Am I an idiot for wanting a dumber phone?
wired.com
wired.com
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If I could get a dumb phone that could still run Google/Apple/Any Maps for GPS purposes, I'd be first in line.
The smartphone UX is all kinds of poor, I'm immediately repulsed and turned off by it versus a keyboard and mouse. Hamburger menus at the top of a now-very-tall screen? Yeah, fuck that.
There's also the YouTube app (needed for Chromecasting YouTube from iPhone), and Google Calendar.
(I'm sure it's at least somewhat intentional along those lines that it hasn't become GTube or something over the years.)
I have just one Google app installed: Maps. Its location settings are set to only allow location access when the app is open, so it collects very little data useful to Google. I can probably switch to Apple Maps, but I don't know whether the quality of navigation and public transport data is as good as Google Maps. If it turns out to be similar, I'm likely to switch, because I'm only staying with GMaps thanks to the data quality.
So for these reasons I've never understood how someone could find their phone addicting. It's an ad-displaying machine with terrble UX and limited functionality that can also do comms. I browse social media like Twitter, etc., on my laptop. I can't understand how anyone would ever want to do that on mobile.
My favorite phone I've ever owned was still my Lumia 1020 back in the golden days of windows phone. That phone embodied the two tasks I care about (comms and taking pictures), had a dark-mode UI way before that became popular, and generally just stayed out of the way and was performant.
^ This. My app install strategy is zero apps installed by me.
You don't come right out and say it but there's definitely a virtuousness angle here. If other people were just good in the ways you are good, they wouldn't have these problems. They have in some sense the ability to avoid these consequences, and so they are choosing to have them. They deserve them, in a sense. Right?
The point of posting it was clearly attempting to understand/relate.
This is like saying "I don't abuse alcohol, therefore I can't understand how others could abuse alcohol."
Good for you, dude. I guess be thankful that you don't have these struggles, but try to understand that your life experience isn't necessarily shared.
And on the accessibility shortcuts you can also set it so triple-pressing the home button instantly toggles between B&W/Colour so (for example) you can the colours on a photo you've just taken.
it's made me realize how much of our recent world has been built around everybody having a smartphone. for example, QR codes for menus and to pay for parking, etc, is not a very equitable world.
That's easy. Learn to type 120wpm. Going from 120wpm on a laptop to 30wpm on a phone will seem like pure agony. Unfortunately, you'll still be addicted to the internet, but at least you can't take your laptop into the can with you. Well, not in public, anyway.
It's not agonising and if you use the tech more (just like the computer), you improve
- Respects my privacy. It's not tracked or surveilled. Contacts and communications are not logged and recorded.
- Doesn't alert with spam calls and texts multiple times per day.
- Has days of batter and weeks of standby.
- Can provide an emergency data link ("tethering") for my other mobile devices when necessary.
- Avoids emissive displays. E-ink is rapidly becoming a strong preference for me.
- Hardware buttons.
- Folds away keyboard/touchpad. No butt-dialing.
- Physical headphone jack.
- Small pocketable format.
Nice-to-haves above and beyond that: notes/remiders, clock / timer / alarm, mapping / directions (with disableable / activate-only-when-needed GPS), and transit / travel information.
Almost all other substantive uses are far better applied to a larger format device --- probably a tethered e-ink tablet as a first option (8" -- 13"). I'd still like an e-ink keyboarded ultra-light laptop / notebook as well. I'll wait ...
I'm ... close ... to simply going in for a pager with very limited access (as in, nobody but top priorities can reach it), and I can reach back out via another option.
PSTN is dangerously near death, not just wireline / POTS but mobile as well.
- I deactivated notifications for most apps. If necessary, I setup in-app notifications (Discord notifies me about a new personal message, but not about a random post on the "general" channel)
- I don't use the facebook app, but I have a link to facebook.com on my icon screen, browsed firefox
- ublock origin extension for firefox
- if a random notification happens, long click on it allows deactivating the next ones from the same app
- I deactivated incoming email notifications. If I want to read my emails, I open the client. I guess it saves battery too.
