
How can we resist the seduction of the mobile phone? - maxerickson
http://timharford.com/2018/09/how-can-we-resist-the-seduction-of-the-mobile-phone/
======
douglaswlance
Turn off all notifications except the most critical. Wear a smartwatch that
displays critical notifications. Your phone use will drop dramatically.

The only notifications I receive are: Calendar, Text Messages, and Phone
Calls.

I give out my phone number sparingly so the only people that can reach me
synchronously are family and close friends. Everyone else can wait until I
batch respond if I happen to check that app.

~~~
fetus8
I'd like to stress how important these two things are. I've been wearing an
Apple Watch since launch in 2015, and my personal experience has been
incredible. I've whittled down my actual phone use at home to next to nothing.
Between the AW and a HomePod, picking up my phone is a rare occurrence. The
only notifications I get are via SMS or iMessage, and calls via phone or
FaceTime. I don't mean to sound like a fanboy, as I imagine a similar setup
can exist with an Android phone as well. By curbing my phone use at home, I
rarely feel compelled to pull my phone out while with friends and family.

I imagine this is more difficult for those who are tapped into social media a
great deal, but I think starting to curb use at home can set a precedent to
disconnect with your phone and it will bleed into your life outside of home. A
smartwatch is a great way to instantly curb checking your phone by putting
(important)notifications on your wrist.

~~~
nohnce
Interesting! Never expected smartwatches to be anything more than trendy fads,
but that makes a lot of sense. I do think a lot of phone anxiety comes from
the screen being obscured from vision and the wondering that follows about
whether I am "missing out". Limiting the use case by only having essential
notifications on your wrist might be a good alternative to switching to a
regular phone.

------
wlesieutre
Get a small phone. That 6.5" OLED is fantastic for playing games,
checking/writing emails, or consuming whatever other media, so of course
people are happy to sit there and do it.

It's like we've replaced every single chair in the house with a La-Z-Boy
recliner and now we're asking why people flop in a chair for hours on end
aren't as active as they were before.

Your phone can be a slightly inconvenient tool that you use as-needed instead
of being a constantly inviting temptation to do nothing else.

Now if someone could make a 4" phone that isn't a disposable piece of trash,
that'd be great.

~~~
PascLeRasc
The iPhone SE is still really good and we might be seeing a new one in a
couple hours. I'm planning to keep mine for at least another year since there
isn't much else out there.

~~~
wlesieutre
That's what I have. Actually switched to Android after the iPhone 6 was too
big for me, then switched back when the SE came out.

Unfortunately the (all but confirmed) rumors for today's iPhone announcements
are that it comes in 3 sizes: Huge, Enormous, and Gargantuan.

If you've held an iPhone X before, that's now the small size.

Given that the SE was a years-old manufacturing process (basically an iPhone
5) and they couldn't get it in stock consistently for _months_ after release,
I don't know why they keep doing this. But here we are.

In fact, 9to5Mac is reporting that the iPhone SE may be _discontinued_ today.
We'll find out soon.

~~~
NeedMoreTea
Well that will be hugely disappointing if it turns out to be true. I _really_
don't want to switch back to Android.

The form factor is still better than anything else I've encountered - enough
thickness for a decent grip, and small enough. The very last thing I want is a
phone that's a not so small any more, but 2mm thick, tablet.

~~~
wlesieutre
iPhone SE is gone

[https://www.macrumors.com/2018/09/12/apple-discontinues-
ipho...](https://www.macrumors.com/2018/09/12/apple-discontinues-iphone-se-
iphone-6s-iphone-x/)

~~~
NeedMoreTea
Thanks. I'm a bit surprised considering how popular it was, and the tech sites
have been leaking hints of an SE 2 all year.

Leaves nothing in the range that's appealing.

