? What if this happens?
I think the problem is if people have come to expect to be able to join you by phone and you suddenly stop answering they will get worried and/or frustrated, you changed the rules. I know a guy whose wife freaks out if he doesn't answer the phone and doesn't call her back within the hour even if she knows he's in front of his desk at work and is very unlikely to spontaneously combust. It's because he's built the expectation that he would always answer the phone.
Has it become your trademark? Maybe you kind of want to get a phone now but since you've gone this long without one, it's like a streak or a reputation you don't want to ruin?
A phone without internet connexion that I can completely trust (i.e. free all the way down to the baseband) is something that I would consider owning.
I don't have a GP. If I'm ill, I just go to a walk-in clinic. I can also schedule appointments online. When I was too sick to go out at all and due to a particular situation I didn't have web access either, I asked a neighbour to make a phone call for me. I live in a city where I can rely on the help of others.
For some official business, I use the landline at work to talk to banks or government. Most of the time I can use the web, though.
It is not a requirement for me to have a personal phone.
Regarding the GP, this is presumably dependent on the country you live in. In the UK you have a specific clinic you sign up with. None of the 4 clinics I've used have taken walk in appointments, all have required phoning that morning to get a scheduled appointment that day.
But whenever we went somewhere they suddenly needed a ride.
Getting in touch with a GP? I can use the internet. Bank fraud? Same, or just go to a branch.
As far as accidents and emergencies are concerned, these are no different than the solutions pre-smart phone or when your phone has broken, out of power, or if you forgot it elsewhere. You go to the nearest house. Landlines wouldn't call 911 for you if you dind't have phone service. Besides, folks can keep a cheap non-smartphone with no service in their house which allows you to call 911 in an emergency. Everything else can be worked around.
All it would really take is a knock on the neighbor's door and ask them to call the cops for you. The vast majority of folks won't turn you down. If all else fails, go to the nearest gas station or fast food establishment. Chances are they'll happily call for you.
Lucky you. My GPs website has phone number and an address on it. My bank are equally as unhelpful. They have internet banking, but there is no way to suspend a card or re order a new one without phoning them. Last time I had an issue with my card I was out of the country so visiting the branch was out of the question (not to mention the branch is almost 2 miles from my home, has no parking and is only open 9:30 to 5 Monday to Friday, when I'm working). There's no technical reason they can't do this online, they just don't currently.
As much as I'd like to not have an active phone, it's not really feasible to live todays world without one. You're relying on other people to have phones so that you don't have to carry one. Your suggestion to keep a cheap non smartphone defeats the purpose of not having a phone.
But I was alive before the smartphones were available and didn't always have money for phone service and rent. So were a lot of folks I knew. And i simply understand the ways folks can get around having phone service... even if I think it is personally weird to do so out of choice instead of necessity.
I have also been in situations where I don't have the phone for a variety of reasons: Not working, for got it, spotty service, and so on. Of course you have to rely on others in these situations, the same as before everyone had such things. Actually being in an emergency has been a pretty rare thing, with or without cell phones. I've called 911 a few times, but only twice when not at work. Once for a car accident outside the house (a pretty bad one, lifeline helicopter and all), and one for someone's suicide attempt.
As a side note, it is a shame that the doctors offices do not have it. Most of them have it around here that I have seen. I avoid calling unless absolutely have to. As a bonus, the phones here are such that if I've run out of money on my prepaid phone, folks can still call me.
For a few days it was like I was an addict, constantly feeling my back pocket vibrating, constantly reaching to check my phone. After a few more days, I felt very liberated. I felt very free. I started enjoying life more. I started noticing how much the world (at least USA) depends on their phones for everything. I would go out to Reddit meetups without my phone and notice times where everyone would have their heads down, checking various social media platforms and not talking to each other. People would ask how I lived without a phone. I noticed how dangerous the distraction is with people doing simple things like walking crosswalks with their heads down staring at their phones. I noticed a lot of the time the entire bus full of people were looking down at their phones, most doing nothing of any real meaning.
After a week or so I learned how to cope without. I would look up directions and bus routes on my computer before I left. I would check my bank account before I left to do anything that cost money. I brought a notebook with me to keep notes of things I thought about and wanted to look further into when I got home. I noticed new things I've never noticed and learned more about the city I live in, especially the streets and landmarks so I could get around without GPS. It noticeably helped my anxiety and gave me a viewpoint of the world that I feel I hadn't been a part of since the first iPhone was released.
