
Why I'm glad my iPhone broke - stkhlm
http://sirupsen.com/iphone/
======
ssharp
I can't believe that any majority of smartphone users' lives are being
debilitated by owning a smartphone. Just like there is a large area between
not drinking and being a full-blown alcoholic, there is a large area between
not owning a smartphone and being addicted to a smartphone.

If you cannot control yourself enough to stop constantly taking pictures and
posting them to Facebook and you don't like this behavior, then tossing the
phone in the trash might be your best play. But for those of us who own a
smartphone and rarely touch the camera and Facebook app, the phone isn't
affecting my life in a negative manner. Yes, I'd rather have access to 16GB of
local music and access Spotify than not have it. If it's there, I can choose
to use it or not.

The issue here isn't the smartphone, it's making bad choices that lead to
negative outcomes for you.

~~~
LarrySDonald
These were kind of my thoughts. I love having a smartphone and even before
they existed I tried to get the dumb ones to do the maximum possible via sms.
I really like being able to not worry about finding my way someplace or being
able to think "Hmm, I want to go to a museum/eat at 5 guys/walk around a
park/swim. Where's the closest one?" and be told. I like being able to check
my email or take a picture of something I find amusing. But it's not ruling my
life, it's a tiny fraction of it. If people want to know so badly what I'm
thinking, eating or doing, well, call or text I guess - I don't have time to
document it. I've found very little disturbance to anything, the only possible
time I might miss something is if I'm somewhere deathly boring and I choose to
ignore it in favor of browsing and even that isn't common.

------
brador
Try this - Leave home with nothing and go take a walk around. No bags, no
phone, no keys, nothing. Just clothes and maybe $20 in your pocket for
emergencies. Leave early and with no commitments later in the day. Eat on the
road. Return when you feel like it. Walk at whatever pace you like. Go
wherever your legs take you.

It's an awesome feeling like nothing else. Helps if you live with someone so
they can let you in when you return.

~~~
meaty
I used to do that with a TravelCard in London in the late 90s. £4 used to get
you round the entire city and you can eat well for £4 on top of that. It's
probably doubled now.

Some out of date Kodak 35mm film (free) and an old Praktica camera (free) and
the city was mine. That, clothes and a rain coat and I was happy :)

I don't advocate it, but trespassing has certain interesting side as well and
is free (if you don't get caught).

~~~
carlob
Well, in Rome the day ticket is €6 and you can eat for about €4. You can leave
your raincoat at home :)

~~~
meaty
I like my rain :)

~~~
carlob
What about the grub?

~~~
meaty
I'll give you that. I've actually been to Rome btw. Apart from the train
journey there and back and the psychotic drivers, it was an awesome weekend :)

------
Peroni
_It’s handy to have all these things in one device, but for now, the pros
outweigh the cons for me._

The pro's listed: You call people more & you don't worry about damaging your
phone anymore. Personally, those pro's don't even come close to outweighing
the inconvenience of not having instant access to maps, music, camera and
email for me.

~~~
w1ntermute
Saying that smartphones make you unproductive and then making a big
announcement online about how you're giving up your smartphone is just a hip
thing to do right now. The truth is that smartphones are just another tool.
It's like saying you won't drive any more because you could get in an accident
and die.

Just as I drive as carefully as I can, I avoid being engrossed in my
smartphone the whole day. But that doesn't change the fact that when I need to
fire off a quick email, check my calendar, or find out how to get where I want
to to go, having a smartphone makes a big difference.

~~~
checker
If anything, the traffic monitoring and rerouting capabilities of a smartphone
were worth it for me. I broke my iPhone and downgraded to brick. After the
first traffic jam I got stuck in, I decided to grab a used iPhone on eBay. I
could use a GPS, but why get one when a smartphone offers so much more?

------
sheri
Here are my observations:

\- No one reads (books) on buses/trains anymore. Its very rare to see someone
reading a book in SF in public transport. \- No one looks around anymore. I
seem like the only person who is looking out the window, or observing fellow
passengers. I would say around 80% of the people have their headphones on, and
are engrossed in their smartphone.

