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> If I'm going to the cinema or baseball or any other event... I don't have it in any calendar.

If I don't have it in my calendar, it doesn't happen. I would fail to actually go to the event otherwise.

Same. Calendar events, reminders, and timers are the only way anything in my life gets done.

I also have ADHD!

I doubt only ADHD people are aided by this. Lots of people are just busy nowadays juggling home, work, kids, friends, hobbies, errands, etc.

I don't have ADHD but also do this. I just forget stuff too easily.

I'm calendar-driven to such an extent that I joke that all it would take to murder me would be to insert "jump off a cliff" in my calendar.

I never use a calendar; most days, I don't even know what day it is. So, your approach is very interesting to me. Could you please tell me more about what your day looks like on the calendar? How detailed is it, and do you do this even on holidays?

not OP, but the only way for me and my 3 kids (2 high school, 1 junior high) to keep everything straight between appointments, sporting events and practice, work schedules (2 kids have jobs) is to use a shared calendar. We learned early a few things, like 1. don't get cute and put padding because you are worried about being late, it messes with other people 2) don't put reminders, they confuse people 3. if it isnt in the calendar, it isnt happening

We used our calendar for a recent road trip to keep everything sorted. Even on vacations, if you are doing more than chilling at a campsite, it can be very useful for the same reasons.

I think you're reading more into this than I meant. For example, today:

    [todo/home] clean air filters
    [todo/home] take out trash
    [todo/home] refill [daughter]'s medication
    [work] 9:30 meeting with [person]
    [home] 10:30 doctor appt @ 313 river
    [home] 11:30 [daughter] dropoff at middle school orientation
    [work] 13:45 meeting with [person]
    [home] 16:00 [daughter] cello lesson
    [todo/work] 16:45 check if zpool is done resilvering
    [home] 19:30 ?outdoor contradance @ c?

I cannot imagine how people operate without a calendar. How would you remember a half dozen or dozen things, every day, some of which might have been scheduled weeks or months in advance?

It's simple, I don't have things like that that I need to do on any sort of daily basis.

I have a work calendar for work meetings, but never saw a need for personal calendar.

OK sure I put doctor and dentist on my personal calendar, but dentist is 2x a year and doctor is like once a year for a physical. On my personal calendar I might have a dozen things put on it for the whole year. Some upcoming family event, some wedding, etc.

I probably have 20-30 “personal”events a week. But that’s because I have two kids.

My dentist and doctor schedule the next appointment during my appointment. So if I had my annual physical appointment tomorrow, my next appointment would be 8/23/2026 which I definitely would not remember, even if they gave me an appointment card. If I'm lucky they'll call me to remind me a few days before, but having it on my calendar ensures that I don't schedule a meeting (or travel!) during that time.

In my case: I don’t have that many TODOs. For instance, I clean home twice per week, on Mondays and Thursdays. Don’t need to write it down anywhere. I have perhaps 2 or 3 doctor appointments per year (and they are usually within a few weeks in advance, so easy to remember). I don’t have kids (this one could be the game changer, I admit).

Work-wise: sure, I have everything in the work calendar. But i have separate laptops for work and personal life. I never mix them.

If we want to go out for dinner, we just go. Cinema? We just go as well. No appointments. I do exercise at home. We usually travel around 2 times per year (again, not easy to miss)

My wife is 35 weeks pregnant and I go with her to all her OB appts. If we didn't put it on a shared calendar, someone is gonna miss it (though to be honest it'd probably be me, which isn't the end of the world).

We almost never schedule dinners, but we buy cinema tickets ahead of time (or concert tickets, or whatever event). Those ones are hard to remember because the show may be at 6 but doors open at 5 so lots of stuff needs to be coordinated.

I'm in between. I do use a calendar for pre-planned personal outings, but more for blocking off dates/times than tracking details. If I hide work meetings, pretty much my entire calendar is just a bunch of events generically named "Balls" with no other information. Occasionally I'll use someone's name or the name of a travel destination.

I used to consider myself a "tech guy" but the world seems to have moved on without me. I look at announcements of new phones and computers and I'm not even remotely excited about any of it. They're not solving any problem that I have anymore. I have a 9 year phone, and nothing released since then has really been compelling enough for me to upgrade. The only reason I will probably get a new one at some point is because the OS manufacturer and 3rd party app developers have (at best) stopped supporting my device and (at worst) are actively blocking my using their software/websites purely because of the age of the otherwise perfectly working device.

I used to have this "I'm missing something" thought but I don't think that anymore. This isn't me failing to get on board with what they think I should care about--It's the device manufacturers who are missing/ignoring my needs in the market.

Same, I only catch up on tech by reading summaries sometimes and for a couple of weeks when I know I need a new device. I’m still the friends and family go to tech person for purchases and support but don’t need to be always up to do, which is great since I’m not interested anymore like when I was young.

It's really only the camera improvements that have been driving my interest in new phones for a while now. But even smartphone cameras have matured to the point where I'm content to use a phone for 4 years before upgrading.

Unless you're mailing letters, it's almost certain that your life is in "digital format". It sounds like you just don't use a calendar.