- In France we have an app to detect spam or phishing calls. It can event prevent the phone ringing when detected as such.
At its core is the mobile phone data network itself, which provides sufficiently fine (and largely utilised) location tracking, vox activity, and Internet data usage tracking and association with a single device. The foundation is shit, no golden castle can be constructed on it.
Source: Android owner for nearly 15 years, infosec background, numerous exploits, data disclosures, white papers, etc.
https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/mobile-phones-location-trackin...
https://ssd.eff.org/en/playlist/privacy-breakdown-mobile-pho...
I use Screentime and give the password to my partner. I have blocked downloading new apps and websites I waste time on. This lets me have access to useful apps and I can look things up on the internet (but not browse reddit). If can always temporarily get the password from my partner if I need a new app or am traveling.
I highly recommend trying it out if you want a dumber-phone but don't want a dumb phone.
Before if I got an alert I would want to open it, and then that turned into opening other apps and before I knew it I was in a spiral.
But with the Apple Watch I get the alerts I want (texts largely) on my watch and everything else is stuck on my phone. The important alerts are front and center, if I need to respond I either can from my watch or I can from another Apple Device (I often get an alert for a text on my watch and then open iMessage on my Mac for example).
So my phone now is much more... I purposefully open it when I need it instead of I need to respond to something and it turns into a spiral.
I know it isn't quite the same as being disconnected. But it is weird how much having those alerts on my wrist has drastically changed how I view my phone.
Those are alerts that you would still get even with a dumber phone.
I do also realize that you can kinda replicate this with focus mode. But my point is more, my watch has turned into the alerts I care about while everything else is stuck on my phone if I so choose to interact with it.
But also, smart phones do have their value. There have been a couple of jobs I have gotten interviews for because I was hanging out with someone and someone mentioned looking to fill a position so I sent them my resume right there.
Or navigation (walking or car). Not getting lost (heavily related to navigation but still). Needing to look up something on the internet.
Sure today a lot of smart phone use is for... I am going to say meaningless tasks. They are "fun" but you would be fine without them. But there are a lot of valid uses that smart phones provide. The issue is everything else.
There’s your problem. My phone has been in DnD for the past 10 years and I’m still addicted and check it way too often.
When I need to use my girlfriend’s phone, it beeps and rings and alerts 5 times in the space it takes to watch the video she’s trying to show me. It’s downright anxiety inducing and I don’t understand how she lives like that.
My phone doesn’t even show the red bubble notification counters anymore. It’s great.
Even now though there are alerts that I want. Like texts from my partner, certain email chains, etc.
I have those important alerts going to my watch and everything else is stuck to my phone.
With the added benefit that because those alerts are stuck there, I was also able to better realize that there are a lot of alerts that I don't want and either deleted the apps or changed their notification settings.
Kinda more where I am going with this, the watch let me re-evaluate a lot of things about my phone. Yes those things can be done without the watch. But it was the push to help me have a healthy (in my opinion) relationship with my phone.
Importantly, this came with the added benefit of I still have this phone in my pocket for the (admittedly rare) times that having a smart phone is truly beneficial.
I am sure there are people that the watch just made them more attached to their phone in an unhealthy manner.
But I would love to think that there are just as many of us that it has turned into a healthy addition. Contrary to popular belief.
So, while I despise the interruptions, I'm also sympathetic to the way my friends and family and coworkers feel. If they write me and I never respond, it makes them feel bad. And if it's something timely/important, it can cause real anxiety or problems.
Or, more accurately, you're an idiot if you blame your phone for feeling distracted all the time. It's not your phone's fault. It's your brain's fault. Without taking conscious action to stop thinking about the distractions you'll just move from one distraction to another when you choose a dumber phone. Getting a phone that can't run apps isn't going to magically make you pick up your side project. You'll watch more TV, or play more video games, or just play Snake on the dumb phone, or post more on HN or something.
Being distracted by your phone is a symptom of a problem, not a cause.