One funny incident stands out. I waked into Chipotle (restaurant), and
everyone in line was staring into their smartphone. As soon as I walked in,
everyone looked up, and in unison went back to their smartphone. It was
synchronized enough to be like something from a parody.

I wouldn't say this is necessarily bad, just different than how it used to be.
I have a smartphone, but not a data plan, so I don't use it outside of home.
However, the maps and transit (to me) is a killer feature.

~~~
snogglethorpe
> _No one reads (books) on buses/trains anymore._

They do here (Tokyo area).

What's interesting is that a few years ago, far _fewer_ people seemed to be
reading; everybody was staring at their phone. Lately (within the last couple
of years), however, this seems to be changing, and I see many more people
reading actual books [this is helped by the fact that Japanese paperbacks [文庫]
are almost perfectly suited for train reading, being small, thin, light, and
flexible].

My guess is that the bloom has passed to some degree, and highly capable
phones have become so normal that people are less fascinated by them, and more
likely to see the tradeoffs compared to things like books/newspapers/etc. [and
indeed, I seem to see more people reading actual broadsheets on trains lately
as well]

That doesn't mean people don't look at their phones, of course; many do. But
books are back, baby... :]

[This is all merely my personal observation of course; YMMV...]

~~~
pavel_lishin
I see lots of people with paper novels in NYC as well.

If I had to guess, I'd say that a third of the readers* on the subway are
using paper.

*People I can positively identify as reading something, as opposed to playing a game - if they're using something like a Kindle, or if I see them looking at a screen swiping up or down at regular intervals.

~~~
snogglethorpe
... it's almost an art! <http://undergroundnewyorkpubliclibrary.com/>

------
xedarius
More often than not on hacker news there's a story about someone whose
accidentally gone 'bohemian'. I think it's something we all need to do from
time to time. Personally I like to rent a cottage in one of England's many
fine forests.

The end of the article did make me chuckle, as after his great story of
'disconnect' he ends the article with 'you should follow me on twitter'.

------
rcush
I have read several posts about ditching smartphones in recent months, and the
writer invariably states that they were not addicted. However, if their
behaviour pattern cannot be changed while still owning a smartphone, then they
are addicted. It's a question of will power, and it seems many people don't
have it.

I went through a stage of dependency on my iPhone, always filling in small
gaps in my day with games, Twitter, email or Facebook. I realised I was
spending too much time on it, and so for the past couple of years I've
significantly restricted my time with the phone. Certainly it is _never_ used
in company. In my opinion, I've found a happy balance. I still get all the
myriad pros that a smartphone offers, but don't reach for it every time I'm
not busy.

------
georgemcbay
There is an in-between solution here:

Buy a cheap Android phone.

For example the HTC One V regularly sells for $150 (with no contract) and has
had a few sales days over the past few months where it was selling for only
$50. A $50-150 phone gives you that same "I don't really have to worry about
my phone" situation while still allowing you to have the smartphone experience
-- web, email, apps, GPS with turn-by-turn directions using the excellent
Google Navigation, etc.

I owned an iPhone 3G then went to a Motorola Droid (the original one) and then
realized that while I could afford "expensive" phones and data plans, I was
mostly throwing money away so I switched to cheap Android phones on no-
contract plans (Virgin Mobile in my case though T-Mobile also has some nice
options).

------
pgsandstrom
People seem to always enjoy experimenting with the way they live. I don't
think the lack of a smart phone that created a good experience, I think it is
trying out a new pace.

~~~
SageRaven
I think that "pace" is something very much disrupted with various doodads
vying for one's attention.

I spent several years with my family in a rather primitive house. We tried to
minimize use of power when possible to save money and not be dependent on it.
As a result, our refrigeration needs were minimal.

