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Comment by AJJB2 | Hacker News Reader

There will be many answers about a technical solution for this (apps that limit apps, dumb phones, different launchers etc.). None will work.

Train yourself to not phone. Same as you can not consume advertising (cant adblock billboards).

All the technical solutions trim too much away about what makes a smartphone great, or add too much friction, either to configure or to disable again, which you will do anyways. Also these technical solutions are just products again. They exist not to actually work, but to make money. Sometimes both are true, but rarely.

This is a two tier society. Those who can train themselves to do this, who will be able to read books, learn, be present without Soma and ...

the zombies.

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I think different things can work for different people, but here's what has worked for me:

First, what didn't work. I switched to a dumbphone last year with the plans to stick with it for Lent (6.5 weeks). I succeeded but quickly fired up my smartphone, because there were many problems with the plan. I wanted to stop feeling addicted, but I didn't really want to give up on access to Uber, or Venmo, or other things that people expect I can help out with.

So, this year, I did it differently. I keep my smartphone on DND and in my backpack at work or in my desk at home. I took out the SIM and put the SIM in my dumbphone, w/ my dumbphone capable of tethering, so I can (if I need)_ tether my smartphone to my dumbphone. There aren't any social media apps on the smartphone.

If I care enough about Googling something, I just find my laptop. If I need my phone for a task (like Uber), I know where to find it. I am about 2 weeks into it and I still have a bunch of moments where I feel like I should take my phone out of my pocket for no reason at all, but it isn't there, so I don't.

Group texts are the worst part. I would love a dumbphone that can do MMS, but I can't find one. Group texting is pretty essential for practical reasons (groups of parents will use it to organize children's events, for example). I can't retrain everyone else to fit my eccentricity (in their view), so I am left replying back to group MMS with individual replies, it's inconvenient. If I can solve this I will likely never return to everyday smartphone usage.

> There will be many answers about a technical solution for this (apps that limit apps, dumb phones, different launchers etc.). None will work.

Don't listen to this guy, all of those things work well for a lot of people.

Just guessing but maybe the poster meant that those things don't attack root cause which is sad but simple - screen/media addiction and easiness of obtaining next kick from it, versus actual physical relationships which are much harder to manage and it only gets worse with age. They help you existing around this gaping dark hole but not doing much with it itself, just trying to divert you staring into it. Well guess what, its now part of you, permanently. Admitting that to yourself ain't an easy task on its own, especially if one works with IT or with computers all day.

With that being established, addictions can be tackled in numerous ways, but lets be frank here - our mind, often our greatest asset, is our greatest enemy with addictions. An addict has a permanent crack in persona, something you can put some glue in but things will never be the same as before, you are in recovery for rest of your life.

Since screens and media are everywhere, its pretty hard addiction, similar to say cigarettes in terms of shedding it off. So I think all those tools mentioned work to some extent, for some, but actually getting off the drug shows different, more intense results. The effects are quite subtle unlike say heroin so there isn't societal outcry yet, everybody just complaints about 'kids these days' and moves on.

That's why I consider criminal to let small kids play endlessly with phones/computers or sit in front of tv all day, getting their first addictions from their own parents who are often deep in their own rabbit holes.

Yes- I've found that deleting the socials (and the associated accounts!) has worked remarkably well on my phone.

This is nonsense.

The correct response to advertising sapping your energy is to block ads. The correct response to billboards cluttering up our lives is to collectively ban billboards. "You're either strong enough to resist temptation or you're a 'zombie'" is terrible advice. To the extent that you are able to control your environment, do so. And then use that environmental control to make it easier to exercise self-control in the instances where you can't avoid temptation.

Also understand that willpower is a continuum. If you struggle with alcohol, and you spend all of your time in bars, I promise that you are eventually going to slip up and drink. If you struggle with alcohol and you don't go to bars, then when you're offered a drink you might have the willpower to refuse.

If you're dieting, don't leave food out on your counter. If you're addicted to cigarettes, look into nicotine patches and consider chewing gum. If you're struggling with anger issues, block Reddit. You're not a "zombie" if you take active steps to remove temptations from your life and put yourself in fewer situations where you'll be exposed to addictive behaviors. That is healthy behavior.

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> Same as you can not consume advertising (cant adblock billboards).

Case in point.

People vastly overestimate how good they are at ignoring advertising. It takes brain power to do that filtering (even if it's happening unconsciously). You can't block every ad, but block every ad that you can block. There's literally no reason not to.

Install an adblocker on your browser/phone. Install SponsorBlock for Youtube. There is no reason at all to artificially make this harder for yourself. It doesn't build up willpower, it just means you'll be inundated with more omnipresent ads that take more willpower to ignore. However strong you think you are, I promise that advertising does probably statistically affect you. Statistically speaking, you don't just ignore it with no consequences. So get rid of as much of it as possible.

As a species, we evolved brains that allowed us to dominate the planet because we had the capability to purposefully reshape the world around us. It's so silly to say that the true human relies on willpower alone. That has literally never been true in the entire evolutionary history of human beings. Imagine saying that it's 'zombie' behavior to use tools and to adapt your environment to make accomplishing tasks easier.

So the point is: install an adblocker. Limit your web-browsing, or block sites outright. If you need to go more extreme, switch off of a smartphone entirely and see if you can get an old-fashioned mobile. Try different strategies and see what works. You are a human being; so heckin act like one and use some tools.

Idk, "my phone does not make noise and is permanently in DND" is a statement and people look like I've grown an extra head.

No, actually, nothing my phone is going to tell me is important enough to interrupt what I'm doing now. I'm still addicted enough that I'll look at it in the next hour or two. Repeat calls break through DND, but I have no dependents, my parents are half a globe away.

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