I think low energy distractions are fine, within reason though. As long as they don't start to affect other things, like sleep; if they do, you need to do some self-reflection and leave it alone.
It's a war for your attention, and your phone is their primary gateway to your attention.
Don't blame the victim when there's a multi-billion dollar market that hinges on victimizing people by getting - and keeping - their attention.
And why is this? Because chose to start browsing HN, and I chose to not spend time on social media. My addiction is a product of my own choices, and nobody else's.
If you can show me that the majority of people addicted to social media and/or their phones were forced to use them, then that's involuntary. Otherwise, by definition, they voluntarily decided to use whatever social media app they're captured by.
Physical objects take up space, and time, in the form of the effort needed to keep track of them. They also cost money. A phone is one of the most powerful devices ever made to replace physical items.
Plus, it's amazing to be able to go anywhere and never worry about getting lost(Or was, back when I lived somewhere with busses and actually could go to more than a small number of places).
It also has a huge equalizing effect. I can remember stuff just as well as anyone! I can leave a pot of water on the stove, do something in another room for a few minutes, and come back! I can count 100 objects and not lose track!
The addiction is a very real problem, but a fairly lower middle class life with modern tech is still more of a luxury than a millionaire would have had 50 years ago.
I'm not exactly sure what to do about it, but getting rid of Android isn't really on my list of ideas, although if someone's life is so awesome that they're willing to give up phones to not miss a minute, and they've got enough capability that they don't just spend all their time getting lost and forgetting things, I can respect that.
It's so annoying to use that I really use it when I have to.
This is a little more complex with social media, where the goal is to drive engagement time as much as possible. Not really sure what would fix this, other than users manually setting up their own screen time limits. Legislation might be able to accomplish something, but that feels very heavy handed and would likely have poor execution considering how out of touch politicians are. Perhaps Apple could build in some OS features that would identify social media addiction and gently nudge users to take breaks.
The dumb phone idea is interesting and highlights how much of a current issue this is, but doesn't feel like a realistic solution for the broader public
As far as more tech being more realistic than people opting for dumb phones en masse, you’re probably right, but AI being an actual good solution to tech addiction I disagree.
- Make standard mobile phone calls and text (with a touchscreen)
- Support calls using SIP/VOIP
- Maybe an app or two, specifically signal so I can look at pictures, I don't need video to work
- No notifications (besides text when it's not on silent)
- If possible a really shitty browser that doesn't support JS but can handle searching google+wikipedia
It sounds like you could use an iPhone and only leave the phone, message(disable iMessage in settings), install whatever app or two you want, going settings and disable notifications, or put it in focus mode, or do not disturb mode, or do all three of those things. Then you can go into settings > safari > advanced and disable javascript.
Actually I forgot one more requirement. I'd like either a headphone jack (or bluetooth) and music player for when I jog
I feel pretty dumb for not thinking of this sooner, but chrome allows blocking JavaScript on specific domains. I literally just yesterday finally did this for YouTube, and I'm excited I finally found something that works.
The channels will all still be there later if I want to watch some of the content, but now I can't just casually start it up all the time.
Also if this sounds useful to you but you sometimes need YouTube, this doesn't block it in the little temporary browser that opens when you click on a link from Facebook messenger. So it's a roundabout way to still access in a pinch when you want to watch a video.
> I WASTE WAY too much time on my phone and am attracted by the idea of simplifying my digital life. So I found several apps and tutorials designed to make my smartphone ‘dumb,’ but I’ve hesitated to take the plunge. Am I just trying to escape modern life?
Buy dumbphone with no WIFI, Bluetooth, NFC, Only SMS and VOICE and put your SIM card in it. Use it for SMS and VOICE.
You can still have smartphone but now it doesn't have SIM, so no LTE or 5G, and turn off WIFI, NFC, Bluetooth, and put it in airplane mode forever. This will dumb it down.
Take your dumbed down smartphone with you only if you need camera and GPS. Like hiking etc..
Might be nice if it could also include a digital version of the other foo that's in my physical wallet: bus pass, gym membership card, ID, office access card. Like an actual wallet.