For several months, we started shutting off the main power circuit into the
house for one day a week, usually Saturday or Sunday (and banning the use of
battery-powered gadgets). It was awesome. No phone calls, no humming of the
refrigerator, no ability to distract oneself easily with the PC or a movie or
the radio. We would eat basic meals, go on walks, or just sit around the
house/property on our own and reflect. I'd read more. The evenings were often
spent playing cards together, often by the wood stove, with candles, talking
more, drinking wine.

I miss those days, and someday hope to return to such a situation. This isn't
some kind of snobbery. Such silence and freedom -- such idle time -- is good
for the mind, body, and soul (at least that's what I personally believe). I
encourage people to experience such peace when they can.

------
ygra
Of course, having a smartphone doesn't really force you to check it
obsessively every two minutes or be literally glued to its screen. To me at
least it's nice that I can check e-mail, Twitter and the web while not at home
or ask a service for directions.

But I don't feel in any way forced that my life needs to revolve around this
little computer in my pocket. I can still enjoy my surroundings and talk to
actual people. Heck, I sometimes even miss calls because my ringtone defaults
to “no one else should be annoyed by it” but that's ok – just because I carry
a cellphone doesn't mean I must use that connectedness at all times.

------
kaolinite
A little while ago my smartphone's screen smashed and it took 2-3 weeks for it
to be fixed. During that time, I came to the conclusion that I didn't need a
smartphone. Eventually my phone was returned and I loved it again and can't
imagine leaving the house without it. Simon is probably right - leaving it at
home for a month would probably be a good thing - but unless forced, I just
can't bring myself to be without it.

~~~
ericcholis
Similar situation, although my phone wasn't broken. My wife and I spent about
3 weeks in New Zealand and Fiji for our honeymoon. I toyed with the idea of
getting a SIM card, but realized that I wouldn't have time or need to use it.

I found that I didn't miss my phone at all. I had Google Voice at the time,
and could text the family from the hotel while winding down. The occasional
phone call would have been nice, but I could have used Skype if I really
needed to.

Also, my internet browsing habits have changed completely. I only frequent
about four websites regularly. Most of my internet free time is spent reading
HN Posts and other similar technical articles/blogs that I happen across.

 __ _Side note_ __: While I didn't get a SIM, I wish I had purchased some sort
of mobile hotspot. Hotel internet access was ridiculously priced, upwards of
$20 per day.

------
neya
Here's my experience. It's not exactly the same, but it's worth a read.

Currently I have a very basic Nokia model. There is a process called 'handing
over' or 'hand shake' that happens when you move from one cell (a small region
of an entire area) to another or when one cellphone tower 'hands over' the
signal to another tower. This process is handled exceptionally well on most
smartphones, but not so well on the basic phones such as lower-end Nokias.

So, if you were in the middle of a call and this handshake happens (mostly
when you are traveling) and if it isn't done on time, or if it isn't done
right, the call is dropped.

Previously I had a HTC Desire S, which I dropped from the top of a building by
mistake and hence I ended up with this Nokia. Now, this Nokia had frequent
call drops and it won't even notify me when it happens. It got irritating
after a point, because I would still keep talking assuming the other person is
still listening (while on a call) only to realize that I would have to repeat
whatever I just said.

One day, I got so angry, because it was an important call, I just thrashed the
phone on to the ground _on purpose_. Luckily, only the display broke, but the
phone would still function normally.

Here's my experience with this phone:

1) Previously, on my HTC, all my 2000+ contact would be synced from my google
account automatically. There was zero effort needed on my part, so, basically
I had everyone's number on my phone synced automagically - My family, Friends
on Facebook, Friends on whtasapp, etc.

With this nokia phone, I would have to manually save each number to the phone
(which has only a max. of 500 contacts) also it's a tedious process, because
I'd need to type them manually. Since the display is gone now, I need to
memorize the numbers of important people. And I could feel in a week's time,
my ability to memorize (which was previously rusty) has actually improved.
With a smartphone, I didn't have to memorize anything - While convenient, it's
dangerous, sometimes. For example, I once needed to recall someone's number to
deliver my movie tickets at a particular place and I had actually forgotten
their number. It was a nightmare.

And it's not just numbers, I actually have the workflow memorized too - To
access phonebook, press right right select. To access recent calls - down down
left. Stuff liek that. It's ugly, but it gets the job done.

2) Productivity. I'm a heavy Facebook user. Or I was, rather. I realized, my
smartphone alone was responsible for over 80% of the status updates and photos
uploaded to my account. It was a content producer by itself. Now that it is no
more, I feel the urge to use the platform has considerably decreased, because
I don't have a camera phone now and I haven't uploaded anything much since my
phone broke.

3) Savings. I saved a LOT. No data plans meant cheaper monthly rates and no
phone book meant memorizing only important people's numbers and calling fewer
people. I do have a back up of my contacts on my google account though.

4) Safety. I don't walk on the streets typing some random shit on my Android
qwerty keyboard nor do I talk to someone over the bluetooth headset while
driving. This is subjective, though - Not everyone does all this with their
smartphones.

5) No screening. Since my phone doesn't have a display, I wouldn't be able to
see who's calling me. If I miss them, I will never get to know who had called
me either. So, sometimes, if the phone rings, I just answer and say 'hello'
and talk to whoever it is, instead of ignoring people by their name (sometimes
to avoid them on purpose, because I would be busy with something). I realized
how much I missed out by categorizing certain people as boring. Again, this is
a subjective thing.

6) Battery. This phone lasts for almost 2 weeks. My HTC would last only a
little less than a day. It's a huge difference. No charging or low battery
woes.

All in all, I'm a productive person, comparatively and a more _real-world
friendly_ guy - instead of taking pictures of pancakes and uploading them to
instagram, I just fucking eat them.