I'm not saying smartphones aren't useful, but I strongly recommend to anyone to take a break from their phone. It really is eye opening in very beneficial ways.
Zelda has a 'Pro' mode where it hides all UI but the health. I was fully decided on using it through the whole game and I think it is the best way to play the game.
The absence of minimap is the biggest change. When you have your minimap is like when you drive with gps. You only wait til the map says you to turn, and after some turns staring at the minimap you get to your destination missing all that was in between. If you don't have the minimap you actually need to understand the map, know more or less where you are, where the landmarks are, and how to get through to your destination. In the end, the absence of minimap makes you learn better the world and the map, instead of relying on the digested info that the minimap gives you.
And after the initial wave of feeling dumb passed once I noticed my mistake, I also realized that I was actually having quite a lot of fun playing it that way. Although navigation was confusing at first, I learned my way around the map quite well, and by being forced to just look around instead of relying on, as you put it, GPS nav (a very apt analogy) I had a more immersive, enjoyable experience. There were times walking around where I would just stop and think, 'wow, this is really pretty'. And I am not completely sure I would have had that thought if I hadn't been forced to actually pay attention to where I was going in those early hours of play.
At least disable the "?" signs on unexplored areas and the path to next quest objective, game is much more enjoyable without them and not too inconvenient.
I might give it another go, how did you go on about it ? did you just disable most UI stuff ? and is it still acutally playable ?
When I get a new quest phase I look it up on the fullscreen map and then just go there, it's playable enough. The dialogs describe places where you need to go usually, but not always well enough to get there without looking at the map at all.
I've seen people play with all ui disabled, even the health bar, but it wasn't convenient for me.
The game is very heavy on plot and characters, it has small tutorial in the castle, and then like 10 hours long bigger tutorial area before the world opens up for real, and you have to understand what's happening and who's who at least a little to enjoy it. Game introduces characters reasonably well, but there's so many of them it's easy to lose track.
Also, bonus tip - in some update few months after the premiere they added "alternative movement controls" - be sure to enable that in the settings if you play with keyboard and mouse. It's much more convenient than the default. It makes the animation of movement look less natural, but much more responsive (you can turn instantly instead of making a circle for example).
At my last job, I begged IT to turn on the U2F feature of our SSO product. Sadly, they did not, even though it was literally a checkbox in the service’s UI. I even sent them a link to the knowledge-base article.
I'm all for people taking control of their life, but having a smartphone can have a material impact on the security of the services you use, and abandoning that in order to stop yourself using Facebook as much is a Bad Idea.
For work I use Winauth. I am a hourly corporate tech employee with no on-call duties currently so I don't have work Slack or any work 2FA on my personal devices.
I am looking into a yubikey or similar for the future.
Email is bad for similar reasons (although slightly less in terms of exposure if you use a good provider).
Could you please tell how they can sniff SMS without user ever noticing?
1) When not using computers for work [or chess] purposes, I want to spend as little time as practical staring at a screen. I have lots of non-computer activities to attend to [gardening, studying, home maintenance, etc etc] and a family to look after.
2) I am a strong adherent to the notion that one is well-advised to maintain awareness of one's surroundings -- what I'd call commonsense alertness -- and my observations of folks using smartphones in public suggest to me that their use diminishes situational awareness because they are a distraction.
2.5) Corollary to the above : I want to set a good example of prudent behavior for my kids, which to me includes limiting recreational computer / phone use [I realize this sounds snobby, but you should see the kids in my neighborhood -- like elementary-school kids -- constantly with their faces buried in phone];
3) Last and also least : expense and durability : decent dumbphones are nearly indestructible and if I distruct one, a replacement is less than $50. Smartphones, on the other hand, tend to be fragile and expensive.
5) Probably phone home less data about you and your connections
6) Don't fuel your FOMO and don't feel like you are on pager duty
...
I tend to keep internet turned off when I'm out in public, but that phone is still a tool. Clock, phone, notebook, grocery list, map, music, etc. I don't have to buy all those things or keep them on me any longer. That's worth the screen. I do tend to travel with a book or sketchpad, though - which honestly, gives the same distraction. So does daydreaming.