Some of these things are already possible with smartphones. But smartphones are insecure garbage filled with ad-tech and bloatware and rarely receive security patches for more than a year or so.
However I want companies to loose their "we need to funnel our entire product through an app" attitude.
I was recently looking for some Nanoleaf-style lighting elements for some indirect light at my workstation. I failed to find any that doesn't require an app to control basic things like brightness etc. It's just a fancy adjustable lightbulb. Just put a physical on/off switch and a dial for brightness on the panel.
I'm quite happy with it. It's got exactly what I'd want: decent camera, the ability to (very slowly) type out a text message if needed, the ability to (clumsily) browse the web, and is super rugged. You can also side-load APKs if you really need some app too (e.g. maps).
Sure, my phone still rings and beeps at me (occasionally), but there's enough of a barrier in the act of moving devices which keeps me from swapping instinctively, that lets me keep my attention on the media (usually books) I'm consuming.
Sandbox your addictions and trim them down at your pace. That's how it worked for me.
My reply was that I only want two things: the ability to make calls, and the ability to receive calls. And that on most days I wasn't so sure about the second thing, come to think of it.
I think the key is to have two phones -- a "dumb phone" for during the day at office and evenings at home so you won't be distracted, and a "smart phone" for travel
So I bought an Apple Watch and I now leave my phone in a different room. I get all notifications and can respond to urgent ones or be summoned to the phone if needed. But I'm no longer doomscrolling.
There is not a good dumb phone. I bought a few and they all had network connectivity or clarity issues. We're being slowly forced into using smartphones made by two data-hungry American corporations and I for one do not like it one bit.
It is always just something that is there, needed me, either for alerts, or charging, or FOMI (That is fear of missing information, You are welcome).
I also completely disagree that it's a cop-out for a dumb phone to have genuinely useful features like maps, music and taxis - things you might have anyway in physical form
It’s less about the phone and more about the apps on it. You really don’t need Instagram or any of this crap but I’m sure you already know that.
You can have a phone and just use rss for news.
First - delete all your addictive social media apps from your phone. If there are some you can use without issue then you can keep those. I have LinkedIn installed on my phone, for example.
Second - use a strong password generator for all your social media sites you do use. Only keep those passwords on your laptop/workstation, not your phone. This prevents you from being able to use your phone's web browser to go to the social media sites. I use FB to keep in touch with family and friends, but I have no idea what my password is and I certainly couldn't login from my phone. I visit FB in the morning while having my first coffee using my laptop and so it's easy to time box.
Third - why the notifications? Your phone shouldn't be bleeping and blooping and squawking all day long. That's distracting. I disable almost all audio notifications, enable some banner notifications, and enable most badges. If I notice any of those notification methods causing me any kind of anxiety or distraction then I disable it. This works wonders for your computer too - your notifications should be for things that are actually important and require your attention, not a post where your buddy is sharing pictures of what he's having for lunch.
If you've removed your ability to engage with social media on your phone then what can you do? For starters, you have a great point-and-shoot digital camera/video recorder in your pocket. You also have a GPS receiver. You have a radio (Spotify) or a music player (your music app). All in once device.
You also have your ID and a means to pay - so technically you no longer need a waller. In my town you're going to need your phone in order to pay for parking. Sorry, there's an app for that and that's what you have to use to pay. Many bars and restaurants these days no longer provide menus and simply give you a QR code that takes you to the menu. Public Transportation is increasingly reliant on phones - again I don't need a wallet to carry my metro card. By the time you have a phone capable of doing all these things you're firmly back into the smartphone territory.
Finally, do you have hobbies? Are there apps that support your hobby? I'm a musician. I have Garage Band on my iPhone. I can be enjoying a walk and have an inspiration and quickly capture an idea that I can work on later. I could go on and on - there's actually many music apps I use - and I don't have to drag my laptop to my buddy's house whenever we want to jam together.
Your best strategy isn't to get a dumber phone, but to get smarter in how you use your smartphone. Make your smartphone work for you, don't become a slave to it!