[HN Gopher] The NoPhone
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The NoPhone
Author : bdeshi
Score : 118 points
Date : 2021-04-07 16:45 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.thenophone.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.thenophone.com)
| marshmallow_12 wrote:
| i need one which _doesn 't_ support 5g
| tinus_hn wrote:
| I was a fan of this before it was cool
| technologia wrote:
| Shark tank throwback :p
| notahacker wrote:
| Reminds me of this app: https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/10/binky/
| surfsvammel wrote:
| This is fun and all, but also incredibly sad. My fiancee
| previously complained that I was staring at my phone too much
| (and she was absolutely right). So, I decided to minimise it.
| Remove all apps and notifications, and kept it in a corner of the
| kitchen instead of in my pocket. Even though she has not
| increased her screen time, it is now obvious to me that SHE is
| staring to much into that screen. We are all phone junkies.
| Jeff_Brown wrote:
| News, asynchronous communication, and other media have a payoff
| structure not unlike a slot machine's. It can be genuinely hard
| to determine whether one's consumption of any of them is
| irrational.
| cainxinth wrote:
| I can't be the only one on hn that considers themselves a
| healthy tech junkie. I've always been a news and information
| hound.
|
| The people chasing algorithms, notifications, likes, and such,
| caught up with fomo, and avoiding real life for a virtual
| dopamine slot machine have a problem.
|
| I just really like reading Wikipedia and blogs and newspapers
| and such, and now there is enough to keep me occupied for as
| long as I want.
| Syonyk wrote:
| I've gotten in the habit of turning mine off regularly. I'll
| just turn it off in the evening and turn it on in the morning
| if I don't need an alarm (which... I _have_ an alarm clock, I
| just tend to not use it).
|
| I use it mostly for person to person communication and kid
| photos (the only things on my home screen are Messages, Signal,
| Hangouts, Element, the actual phone app, and the camera -
| everything else is buried over in the App Library), I've got
| most distraction websites blocked with 1BlockerX (not that it's
| hard to get around, but it's a good hurdle to jump), and about
| the only notifications I get are messages from people, plus
| emails on infrequent accounts (main account is poll only, no
| notifications).
|
| It works well, though I still struggle with how much time can
| go vanishing down the rabbit hole of "I'm bored, I wonder
| what's on the internet today..."
|
| I really need to get a "house phone" set up on an old cell
| phone. Get one of those "You only pay if you use it" plans,
| though I expect the spammers and scammers would cost me a lot
| of money that way.
| grecy wrote:
| That is the main reason I don't have a phone.
|
| I _know_ that I 'm addicted to the internet and screens, and I
| _know_ I 'd be that guy compulsively picking up my phone every
| 30 seconds to see if something is going on. Doubly so if I were
| in a social situation where it was "easier" to stare at my
| phone than actually talk to humans.
|
| I think of it a lot like a recovering alcoholic not wanting to
| go into a bar - it's just best to avoid the temptation
| altogether.
|
| It can be inconvenient not have a phone from time to time, but
| overall I think my life is better without one.
|
| Whenever I'm asked for my number and I explain I don't actually
| have a phone, literally every single person gushes "OMG, I
| _wish_ I could get rid of mine! ". That helps keeps me
| motivated to deal with the inconvenience. (Like people
| complaining about horrid hangovers to recovering alcoholics)
| silicon2401 wrote:
| breaking the phone habit is imho one of the best things anybody
| can do these days. Phones often are an all-in-one coping
| mechanism for other issues: boredom, stress, loneliness, etc.
| One of the best things I ever did was get off all social media,
| force myself not to even pick up my phone except to respond to
| a call or text, and just confront the boredom. After a few
| minutes of no phone you find yourself actually doing things and
| focusing again. After a few days you wonder how you could ever
| have wasted so much time infinitely scrolling through videos or
| articles that you can't even remember the next day, let alone
| 4+ years later. In contrast, I've been able to make so many
| memories gaming, playing music, watching movies with an actual
| sense of immersion, art, reading, exercising, and so much more.
| The childlike sense of wonder and excitement that I had as a
| child all came back as soon as I learned to focus and be in the
| moment again
| nine_k wrote:
| Boredom, as they say, makes you creative.
|
| So you can of course use your phone to cope with boredom --
| install a couple of good drawing / painting apps, music
| creation apps, study-something apps. Use them when bored.
|
| Just stay away from the endorphin-pedal games which teach you
| nothing and are not a work of art to be experienced.
|
| With that, a conscious act of putting down your phone and
| looking around is important. You can make it a habit without
| abandoning the phone altogether.
| IndySun wrote:
| >Boredom, as they say, makes you creative.
|
| I have never heard this maxim. Is it well known?
|
| The Pet Shop Boys sang, I would never find myself feeling
| bored 'cause we were never being boring.
| an_opabinia wrote:
| > ...Phones often are an all-in-one coping mechanism for
| other issues
|
| While I agree in principle for healthy people, it's a waste
| of time, but for people for whom light entertainment is their
| medicine... would you rather they be drinking?
|
| This comes up a lot re: video game addiction.
|
| The jury's still out on the impact of social media and light
| entertainment (i.e. YouTube) on mental health. UK teens for
| example are doing far fewer drugs, getting pregnant from
| unsafe sex much less often, rising in school rankings,
| despite less sleep and higher levels of reported anxiety from
| watching more YouTube and Instagram.