I live in a safe enough area to not worry about a lot of things, which probably helps.
Then again, I don't think I use the phone like most folks do either.
In fact, I did it to myself Wednesday evening, 'sneaking in' a quick game' while waiting for a long install to finish at about midnight, and WHOOPS blundered my queen. Felt like a moron the rest of the night.
Is HN an exception of this? ;-)
You ought to get out more. Carrying around a Kindle and leaving the phone behind (or, perhaps, getting a dumbphone), so that you are forced to consume more “serious” content during waiting times and to avoid social media, is recommended fairly often on these kind of threads.
> Your smartphone might have the kindle app or e-reader app or something.
The reason for the Kindle’s popularity in its niche is the e-ink screen. Some people may find reading ebooks on their phone to be acceptable, while others find the more limited dimensions and LCD glare and brightness of a smartphone to be annoying.
I’m that way, as are more than a few people I know if you freely substitute “book” or some other e-reader for Kindle.
It's really not that bad if you're not used to the constant stimulation that smartphones (and to a lesser extent, all internet connected computers) provide.
I said "you're by yourself". Forget the magazines, they are the crappiest magazines ever. The pages are sticky, they are awful.
"Sit and think". No, I feel like reading some poetry or philosophy or an interesting article, or listening to music, or playing a puzzle game. I don't want to sit there thinking about the upcoming doctor's appointment.
I'll have my still time later, when I choose, not when a doctor's waiting room circumstance dictates it.
Your problem is you never took control of your smartphone. They can be set to be just an innocent little screen with interesting words or whatever on it. My own smartphone doesn't annoy me, it does exactly what I want it to do. Zero notifications, internet data is off until I need it etc.
I assumed you meant "by myself" as in "not with anyone you know". I've actually never sat in a waiting room that was entirely devoid of human life before, but I'm sure it happens in less populated areas.
> Your problem is you never took control of your smartphone.
I don't know where you got this impression. I'm not the person your original comment was responding to - I have a smartphone that I use and like.
> "Sit and think". No, I feel like reading some poetry or philosophy or an interesting article, or listening to music, or playing a puzzle game. I don't want to sit there thinking about the upcoming doctor's appointment.
Those are all valid ways to pass time - so is just sitting and thinking and everything else I said. Being able to do any of those things you listed with the swipe of a finger, even though they are not the usual suspects of Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter, is still a form of instant gratification and still has an effect on you. A negative effect, some (myself included) think.
Also, there are plenty of other things to think about aside from the upcoming doctor's appointment.
> They can be set to be just an innocent little screen with interesting words or whatever on it. My own smartphone doesn't annoy me, it does exactly what I want it to do. Zero notifications, internet data is off until I need it etc.
Yes, they can be used like this. I use my own smartphone in a similar manner.
I read something recently (I can't remember what) but it had a quote that I liked.
"You can choose not to use a TV, but you can't choose to live in a world where the TV doesn't exist"
In a similar sense, a person can choose to use a smartphone in a responsible manner or not to use one at all, but they can't choose to live in a culture that wasn't affected by smartphones. They can't choose to live in a world where endless distractions aren't always a few swipes away.
The closest they can get is ditching the smartphone, so that's what they do. It's not just a matter of configuring away the parts of a smartphone you don't like.
This isn't an argument for X or Y. This is why you shouldn't go somewhere you know you'll need to sit in a waiting room, without anything to do. From as early as I can remember, my mom would tell me "Bring a book!"
It worked. I'm more likely to remember to bring a book than my phone.
Besides, what would you do on your smartphone? If I have some specific work that needs doing, I'll bring my laptop, because that's more effective.
I agree. I feel the same way when people talk about quitting Facebook. No one really needs to know.
FWIW, I got a basic phone because I was tired of having to charge my smart phone every day. It's nice having a phone that will hold its charge for several days.
Most people who disagree with people using "dumbphones" or not having a phone at all seem to say it is entirely an issue with the person's self control. Do we completely blame people for getting addicted to caffeine or cigarettes? No, at least I would not think so. We all understand that those two things are addictive in nature. Why would a smartphone with all the fancy UX, apps, and ease-of-access be different? If a smartphone is geared to be exploit one's attention span and is just as addictive then why put all the blame on people's lack of self control? Sometimes it is easier to go cold turkey much like people do with quitting caffeine and cigarettes.
