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A comment on Is Facebook a Structural Threat to Free Society?. Parent comment

Re:Is Facebook a Structural Threat to Free Society? by laughfactory on Tuesday March 14, 2017 @11:39PM (#13873639)
I'm not on FB, and haven't been for years. My problems are Netflix/Prime and news (Google News feed and Hacker News primarily). I'd literally LOVE a smartphone which limited me to maps/navigation, camera, minimal search (for looking up crucial info on the go), email, SMS, and Slack. Oh, and Kindle. I HATE that my damn smartphone makes it so easy to fritter my life away. And that the only alternative seems to be completely dumb phones and carrying around a separate camera and GPS device. Ugh. I don't want a dumb phone, or a feature phone, I just want a dumber smartphone. And hell, I'd pay what I paid for my Pixel (unlocked) for one. I want something which values my time, privacy, and life as much as I objectively do...But am, apparently, too weak to govern myself.

My issues suck because I can't simply have my wife reset my password. I can't remove the Google News feed. And as long as I have a browser I can see Hacker News. Sigh.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Is Facebook a Structural Threat to Free Society? by toothbrush on Wednesday March 15, 2017 @01:45AM (#13874066)
I have a love-hate relationship with the crappy smartphone i do have. Like you, i often read HN in dead moments but don't have FB, but find the smartphone useful for directions or quick picture snapping. I'm however still strongly considering going back to a dumb phone (although i've been saying that for about the full 1.5 years i've owned this smartphone) and to hell with the random pictures. Our grandparents seemed perfectly happy and could only capture a 24 roll of family photos every now and then (unless they were journalists or whatever, but you get my drift). I don't know. Part of me does fear i'd miss out on social events or get lost or not be able to take that one picture or...

Probably i should just have more self-control...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Is Facebook a Structural Threat to Free Society? by Jemmeh on Wednesday March 15, 2017 @10:05AM (#13876149)
Maybe something like FocusMe to dumb your phone down by blocking things? It says the app is free. I haven't used this particular blocker but I've used a different one and it's great. No willpower needed.

https://focusme.com/

[ Parent | on HN ]