
Dumber phone - jstanley
https://nomasters.io/posts/dumber-phone/
======
peacetreefrog
There are a lot of "hacks" in this thread (put your phone in grayscale, put
variable reward apps in a folder, turn off fingerprint sensor) but in my
experience the mindset is by far the most important part.

What's worked for me (and the article talks about this too) is viewing my
phone as a _tool_ with a limited set of functionality. For me, that
functionality is: calls, texts, Google maps, Spotify, Audible, podcasts, Uber,
and a camera.

That's it, no email (technically have the ability to send an email if i need
to, but no notifications and no checking) and no random internet browsing and
twitter etc consumption. There are some blocking apps that might help with
this, but the biggest thing is the attitude. Twitter in line at the grocery
store is no longer what my phone is for. Not that reading tabloid headlines is
any better, but the main point is stretching out your focus muscles, getting
rid of the urge to immediately grab your phone anytime there's a lull or hint
of boredom in your life.

Overall, it's nice. Almost like being back in the 90's pre smart phone but
also with a super powerful computer that can play any song you want/give you
directions to anywhere you need to go.

~~~
mozzarella
When my dad decided to quit smoking, he didn't throw out the pack of
cigarettes he was currently in the middle of. Instead, he put them up on the
shelf next to his work desk. The pack wasn't totally in his face, nor was it
out of sight. Despite the visual reminder being present, he broke his years'
long pack-a-day habit.

Eventually - long after he stopped smoking - he threw the pack out, as part of
his usual housekeeping.

I thought of this when I decided to quit social medias over the past two
years. I bring it up now because it's something I think about in regard to how
centrally important mindset is when trying to break a habit, or work on
something of deeper value.

I wonder now too about the asymmetry in the ease of adoption vs. difficulty of
opting out with smart phones and social media. Anecdotally, it just seems that
you can nearly unconsciously start using a smartphone or say, sign up for
instagram. But after a relatively quick onboarding, the effort required to opt
out of these things feels akin to doing actual, hard work.

~~~
Nition
Makes sense. Getting rid of something doesn't teach you not to use it when
it's there.

If you can not use it when it is there, you've really won.

~~~
eropple
This is perhaps the best reason why, unlike a very large proportion of my
family, I've never had a problem with alcohol.

It's always around. I _can_ have a drink whenever I want (and I mean, I have
drinks socially, I usually end up playing bartender at parties, that sort of
thing). But it is, and always has been, something that happens on my terms.

------
yosito
Personally, I find my smartphone addiction gets worse when I turn off all
notifications. Because then FOMO takes over and I spend tons of time digging
into apps to make sure I didn't "miss anything". For me, it works much better
to intentionally choose the notifications I get to be the things I really want
to be interrupted by. I wish there were an AI or human secretary who could
make those judgements on a per-notification basis with my best interests in
mind, but that doesn't seem to be a realistic option at my income level.

Another thing I do to limit my phone's dopamine rush is to delete all of the
social media apps from my phone and only access them via a browser.
mbasic.facebook.com is significantly less addictive that the app, while still
being useful. Sometimes when I really need a break, I'll create a block list
in the "Restrictions" settings on my iPhone and block Facebook, Reddit,
Twitter and HN completely. I wish that there was a way for someone else to be
able to remotely manage those restrictions for me, so I could uninstall all of
the time-suck apps from my phone and only re-install them by getting
permission from a friend who could help me honor my intentions.

~~~
wpietri
Let me ask the crowd. Would you use a browser plugin that eliminates
newsfeeds?

One of the things I struggle with is the endless novelty of a newsfeed. I can
always scroll and get more. And then I can reload for another chance at
finding something interesting.

There are extensions that do this for Facebook alone, but I was thinking
something more general. And something that's also clever about eliminating the
way companies use notifications to for similar novelty-injection, rather than
true notifications.

I suspect I also need a "please temporarily show me the newsfeed" mode,
possibly on some sort of time restriction, with mandatory delay, or requiring
some boring work, so as to raise it from "compulsive response" to "considered
choice", but still keeps people from removing the extension on the occasions
they really need to see the feeds.

Would you use it? And what services would be required?

~~~
nixme
HabitLab for Chrome has this as a nudge.

~~~
wpietri
Ooh! I was not aware of this. Very interesting! Much more impressive than what
I would have built. Thanks!

------
adhambadr
Checkout our phone www.blloc.com .

I think its exactly what we thought of, dumbing down the smartphone to the
bare essentials without missing out too much. we don't have it perfectly
communicated (working on it), but we're trying to find the middle between a
"smartphone" and full blown detox. We got inspired from some of our friends
who went "dark" and didn't work out; we were as product designers sick of
snapchat, gaming and the addicting viscous cycle however we still wanted to be
in touch with some news, use uber and be sometimes reachable on whatsapp,
messenger or telegram. We re-designed notifications to make it less
distracting easy to turn off per app and most important functionalities
reachable. Mainly theres no lock, you can lock some apps, but its ready to use
(I was about to throw my iphone everytime it showed me 4 popups before i can
use it).

check it out let me know if it would make sense if we create the possibility
for people (or you) to extend it and build their own integrations /
functionalities.

~~~
david-cako
I am in love with this.

The home screen design is so obvious it hurts -- flip phone UX for a
smartphone. "Open and dial".

What's the story with the display? Do you have an actual proof of concept
where you have a black and white mode that largely decreases battery life? Is
there anything special about it, or does it just play into how OLED displays
are locally lit?

~~~
adhambadr
yes we initially used OLED and our phones after testing managed to use on
average around 65% of the energy with our ui. We're dropping it unfortunately
as its a supply-chain nightmare.. (for now). Black and white mainly increases
your focus sharply, but u can always disable it to colours.

~~~
Nition
Your website plays up the greyscale reducing battery consumption. If that's
not currently the case you really should to remove that info.

------
allenrb
It's been about a month since I pulled the SIM from my iPhone, snipped it in
half, sync'd the latest photos (mostly my daughter, or cats), ran a factory
reset, and stuck it on a shelf. I bought an LG flip phone the next morning.

Since then, I've felt like parts of my brain are growing back. While I'd cut
down significantly on smartphone usage over the prior year, I'd started to
realize that the mere act of exercising "don't use it" discipline was in
itself distracting. That's all gone now. My flip phone is not fun. It's
boring. In fact, it's immensely frustrating when I do need to carry on a
texting conversation. And that's perfectly alright.

When I need to get someplace new, there's no Maps to save the day. Instead I
look at the route beforehand and write (by hand, with a pen) a few notes on a
Post-It. In the process, I've learned more about parts of two cities than I
had in a year or more of mindless reliance on Maps.

The biggest thing I miss and haven't found a satisfying workaround for is the
camera. Flip phones seem to be stuck in about 2001, camera-wise. Even under
the best of conditions, the results are barely passable. It's my patient hope
that if enough people reject smartphones, there may one day be higher end
functionality available in a flip.

~~~
jakecopp
Do you drive rather than use public transport?

When I've headed out somewhere new with friends and ended up in a strange
place at 1am, Google Maps public transit directions are my lifeline. If I
drove I could just head in the rough direction or use a streetmap, though
transit maps aren't usually complete with all routes and times. There is
nothing worse than standing at a bus stop for an hour hoping a bus will come,
and that bus will take you home. Train stations are alright if the trains are
still running, but usually I need to rely on a late night, barely functioning
bus network.