~~~
PinkMilkshake
Yeah, it's sad. The SE has been the nicest phone I've ever had. I can use it
one handed! I'm not sure what I'll do yet. It should be supported for a few
more years but now that they aren't selling it anymore I'm anticipating the
inevitable "we didn't slow your phone down on purpose, honest" update.

------
everyone
I almost never use my phone. I dont feel that I can do much computing on a
smartphone, and what _is_ possible is very inefficient imo. But I do
_constantly_ use my desktop PC.. Which is fine imo.. I use it to work, play
games, watch films, read books, work on hobbies, take care of business, etc.

If I'm at home, I'm probably in front of my computer. If I'm not at home, I'm
doing something non computery.

------
beat
Some weeks ago, I was (and still am) making a conscious effort to deal with
phone addiction, and wrote a blog post pointing out you don't really need the
damn things most of the time, and encouraging ignoring them.

A few days later, I was at the car wash, thoroughly cleaning my car interior
with a vacuum. Phone was out of my pocket, I saw my wife calling, figured I'd
just call her back, which I did a few minutes later. Turned out she'd fallen
at home and severely injured knee, so she needed me to come take her to urgent
care. And because she'd left her phone behind when she went outside to rip
vines off the house (and then fell from a ladder), she had to crawl back
through the house in massive pain in order to call me.

Sigh.

That said, I have removed Facebook and Twitter from my phone, and removed most
things from my opening screen. But I keep Kindle there. When I feel a need to
give my eyes something to do, I can read a book. That's been awesome.

------
PascLeRasc
I've been following the grayscale phone mode of this article [1] and I'm
pretty happy with it. It makes reading longform articles on the bus nice but
limits mindless browsing.

[1]
[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/04/technology/personaltech/t...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/04/technology/personaltech/treadmill-
desk-office.html)

~~~
SkyPuncher
Any idea if there's a way to go in partial grey scale mode (i.e. adjust color
saturation)?

Colors do help a lot with providing visual cues. Removing them entirely makes
it a challenge to quickly scan for colors I associate with certain actions.

~~~
beat
On the iPhone, grayscale mode (once enabled) is just a triple-click on the
home button, so it's easy to turn off if you need color. You just need to
remember to turn it on after.

Of course, if "scan for certain actions" is just feeding your phone addiction,
then making it harder is entirely the point.

------
munificent
I've been trying to minimize my phone's intrusiveness into my life too. The
biggest, most cost-effective change I made was _get a shittier phone_.

My previous phone died. Instead of getting the hot new thing, I got the
cheapest one my plan still supported. It's perfectly adequate for texting,
making phone calls, navigating, and taking photos. But it's not super great
for skimming Reddit and Facebook.

Bonus: I saved a few hundred bucks.

~~~
EADGBE
> shittier phone

> taking photos

I value my candid photos too much to trust that a shittier phone is still
great at taking adequate photos.

~~~
munificent
These days, I actually don't take very many pictures with my phone. My future
self may regret not having them, but I'm trying to be a little more present
during my experiences today.

When I want to take actual nice photos, that's what the DSLR is for.

~~~
EADGBE
That's honestly understandable, and I had the same thoughts but I felt too
often that the larger, nicer camera was never there when I needed it.

It's also why I justified to myself to buy the iPhone X.

------
dionidium
Two things I've done:

1\. Disable almost all notifications (as others here have already described).

2\. Pick opportune moments to _leave your phone at home_ (or, I guess, in the
car). My girlfriend and I frequent a local diner and when we go neither of us
brings our phones. It's wonderful.

Similarly, there's basically no reason to have your phone in a bar. Don't even
take it inside. You should be dancing with the one who brought ya', so to
speak.

~~~
komali2
I need my phone in the bar so I can record people doing nothing and yell
"worldstar" at them.

Also to call the lyft afterwards.