|
| "Everything in moderation" is kind of reductionist, of course
| we'd prefer that an asinine activity whose harm must be
| _marginally declining_ the more people use it, not less, for
| the average person, substitute a harmful one like, I don 't
| know, smoking meth. That's _definitely_ happening for some
| people.
| jjulius wrote:
| >... but for people for whom light entertainment is their
| medicine... would you rather they be drinking?
|
| While I don't find anything wrong with light entertainment
| being one's medicine, why make the assumption that drinking
| is the next viable 'medicine' in line? Are there not
| countless alternatives to drinking to remedy "boredom,
| stress, loneliness, etc."? Picking up hobbies? Sports?
| _Anything_ else?
|
| Edit: I want to clarify I'm not judging those who cope with
| alcohol - I'm 5 years sober, I've been there, I get it. I
| just don't know why we should assume OP wants people to
| become alcoholics.
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| > and just confront the boredom
|
| "If you are bored, you are not paying attention."
| dan-robertson wrote:
| One silly trick: put your phone into greyscale mode. Without
| the colours, a lot of the addictive time sinks are just less
| exciting.
| hypertele-Xii wrote:
| Hacker News without orange? Oh my.
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| _(2014)_
| Jeff_Brown wrote:
| Hilarious -- but does it actually help anyone?
| jolmg wrote:
| Funny gift perhaps? There are multiple "nothing" products at
| Amazon:
|
| https://www.amazon.com/CRAZY-STONE-Nothing-Everything-Transp...
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Box-Nothing-Stocking-Anniversa...
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Stocking-Stuffers-Anniversary...
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Witty-Dehydrated-Essential-Hilarious-...
| djrogers wrote:
| (2014)
| tempodox wrote:
| That means it had some time to mature and get over teething
| problems, apart from not being vaporware anymore.
| yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
| Surely the NoPhone Air is still vaporware still? ;)
| jeffrallen wrote:
| Yeah, but their software updates come too few and far between
| for my taste. And come on: no security bugs in all those
| years? Coverup!
| hbcondo714 wrote:
| I remember seeing this on Shark Tank years ago and didn't think
| much of it. Now I have a toddler who always goes after our phones
| so maybe this will be a good gift for him.
| jonny_eh wrote:
| I'm sure he'll love it.
| tempodox wrote:
| _Completely Toilet Bowl Resistant_
|
| I like the NoPhone Air best. Zero weight, and it would be
| unsinkable in a toilet bowl!
| jayd16 wrote:
| The Air is water soluble though.
| swader999 wrote:
| They still won't honor the warranty.
| carabiner wrote:
| There's a durability test:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1riMzZ6CjUI. Seems like a solid
| device.
| thinkling wrote:
| But... will it blend?
| AzzieElbab wrote:
| i'd get one for nomoney
| yakubin wrote:
| And FBI won't break into it!
| rossdavidh wrote:
| Good point; actually they should tout their excellent security
| more.
| imwillofficial wrote:
| It's crazy, I noticed I liked the phone in my hands, and I scurry
| around to try to find my phone if I realize it's not there.
| Crazy. I even tried the light phone.
| radicalriddler wrote:
| Changed to a Nokia 225 a couple of weeks ago. Either when you do
| that, or delete everything on your smart phone and have nothing
| to do on it, you realise just how much time people around you
| look at their phones.
| dangus wrote:
| So, it's plastic waste.
| yoz-y wrote:
| 30% carbon footprint, 0% features
| nottorp wrote:
| I have one, with the SELFIE accessory.
|
| Rock solid, never gave me any trouble. Works exactly as
| advertised.
|
| It was on Kickstarter first, iirc. I laughed so hard that I
| bought one.
| JackMorgan wrote:
| I prefer my Palm phone[0]. It is so tiny I can't really DO
| anything with it unless it is a legit emergency. But when I do
| need it, there is wifi, cell, browser, google maps, and gps. The
| "life mode" is fantastic, no calls or notifications at all until
| you unlock the screen. Combined with a really short battery life
| when the screen is on, it is the perfect daily driver for me and
| my outdoors lifestyle. Also charges in like 15 minutes.
|
| However, I have a regular mega phone with wifi only for lounging
| on the sofa, so I still have that problem when I'm at home :/
|
| [0] https://palm.com/pages/product
| chrisbigelow wrote:
| This is a great joke. But I'm skeptical this will actually
| illicit any behavior change. I think a better approach is to try
| to change our current phone usage patterns. I've been working on
| a timelock wireless charger to do just that: https://pausbox.com/
| sanity31415 wrote:
| What if someone needs to call 911?
| GuB-42 wrote:
| These things are not high security safes. You can probably
| smash the damn thing easily if you really want your phone, an
| emergency bypass may even be provided for that reason.
|
| But that thing looks somewhat expensive, and the idea that
| you may break it should be enough to keep you away from the
| usual distractions.
| jascii wrote:
| I've seen wooden handcrafted versions of this and thought: "Cute,
| I guess there might be niche market for it".
|
| Chunks of useless throwaway plastic that will end up polluting
| our oceans, not so cute.
| agumonkey wrote:
| a small rounded plate with a mirror, nophone selfie pro
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(page generated 2021-04-07 23:01 UTC)