I would love an e-paper/ink phone that did maps, texts, calls, photos and
nothing else.

~~~
pnloyd
This is also the killer feature of a smartphone for me as well. As someone who
exclusively uses public transport, I feel my life would be so much harder
without the route planning feature of Google maps. Just activate Google
assistant, "Bus route to X arrive by Y". It can plan a route with connections
that are from different public transport departments, so it is not a trivial
amount of work to do manually.

I've already taken some of the steps outlined in this article to normalize my
smartphone use. I might be biased because I have fought other difficult
addictions like smoking, but smartphone addiction does not seem especially
difficult to manage to me. The crucial step is realizing it's existence
because it's so ubiquitous it seems normal and benign.

------
hawski
For me it's the browser. What I did yesterday on Firefox for Android:

\- installed uBlock Origin (also First Party Isolation and HTTPS Everywhere),

\- disabled JavaScript via about:config javascript.enabled,

\- and added .css| rule to uBlock Origin (I would still like to disable CSS
entirely, this only half works).

Basically I would like to have "links2 -g" [0] for Android. There is also an
extension for Firefox to automatically enable reader mode [1]. It waits for
additional WebExtensions API. I want to omit CSS, because of:

\- too small or too big font size,

\- no proper text wrapping,

\- wrong contrast, too big margins,

\- position:fixed bars that are so trendy right now.

Basically I want to bail out of modern web. However I would probably use
modern web apps on proper browser when I want an app, but just not when I want
to read some information.

I know that there are sites with good content that will be broken because of
it. But it will be only a minor collateral damage.

I added to my long todo-list a modern pure HTML browser for Android and Linux.
What would also help is a different search engine. Of course I also have one
in my todo-list. A search engine that would _not_ index ad serving sites. Also
as an option it could not show JavaScript enabled sites.

I know about Million Short, but it does not cut it.

Such a pair of a browser and a search engine is, or rather will be, my answer.

Also it's sad a smartphone with it's array of sensors is not a proper
tricorder...

[0]
[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22links2+-g%22&tbm=isch](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22links2+-g%22&tbm=isch)

[1] [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/automatic-
rea...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/automatic-reader-view/)

~~~
cimmanom
The browser is the time-sink for me too. Unfortunately, iOS makes it difficult
to get Safari out of your life. My dream is a content blocker that requires
you to unlock it in order to browse the time-sink sites you choose to
greylist; and each time you unlock it, unlocking gets more arduous.

~~~
SuperPaintMan
You can use Configurator to disable Safari among other things. Had a pared
down 5c a while back that I made distration free :)

~~~
cimmanom
Thing is, I don't want to block it entirely. Sometimes you just need to look
stuff up. Just limit time spent on time suck sites. The real problem is that
there's no way to tell the OS to open links from other apps into a different
browser that you can add better controls to.

------
prophesi
I just got a Pixel the other day after being phone-less for about 3 months. I
only need it to do ARCore development, so I keep it powered-off.

* I had to print out directions to get to new places, which had me learn my way around.

* People were much less flaky since they couldn't text me at the last minute to cancel our plans.

* I no longer had a crutch in difficult social situations, which helped me actually get to know strangers and form new relationships.

I might still use it as a GPS when traveling, but I otherwise can't see why
it's necessary for people/machines to be able to steal your attention at a
moment's notice.

Of course, this isn't do-able for a lot of people, as their work/life depends
on it. And it's possible to reap the above benefits without going fully phone-
less. But for those interested, it's not as bad as it seems to drop the phone
altogether.

~~~
komali2
I respect what you're doing, but I noticed it's the friends like you (off
Facebook, never answers texts) that stopped getting invited to stuff.

Scenario 1: housewarming party 3 weeks away. My phoneless friend doesn't get
the Facebook invite used to corrall the other 30 people coming. She also
doesn't get the group FB message (nobody uses group SMS anymore in my friend
group). A fluke of busyness means I don't see her for those 3 weeks and she
thus misses the party.

Scenario 2: my roommate and I just got home from work, and decide to go out.
We text phoneless friend and other friend. Other friend shows up. Three hours
later we close our tabs, and get a text from phoneless friend. "I just saw
this!! Are you guys still out??"

It's a core value of mine that people should be allowed to live however the
hell they very well please as long as it doesn't hurt others, but I genuinely
feel like without a minimum level of connectedness (at the very least
relatively easy access via SMS), they're kinda hurting themselves. As close as
a friend as they may be, if the barrier to entry to hanging out with them is
providing them step by step directions to the bar we're at as well as making
sure all plans are 48 hours ahead and by the way I have to trade voicemails to
even inform them... Eeeh...

Standard replies to this kind of post:

>If lack of connectedness is an obstacle to people hanging out with you, they
weren't worth your time / that good of friends anyway.

I counter with the idea mass culture movements require participation to, well,
participate. My bestest friend ever doesn't have to participate to remain in
that state, sure, but I guess if all you want in life is a tiny circle of
three of your besties then power to you.

> People were more genuine and less flaky before cellphones

I lived before and after cellphones and in my experience, people were just as
flaky back then, it just didn't seem that way because we were all hanging out
less. Either way, cut flaky people out o your life homey. It's not as big of a
deal to flake out of impromptu Wednesday trivia night at a random bar, only
possible at the drop of the hat as my friends like to do, with cellphones. It
also allows us to avoid the "fuck I don't wanna be here, normally I do but
today was exhausting" aspect of cyclical plans (say regular DND night) because
we can all communicate those feelings early and quickly make new plans with
the smaller group.

~~~
softawre
Agree on all of your points. I am a hermit that deleted FB and only responds
to a few people via text. It's a decision I made that I'm still currently
happy with. If something were to happen to my existing core friends though, it
might be a pain finding new ones.

------
cdnsteve
This is already being built from a company with a similar vision : Lite Phone
[https://www.thelightphone.com/](https://www.thelightphone.com/)

Lite Phone 2: Campaign [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light-
phone-2-design#/](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light-phone-2-design#/)

~~~
ad7024
Check out Siempo (www.getsiempo.com) - it's basically a software version of
the Light Phone 2 (for Android only now).

We believe the launcher approach is the most effective way to solve the
problem b/c it actually gets at the root cause, which is that the smartphone
interface has no protections against the persuasive techniques of addictive
apps. So we made a new interface that is less distracting and more
intentional.

We just launched in the Play Store and would love your thoughts and feedback!

~~~
mkaziz
I love the idea but it needs way too many permissions. How do you guys make
money?

~~~
ad7024
We know :( Our next release (<2 weeks, with new onboarding flow) will only ask
for one permission on first launch.

The app is currently free while in beta. We are in the process of building the
UI for a Pay What You Can subscription model, which we feel aligns well with
the movement away from an attention economy towards a user value economy,
makes it more accessible, etc.

~~~
rthomas6
Will there possibly be a way to just buy the app?

~~~
mkaziz
I would def feel more comfortable paying for it and having an ironclad
guarantee you wouldn't use my data to stay solvent / pay for bankruptcy down
the line.

~~~
ad7024
That's the idea :) We welcome your feedback on our privacy policy:
[http://www.getsiempo.com/app/pp.html](http://www.getsiempo.com/app/pp.html)

------
procparam
One huge distraction-enabler is the fingerprint sensor. It makes things too
easy for me - I put my hand in my pocket, put my finger on the sensor, and by
the time it's in front of my face I can be mindlessly browsing reddit.

So I would add the following tip: disable the fingerprint sensor if you have
one (also face recognition, etc), and replace it with an inconveniently long
password. This way you really need to think about whether it's worth the time
to open your phone.

~~~
BartBoch
You can always set your fingerprints for the other hand instead. This will
force you to switch hands which requires more complexity.

~~~
kgdinesh
Interesting. I'm gonna try this and see.

------
willnewman
I adhere to a lot of these rules myself and have recently noticed peers doing
the same.

Another I'd add that really makes the phone boring is putting it in grayscale
mode. On iOS: Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations >
Color Filters > Grayscale. Then you can set the Accessibility Shortcut to
Color Filters, and when you triple click the home button your phone goes
grayscale.

I don't have it on 24/7, but do enable it any time I feel myself getting
sucked in too frequently.

~~~
maxxxxx
I set my Android device to grayscale for a while. I liked it but for the video
player and one photo app I would like to have colors.

Does anyone know how to do this? I have tried to do something with Tasker but
couldn't figure it out.

~~~
anowlcalledjosh
I figured it out after a few minutes poking around.

You'll need some way to set "secure" settings – if you're not rooted, the
easiest way is via a Tasker plugin called AutoTools. Once you've set that up,
create a task with an action of "AutoTools Secure Settings", then configure it
as follows (under "Custom Setting" in the AutoTools menu):

    
    
        - setting type: secure
        - name: accessibility_display_daltonizer_enabled
        - input type: toggle
        - value: 3
    

That task then toggles greyscale mode, so you can hook it up to an application
context or whatever. (Switch the value to 1 if you want a task that always
enables greyscale, or 2 to always disable.)

If it doesn't work, diff the output of `adb shell settings list secure` from a
PC with greyscale mode enabled and disabled, and use whatever name you get
there.

------
vinceguidry
The yearning for fewer options for distraction is curious to me. I can
understand the desire for fewer interruptions, but me choosing to kill a few
minutes here and there playing Threes or Fire Emblem Heroes or perusing a
Quora feed isn't the grand evil people seem to think it is.