------
JohnJamesRambo
[https://www.nokia.com/en_int/phones/nokia-3310-3g](https://www.nokia.com/en_int/phones/nokia-3310-3g)

That dumbphone has changed my life. I can think again. I strongly recommend
it.

~~~
keithpeter
4 day battery life (I charge mine when the indicator shows about two thirds to
half), call quality seems good to me, predictive text works like it always
did. The camera is low quality but enough for snapping information (e.g. web
address and phone number in a second hand shop window over the weekend when
they were closed).

I've had mine for about three months and the paint is beginning to flake off
the keys. And the key legends have lowish contrast.

The music player goes for hours with little battery impact and it will drive
my big Sony headphones.

------
KennyCason
Alternative method: Drink too much beer, accidentally break 1000 dollar
iPhone, realize that you don’t want to pay another 1000, so you force yourself
to go 6 months without a phone as punishment. Conclusion: it was inconvenient
at first, but by the end it was pretty nice. Nowadays I just turn off all my
notifications.

/disclaimer I didn’t read the article.

~~~
DoreenMichele
Similar. I had no phone at all for over a year and then dirt cheap phones with
limited internet access and other constraints.

I have no ability to relate to this endless stream of articles about how to
mitigate this rampant and intractable problem. It's an alien concept that I
would feel a prisoner of my phone and not in control of it.

~~~
KennyCason
I feel that my life is a giant Sine wave oscillating between learning and
unlearning lessons. Haha I will not use my phone for large periods of time,
then years later realize that I fell back into the trap, and begin taking
steps to take back my life. This happens with health, hobbies, and various
other aspects of my life all at different times. Fortunately, as I get older
there seems to be some convergence. :)

------
farmerinthecity
Take one week off where you don't use your phone as an experiment. This
recently happened to me (unintentionally) and the difference in my day to day
life was striking. Without socials/browser/HN in my pocket ready to consume my
consciousness at the slightest hint of boredom, I found a calming sense of
"head space" where I would organically think about things. I had lots of
little "aha" moments as my brain naturally drifted towards what I'd been
working on. It made me realize just how addicted to my phone that I was.

------
dev_dull
Cell phones in many ways remind me of alcohol being introduced to North
America for the first time. Europeans had thousands of years to develop
physical, cultural, and religious resistance to alcohol addicion — but not the
native populations.

Now we’re the first ones to deal with this problem. We should all establish —
first starting with ourselves then in our families — what is acceptable, when,
and why. Starting with yourself will always be the hardest part.

------
redleggedfrog
Of all the recent technological advances this is the one I understand the
least.

I have a cellphone. Sometimes I get calls or texts. But what in the heck is
everyone doing on the damned things all the time? I can't even imagine what
could be so interesting.

I think it's a matter of imagination. What's going on in my own head is
usually a lot more interesting than what I could potentially do on a cell
phone.

~~~
zepto
Mostly they are communicating with other people.

Perhaps you prefer not to do that.

~~~
redleggedfrog
That is quite true. I tend to favor in-person communication for most
everything.

------
JoshMnem
Another idea: get rid of the "smartphone". Any simple phone will work, but
there are even dedicated models:

[http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180814-the-new-phones-
that...](http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180814-the-new-phones-that-are-
stuck-in-the-past)

~~~
komali2
I would love to do this, but it's untenable to me as a traveler. Too many
times has my smartphone saved my ass at the airport, when I'm hopelessly lost
in backroads, when I'm trying to sort public transit, etc.

If google maps, email (for flight tickets), and a dead simple browser (enough
to check in to my flights) could be put on a "dumb" phone, I'm sold.

~~~
JoshMnem
I spent about 10 years on and off on the road and didn't have any phone at all
for most of it. There are non-smartphone ways to do those things.

Edit: if you calculate the total time wasted by smartphones in general with
the total time saved by checking in to flights on a smartphone, the phone is
wasting a lot of time (not to mention the detrimental cognitive effects).

------
kls
I got rid of my phone 3 years ago, I don't regret the decision. I find my self
more involved in the hear and now.

------
kowdermeister
My solution is a system design approach, I simply don't have mobile internet.
I sit for 10hrs / day at least in front of a monitor, sometimes even more.
When I go out, I really don't want anything internet related.

Sad that I can't instantly instagram, but this peace of mind comes at a price
:)

------
rhcom2
I added my phone number when I first bought a domain without realizing
anything about whois. Now almost 4 years later I still get at least 3 calls a
day from telemarketers selling "web development" services. It makes for many
unneeded distractions.