Screen is great, camera is great, Sat-Nav is almost Google Maps standard, Spotify works. I can type emails on it when I really need to.
Beyond that, all shiny new social apps don't work, so temptation eliminated.
It seems an ideal half way house between proper smartphone and 2000's brick.
Being so limited is rather freeing.
This hasn't been my experience at all. I have the absolute bargain basement Lumia 640 as a backup phone and it feels positively snappy. Perhaps it's because I have barely anything running on there?
The only feature WP has was super snappy on the cheapest one.
I've thought about this, but I've realized it's not the phone but specific websites/apps that can be time-consuming addictions. I have no social media accounts on my phone, so that seems to prevent a lot of the issues. I do like browsing news sites, but there's only so many times I can see the same story before I get sick of it. I do hate some of the privacy issues that come with a smart phone (certain apps I can't get rid of, I can't change to LineageOS with this phone, etc.)
However, I use the phone for learning a new language while on the bus/train. I also like getting email alerts about the bus/train (accidents, etc). My bus carrier tells you instantly where the bus is, so I can walk to another bus line if the next one is delayed. Podcasts on the phone are also great. I could do all those things with a data plan and laptop, but it's much too big. I don't actually need any of those things but they are a huge convenience for a long commute.
I try to be mindful of my phone use when out with friends. I like the fact that I don't know what's been going on in their lives via social media so then we can catch up.
Similar usage:
- I listen to podcasts at 2x and audible titles at 1.5x all day at work and during my commute. 50-60 hours a week.
- I can talk to friends on 4 continents
- TerraGenesis throughout the day when I have a minute or three of downtime but not enough time to read a chapter.
- I don't have to get a map out of the trunk when I need to find my way somewhere, but carry the map in the event shit goes sideways.
You too have immediate impulses that you are unable to control, you too are affected by marketing and advertising.
Its frankly not possible and anyone who believes otherwise is likely fooling themselves.
I would reiterate my recommendation of investigating why you feel such lack of self-control.
If you need to give it up to put it down, then your problem isn't smartphones, and you will fill it with something else in short order.
Moreover, you are going to be increasingly at odds with your surroundings: the world is becoming more smartphone-like, not less.
Smartphones, or more specifically, the addictive patterns used by pretty much every popular 'app' (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) are hard to defeat for a lot of people. This is an inherent feature of how our brain works, not a personal weakness — despite personal variations. For some not using smartphones (opting for 'dumb' phones instead) may be a very sensible thing to do.
> Moreover, you are going to be increasingly at odds with your surroundings: the world is becoming more smartphone-like, not less.
Everybody used to smoke too. There are plenty of folk who believe that you shouldn't be required to walk around with a computer on your person at all times.
The optimal setup for me is the basic apps installed (mail, messenger, uber/lyft, finances) with all notifications turned off. Less distraction while retaining the utility of having a smartphone.
There are ways to reduce cell phone usage without going to a flip phone.
But, if this is what works for the author then I support it. Removing certain apps and disabling notifications will work wonders for most people though.
All notifications are turned off, except for instant messaging apps and calls.
I stress a lot less about Facebook and social media in general now.
My wife and I have a rule - minimal phone use around one another. We hold each other to it, unless both of us agree to look something up. Perhaps it's because we both think it's rude, I don't know..
Now, although that works generally - my wife will often spend hours pouring over Instagram a week. She too, has mixed feelings about it and on the one hand wants to delete it, and on the other feels she needs it to connect to people. When discussing this with her (she wanted to talk about the struggle she was having), she realized everyone she was worried about leaving behind on Instagram were people we knew from high school - a decade ago.
As soon as she realized that, she deleted it. I think the fact that phones connected us across time and places, make it difficult to recognize we don't need it in many cases. The addiction comes from wanting to be included, but in reality - we're just segregating ourselves; behind the facade of happy photos. The truth we all know is that everyone on Instagram works for those shots, those happy moments, to share with... well, their collective of "friends". Many of whom they will never see again in their lifetimes.
For me, I only install functional apps on my phone, never user it for fun, and already have blocked all news sites outside of HN, Reddit, and a few other niche forums. I can access my investments, bank account(s), flash cards, w.e. - that I don't find addictive. If my phone died, I'd be frustrated (how do we decide who's picking up the kids), but I wouldn't go through withdrawal (I often leave it at home by accident).