After all, it's not like my brain just stops. Particularly when I play Threes,
only a portion of my mental energy is devoted to playing the game, while the
rest considers deeper musings. I consider it akin to music in that it
'patterns' my mental energy, reducing the total amount of chaos my mind has to
deal with all by itself.

It's a shortcut to a meditative calm. Without the shortcuts I ultimately get
less meditative focus and not more, like how you're more likely to exercise if
you keep a pair of dumbbells handy.

If you're so mentally disorganized that phone apps destroy your peaceful calm
rather than give you ways to create more of it, I'd suggest a daily 30 minute
walk. It's my go-to solution for centering.

~~~
dwaltrip
> If you're so mentally disorganized that phone apps destroy your peaceful
> calm...

This is an incredibly arrogant and uncharitable statement.

You'd be well served to make less assumptions about other people.

------
laurieg
I really recommend unplugging for a few days. It helps you notice how you are
interacting with technology.

I spent 4 days on a tiny island (population 11) a few years ago. I was there
with one friend and we decided that there would be no screens and no
watches/clocks for the whole time.

You very quickly adjust to not having it. Easily within a day. We ate when we
got up, and then again later on. We went to sleep soon after it got dark. We
barely even thought about things that weren't directly around us.

The most surprising thing about the trip was the return. We caught a small
covered ferry that had a little TV hooked up. The TV was showing the
preparation for some sports event, basially nothing was happening. I was
utterly transfixed by it. The movement, the colors, the cuts every few seconds
was way more stimulation than I had had over the past 4 days. Smartphones add
interactivity and take this even further.

~~~
usaphp
> You very quickly adjust to not having it. Easily within a day. We ate when
> we got up, and then again later on. We went to sleep soon after it got dark.

Not sure why do you need adjusting to eat when you wake up and sleep after
dark, and how technology prevents you from doing that in your usual life?

~~~
mikepurvis
Habit. Especially in the winter, there are several hours of darkness before
most adults' bedtimes, which is typically filled with screen time, whether
TV/videogames, computer, phone.

If you have young kids, it's even more pronounced, because you end the day
physically and emotionally drained, and you feel like you need that time to
"unwind" before going to bed yourself.

This isn't to say it can't be changed by willpower alone, but I can see how an
unplugged vacation would help kickstart the process.

------
parvenu74
Personally, I would love a flip phone with a removable battery and a physical
button on the side to turn WiFi hotspot functionality on/off -- with OFF being
the default. Having a phone that you only need to charge once a week is a
great feature!

~~~
nabla9
You are describing new Nokia 8110 4G (aka "the matrix phone" reincarnated)

* 25 days on standby, 8.5 hours LTE voice calls

* removable battery

* WiFi hotspot functionality

* 4G network connectivity

* KaiOS will have basic apps (Google maps, FB, Google assistant and reportetly WhatsApp in near future)

[https://www.nokia.com/en_in/phones/nokia-8110-4g](https://www.nokia.com/en_in/phones/nokia-8110-4g)

~~~
abawany
I was very excited by this phone but KaiOS seems worrying though hopefully I
just misread: they seem to be quite closed-source even though they are based
on FirefoxOS [1], the app store is closed and carrier controlled [2], and the
hotspot functionality also seems to come with carrier control [3], which given
the lack of openness and root capability, means that it may very well be
disabled if you buy the phone through the wrong carrier.

As a basic phone with features, it still seems exciting (priced at $99USD I
think) but after LineageOS, this feels like a step back in terms of openness
and control.

[1]
[https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-14](https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-14)

[2]
[https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-6](https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-6)
\- to me, this means outdated apps or ones that will eventually die (such as
the YouTube app on Sony DVD players a couple of years ago.)

[3]
[https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-16](https://www.kaiostech.com/faq/#question-16)

~~~
romwell
If you want a dumb phone, why would you even care about locked app store? You
aren't getting it to use the apps.

Same for root capability; either WiFi hotspot works with your carrier out of
the box, or you don't buy the phone. If you have to fight your carrier on
that, hacking every device you use on the network is not a solution anyway.

And a closed-source OS doesn't mean it's not hackable. Back in the day, you
could mess a lot with Symbian.

~~~
abawany
True. The thing is that under the covers, this thing is kind of a smart phone
and as such, the lack of control bothers me a bit. Your other points are valid
though - one could just get this device for hotspot/call functionality and be
happy.

------
buf
I changed my phone's language to Japanese (which I don't speak very well).

Instead of mindless tapping buttons, now I have to think about every action I
take. It makes using my phone tiring, so I don't use it very often.

~~~
freehunter
I've tried the same with German (which I don't speak very well) but I switched
it back when it kept taking me to the German language version of every site I
visited.

~~~
buf
Good point. I had this problem too, but there is a setting ...somewhere, to
fix it.

------
mattnewport
This is one of the advantages of using a Windows Phone these days: fewer apps
to tempt me into letting distractions creep onto my phone :-)

------
205guy
I didn't see this mentioned in a quick scan of the comments: no data plan.

I originally did this with my wife to save money: 2 AT&T grandfathered
unlimited data plans for $160 down to $15 for 2 phones on an MVNO talk+text
family plan (both plans had limited minutes, but the MVNO is cheaper for add'l
minutes).

We use wifi at home and at work, though since I have computers there, I don't
find myself connecting on the phone that much. Also, neither of us use
facebook through the app or the browser on the phone. We just use home
computers or an ipad for that. That feels much safer for being physically
tracked and advertised to.

So our phones have our calendar and reminders, notes, and photos, and voice
and text of course (just not imessage unless on wifi). It really makes them
boring and functional, and not a distraction.

The ONLY thing that we miss that is critical is maps when traveling. My wife
once switched to a $40 data plan for a month, I tried to check maps with the
hotel wifi so they are cached on the phone. But now we found a Garmin GPS at a
yard sale for $20 and use that.

~~~
gambiting
Assuming you are on Android - you can download maps for offline viewing when
you are on wifi, just select an area and that portion of the map will be
stored for offline use.

~~~
jackson1way
That works on Google Maps for iOS too and I do it for all devices.

On android the reminders are super annoying: Your offline maps will expire in
x days, please update! You can disable it, but it took me a while. Totally
useless. Just update them when it's time and STFU.

------
munk-a
There are a lot of technical ways to get around this but here's a simpler
approach. I just don't own a smart phone. I own an old flip phone and use it
primarily to communicate with my immediate family through texts and calls. I
have the advantage of not being required to have a smart phone for work and
I'm quite happy with that situation.

I generally don't use facebook or pretty much any other social media sites
(hacker news is probably the most social I get) and whenever I need to I just
do it from home, I like my time.

~~~
jpfed
A feature phone would be fine, but I'm too attached to always having a camera
on me. And as far as I know, feature phones generally have crap cameras.

~~~
munk-a
You are correct, yes. I don't generally take many pictures which may be an
advantage for me not having a smart phone.

------
Karunamon
While %s/drug/phone/g makes for an easy rhetorical trick, it also destroys a
lot of essential context. It's also a bit on the offensive side if you or
someone you know has dealt with actual drug addiction; as in, it cheapens it.

Picking some offenders from their list..

* You keep using your phone after it’s no longer needed to solve a problem. (Because nobody uses smartphones for fun?)

* You feel strange when you don’t have your phone. (I also feel strange when I don't have my watch, lighter, and multitool on me. This applies to all every day carry items.)

* You’ve begun having trouble doing normal daily things without your phone. (Normal daily things include responding to alerts, taking phone calls, and sending messages. I could not do my job without a smartphone, let alone a great deal of plain old human socializing. Further, IMs and SMSes are more respectful of my friends' time than phone calls which demand everybody drops what they're doing)

* You borrow money to pay for your phone. (Given the industry move to carrier financing rather than contract lock-in, I think _most_ people now borrow money to pay for their phone)

* You drive or do other dangerous things (like use heavy machines) while you are on your phone. (People yammering on their phones in traffic has a lot more to do with a poor understanding of attention than it does this increasingly tenuous drug analogy. Besides, phone use while driving was a safety issue long before smartphones proliferated.)

* You hide some phone use or the effect it is having on you from others. (Only when the specter of Ludditism creeps through and I'd rather not be moralized to about my use of technology.)

\----

Let's not even talk about the bare equation of all games to addiction
(seriously?).

If you feel you're addicted to your smartphone, by all means, do whatever
works for you, but if you intend on presenting that to the world, please keep
the crappy logic to a minimum.

~~~
emodendroket
Any behavior can end up being "addictive" if you keep doing it even as it has
negative consequences for your life and are unable to stop, right?