~~~
duiker101
So, we reached that point already where we are so forward that we want to go
backward? The things that make our life easier really just make it better? I
am not sure... I'm not going to say you are wrong, only it is quite funny if
you think about it...

~~~
drzaiusapelord
If you can't say no and don't have much self-control, it just makes sense to
get rid of the device that empowers those behaviors. I imagine those people
are in the minority but perhaps in the majority amongst geeks. Not to mention
things like reddit blockers, etc.

------
elrzn
Smartphones are useful. They're an invaluable resource that might even save
your life someday.

What you really need is to lay off the twitters and the instagrams.

------
hudell
I can live without my smartphone, but I don't need to. Life is better with it.
And I can't see why people consider "I’ve started calling people more" a pro
instead of a con.

Why do people think that a person immersed in a gadget is a bad thing? I
wouldn't be doing anything better without it. I would be bored to hell, as it
used to be before I got my first gadget.

------
RyanZAG
_I’ve started calling people more. ... It’s funny how little I called people
on my iPhone, and how surprised parts of my generation is when they receive a
call. ... improved arrangements and generally had more fun communicating._

Did you ever think to ask the people you were phoning if they were busy with
anything? Sure, it might have been great for you to break someones
concentration with some basic question that could have had a quick yes/no
answer in a text message, but was it great for the recipient? I would also be
very surprised if someone called me for something they could have just sent a
text for - and if they did it a couple more times, I'd set my phone to
automatically redirect calls from them to voice-mail.

~~~
acabal
What? How is he supposed to know what the person is doing before calling them?
Can't they just ignore the call if they want? Should we just never call anyone
ever just in case they're really busy?

~~~
RyanZAG
I don't ignore calls from people as they could be important. Someone may need
help, or they may need to notify me of something immediately. This is a good
use for interruptive voice calls.

However, if someone keeps calling me for very unimportant issues, then I would
ignore their calls, and check voice-mail later to confirm if it was important.

I expect to get down-voted for this as it is a bit unfortunate, but if people
think they can have my time whenever they want for whatever they want, then
I'm not going to have any time left for myself. Plus, if an important call
does come through and I'm stuck talking to someone about something
unimportant, then it's the important call that is going to be stuck in voice
mail.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I regularly ignore phone calls, and I tell people - if it's an urgent matter
and I don't pick up the phone, call me right back. Two calls in a row means
"Pick up, this is important."