Perhaps a healthy approach to the phone is looking at it as a tool, not as a way to be friends. Honestly, it's the social networking aspect of it, that's the issue for people. Life is meant to be fluid and limited - spend time where it counts, building deep relationships.
1) I don't actually need it for anything important and I'm super connected via computers for most of the day except when commuting
2) It is a security blanket that feels a bit odd to be without, but I did live most of my life without one
3) Now that I'm forced to look at my fellow train commuters I can see that everyone is looking down at their phones and I have to look at the scenery :)
I think at the end of the day it comes down to the sheer willpower of using the smartphone when you need it the most.
Anyone else remember the days of printing out map quest directions only to find that they were out of date or really really wrong?
Everything else that comes with a smart phone is an added bonus.
EDIT: As far as notification anxiety. I mean, there's a simple way to deal with that without handicapping yourself: Turn off notifications except for the most crucial items.
I tried dedicated satnavs but they always seemed to be quite expensive, not always reliable and a bit of a hassle to keep updated. The iPhone 3G (inc. S) was OK but its GPS wasn't sensitive enough and it usually resorted to shouting out random directions when in a city centre. Later iOS devices seem better, as do Android phones even of the same era as the iPhone mentioned above. Google maps has been very good, though the reporting of my position to Google isn't something I care for.
* - Which turn should I take at this junction? - How am I supposed to know? - You have the map. - How should I know where we are on it? It doesn't make any sense! etc. etc.
Whenever there's a lull in activity (like waiting for a bus, at the doctor's office, etc) I used to mindlessly swipe and scroll away. Now I pay more attention to the physical world around me (the bus stop has a map, what kind of magazines does the doctor like, etc)
But I wonder if the author could get the same benefit by cancelling her mobile data plan.
This sort of thing keeps me from getting irritated while waiting in a place like a doctor's office. It makes me a more agreeable person overall.
The bus stop isn't as bad - they have a schedule and are usually on-time. There is only so often I can stand to look at a bus stop map, after all. That novelty wears off after using buses as primary transportation.
1. Purchased an iPhone1 10 years ago - changed my career & life.
2 Purchased a Nokia 3310 1 month ago - suddenly, the physical world around me has expanded. I feel I just woke up after 10 years.
'physical world around me has expanded'
The point is that choosing to not do these things is hard for a lot of us. Getting rid of a smartphone is a decision you have to make once. Not using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Hacker News, and Reddit is a decision that you have to make tens to hundreds of times a day, every day.
The phone specs list A-GPS but it is not clear if you can actually use it without getting an app off a store that doesn't seem to exist yet.
If you need it for the GPS, then that's just how it is -- there's no point in stressing out to find a basic phone that has GPS. Now that I just have a basic phone, I print directions before I leave. That doesn't work for everyone though.
Not a flip phone, but also not a smart phone.
If I need internet access I have a tablet in my backpack, it's much more convenient to browse on a bigger screen and without worrying battery will drain and I won't be able to answer calls. The hurdle of taking the tablet out is enough to discourage constant checking for notifications, but when I need gps or have to wait for 30 minutes in a queue somewhere it's there.
That said, I did go back to a smart phone last summer. But something strange has happened. Apart from using the camera, and apps like Signal and a sudoku app, I use my smart phone more or less like I used my "dumb" phone. I hardly ever browse the web, check e-mail or anything like that. I pick it up if it rings, or I need to call someone. And the occasional photo and game of sudoku for my own enjoyment. I have no social media, I don't share the photos I take, I don't feel the need to stay connected.
And when I'm not on wifi, it's more or less a "dumb" phone with a camera. I don't use data traffic. Haven't for the year I've had a smart phone again, and I don't see the need to start using data traffic. If I have access to wifi, great, I can use Signal, if not, those who need to contact me has my number and can get in touch with me the old fashioned way.
Having maps and GPS turned out to be more useful than I expected, but once I go somewhere once or twice, I don't use it to get to that place anymore. I thought Google Authenticator would be the killer app for me, but I use it so rarely, and I have KeePass do that now anyway. I've never gotten the point of social media, so I completely missed the bullet there.