------
antisocial
I see so many recommendations to get rid of a smartphone. Here is a different
view. I didn't have a smartphone till 2014, I used to think that it was a scam
by phone service companies and manufacturers to make you spend more. And then
I almost missed my kid's team event due to change of location and missed the
messages from other parents. I would have messed months' long preparation by
all these kids by my kid's absence. That was the first and last straw and got
a smartphone. I also want a phone handy to take pictures. A phone is
essential, I just would like android and ios to care more about distractions
and develop features to limit these distractions. I am also looking forward to
robust, foolproof apps like Space by Boundless etc.

------
justadudeama
To me, uninstalling all Social Media did wonders on my productivity. I
replaced them with instapaper (for articles I saved before hand) and Kindle.
Now, I can't mindlessly loose track of time on twitter or something, and if I
am truly using my phone to fill some in-between time waiting for a doctors
appointment or something, I am doing something I already previously decided to
do, not something I come up with (an article/book I already picked out), so I
am no susceptible to temptation.

One thing I would add to this, is either disable, or put in the same folder as
the other distracting apps, the web browser. You really need it for a
surprisingly little things on your phone, and I found it as an alternate route
to my time wasting websites.

------
oftenwrong
Anybody remember this?

[http://www.dumbsto.re/](http://www.dumbsto.re/)

Simple, sms-based "apps" you can use to smarten up your dumbphone.

------
Naracion
About a year or so ago, I changed the launcher app on my Android phone to the
Linux CLI Launcher (then called t-ui Launcher) [1]. This was a revolutionary
step towards changing my interaction behavior with my phone. Now, I had to
_type in the names of the apps_ that I wanted to open. There was _zero_ visual
candy that attracted me and prompted me to needlessly open Instagram. I
stopped compulsively checking these apps, moved to using Chrome only in the
bus during commute. Every month I'd run "ls -apps" to see what apps I have
installed. The first time I ran it, I did not even recognize most of the apps
on the list. I have a much happier (and snappier) phone now free of bloat
apps, and as a result a much happier and more productive version of me (at
least no reduction in productivity due to phone distraction).

[1]:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ohi.andre.cons...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ohi.andre.consolelauncher&hl=en_US)

edit: grammar, reframe

~~~
nurettin
This is great, I was trying to modify termux as a launcher just to accomplish
the same thing.

------
heywire
> What if we could make our phones so boring we just look at them we we have
> to? What if we could strip out most, if not all of the dopamine inducing
> features and leave the phone in a state that is useful but boring.

I did just this to my Facebook feed. It may seem silly, but I signed up for a
bunch of non-interesting Facebook groups which pollute my feed with noise.
After a couple weeks, I deleted the app from my phone and resorted to using
the website through my mobile browser when needed. So far I usually check
about once every day or two, mostly just to see if I have any notifications. I
find the feed so uninteresting that I rarely just browse it anymore. Before, I
would spend a 15 minute here and there, adding up to probably 2 or more hours
per day. One thing I noticed is how less often I find myself getting upset at
stupid things. Before, I was reading local news stories that were being passed
around, and finding myself upset at some of the comments. For what? I wasn't
even really interested in the subject of the story anyway!

------
jamiethompson
I might try this. I've been exclusively using a Nokia 2G dumbphone for 2 years
now. Just calls and texts (and snake, oh and it also has a flashlight)

There are obviously times when I would benefit from Google Maps or being able
to listen to music on my phone though. Not having a camera in my pocket all
the time has been the only thing i've truly missed though. Being able to take
a photo of something and maybe instantly send it to someone _is_ useful. "Hey
can you pick me up some X"... "Sure i'm in the shop now, are these the right
ones?" That kind of interaction is just useful.

I fell like now I've well and truly broken my smartphone addiction that it
might be safe for me to reintroduce a smart phone into my life. I feel as
though I would now have sufficient will power not to just install Facebook one
night and start mindlessly scrolling again. I don't believe I could have
achieved that without transitioning first to a completely dumb phone. I
imagine that's true of a lot of other people

------
kcorbitt
This might be a good place to modestly self-promote my side project app, Time
Guard, that lets you block services like Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/HN by
default and only unblock them for a limited span at once (much like HN's
"noprocrast" feature). [https://timeguard.io](https://timeguard.io)

------
spking
Another more extreme step I've heard others take is to put their device in one
of those locking cookie jars:

[https://www.thekitchensafe.com](https://www.thekitchensafe.com)

~~~
alasano
That is indeed extreme.. obviously it would be preferable to have the proper
motivation to stop this type of behaviour on your own but a detox period is
required for that.

------
ajuc
I don't own a smartphone, simply because it's not convenient. I've had one
from my previous job, it was Iphone 4 IIRC. It was bulky, I had to charge it
every day, and when I enabled maps or a browser it got hot quickly.

Now I'm using Nokia 106. It lasts 2 weeks on one charge (1 week if I'm
listening to radio/podcasts a lot), it's much smaller than iphone, never gets
hot, and I'm not afraid to drop it. I dropped it several times, and even
washed it once by mistake in my jeans. It works still, I just had to dry it
and buy a new battery.

It's much more convenient to use as a phone than a smartphone, and when I'm
going somewhere for longer than 10 minutes usually I take a backpack and a
tablet, so I can use browser and I have gps anyway (and much more convenient
than on a smartphone), but there's this small hurdle of taking it out so I
don't waste as much time on it as I would otherwise.

I think this combo (dumbphone+tablet) beats a smartphone on almost every
front.

~~~
yoz-y
I am glad this works for you, but for example the only function I could use on
a dumbphone is alarm. I never call anybody and I send SMS messages only when
the network coverage is too poor so it falls back.

I use GPS all the time for public transport, I doubt a standalone GPS does
that. What about photos, tablets can have decent cameras but phones are
usually 2-3 generations ahead.

~~~
thanatropism
Smart wake-up alarms that detect when you're entering light sleep in the
morning are the only way to be happy.

I used to have a Jawbone bracelet that did that by slowly increasing
vibration. It was even better. But the setup I have today with my phone under
the pillow works.

~~~
ajuc
When I set alarm clock to 6 after a few days I wake up by myself at 5:55

------
ImJasonH
I made a simple tool to help me break my bad social media habits:
[https://quit.social/](https://quit.social/)

I uninstalled Twitter and Facebook from my phone, and replaced them on my home
screen with Safari bookmarks that looked like those apps (using favicons).

Any time I would try to open those apps, it would deliver a "mild shock" in
the form of a big red shame warning telling me how many times I've recently
failed to stop using the apps.

I kicked the habit in about a week.

The fake Twitter app still sits on my home screen, but I only ever tap it by
accident. As soon as I come up with something to put in its place, it'll be
gone too.

Feel free to use it if you find it useful, it's pretty ugly but it worked for
me. If it works for you, consider making it prettier:
[https://github.com/imjasonh/quit.social](https://github.com/imjasonh/quit.social)

~~~
romwell
The discussions on successfully quitting social media pop up weekly on HN.

The irony is, of course, that HN _is_ social media. Personally, I clock more
time here than on FB and IG taken together.

------
superkuh
Even better, try not taking your phone with you at all. They're essentially
ankle bracelets that use the carrot instead of the stick. At least in the US
your location is recorded and stored for at a minimum of 2 and usually more
towards 5 years depending on telco.

------
BuckRogers
I've done what's described in the article for years. In fact, I've never once
installed Facebook or Twitter on my iPhone. My general rules-

\- No social media, at all. News only for entertainment, and news sources (fed
through Feedly) have to be new sources, not politics-masquerading-as-news.
Things happening, not things people are saying.

\- No notifications enabled other than texts and calls.

\- Do not disturb set for 10PM-6AM, allowing favorites to call through (wife &
family).

\- Single page homescreen to keep it clean, tidy & organized.

Mine is used for utility, and like most things in modern society, there's
enough power if you aren't very intelligent to get controlled by the
technology. You have to be capable of seeing through the tech, and not become
its slave. Eternal vigilance is the cost of freedom I suppose.

I rarely look at my phone, I do have games, but they are opened less than once
every 12 months. Looking at what I have installed now, I have Super Mario Run,
Breakout & "Faby Bird" (a Flappy Bird remake). I see no need to remove them
when I don't find them to be a problem or damaging like social media is.

Why do I have a smartphone then?

ApplePay, remote home & PC controls, GPS maps, online banking, Lyft, Exxon
Mobile SpeedPass+, Find My iPhone to know where my family is if they need me,
are all invaluable. Those are the things I use a smartphone for.

