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Comment by rootusrootus | Hacker News Reader

The next step after this epiphany is to realize you can do this without actually giving up the phone. Just because it's in your pocket doesn't mean you need to pull it out constantly and look at it. It's just a tool, relegate it to that position in your life and don't use it like a pacifier.

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That's not realistic. The phone is calling out, begging you to pay attention to it, and makes itself more difficult to use the less you want to be entangled.

You just have to put it away. If it's a tool, treat it like a tool. You don't carry a hammer in your pocket all day.

>The phone is calling out, begging you to pay attention to it

No, it doesn't; it's you who carves to escape into the phone. I wish it would call me sometimes to at least remember to keep it charged.

You are right; the rest of the replies to you are wrong.

Anyone unclear on this should read some of the research about phone proximity and cognitive impairment. https://www.dataquest.io/blog/phone-proximity-effect/

Obviously it's actually your brain doing the calling, not the phone, but the effect is the same: it has an effect on you just by existing that you cannot control. It has nothing to do with notifications settings.

Nah, you just need to break the addictions to that apps that cause that.

The underlying issue is lack of self-discipline (to not over-consume things like the phone), not the phone itself.

Removing the phone is treating the symptoms instead of the issue.

Your phone calls out to you? I guess when I receive a message it does. But that's why very few apps are allowed push notifications.

Turn off notifications, put it on do not disturb mode, whatever.

And many people do carry a pocket knife or multitool in their pocket all day.

Are there no phones that call out like that? Maybe one of the Linux ones could be made that way.

I don't think this would work for me, absent some sort of brain surgery. Even if I'm not looking at my phone, my brain still knows I could look at my phone, which colors my experience.

I think these kids have the right idea, going back to a flip phone. (Or maybe the modern variant: go Apple-watch only.)

And the next step after this epiphany is that you still have to remember to take the phone with you places, not to leave it behind, and worry about it getting dropped in the toilet by a toddler. Not caring this tool still has a lot of benefits.

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