Often in the weekend papers somewhere there is a story that in one way or another involves the self-hatred of the habitual smartphone social media scroller (doom-scrolling)... and a (frustrated) desire to do something to alleviate the hold this has on their everyday life.
As an owner of a dumb-phone (it manages calls & texts, but no internet access), there is, let me tell you an 'answer':
dump you smartphone & use your laptop to access the internet (which removes the 'ease')!
@ChrisMayLA6 This is the way! I also only own a dumbphone, and the mental health benefits are considerable. I am able to concentrate, I am not interrupted every 5 minutes, no scammers are able to trick me into startings apps or to use my mobile id, my colleagues only call me if something is really important, not just "checking" or wanting my opinion on the most trivial things, which inevitably happens if they can "chat" with me on the phone.
For elderly, I strongly recommend it to remove an
@ChrisMayLA6 What I fear though, as a libertarian, is that governments all over learned through corona, that smartphones are the best tool for monitoring and controlling the population.
I fear that they will soon become mandatory in western societies, and that pen and papers means to interact with the government will be abolished.
Think no further than how unpleasant it would be if Trump controlled your digital ID, or if, for the other side... Starmer controlled it.
Yes, also my fear.... I can see how it works (already) with my wife's smartphone - constantly aware of what she might be doing & framing the messaging accordingly
@Emeritus Prof Christopher May
I fear that they will soon become mandatory in western societies,
The de facto standard public is phone in one hand, possible vape device in another and no interest to pay anything with cash...
@citc Not paying cash is my bad conscience. I should do it more often. The only mitigating factor is that I use my company and my lifestyle to reduce my tax burden significantly. But yes, I should pay more in cash.
@ChrisMayLA6 attacksurface for scammers. If they discover that you don't have a smartphone with (in my country) mobile digital ID, they just hang up.