------
rms
I think it may be healthy to reset dopamine by doing this occasionally for a
week or so at a time, but I like the cheap dopamine and connectedness of my
social media connections.

------
raz32dust
I disable most notifications, and even the ones that are turned on are silent
ones. I keep the phone aside on the table almost all the time, and consider
myself a relatively mild user of the smartphone. Where I really miss the phone
and feel handicapped without it is when I have to quickly look something up on
google/dictionary. e.g, if I have a quick random question about why something
is the way it is, what causes some symptoms etc. I can't imagine going back to
childhood (90s) when we had to go to libraries or ask poorly knowledgeable
people about stuff.

In a way, I feel this is the future. Human beings are supposed to become one
with the machine at some point. People who dislike that or choose to stay away
might actually be likely to be outcast and be considered weird. I already see
that happening, for example when I tell people I don't have a facebook
account. It boils down to, "Do I value personal privacy, or being connected to
the world's information flow ecosystem?". And I am not sure that choosing to
be private is the obvious right answer at this point. And it might not even be
possible in the near future.

~~~
russdpale
try this:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.siempo.phon...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.siempo.phone)

------
josefresco
Does anyone with an Apple watch (or other _smartwatch_ ) feel it helps them
leave their smartphone behind and/or reduce their smartphone usage?

~~~
innocentoldguy
I do. I have an Apple Watch with a SIM chip in it and I leave my phone at home
all the time. I still get text messages and emails, so I know if something
urgent is going on, but it is also a bit of a pain to reply, so I find, more
often than not, I don't. It helps me to plan my responses to specific times
during the day.

~~~
josefresco
Thanks for this. We're considering smartphones for our soon-to-be "tween"
children, however I've considered pairing them with a smartwatch, in an
attempt to keep them from developing this same "dependence". I doubt it will
work for them (Snapchat/Instagram etc.) however it might work for me/us.

------
wyclif
Alan Jacobs recently wrote a similar type of post (spoiler: he deleted all the
social media apps, allowed communications apps, and replaced the deleted ones
with "environmental" apps) [http://text-
patterns.thenewatlantis.com/2018/04/back-to-ipho...](http://text-
patterns.thenewatlantis.com/2018/04/back-to-iphone.html)

------
coatmatter
All the tips on how to spend less time on the internet are great, however at
the end of the day that time still needs to be replaced by a more productive
pastime if one just isn't feeling it when it comes to productivity. Otherwise,
the mind will creatively figure out an endless list of other things to idle
time away with.

In the past for many people, this might have involved more segmented
activities such as quality computer games and the like. But really, I think
what most of us would do better with now is more time spent outside with a
cardiovascular activity such as cycling or running.

I say cardio, because that often eats up a good chunk of time and rests the
mind in a way that few other sports can and also because it's essential for
physical and mental health and cannot be substituted. Don't worry about the
strength stuff immediately if it's not already being done - that will easily
follow once the cardio routine is sorted. As popular as 'strength' is right
now in fitness circles, cardio is still key and the (evolutionary) root of all
health in my view.

------
navs
For almost a year I personally used a “dumb phone”. I believe it was a ZTE
from one of the telco providers. It actually wasn’t terribly dumb, it did have
a text based web browser that allowed me to read some lightweight sites,
especially BBC and NPR which have lightweight text only alternatives to their
core website.

However the browsing was painful and while the reward was within reach,
attaining that reward was a chore so I simply didn’t browse as much until I
eventually didn’t at all.

That means, for some, buying a cheaper, slower smartphone may help. Let’s face
it, most websites would kill cheaper, older smartphones. So your browsing
habits would suffer but in a pinch you could still access limited information.

Most third party apps wouldn’t install on your older smartphone but the core
apps like Google Maps will still be accessible.

In addition to this, opt for a cheap data plan. I currently pay $20/m and that
includes 1Gb of data. For $10/m I get more minutes and no data .

These tricks don’t work for long but they’re a good kickstart to developing a
completely different mindset to how you use your phone.

------
Yhippa
Every night I say "I'm going to be in bed before midnight". Then all of a
sudden it's 1:45 AM and I'm still on Reddit.

------
justdep
Are there any Android launchers out there that water the OS down to the
basics? A launcher to kinda simulate what
[https://www.blloc.com/](https://www.blloc.com/) and
[https://www.thelightphone.com/](https://www.thelightphone.com/) are doing
would be cool.

------
josh33
I've had a similar approach for the past few months, but with some changes: \-
I have my wife manage restrictions; only she knows the passcode \- I have
Safari set to only a whitelist. This means when friends send me a link, I've
got to get to a computer to open it. \- I have no access to "unlimited"
content: no app store, no news aggregators, no google \- My home screen has
primarily utility and "creation" apps (Drafts, Day One, Trello, etc) \- I've
turned off almost all notifications. Mail has no sounds, alerts, or badges. I
do have badges and alerts on text messaging and slack, but am probably going
to turn off slack notification completely. \- I've yet to remove all games. I
should. I've yet to remove Hacker News and Tech Crunch, but don't currently
feel an incessant need to check those.

------
bluecat22
I think the idea of dumber phone introduces with it another notion, since the
phone is seen more as a utilitarian tool(not for entertainment), then it
should not have to be replaced frequently.

With the above concept the entire discussion then hinges on how updatable the
phone software is? Because if the phone software is not updatable, even the
minimum number of apps needed on the phone will stagnate and you'll have to
buy a new phone anyhow.

The single biggest point of failure in the updatability of a phone is the
devices drivers for the SOC. Linux fails in this regard because the driver ABI
is not stable, so you can't run drivers that the vendor launched with the
launch kernel. It is this problem of updatable drivers for SOC components that
needs to be solved before any idea of a long lasting utility phone becomes
practical.

~~~
tomrod
Why can't it be solved?

~~~
bluecat22
Because in the space of open source operating systems, we realistically only
have Linux Kernel.

With each new release of Linux kernel, the internal kernel interfaces that
device drivers use, change. So whatever binary kernel driver the vendor
released with kernel version x is not going to run with next kernel version y.

You only have 2 options: 1\. Either you get the source of device drivers,
which the vendors don't release because they want to protect their hardware IP

2\. or the kernel keeps its interfaces stable so that drivers released can be
reused again.

Right now, both are not happening and that is the real reason Android phones
have a life of at most 2 years.

------
therealmarv
Get a low cost smartphone! You are so often upset it takes so long on some
tasks that you use it less and less... something I discovered whole last year
with a 150 Euro smartphone! Nevertheless if you life is dependent on it a 2017
150 Euro smartphone from a store will also make it.

------
agotterer
My divesting of notifications was an accident. A botched iOS upgrade turned
off all my notifications. It took me days to realize I was never getting
alerts for emails, Facebook, etc. At that point I made the conscious decision
that I didn’t miss them and kept them off on nearly every app, with the
exception of a few that aren’t noisy and I enjoy getting. This had caused me
to check my phone much less frequently and not feel the need to instantly
respond. I have good self control, so spending too much time on Fb was never
an issue for me. This has caused me to primarily use my phone for utility or
at least consciously for time killing. But I spend far less time on my phone
and no longer crave those dopamine notifications.

------
mcovey
I own a smartphone, but I use it like I'd use a tablet - wifi only, at home.
My primary phone, the only one I take with me to work most of the time, is
just a pay-as-you-go flip phone.

In fact, I didn't downgrade to this from a smartphone. I've never had a
smartphone with phone service, that I carry around with me or use. Maybe I
don't know what I'm missing. Maybe I don't want to know.

The only real thing I wish I had was an easier way to carry on text
conversations. Typing on a phone dialpad is not very fast. Most of the time I
can use Verizon Message+ which works in a web browser and lets me send SMS
from my own phone number. But when I'm not near a computer, I can't do that.

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
Seems like a 7" tablet would be a better use case if you don't need
pocketability.

~~~
mcovey
I like being able to use it in bed with one hand, and occasionally to have
pocketability, to bring it to things where I'll have to do a lot of waiting,
like doctor appointments or being a passenger on a long ride.

I looked into small tablets a while ago and found that the selection was
pretty limited and none of the few that looked reasonable could easily run
LineageOS.

But a phone with no SIM card or plan is basically just a really small tablet
anyway.

------
vpeters25
This is a good idea, but i think it could go even further.

Somewhat unrelated but if you really want to see how horrendously unfriendly
the typical smartphone UX is, hand one to a technology-challenged grandparent
(who can probably use a legacy cellphone/flip phone just fine) and ask them to
call you.

