I don't even know what you're doing with a basic mobile phone these days, unless you're somebody who really needs to make tons of calls.

The whole thing about a smartphone is that it's a computer in your pocket. That's super powerful, and like any computer it's whatever you make of it.

Yeah, agreed, but it’s also the biggest timesuck ever.

Except when it runs my robot vacuum or deposits my checks or pays for bus fare or orders my lunch or balances my budget or shows me a video of how to fix something in my house or gets me into a concert without waiting at will call or prevents me from needing to develop film ever again or finds my wallet and keys when I lose them somewhere in the house or allows me to talk to my relatives on video without going on a plane or…

I swear the everyone acts like the only thing you can do with a smartphone is be hopelessly addicted to it. It’s the most useful single tool of all time.

> I swear the everyone acts like the only thing you can do with a smartphone is be hopelessly addicted to it. It’s the most useful single tool of all time.

  I swear the everyone acts like the only thing you can do with sugar is be hopelessly addicted to it. It’s the most useful single ingredient of all time. 

  I swear the everyone acts like the only thing you can do with amphetamine is be hopelessly addicted to it. It’s the most useful single study help of all time. 

  I swear the everyone acts like the only thing you can do with porn is be hopelessly addicted to it. It’s the most useful single educational tool of all time.

Lol! Spot on!

Sugar is a basic building block of human life, we need carbs as an energy source.

Amphetamines are a proven treatment for ADHD that are known to be safe for long term controlled dosage prescription use.

Porn is a depiction of sexual activity, which is necessary for our species’ survival.

So you think you made a really profound point here but all you’re doing is reinforcing the point I made about basic self control and moderation. People are addicted to all kinds of things that are not particularly unhealthy in moderation.

I'm not disagreeing with you, and I don't think you're contradicting me either. The dosage is usally the culprit.

However, some things are more addictive than others, and some people are more prone to being addicted to different types of substances.

It's simple as that, but it doesn't always make it easy. YMMV.

The wheel would like a word.

Like nobody knows what a smartphone can do. It’s a sad world when it runs the whole show for you. And as soon as it’s gone, you’re screwed. Like with any other addiction.

Lots of people want or need to be reachable, even if they're not making a lot of calls. And having a dumbphone might actually be cheaper than a landline these days?

Having a smartphone is also cheaper than a land line.

But not cheaper than a dumb phone.

Technically, any plan that works on a dumb phone works on a smart phone. You don’t have to purchase cellular data.

But you still have to buy the phone.

Except it's not, due to being a crappy walled garden

I wish there was a cool flip phone with proper WhatsApp access.

Here's one:

https://www.theverge.com/23820202/samsung-galaxy-z-flip-5-re...

There are some KaiOS flip phones with WhatsApp like the Nokia 2720 Flip or Alcatel Go Flip V for instance.

I looked at those but felt support for WhatsApp is somewhat limited.

I am also considering a two-device approach: a candy bar dumb phone from the company that bought Nokias line, and a something like Onyx Palma (android, eink, no sim slot) tethered to dumb phone.

This should give me a comfortable reading experience, a camera, all basic apps (Uber, authenticator, WhatsApp,…) with lower “addiction” (no shiny colors) but also the chance to leave the Palma behind and just take the dumb phone with me (for instance riding by MTB)

Maybe Meta should build that instead of the useless Metaverse.

Technically a flip phone with WhatsApp capability: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/motorola-razr-foldable

Well, it does flip!

I used a Palm Treo from the time they came out until the Sprint-T-Mobile merge. So almost 20 years. Loved the little buttons because I lost the tips of my fingers and being able to write notes with the stylus. (My hand writing now looks like Graffiti on paper. I can read it, but nobody else can) I’d buy Treos on EBay for about $25 stick them in a drawer and swap when one died.

I have three apps, Dunkin and Wawa to preorder breakfast, and Waze. I’d love to find a phone with buttons again.

I wish I could get a dumb phone with signal. I'd be set.

one trick i use is to keep the smartphone at home at all times. mine replaces the fixed landline phone. people can sms/mms me and i check the phone contents when going home after work or if i'm working from home, after my day of work is done and the work laptop turned off at the end of the day. works nicely because it's a kinda of upgraded landline phone.

and with me when not i home i carry a dumb phone and only family members can call me or message me on it.

One word. Maps.

Other than advancing some identity statement or some breakfast-movie-club-esque social categorization who cares the guy is 24? Sheesh. Always be hustling identity style is exhausting.

What about the Cat S22