~~~
aw3c2
For Android there is an fantastic FLOSS app called Harass Me that lets you set
an amount of calls in a specific timeframe to make the phone turn up the
volume and "harass you" to pick up. I have that setup for emergencies while my
phone is silent otherwise.

<http://www.rfc1149.net/devel/harassme.html> |
<https://github.com/samueltardieu/harassme>

------
cm-t
I am using on dailylife a smartphone, but i got the same issu:

No camera; I don't take pics from my smartphone.

No music; Not enought choice of music in the format required and anyway the
player leak too much battery and it is lagging.

No maps; 10 minutes to get a fix...

 ____

I’ve started calling people more; taking 10 minutes for a fix on the agps
built-in is too long

I don’t care for my phone; it is so heavy that I got asked at airport

My concerns were mostly right, but I can live without these things; but
someone told me QtMoko was usable, I will give it a try also.

 ____

Let me the time to compile this thing ( Not going back.. for now )

Message sent from my OpenMoko Freerunner GTA02

~~~
duskwuff
Not to be a detractor, but you really ought to try getting a smartphone that's
halfway modern. The GTA02 is four and a half years old -- that's practically
ancient history as far as smartphones are concerned -- and it doesn't help
that it was always a pretty funky device.

~~~
cm-t
I have a modern one, I was just making fun about my situation 3 years ago.
Everyone with a neo had the same issues if they was using it as a dailyphone.
I thought derision would not be same as detractor, sorry if you or others fell
it like this.

------
Aardwolf
Is everyone really this "connected" when having a smartphone? When I have a
smartphone I'm not really "more connected", after all peple could call me on a
dumbphone too.

However, what it brings is "Internet everywhere yay!", which I then use to
read forums, wikipedia, articles, etc... whenever not near a computer. Plus of
course it can play PC games like Freeciv, nethack and Minecraft.

So basically, I'm about exactly as social on a smartphone as on a desktop
computer, and now have an environment that used to exist only at a desk, on
trains and on the toilet :)

------
edparry
Insightful.

I don't think I'm brave enough to try this. I'd feel like I have to constantly
jump between computers in case I missed an important email or some relevant
news broke. And no maps? I'd never get home...

~~~
smspence
"I'd feel like I have to constantly jump between computers in case I missed an
important email or some relevant news broke."

Sounds like you really need to try this then. Seriously, don't let your "fear
of missing out" cripple you.

[http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/04/14/fomo-
addict...](http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/04/14/fomo-addiction-
the-fear-of-missing-out/)

~~~
edparry
Wow, thanks for pointing me to that. I fear it describes me a little too
closely...

------
gz5
_I was a little bit everywhere, all the time. But not truly anywhere. Without
the temptation available from my pocket, I feel like I am more present being
wherever I am._

Nice summary. I can't quite ditch my Droid but am decreasing the frequency of
switching back and forth between the two worlds. Finding that focused single-
tasking (when not at work) is underrated and not easy (at least not for me).

------
segmond
learn some self control. i have a smartphone, i don't want it to break. i run
it, it doesn't run my life, i'm more efficient and better for it. my last
smart phone, i bought used for $90 and i used it for a year and the only
reason i'm not using it now is because i got the nexus 4. no one has to spend
$1000 on a smart phone.

------
bluekite2000
You can have the best of both worlds. I have an unlocked iphone 4. I pay as I
go. I have no data plan. Before I go out I download what I need so I can read
it offline (books,videos,articles,podcasts,etc) Google maps works offline so I
dont fear of getting lost. I take pictures for myself

------
meaty
I recently got a Nokia C2-01. Very basic thing that is used for calls and
texts and doesn't need charging every half a day.