They are more likely to accidentally take selfies than figure out how to call
you, even if they have your phone number memorized.

It would be nice to have an android "main menu" which is just simply the
dialpad when you turn on or unlock the phone. Add a button for "smartphone
things" like search contact list or open other apps but keep it most elemental
function (making phone calls) up front and and easy.

~~~
wilsonnb
How is "unlock the phone, click on the picture of the phone, dial number" a
horrendously unfriendly UX?

------
konraditurbe
Get a fitness band/notification band/pebble and disable biometric
authentication. When I would get a notification, I opened it, went to the
homescreen and start browsing the news or the damn Kindle app. Having a
smartwatch enabled me to dismiss notifications from my wrist and respond to
messages. The fingerprint scanner is for me a very obvious attack vector so I
disable it and use a long password. This means I use the phone if I absolutely
have to. When I was younger and didn't have a phone I had a book, and I was
always reading. This is now the phone, its not that the phone has made me have
less time, I didn't have any to begin with.

------
PyErr_SetString
Does anyone rememner the Jolla phone?

I had one and it was great! The reason: You could do a lot of the necessary
things with a phone, like:

* Making calls

* Sending text messages

* Set an alarm/timer

* Take a photo

You could also do a lot of the less necessary things like:

* surfing/facebook/reddit, through the web browser.

* playing (some) games

But, those less necessary things were just a _little_ too much effort to be
worth it. Surfing was a bit cumbersome and I didn't have that many apps on it.

I found myself using the phone less for unnecessary things and just as a tool
to actually do things I needed. I loved it for that. If they sold decent
phones still, I might probably buy another. Now I'm back to android and use
the phone for more unneccessary things again.

Also, I liked the sounds and themes on the Jolla.

------
marttt
See also Hellaphone -- Inferno OS (successor for Plan 9) running on Android
phones: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF_-
jQc53jw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF_-jQc53jw)
[http://jfloren.net/b/2015/8/18/2](http://jfloren.net/b/2015/8/18/2)
[https://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-20/dc-20-presentations/...](https://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-20/dc-20-presentations/Floren/DEFCON-20-Floren-
Hellaphone.pdf)

------
JepZ
Actually, I use my smartphone since a while with a focus on usability (only
top 5 apps on the home screen). So no annoying, attention catching, tracking,
adware apps. Just pure focus on what I need:

\- Adaway (Adblocker; just in case)

\- Address Book

\- Browser (long term Chrome user, but the new Firefox mobile feels very nice)

\- Chat Client (Conversations)

\- Clock

\- Connect Bot (for SSH connections)

\- Dav-Droid (Sync client)

\- Email client

\- F-Droid (app store for open source software)

\- Calendar

\- Camera & Gallery

\- KDE-Connect (e.g. for desktop notifications)

\- Nextcloud client

\- Omsand+ (Google Maps alternative)

\- Play Store

\- Phone

\- Spotify

\- Termux (a shell that is actually usable on a smartphone)

\- Text/SMS

\- Titanium Backup

\- Xodo (nice PDF viewer and annotator)

With that setup I can sync my data with other devices, communicate (voice,
text, email), enjoy basic entertainment (Spotify) and use some cli if it is
required, while not having all that attention stealing crap on my phone.

------
graeme
I've done something similar to this. I recently was in Cuba, where to get
internet you had to go to public wifi places. In between that, my phone was
much dumber, but very useful: you could take notes, pictures, set timers, etc.

So, back, home, I've done the following:

1\. Disabled my phone from home wifi (I have 12 GB data, so this is no issue)
2\. Turned off cell service to any distracting apps. Turned off notifications
too 3\. Set all those on a separate "internet" page 4\. Went into parental
controls and locked changes to cell data settings 5\. Removed Safari, added
firefox focus and the google app

I've tried locking down my phone before, and it never worked. Occasionally I
do want to post something to instagram or check snapchat, and the only good
way to do that is on the phone. So I'd end up redownloading them.

Now, I still can use them. But only if I go to a cafe or a library with wifi.
So I make a list of things I want to do on those apps, and update them when I
visit.

Meanwhile, I can use my phone for lots of others things. But all of them are
self-terminating. I removed everything open ended: browser, youtube, etc.
Those tended to be black holes.

I also found my phone would get cluttered with old browser tabs, and these
would be more distracting than on desktop. So, by switching to single tab
browsers, I can avoid this.

What happens if I _need_ to google something on my phone, immediately? Well,
usually this isn't true, and so I write it on a "to google" list, or walk to a
computer if I'm in my office.

But, if it's truly urgent, I just go into restrictions, and talk to myself out
loud about what I am doing. e.g. "I am changing restrictions, and turning on
data for firefox focus. I will search 'how long to boil eggs' and then turn
off data to firefox and turn back on data restrictions"

I find this latter technique helps me stick to doing only the thing I intended
to do.

I've been doing this for a week since I got back from my trip, and have had no
slippage yet. I'm still easily connected at my office.

I have noticed that I am checking wikepedia articles more often, and also
using podcasts more. I _think_ this is a good thing, though I'll have to re-
evaluate over the long run. I may want to instead add wikipedia topics to a
"research" folder so I can do them at a later date; it could be just another
form of distraction. But most usage comes while reading books, so I think it's
fine.

------
MacroChip
I've been solving a related problem: help you use websites for what you want
and nothing more. How many times have you gotten on Facebook to send a message
and stayed there for too long? It won't happen again. Currently works on
Gmail, Facebook, and YouTube. I'll be testing it on Firefox mobile this
weekend. [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tunnel-
focus/hbekj...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tunnel-
focus/hbekjlhfmkgfnohmkodgekodmhhgfjfj)

------
pnathan
I don't advocate for dumbing the phone. Take away the dopamine hits, or limit
them to "play" time. I use facebook, reddit, twitter, mastodon, in Chrome -
not as apps. Both from a security standpoint and the notification standpoint.

But I have the Washington Post installed.

There are moments when you _want_ real time information coming through....

I would generally advocate for using things that are specialized for long-form
thinking and using. I.e., reading. You could do writing if you have a
bluetooth keyboard. For games: chess, go.

always ask yourself what you are gaining from what you're doing....

------
rthomas6
I edited the hosts file on my phone to redirect reddit to 127.0.0.1. You need
root to do it, but now I can't reach Reddit at all on my phone, even on my
browser. (Reddit is the worst vice for me).

------
rhombocombus
Killing notifications has been the biggest game changer for me. I am still
phone addicted, but I feel like that has had a substantial tempering effect on
my checking of it. Not having a constant nuisance bugging me has made me like
having a phone better, and the folks who need to get in touch can still reach
me via text if required. That's been my compromise, but everyone will probably
have their own flavor. The important thing is that we are beginning to
recognize this as a problem, which I think most of us agree that it is.

------
xmodem
Thank you to the author for a thoughtful, nuanced take complete with
actionable suggestions, that doesn't talk down the immense benefits
smartphones have brought especially to the disabled.

------
jeffreyrogers
These are pretty good rules and I've been doing something similar for a while
now. Unfortunately, most people like being addicted to their smartphones and
don't see it as a problem.

------
AnnoyingSwede
As i got my new Sony Z5 a year back i had a look on the resource usage i had
on my old Z1. Any app that consumed amounts of bandwidth and/or battery was
never installed/uninstalled on the new phone. This made me drop the facebook
app, tinder, all games.

It still allows me to login to facebook via the browser if i need to respond
to something during they day or want to post a picture but dropped the
fiddling with the phone down to less than half on an average day.

It also allowed the phone to work for 2 days on a single charge.

------
santoriv
Well, about a year ago I ditched my smartphone for a dumb phone, and the
effect of my mental health has been pretty positive. I still engage with the
internet way too much through my computer, but I feel like I live a bit more
in the "real world" than I did before I got rid of my smartphone. The internet
is no longer an omnipresent for me. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that
everyone gets rid of their smartphones though as it's not really a problem for
some people.

------
coryfklein
I've been doing a similar thing almost in parallel with the OP. One thing I
found very helpful was to trade in my giant iPhone X for the small iPhone 5s
(~$100 on eBay).

The smaller screen decreases overall engagement as well as my likelihood of
installing video games during weak moments. Add to that fact that it is slow
as molasses, and I only pull it out if I absolutely have to.

Doesn't hurt my wallet either to break the cycle of upgrading to this year's
expensive model every couple years.

------
whitepoplar
If you have an iPhone, it seems like the best way to create a "dumb phone" is
to set it up as a supervised[0] device, which allows you to pick and choose
which apps are allowed on the phone, or to disable the app store altogether.
It's intended for enterprise use, but seems like it would also be useful for
self control.

[0]: [https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202837](https://support.apple.com/en-
us/HT202837)

------
anon01010
I've been implementing a similar regime on my smart phone for the last few
months. After cracking a previous phone and resorting to a brick phone, I
remembered how much I'd enjoyed the time I used to have with out a screen,
either to read or just think.

I was eventually swayed back onto a smart phone after moving to a new city
(for google maps) and now use that almost solely along with music, and
occasionally chrome for fact-finding.

Would definitely recommend giving it a couple of months trial!

------
goodroot
Awesome. I came to the same conclusion and this is how my phone shook out...

* No SIM, data only.

* Safari is hidden via parental restrictions.

* I have Bear Writer for notes, Headspace for meditation, Spotify for music.

* iMessage for im, ProtonMail for email - notifications disabled.

* My everything else folder has undeleteables, 1Password, and an authenticator.

I schedule a daily block to check notifications and read blogs, publications,
and check out the front page of HN.

No browser on the phone is a huge step. If you have a portal to the Internet,
your phone is very much intelligent.

------
binarnosp
Two months ago, after a smartphone induced rage (my ear touching the screen
caused deezer to start playing a song during a phone call) I bought a nokia
3310 and ditched the smart phone. Best decision ever.

Now I noticed how everybody else is constantly watching their smartphone:
sometimes they pull it out of the bag but they don't know why, they just
browse up and down through the apps until they tap on a random one, just to
close it few seconds later.

------
dm319
When I got my Nokia E90 back in 2007, I loved the power of having GPS,
internet, maps on-tap. But it never intruded on me, and I wasn't addicted to
it. I just used it when it was useful.

But something has changed since then. I'm not sure whether it is with me, or
with 'them'. The article talks about the rewards of posting to facebook - and
I now see this same reward for posting here, reddit and any other forum you
might be part of.

------
ryanpcmcquen
For me, the key has been deleting all social media accounts. Feels like I just
freed up 30% of my time. When you delete social media, you pay yourself in
time.

------
c_s_g
I switched from a Nexus to a Samsung for its 'Maximum Power Saving' mode which
allows a grand total of 8 apps on the home screen. Four are standard - phone,
messages, chrome, settings. Four more you can choose from a limited set ... I
have music, camera, maps and clock (alarms don't work without it). I end up
spending about half my day in this mode and the other half in addict mode.

------
michrassena
It's been less than five years since I switched to a smart phone. If I wanted
to go back to a distraction free device, I would buy a pay-as-you-go dumb
phone, and that would be that. Another option is a cell plan without data. I
think it's easier to cut out the functionality altogether rather than trying
to let a few things through without opening the floodgates.

------
zabil
Since the article and comments talk about dopamine, here's an article about
the myth.

Please stop calling dopamine the ‘pleasure chemical’

[https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/27/17169446/dopamine-
pleasur...](https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/27/17169446/dopamine-pleasure-
chemical-neuroscience-reward-motivation)

------
jehlakj
Does anybody else prefer iOS over android for this reason? I started out with
an android device but none of the main apps ever felt native other than the
settings app. Even sms seemed like a third party, and it didn’t feel as direct
as an iPhone. It’s a very minor detail, but enough to give an edge to the
iPhone in this matter.

------
gukov
On my Android phone I have no app icons on the home screen. The apps list is
eight pages long and the extra few seconds it takes to find anything is a good
deterrent.

Another good trick for those that absolutely need to keep social media on
their phone: use the accessibility settings to make the phone's screen black
and white.

------
julioneander
Also, for any apps that have group chats, I like to disable notifications for
them. If someone really needs to contact me, they can send a direct message,
or @ me, otherwise I will only check the group chat when I have the time or
patience to do so. Or maybe I'm just getting old and stressed.

------
abelpmathew
related: [http://humanetech.com/](http://humanetech.com/) &
[http://humanetech.com/take-control/](http://humanetech.com/take-control/)
(edited to fix URLs)

------
punnerud
I can recommend sorting the apps based colors. Did this tree years ago, and
still love the “new” setup. -You remember the color more often than the name
-No question like “was it in economy or productivity” -No addicting game
folder. You have to browse to see them (on iPhone)

------
eleitl
Way ahead of you here. I've upgraded to the original Nokia 3310 years ago, and
it does the trick.