~~~
derwiki
TrueCaller spammy/scammy call detection is great!

------
laythea
I would suggest removing the cause of the seduction. Go buy a simple Nokia
handset. Remember the ones that used to be a phone, not a computer. Try it,
you will be surprised how free you are! Every time you want to check FB, just
give yourself a gentle slap :)

------
pvorb
> A few of them, no doubt, were locals who had grown tired of gawping at their
> own city. But on a weekend in high summer, my guess is that most were
> tourists

This is probably because there are more tourists in Venice than there are
locals on an average day.

[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/italy...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/italy/veneto/venice/articles/venice-
locals-battle-to-save-the-soul-of-the-city/)

------
komali2
>Set up your phone charging station away from where you sleep

Tons of evidence that phone usage at night decreases sleep quality as well,
another very good reason to do this.

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4089837/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4089837/)

[https://sleep.org/articles/ways-technology-affects-
sleep/](https://sleep.org/articles/ways-technology-affects-sleep/)

------
j45
Silence all notifications. Disable any apps that send notifications. Move non
essential icons off the home screen.

Most importantly, start using airplane mode for an hour or two at a time.

~~~
abalos
Anecdotally, I've found that it works much better for me if I only have
notifications on for apps I care about and judiciously turn the rest off. I
then leave my phone on vibrate because turning it on silent always lead to me
wondering "What if someone tried to message me?" and checking it.

I like the idea of trying out airplane mode.

~~~
j45
I've really restricted the notification diet. All apps are default off.

The small circle of folks that need to reach me can make unknown desk phones
ring too. Vibrating is fine too but telling the spouse it's airplane mode for
2 hours seems to work too.

------
dawhizkid
I’ve found greyscaling my iPhone a great hack. Saves my battery and makes me
less distracted.

~~~
cdepman
This. Makes all those delicious-looking icons (mimicking fruits?) less
appealing. P.S. only iPhone X with OLED will save battery with grayscale.
iPhone 8 or less without OLED can use MORE battery afaik but I still do it.
You can set up triple tap on the home button to toggle.

------
detcader
Buddhist nun Pema Chodron discussing "hooked" with Bill Moyers more than ten
years ago: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrgznKit-
vI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrgznKit-vI)

------
xte
Seduction of mobile? Well... Seduction of JAILS, being on prisoner side?

Mobile world is a closed world in witch costumers pay a data-munging device
that they do not really own nor control. Of course I use myself an Android
device, mostly to have a good satnav, quick email reading on the go, cam etc.
But I live in my own desktop, not using someone else computer's to store my
data, of course my mail provider have my messages, but they are mirrored
locally on my PC by mbsync, of course Google have my contact list, but it's
mirrored on my PC etc.

We have more and more LESS choice but any tech-savvy or free person certainly
it's NOT seduced by mobile crap.

------
wrinklz
Buy a pager. Forward your mobile number to your pager. Set your phone to
airlpane mode and place it in a Faraday cage evidence bag. Relax. :-)

------
cryptozeus
Moment app (paid version), its life changing. Just observing patterns of how i
use my phone and how much i use it has made a huge difference.

------
itamarst
Turn data and WiFi off. Battery lasts longer, too.

------
WallWextra
I keep my phone plugged in on the other side of my (~7 person, locking)
office. That works rather well.

------
YinglingLight
Monochrome mode - the lack of colors makes the phone less appealing to our
monkey brains.

------
aj_nikhil
go back to good ol' Nokia?