It's also on Giffgaff in the UK so it costs me £20 top up a month for what I
was paying around £80 a month for before.

It is a weight lifted from my shoulders in many ways.

~~~
koyote
£20 on giffgaff? You must make a lot of calls to non-giffgaff users on the go.
And how were you paying £80 before?

The advantage of having a smartphone is that you can get by easily on
something like their £10-12 plan simply by using data to make free
skype/gtalk/SIP calls and everything else is unlimited anyway.

Battery and general reliability wise, nothing beats a good old Nokia though!

~~~
meaty
Yeah 800 inclusive minutes on that deal. I make a lot of calls (650-700 mins a
month).

£80 before: handset included and crap contract.

------
moubarak
same happened to me. my nexus one broke several months ago and had to use a
nokia brick that was lying there but i hate it.

I do not call people more often, i use my laptop for communicating with people
now. I'm still stuck with that nokia though because i think we live in a time
of ugly phones.

i was about to get a 4s until they introduced that elongated screen, not to
mention the huge screens on the androids. Seems like if i want to get a thin
cool smart phone these days i have to put up with excess everything. i wish
there was a minimalist phone out there that was still cool.

~~~
kunai
>i wish there was a minimalist phone out there that was still cool.

Well, you could always get a BlackBerry, you know. Or if you REALLY want
minimalism, then buy a refurbished Razr V3 off of eBay. And this quote is a
bit puzzling:

>i was about to get a 4s until they introduced that elongated screen

You can still buy the 4S -- Apple is still selling it.

~~~
moubarak
i don't know, my experience with nexus one is that once a new model comes out,
the older one soon becomes unsupported.

I still use snow leopard for instance and i can't get many new features
because of that.

So yes i can buy a 4s, but i was hoping for one that won't go unsupported
soon. Plus you're right about the blackberry, i am considering one.

~~~
seunosewa
Apple still supports the iPhone 4, which is older than the iPhone 4s. What do
you have against the 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5? It will still fit in your
pocket, and it's lighter, thinner, etc.

------
alexyoung
I wonder why his first instinct was to just lay out $1000 instead of seeing if
he could get his current one repaired or replaced on insurance?

~~~
smspence
I was wondering the same thing.... I was also wondering how he could NOT just
get another iPhone for less than $1000? Seriously, if my iPhone died tomorrow,
and I had no insurance, I could still easily buy one on ebay for like $300 or
$400.

------
jasonm23
"You should follow me on twitter here" ... Groan.

~~~
khet
Please explain why that line bothers you and refrain from insults. This is not
reddit.

~~~
jasonm23
I'll amend it, sorry, but it aggravates me slightly when someone is writing
several paragraphs, describing in detail how much they are free from digital
distractions, and so on and so forth, and at the very foot they say... Follow
me on twitter.

... it speaks volumes to me, none of it good.

------
emeidi
Now I'm waiting to hear how deliberating it feels when the computer breaks ...
wait, how is one going to blog then?

~~~
assemble
When I was out of the country on vacation recently, I didn't turn on my phone
and I didn't bring my computer. I didn't have internet (because I refuse to
pay for internet at hotels) either.

Writing (by hand) in a journal and just experiencing the place you are in can
be amazing. I found that some of the most amazing parts of my trip were when I
(a) was not trying to takes pictures or something and just took it all in or
(b) when I was writing in my journal about what had happened during the day.

Every time I've gone without a computer/phone for several days has been
wonderful. I really should do it more often, but I have a job where I have to
use both all day...

------
peeze
You should check out iCracked. They'll either fix your iPhone or buy it from
you!

------
af3
I live without a phone for 3.5 years. I use Messages (on OS X) to text friends
that have iphones, and Google Voice for those that use something else. So far
it works pretty well for me.

------
pretoriusB
Let me guess: for some BS superficial reason, like:

1) Getting the chance to switch to Android which is, like, soooooo much better
(and "open")?

2) Getting the chance to live life without constant connectivity, and
appreciating the small things?