I piddle on my phone when I'm exhausted. They used to do studies and find that lots of TV watching correlated to being too exhausted after work to do anything else. I think checking nonsense online when tired is the new TV watching when tired. We often do that on our phone because it's super convenient.
Women also tend to be more at everyone's beck and call than men. So presumably the phone facilitates the access of people who expect her to be at their beck and call and she can't figure out how to ditch that expectation without ditching the phone.
I have arranged my life where this is no longer true. I just cannot relate to a lot of the articles complaining about what a burden their phone is. I fairly often read articles or comments about what a burden it is and the subtext I hear is "My phone is the leash that my social circle has on me and I can't not reply." That's an alien concept for me at this point.
If I look at younger people I hang out with it's sad to see some of them would have a panic attack if asked to leave home without their phone. It sounds totally crazy to them. They grew up with parents constantly reminding them to bring their phone, and they would have gotten into trouble any time they would forget the phone, run out of battery or be otherwise unreachable. It's panic passed down from (my) generation ...
When I used to travel a lot a few years back, I went extremely low tech. I wanted to appreciate the beauty each city had to offer and nature as it was meant to be.
I didn't have a data plan and would just memorize maps at the hostel before I set off for an adventure.
To tell the time I would simply just look at the sun and shadows projected. I would know this after the first day since I would have some benchmarks there. The sun rises from east and to the west, but the amount it changes per hour depends on what hemisphere you are in. And the season too ?I believe?
Consequently, this is how I would determine where North, East, West, and South is. I would have a mental model in my head based on how many steps I took to know where I am on the map. I used mostly relative positioning and landmarks in densely populated cities to determine this.
I would carry a paper map with me though, in the event I got lost.
The only downside to having no smartphone is that nighttime navigation was extremely difficult. There was no sun to navigate, I couldn't use the northstar since the lights in the city were too bright to see it.
People think I'm joking when I use sun navigation but I am not. Looking up at the sun is actually sometimes faster to determine the time and direction then having to whip out your phone. This was true especially during flip phone times, but not so much because of how useful smartphones have gotten / smartwatches.
Historically using the sun to determine time was how it was always done since Ancient greek / Egyptian times with Sun Dials.
I also used to parasail too, sometimes on the lake I relied on sun navigation to determine where I was at, since whipping out a phone or looking at a compass is sometimes not reasonable at the time. Especailly when I have my hand on the rudder and the other on ?whatever rope controled the mast?
I walk a lot and see so many people with their head pinned to their phone, and I've almost been hit 3 times from people flying through stop signs while texting in the middle of the day. Anything that might be so addictive that you can't even drive without constantly checking your phone can't be good for you.
Really though, a flip phone works well. You end up using it as a phone, but they also support texting too which makes you capable of communicating with everyone else in a pretty normal way.
No need to ditch a very useful device, need discipline to use it wisely.
I am working it out with this approach: no social network apps, turned off all notifications (however the red dots over app icons bother me still), uninstalled email app (I do check it on demand using the browser email app), airplane mode at night, off the pocket most of the weekend.
My biggest concern is that using a phone killed my reading habit. I guess reading short shallow posts is the actual problem. Really pissed about it. I try to read a book and my attention span lasts for a couple of minutes. I tried kindle to keep the form factor. No luck :( I used to read a lot, a lot!
Main question will be whether small screen flip phones will be made with modern modems to connect to modern infra wich may not support older Gen wireless nets for too long.
An old flip phone would work if it supported mainstream authenticators.
https://www.kyoceramobile.com/duraxv-lte/
Life goes on, if it's an emergency I'm sure someone will get a hold of me somehow. But I want to take pictures of my wife and dogs, I want to text her and my friends, and I don't want to get lost. Music streaming is nice too. That's about it.
I guess I am just bitching about social media to be honest...
They're also easy to reinstall, and often times have good enough mobile web clients. Can't uninstall the browser, unfortunately.
I'm not going back. I love the camera, I love having my books and music with me everywhere. I love the GPS.
But I can't wait for iOS 12 so I can slap obtuse time limits on my Twitter and browser use.
A simple phone for calling is enough for me. Plus the nostalgia.
Facebook/Instagram/Parking/Maps/whatever apps just spam you with notifications that don't matter.
On the other hand, it's embarrassing when I use it in downtown San Francisco.
( https://www.kaiostech.com/return-nokia-8110-banana-phone/ )