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I looked into this before, but I found the options were too stripped down.
Ultimately I need:
Then there are miscellaneous apps that I need as well, some that don’t have browser functionality (local bike rental app) or something like a workout tracker.
Thing is, if you start adding functionality for the above then it’s just a regular smart phone and there’s nothing stopping you using the apps you’re trying to avoid :/
Are people really so addicted to social media that they can't use their own willpower to simply not have those apps installed?
Yes!
It’s a problem that a lot of people have, some are willing to acknowledge it and try to take steps to work around it.
Some people were born into the social media generation and have been fed a product designed to be addictive their entire lives.
It's not strictly social media. It's boredom. We're basically using these things to groom ourselves to have attention problems.
And in the end it's not that they can't, but they actually have absolutely no reason to want to. There's no immediate or probably even no intermediate consequence to sitting down on TikTok for 2 hours. You get your serotonin boost and nothing bad happened.
Of course you could have spent the time constructively, learn a new skill, cleaned the bathroom, but those are the exact opposite of getting that serotonin boost.
Yes. That's how addictions work.
Mm... You don't have a single thing in your life where you struggle with self control?
Really?
It's a completely foreign concept to you?
I would miss the camera the most
I do have a nice camera but it’s a lot to carry around
For me it's maps and WhatsApp sadly. If I could get out of those, I would go to a dumb phone fairly quickly
There are screentime apps that can track and limit the useage of certain apps. You can use your bike rental app as long as you want but can set a specific time limit for others like 1 hour on youtube, 30 minutes for lemmy etc.
I used one before and it helped me quantify the time I was wasting and gave me tools to limit my usage.
Just uninstall the apps you're trying to avoid
Well yeah but then it's back to the addictive aspect. That's like telling a heroin addict to carry around all the supplies for heroin in his pocket but just don't do heroin. People trying to recover from heroin probably shouldn't keep heroin in their pockets.
I don't understand why you don't just uninstall what you don't need?
Just don't buy more heroin. Addicition solved. Why didn't anyone think of that?
This is what I don't get. Just don't use social media on your phone. I don't have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. on my phone. But the camera, maps, music and audiobooks, email, calendar, digital wallet, etc. are invaluable to me. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
... using social networking sites lights up the same part of the brain that is also triggered when taking an addictive substance.
I can absolutely believe this. When I was having trouble quitting nicotine one of the ways I'd distract myself was to just sit and scroll bullshit on my phone. I can say without a doubt that it was hitting some of the same spots as the addiction I was trying to quit, for sure
Phones still pre-infected with anti-libre software, software we don't control.
When's the last time Tor, OBS, NewPipe or F-Droid abused us, exploited us? Never, they don't fail to include a libre software license text file, like AGPL.
absolute power corrupts absolutely. It's not that those softwares are noble, they're just decentralized. I will say it's impressive that Tor doesn't have some people pulling the strings trying to take over (but it's probably the NSA right?)
Apparently it’s not possible to own a smart device and just not install Facebook 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
I know you're joking but mine won't let me uninstall it, and get this, "disable" won't work either! Samsung S9 (quite old now) btw if anyone reading this wants to avoid.
If you live near a casino, and have a gambling addiction, you'll be advised to move. Same concept here for social media addiction - having a smartphone at all is too much temptation.
Social media? My phone is in my hand all day so I can play Word Cookies.
And you can have my Word Cookies app when you pry it from my cold, dead... um... cloud backup?
The 35k comments in 11 months says otherwise.
You mean the comments I make while sitting at a computer? The comments I make because I am seriously ill and not working and have very low energy and thus are not able to do much else?
Sorry my wanting to have the small amount of human contact I have outside my own family on a daily basis is so offensive to you.
Didn't say it was offensive. Just pointing out that you are, in fact, using a lot of social media.
no one thinks you said it was offensive, but you sure were flippant/“gotcha“ about it.
I wish I could go back. Sadly too much of my life relies on this shit.
You absolutely can! Ive been doing something similar.
Two devices - one that's a mini computer, and the other is a phone.
That mini computer is a old phone without a network plan. And if it doesn't have wifi, I can't jump onto social media or anything. Which is pretty nice as I'm reading books or writing on that device with "less" distractions. And if I get a text message, i quickly check it on my phone and put it away.
I chose beer and amphetamines (substituted) to curb my alcohol and drug addiction (same fucking thing, I know…).
Got a dumb phone a few weeks back. Definitely helped on that front.
It's just really hard to find a decent MP3 player to go along with it these days.
After ten months of waiting I finally got my cyberdeck with 4g modem and have started to migrate my communication over to it. I'll start leaving the house without a phone soon.
If you're interested in pairing down the functionality of your current phone, the app Freedom can be used to block specific apps for a set amount of time. Self-control is a limited resource, and it takes the need to use willpower out of your hands.