Solutions to excessive smartphone usage
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I think the vast majority of us suffer from this problem, which is the behavioral issue of endless scrolling. The strong blue light from the powerful modern screens increases serotonin, the EMF from it fucks us up in ways that we might not even be aware about yet, it totally swallows up our time , it ruins your neck and often exposes us to really shitty psyop fuckery.
And even though I think computers can often be quite bad as well, a lot of this lies in the nature of the smartphone. So to solve this there's a lot of options if you don't mind using an oldschool device that locks you out of using modern OSes and thus a lot of the apps that increasingly are needed for everything. You need apps for 2 factor authentication, banking, parking, flights, social security stuff and an endless and growing amount of other things.
I tried using just a dumbphone, a device like i just mentioned that ran a really simple OS but still allowed limited access to Whatsapp (indispensable in Europe) but I broke the screen of it twice. It also was a huge pain in the ass if you're doing stuff. Everything needed preparation and for example I couldn't log into my school account.
The option I never used was this completely unhinged thing of installing apps that limit your usage, using basic launchers (Olauncher is one) or turning the screen to greyscale. Maybe that works for some, but I personally don't really understand it.
Now I come to my own solution for it which is a flip phone that runs Android 11, which is fairly up to date and not gonna be locked out of any apps at least for the foreseeable future. Basically this is the method of reducing the screen size, which works perfectly for me. Another option is buying a tiny android phone, the common one is something called the Unihertz Jelly.
Mine is the Cat S22 Flip:
There's a fair amount of other options so since I researched it a BUNCH I will post some here. There's Japanese Keitai phones (which are very cool but expensive and might not have your bands, plus need to be unlocked), the small smartphones like the Unihertz Jelly, a candy bar android phone called the Qin F21 Pro, and then a very cool option which are the modern e-ink android devices like I think the Hisense A6 it's called. They have large screens but probably don't suit the rapid consumption of content. Don't think that one would work for twitter addicts. The one I got is by far the cheapest, and I think it's practically indestructible.
Of course just using it responsibly is the best way, and the ability to do that probably rests on your health's shoulders. So in the spirit of this forum the best way to fix the behavior foundationally would probably be through improving your health. Personally I found this method highly effective. I read a ton more, I basically don't abuse this device because the screen is too small yet I can do absolutely everything I need.
Small addendum: on the EMF side of things this helps a lot (looking at the screen less and not using it on data or wifi much at all), but another addition I made is using Airtube headphones. A suggestion from @Pikeypilled on twitter.
OK that's it basically. Hope it helps, and feel free to share your own ideas about it (but keep in mind the last paragraph, let's not just get into a 'you just have to not do it' conversation)
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Good stuff!
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@CO3 Communism would fix the smartphone issue, no doubt.
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When I remember the best moments of my life, it's when I had a flip phone. lol
Thanks for sharing!
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@CO3 I think this is my main problem today. One good suggestion is to put the phone on grayscale mode (the colors are too stimulating, and causes cheap dopamine in the brain). It definetly works and makes the experience of doomscrolling more boring.
Also, delete Twitter as well, or at least put some time restriction on it. Probably the most addictive social media today.
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is it not just energy problem. if you have the energy to do what you want you wouldn't be sat on a phone
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@peatyzilian Yes that's a solution I've seen! It all depends on the level of your dysfunction imo. I've seen people say they cannot even have a device like mine without abusing it.
Tbh I think you can do a lot with just limiting your current device with ADB and the options you allude to, but I came to this device through my affection for analog tech and the fact that I think you could lose a lot of time if let's say you kind of fall off the wagon just getting rid of your own obstacles. the fact that it's hard to break is a huge plus for me.
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@questforhealth said in Solutions to excessive smartphone usage:
is it not just energy problem. if you have the energy to do what you want you wouldn't be sat on a phone
You could say this about literally anything that we choose to do. Even many deficiencies are caused by low biological energy. Does that mean you shouldn't eat nutrient-dense food or ever consider even non-contaminated supplements? Being sedentary is not inherently harmful in a highly energetic state. Does that mean you should never walk? We take many steps that are always in flux because they are interacting with our environment and our biological state.
The very nature of what most of us do - although browsing this forum I increasingly question this - is about gathering methods and tricks to make it unscathed through a highly sub-optimal environment. The smartphone issue could be solved through the actions you take that you in your head associate with health decisions; food, medication.
However, this distinction is a spook. If you get rid of your large screen social media device and replace it with a functional one it is just as much of a health decision as those other things IF it has a large impact.
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maybe i said it the wrong way
but I have found this to be true from my own experience going through absolute hell
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@questforhealth i altered the response a bit to a bit less rude and a bit more explanatory of my position
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when i was very hypo and even now reading paragraphs like that was excruciating and made it very hard to get better
will read one day
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I've got an iPhone and found that setting it on grayscale lowered any unnecessary use of it.
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I'm interested in this.
Does it take pictures? -
@happyhanneke Yes! Consider it a cheap (and it is!) Android smartphone with a smaller screen and a physical keyboard. Not incredible ones though. Soon I will compare them to the pictures on one of the modern Japanese flip phones. I suspect they will do slightly better. Here's a pic taken with the phone:
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@CO3
Is it compatible with different providers when unlocked or even possible to unlock? I'm with Cricket that uses the AT&T network. I don't really want to change carriers since I live rural and it works very well here. Other carriers have bad coverage here. -
@happyhanneke From a search on the dumbphones subreddit it seems like it isn't.
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@CO3 on cricket specifically. works on T-mobile and Mint it seems. I'm in Europe personally
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@CO3 I'm sorry. Just joking. I'm in the US now but now how annoying it is if Americans assume the whole world is on their schedule.