But surely you have an email confirmation for your movie, baseball, or event ticket. And maybe you texted or otherwise messaged with your friends who were going? Took pictures on your phone with them? Carried your phone with you when you went.

Right. I meant I don’t make use of such digital assets. They are there because of tech giants, but i just don’t gain much from them.

The argument is that you could potentially make easy use of these digital assets via an assistant that has secure, private access to them. As someone who forgets to use his calendar for social events, I'd love to be able to ask "what events are going on this weekend" and have it show me everything I've agreed to do via email/text message/3p messenger app.

I don't trust that a fuzzy automatism adds anything beneficial to that

I'm right there with you. I work in tech, but I don't want to fuss with tech when I'm off the clock. Like, it all annoys me and just feels like work.

When my router breaks I just buy a new one. When my laptop gives me the first sign of trouble I just buy a new one.

I see people fussing with unlocking their phones to pay for lunch and I am totally bewildered. Why is it so hard to pull a card out of your pocket? I have a rule "no new chargers" when buying stuff. If it comes with some proprietary charger I make a half-assed attempt to keep up with it but I just throw it in the trash after about 6 months and buy something with a cord.

Maybe I'm an old man, but maybe that means I know now that life is too short to spend my Saturday morning messing with HomeAssistant.

I can empathize. I have some similar rules:

- if an app won’t sign up without a phone number I don’t use it anymore

- if a product is single purpose, and isn’t a phone or some jogging tracker or a set top box I don’t buy it

- if a product requires me to sign into a service for it to do anything, I don’t buy it

>>I see people fussing with unlocking their phones to pay for lunch and I am totally bewildered.

How are people "fussing with unlocking their phones" to pay though? It literally couldn't be any easier - I pull it out, touch the screen on the fingerprint sensor to unlock it and tap on the terminal, done. It's about 200x easier than pulling the card out of my wallet, and the card can only be used for contactless up to a certain amount, and half the time it randomly asks me for my pin anyway so the whole benefit of contactless is lost. Paying with your phone is a massive improvement to convenience.

>> When my laptop gives me the first sign of trouble I just buy a new one.

I mean I hope you recognize the incredible priviledge behind that statement - for a lot of people tinkering with their laptop isn't about being a hobby IT person, it's about the fact that a new laptop costs half their salary so it's quite literally not an option.

>> life is too short to spend my Saturday morning messing with HomeAssistant.

Sure but you make it sound like it's a chore - most people(I'd guess) set up HA because it provides value in their lives, that other, more simpler devices cannot provide. So at the cost of X number of hours once a year you get a device that consolidates all of your home automation and data. If you could buy a premade device that did it without fuss - I'm sure a lot of people would.

> How are people "fussing with unlocking their phones" to pay though? It literally couldn't be any easier - I pull it out, touch the screen on the fingerprint sensor to unlock it and tap on the terminal, done. It's about 200x easier than pulling the card out of my wallet, and the card can only be used for contactless up to a certain amount, and half the time it randomly asks me for my pin anyway so the whole benefit of contactless is lost. Paying with your phone is a massive improvement to convenience.

Sweaty/wet hands can make unlocking unreliable, some people have multiple cards and need to select the correct one, sometimes their phone is lagging and taking time getting the wallet screen opening, etc. It is not uncommon to see people struggling for a few seconds with their watch or smartphone. So do people not finding their wallet in a bag too or failing to grab a card from a physical wallet too to be honest. I wouldn't say one option is 200x easier, both are pretty much on equal terms imho.

I don't use wallet because I don't have a google account on my phone anyway nor would it work with my grapheneOS AFAIK anyway.

> Paying with your phone is a massive improvement to convenience.

And it only gets easier when you pay with a watch - you don't even have to pull your phone out of your pocket!

My cards only come out when I'm making a large purchase that I want extra protection on (think the UK's Section 75) and these are usually purchases I know about in advance - otherwise my wallet stays at home most days.

>> When my laptop gives me the first sign of trouble I just buy a new one.

Well, some people enjoy fixing old things. Even though I work in tech I don't get to fix physical devices at work, which means fixing them at home doesn't feel like work at all. Rather it feels like an excellent and fun way to save money for something more meaningful than buying a new router or laptop.

I have some passion for technology, but zero passion for wasting the little money I'm paid on expensive devices, which will be outdated in a couple of years anyway.

> Why is it so hard to pull a card out of your pocket?

Because I haven't carried a card for years now. I couldn't even tell you where my physical credit card is.

I guess this is very geographic dependent. I live in a country where only maybe 80% of merchants accept Visa/Mastercard (and thus only those can accept Google/Apple Pay) so I need to either carry a card for our domestic payment card infrastructure–or carry cash in order to be able to transact with any shops.

You don't add to your calendar but you probably got a confirmation email. Or you may have used an app that could expose this data to the operating system. OR, you called, and the phone app transcribed and summarized the call.

Same for the wallet... if you have your credit card / banking app installed it could expose this.

But yeah, none _needs_ any of that, for different degrees of fun and life optimization.

