Anyone ditched their smartphones and gone back to basics?

what was a similar worry for boomers in their times?

Industrial Strength Socialism

Also maybe Nuclear Armageddon?

Anyone ditched sex and drugs and gone back to basics?

?

yeah i think a few people on here have kids

ZING!

In periods I set my phone screen to grey-scale mode. It seem to make apps like Insta a bit less interesting, at least for me. Worth a try!

Yeah totally agree with that. I do work in a customer facing job so as a result hear all that stuff word of mouth. I also really enjoy hearing all the different perspectives of the same stories too.

If you see enough people on a daily basis you always have an engrained long range weather forecast which is helpful.

Most (mine definitely) local news websites are too offensively AD covered for me to engage anyway.

In periods I set my phone screen to grey-scale mode. It seem to make apps like Insta a bit less interesting, at least for me. Worth a try!

I've done this (though got out the habit of using it)

You can set it quite quickly too and bind it to a triple-click of the power button

Navigate to General > Accessibility
Find Accessibility Shortcut at the bottom of the screen
Open it, set it to Color Filters

I did as few have mentioned here and just kept the necessary apps on my phone. No social media unless Reddit and WhatsApp count. The main reason I wouldn't go for a non smart phone is the lack of whatsapp Spotify and maps.

^^ +1 for grayscale. I made that change some time ago and it made a big difference. It helped managed usage - I still think I benefit from a smartphone (compared to not having one), but with grayscale it feels more like a useful tool than a wasteful obsession.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUMa0QkPzns

I've just tried my phone on grayscale but as someone interested in Photography, I've now found that I like the photos I'm seeing on instagram a lot more since they're black and white

^^^ that, and getting rid of apps like facebook, twitter etc, and any apps that rely on advertising, and eventually deleting accounts that aren't healthy (facebook in particular).

This worked for me and i think i have the balance about right.

Cool thread. I might share it on loads of socials.

I might share it on loads of socials.

These Gen-X dickheads try to kick their internet addiction by sacking off their smartphones. You won't believe what happened next!

https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_gb/nokia-8110-4g

8110 has WhatsApp and maps apps but without the shit smartphone frustration- they're both a bit painful still which is great as it adds friction to mindless WhatsApping without cutting you off entirely thanks to no qwerty. Definitely seen considerable benefits to not scrolling all the time. It's the camera that's missed for me - sometimes I'll carry smartphone sans sim if I have a bag so can snap/tether if I really need.

I just don't have Instagram. Keeping my smartphone for viewranger, Spotify and WhatsApp. Still I find ways to waste time on it but the utility is way too big for me to drop it altogether.

Almost bought it. Then I wanted to have a decent camera and I bought an iPhone SE2. What a fail.
I uninstalled all the apps that I don’t need. No social media profiles and no strava installed. Still to much time though

Trouble with just deleting apps is that you will always have safri/chrome, so can always just log on to the web version...

This looks decent. Just bought an Alcatel 1C for 50 quid, gets terrible reviews which is great. Hoping it will be too shit to even bother scrolling on, but good enough to have basic maps and whatsapp.

https://www.thelightphone.com/

Apps that you actually need a phone for (and can't be had/lose functionality on desktop/ipad)

Maps
Uber
WhatsApp

Don't quite understand everyone's insistence on using Whatsapp. It is a text and call app. Both of which almost everyone's phones can do natively, including group messages and video calling

Yeah but plenty of friend groups, work etc use whatsapp and whatsapp only, friends abroad. It is useful.

And it's good for.pictures

And it's good for.pictures

But then you're just getting sucked in again!