~~~
Lionsion
> I've upgraded to the original Nokia 3310 years ago, and it does the trick.

I wish there was a "dumbphone" that supported and extremely small number of
utility apps, like Signal.

~~~
my_username_is_
The issue is that people have differing opinions as to what those essential
apps should be... I'd imagine that it's hard to get consensus around what you
need.

For what it's worth I've been trying to have a more "dumb phone" experience
recently, but not by having an extremely small amount of apps. I simply
removed all of the ones that are sources of distractions on a daily basis. The
biggest culprit for me is Chrome. I'm realizing that I really don't have any
need to have access to the entirety of the internet at all times. A couple
dozen apps will give me what I actually need, and no distractions or aimlessly
browsing [HN, Reddit, Facebook Instagram, etc.]

~~~
Lionsion
> The issue is that people have differing opinions as to what those essential
> apps should be... I'd imagine that it's hard to get consensus around what
> you need.

I don't think so. There's already a consensus around the dumbphone experience.
Those featured a limited UI and and OS focused communication, so really it's
just about integrating with evolved versions of standard dumbphone apps (e.g.
CardDAV, messaging apps like Signal, etc).

------
awat
Good write up I’ve been working on a similar trajectory for my own smartphone
usage. I’ve toyed with getting a dumb weekend phone but I think this might be
the way to go. I don’t want to ignore technology I just want to make sure I’m
in control as much as possible.

------
lifeisstillgood
So ... make this an app - take all these good ideas and create a config
changing app that dumbs down your phone for you.

Most people, myself included, look at the very long list of changes and think
"I dont know how to do all that"

And the coder in me wont do it manually ...

------
ruffrey
I have no 3rd party apps that spew content, and disable the web browser.

The web browser can be re-enabled if I need to look at, say, a production
issue (I work in software). Otherwise it's "nice" to have to go grab a laptop
to get online.

------
bernardino
Extensively, if now your phone is only filled w/ tools and you are more prone
to roaming around the internet through a browser, you may restrict and hide
the Safari application on iPhone: Settings > General > Restrictions.

------
hedora
I switched to a $10/month prepaid plan. For data, it works out to $0.01/MB. Is
reading some random web page really worth $0.10? I think not. It has been
amazingly effective when I’m out and about.

Now, I just need to disable wifi...

------
tomaskafka
I noticed that I get uncomfortable even feeling the physical presence of the
phone (we are wired so that the body reminds us of things, it serves as a
state memory).

What helped was putting the phone into the bag instead of having it in pocket.

------
johnvega
Smartphones + social media apps = unlimited ice cream. Being aware of it is
the first step:
[http://humanetech.com/problem/](http://humanetech.com/problem/)

------
gwbas1c
I find I get hooked into my smartphone when I want stimulation without needing
to focus. It's not a FOMO thing, it's a "I can put this down at any time but
don't want to thing."

~~~
emodendroket
Not saying you are wrong, but you wouldn't be the first person to wrongly
assert they could quit whenever they wanted.

------
wonton2
I’m I the only one who get fomo by using my smartphone? Consider all the
experiences and face to face conversations you miss by looking at others on
social media or when you are playing candy crush.

------
brightball
I've done exactly this and it helps a lot.

I also tried the "gray screen" thing briefly but didn't keep it because it was
a pain when using the nav stuff on Google Maps.

~~~
kdamken
If you have an iPhone you can set it to be an accessibility shortcut and turn
it on/off by pressing the home button three times.

------
TsukiZombina
I have a better solution, turn it off. Seriously, all that time spent on my
phone started to bother me, so now I just turn on my phone when I really need
to use it.

------
fsiefken
Yes, that's why I bought the new Nokia 3310 as a second phone. Unfortunately
no whatsapp.. but that can be a feature.

I like the minimal layout of the blog, but no rss!

~~~
vaillancourtmax
Here it is: [https://nomasters.io/index.xml](https://nomasters.io/index.xml)

------
spraak
This article just told me to delete Hacker News

------
Skunkleton
Step five - feel satisfied with yourself

Step six - watch with dismay as all of these distractions creep back onto your
phone.