> If I'm going to the cinema or baseball or any other event... I don't have it in any calendar.

When I buy a ticket to an event and the e-mail about it arrives, Google automatically adds the event to my calendar. My wife and I have shared our calendars with each other, too, so we both see it no matter who buys the ticket.

I dont think I have left my house without my phone in 5+ years.

I think it’s been 15+ years for me

Do you folks not go camping?

Speaking for myself, that costs money and time, neither of which I have.

Many people take their phone with them when camping. Even if there's some desire to "disconnect" (which not everyone has), people still want 1) a device for emergency calls, 2) a camera, and 3) a map.

Yes, far more than the average person - vehicle, car camping, backcountry, kayak, etc. I take my phone as a camera (still/video), for an extra map option with GPS, and for reading e-books or editing photos at night in the tent.

I try and do some kind of camping once a month and always have my phone. Typically it's in airplane mode and gets used for photos, maps, ebooks.

I want my phone more when camping.

You don’t take your phone when you’re camping???

Yes. And it stays in the tent.

InReach mini comes with.

Being connected to the internet or digital media is the last fucking thing I want when I'm in the woods.

Well done, your self congratulatory prize will be in the mail.

I'm honestly asking... doesn't the presence of internet access distract from appreciating nature, for you?

Honestly, no. It enhances it. It's just a tool. Like do you bring a flashlight camping?

I was overly snarky, I apologise. Personally I don’t go camping and therefore cant really comment.

I used to take my phone with me all the time (I used to have an iphone mini). The current models are too big. They are nice when i’m on the sofa surfing the web, but a hassle to take then in my pocket

I agree the current models are all too big. I'm still using a Pixel 4 mainly because I don't want a bigger phone (oh, and free Google Photos storage of course).

I'll often leave my phone at home if I'm going somewhere with my wife and kids. If they're with me, they have their phones and I'll instantly know if something happens to them, so no need to carry my phone.

It's basically a self-psyop to break the dependency. I spent the first 25-ish years of my life without a cell phone, after all.

I think you're doing technology right tbh. We don't really need all this new tech, and it's better for the environment to just skip it and keep using what we have.

If you have an email receipt, and you store email on your phone, it's probably accessable. I don't think you're missing out on anything though.

Re: geek, AI has a lot of mainstream hype at the moment. I don't think there's anything inherently geeky about buying into the hype.

> (my phone is big and having it hanging in my pockets is not nice).

Not to critique how you love but a little bum bag could fix this.

  > I pay with debit/credit cards but I don't have any digital wallet. I don't take my phone with me most of the time (my phone is big and having it hanging in my pockets is not nice).

I hate having things in my pockets, so that's actually why I like digital wallets. Honestly I'd rather forgo my phone but it is easier to give up my wallet, which is only carried for the ID.

But I've also recently moved away from flagship phones and I really don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I also used to root devices and underclock them after having them for some years to help extend their lives. Similarly I didn't feel like I was missing out on much. But at the same time, whenever a new phone would drop I'd feel like there was this cool new feature yet when I actually had it in my hands none of those features were actually that big of a deal. Even if nice. So moving to a non-flagship is nice entirely due to it being smaller and fitting in my pocket better. And it's not all about the thickness...

  > Which is weird again, because I'm supposed to be the "geek".

I don't think it is weird. I think it is just that innovation has slowed down but marketing hasn't.

I mean there's still lots of things to geek out about and lots of dreams and fantasies about the future and tech that just don't have anything to do with the current direction of innovation.

What non flagship phones or digital wallets you use?

There's non flagship, and there's ex-flagship.

I'd much rather have an ex-flagship phone that, at the time, had what was considered one of the best cameras (actually pretty much all I care about).

That said, I'm looking forward to trying this out in about 5 years!

Written from my "new to me" pixel 6.

I had to fix my broken OnePlus 7t last year, with Lineage OS I don't miss a thing, except my bank app. For which I use an old Moto.

I used to be a flagship phone buyer all the time. But I now feel spending too much on a new phone is kind of a waste, as phones are getting too locked down to the users, and too open to the advertisers. I just want a phone where I can flash lineage OS, and done with it.

It's almost like buying hardware that are Linux friendly, a feat that was difficult once, now things are better. Really looking out for a Linux based phone that works

I'll be honest, I didn't feel much of a difference changing from my Pixel 2 to my Pixel 6. Actually, I liked my Pixel 2 more. Boy do I miss that back fingerprint sensor. As well as the squeeze feature. What a great design. Also, it cleanly fit in my pocket. Pixel 2 was peak Pixel if you ask me. (never tried the 3)

Really the only reason I ended up switching was because I had already replaced the lens on the rear camera after some dirt got into it and I had cracked that back glass while taking it apart. Not a big deal, but it felt like time to move on I guess. I definitely got excited about all the new features of 6 and then promptly never actually used any of them.

How do you get your tickets? Do you just buy in person at the theater or ballpark?

I expressed myself wrong. I do purchase tickets online. Then I just remember the day. No calendar. I don’t take advantage of the digital assets (email confirmation, etc)

You are not a target customer for smartphones.