~~~
egypturnash
Step seven - read an article like this and remove some or all of these
distractions again.

Repeat until death, or until you decide to smash all your technology and go
live the Unabomber lifestyle.

------
nunodonato
may I suggest to you all the JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) book, by Christina
Crook
[http://www.christinacrook.com/book/](http://www.christinacrook.com/book/)

------
phil248
I think it's time the Luddites just threw their phones in the trash. Don't get
a flip phone. Don't use a telephone either. Cut off the electricity, sell your
car and give your TV to a friend.

Or, keep pretending that the latest technological innovation is the one that's
causing all the problems.

------
Animats
Get rid of Facebook and Twitter, and you're at least 80% done.

------
amiga-workbench
I'm not sure if I want a totally dumb phone, but I do want one that isn't
subverted by my carrier, Google or Apple.

We need a solid open baseband that runs at 3G speeds at the very least.

~~~
robterrell
Did you read the article? It's not about buying a flip phone, it's about
turning your smartphone into a slightly dumber phone, to alleviate your
brain's addiction to it.

~~~
amiga-workbench
I did read the article, I don't personally have a problem with addiction. My
phone only gets used when I'm either sat on the toilet, waiting for a
bus/taxi, or deliberately talking to somebody.

The problem I do have with my phone is that its not actually under my control.

------
nutdip
Wanted hacker news minus comments

------
jancsika
I think the behavior of people who write computer music using realtime DSP
environments is oddly similar. Yet it's instructive because I don't think
electronic composers are in any way "addicted" to their environments.

> You keep using your phone after it’s no longer needed to solve a problem.

There is a large amount of electro-acoustic musical output where the purpose
was obviously to employ a particular piece of technology or software, rather
than the technology/software being a means to realize some musical concept.

> You spend more and more of your time on your phone to get the same effects

The amount of time feel giddy by getting basic sounds out of the computer is
rather small.

The amount of time to get something that sounds "professional" is months if
not years.

The amount of time to get a timbre as compelling as an electric guitar is so
great that you'd probably have to become a full-time filter designer and stop
composing.

> You feel strange when you don’t have your phone.

> You can’t stop yourself from using your phone, even if you don’t want to.

I heard about a composer who pushed to get an electronic piece on a concert
that was otherwise acoustic. (This composer had written acoustic pieces.) The
organizer gave in and made an exception for this composer, who ended up eating
the tech people's time trying to set up the AV equipment and scrapped the
piece at the last minute because he couldn't get his laptop to work.

> You have a hard time giving yourself limits. You might say you’ll only use
> “so much” but then can’t stop and end up using twice that amount. Or you use
> it more often than you meant to.

I once heard a composer say that the average CPU load of their piece looked to
small, so they added "stuff" to the piece to get a more impressive-looking
workload.

> You’ve begun having trouble doing normal daily things without your phone.

I remember having a conversation with a composer who got up, ran to get his
laptop because he wanted to write a convolution kernel.

> You drive or do other dangerous things (like use heavy machines) while you
> are on your phone.

Luckily for society this one doesn't apply.

> You borrow money to pay for your phone.

Or for a fancy Mac plus hundreds or thousands worth of proprietary software.

> You hide some phone use or the effect it is having on you from others.

Well, that one doesn't even really apply to phones.

The overall point is that maybe people initially do stuff like this because
they're insecure and don't want to miss out.

------
komali2
My problem is I browse hackernews and news.google.com in my browser in my
phone.

Please send help I haven't spoken to my child in three days.

~~~
graeme
Remove your browser, and keep a todo list of things to google later at a
computer.

~~~
komali2
How do I win hipster bar fights then

------
microcolonel
> _surveillance capitalism_

This name is catchy, but it obscures the truth: that you are not being spied
on (in this case), you are actually spying on yourself. It's more like
_compulsive disclosure capitalism_.

------
ForgorPsxrd123x
Dumber Post

------
baybal2
As somebody who had an always on internet connected PDA back it times when
most PDAs were black and white, I can say it will eventually pass. The sense
of novelty will vanish, and the thing will not be as interesting when an
average person first see it.

~~~
Lionsion
> As somebody who had an always on internet connected PDA back it times when
> most PDAs were black and white, I can say it will eventually pass.

I don't think the software and cultural environment was that same for those
devices as it is for smartphones now. An old internet-connected PDA chiefly
had utility apps like this guide advocates. There was nothing from giant
companies whose business is to capture and sell your attention, no attention
slot machines, no games built to drive in-app purchases. Things now are
qualitatively different, even though the hardware might be in some ways
comparable.

~~~
baybal2
>no attention slot machines

I lived in the time when slot machines were standing on the street in the open
in Russia, and yes, mentally infirm people were wasting themselves on them.
Normal people not.

It takes a particular lack of basic logical reasoning to not to understand
that the the purpose of a bling bling slot machine is to waste time and money.

It takes a particular lack of basic logical reasoning to not to understand
that the the purpose of 20 bling bling popups a second smartphone apps is to
waste time and money and suck out clicks out of mentally infirm.

It takes no special personality to get an idea that clickfarming app must be
removed, and take actions to do so.

My former high school classmate who did not manage to leave Russia is running
a typical "smartphone fixer" kiosk. He said few years ago that the most common
request is to "remove Google nagware and lock/destroy/delete google pay so,
god forbid, your child will never ever buy anything in that Internet thing
mouth breathers waste themselves on."

~~~
Lionsion
> I lived in the time when slot machines were standing on the street in the
> open in Russia, and yes, mentally infirm people were wasting themselves on
> them. Normal people not.

Plenty of "normal people," even intelligent ones, are addicted to smartphones
(though the degree of addiction varies). Smartphone slot machines are subtle
enough to snare people would wouldn't be taken in by a traditional slot
machine, even though they use the same primal re-enforcement mechanisms.

> It takes a particular lack of basic logical reasoning to not to understand
> that the the purpose of 20 bling bling popups a second smartphone apps is to
> waste time and money and suck out clicks out of mentally infirm.

I think this comment reflects a bizarre disconnect from everyday reality. By
your logic, you're labeling a ridiculously large fraction of the population as
"mentally infirm." "Basic logical reasoning" is not something people typically
apply to everyday activities like smartphone use; those are typically done on
autopilot and bypass it, because "basic logical reasoning" is expensive and
slow.

~~~
baybal2
>you're labeling a ridiculously large fraction of the population as "mentally
infirm."

Well, to me it feels that people from parts of the world where one has no
state institutes to fend them, tend to have more acute sense for somebody
trying to abuse, fraud or attempt to extract money from them. Other than
"pocket slot machines," people living there have to care about many more
malignities: black mackler trying to steal your granny's apartment, bizarre
religious sects trying to encroach your children, impunous sexual maniac
killers on every corner, are things an average individual have to care, other
than "relatively innocuous" encounters with regular
racketeering/extortion/fraud.

A mentally firm person can not only tell that "wasting himself in a slot
machines parlor is bad because I've been told to," but to reason that by
himself about whatever malevolent encroachment on their wallet/assets/mental
wellbeing/social position.

To a very average proletarian parent in Russia or China, and likely in much of
the world outside of nanny state countries, it is _glaringly_ obvious that
Goog runs an equivalent of a slot machine business. And they take a 100% right
conscious decision to block apps and google pay on their children smartphones.

Why an "enlightened, intelligent Western person" doesn't do the same? Were
they desensitized by decades of wellbeing to the real, tangible threat of
social predation?

~~~
Lionsion
> To a very average proletarian parent in Russia or China, and likely in much
> of the world outside of nanny state countries, it is glaringly obvious that
> Goog runs an equivalent of a slot machine business. And they take a 100%
> right conscious decision to block apps and google pay on their children
> smartphones.

[citation needed]

I'm extremely skeptical that any population as a preternatural ability to
detect novel forms of scams and exploitation. The smartphone slot machines are
novel in that they steal your attention, which people were not primed to be as
sensitive to as attempts to steal money.

While I'm not very familiar with Russia, I have a little more familiarity with
China, and I don't detect anything there that makes me think that the Chinese
are more resistant to smartphone addiction. If anything makes them different,
it's the preexisting cultural emphasis that children should be studying or
cramming for high-stakes tests pretty much _all the time_ to the exclusion of
pretty much everything else. That has nothing to do with a "more acute sense
for somebody trying to abuse, fraud or attempt to extract money from them."

