from Hacker News

Will we be addicted to our phones forever? An optimistic outlook

by roycebranning on 12/31/23, 11:30 PM with 74 comments

• by vasco on 1/1/24, 12:21 AM

  We'll forever be addicted to the shared global (or interplanetary at some point) information network, but the phone itself won't be needed forever. I don't think there's a way to get a human to not want to know what other people think about stuff or to more generally get information for free in real time. This plus access to computational power is a pretty good combo.

  If the interface is a brain chip or a phone or whatever, it doesn't matter.

• by laszlojamf on 1/1/24, 12:25 AM

  Although it's nice to hear an optimistic perspective, I can't help but think it's overly optimistic. 1. I don't think moderation works for most people who struggle with addiction. I think this is fairly incontroversial. AA doesn't give out "only-one-drink-a-day" chips. 2. The reason we got smoking under control, I suspect at least, is because the downsides are so obvious. And even then it took a long time. I feel like the negative effects of technology usage are so much more varied and subtle that it's going to be hard for society to rally around an opposition movement the way it's done for smoking.

  I hope the article is right and I'm wrong, but it feels a little bit like another "the solution to tech's problems is more tech"-argument

• by nunez on 1/1/24, 2:10 PM

  > Americans spend more than 4 hours a day on their phones, and more than half say they are addicted to their cell phone.

  More like seven hours per day: https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/average-screen-time-on-iphon...

  As long as phone screens continue to be perfect for handheld entertainment and phone apps continue to be designed for infinite thoughtless consumption, then the answer will remain "yes".

  I 1000% blame social media companies for intentionally designing their apps and the content presented on them to drive engagement and taking advantage of psychology that makes people want to scroll while they are driving, for example.

• by pizzafeelsright on 1/1/24, 1:14 AM

  Luddites and neoludites and similar Amish type will expand their foothold into different cultures. I personally am going to be adjusting my usage as it is impacting my life and negative ways. I've already added timers and limits and will soon be going to grayscale only.

  What I do hope for which does not yet exist is the ability to use voice GPT at selective moments with a finger tap of an ear bud.

  I have noticed a growing divide between those who have phones in their hands and those who have phones by proximity. I have some friends who take a day or two to text me back because I simply don't use their phone.

• by MrGinkgo on 1/1/24, 6:33 PM

  I feel the trouble with comparing social media to cigarettes is that cigarettes are kind of their own self-contained "thing". For instance, while you can smoke a cigarette on your own and focus your entire attention towards it, it's kind of technically impossible to use social media alone, even if there's no one else in the room with you. The "content" isn't pre-packaged and finite, it's constant and living, fueled by other people. That's the big trouble with leaving social media for a lot of people. It's a kind of prisoner's dillemma where the only meaningful way to stop it is to organize with your friends to quit it/explore alternatives as well. More than just insecure feelings of FOMO, the trouble with quitting social media is that you become really out of the loop with your friends' activities, since its benefit has always been being able to efficiently update your friends. It seems like unless you have some way of staying in contact with them, you may as well be invisible.

  I do love the analogy of a donut which becomes heavier as you reach closer to overconsumption, though. A while back I got tired of all the noise on youtube and installed an extension called "unhook tube" which makes all the recommended videos in the sidebar just disappear. I wonder if there'd be a way to impliment an extension for instagram/facebook and the other 'scrollers', where the longer you use it, the more difficult it becomes to scroll, and the longer it takes for posts to load. It'd be like the benefit of having a fickle water heater, in that it keeps you from staying in the shower too long once the water gets too cold. In terms of facilitating moderation, this seems like the easiest solution.

• by jmoak3 on 1/2/24, 9:25 PM

  I swapped to https://www.thelightphone.com/ as my phone. According to my iPhone, my daily usage hovered around 7 hours.

  It's relatively expensive and a little janky but it's insane how much more time I feel I have in my day. My work has improved (if my commit-calendars are any indication), and I no longer spend time in bed scrolling when I sleep / wake up.

  Many people try "Sober October" - I've just completed "Dumbphone December" and I don't think I'll be going back.

• by tocs3 on 1/1/24, 6:29 PM

  So, I know I am a little late to the party here but I think party of the problem is not the smartphone screens. As a society we are doing dismal job of making reality an interesting place to live.

  As an example education (at least for me, I'm 54yo) we are told to study something interesting, follow dreams, get good at something academic. Then access to every tool and resource taken away and we are told to go make a living. No fancy tools or studios, the time and environment to do something interesting is taken away. It is replaced with drudgery and cheap entertainment. Think Disney, Hollywood movies, pro sports/gambling, other prepackaged activities, and cellphones.

  Government, large/medium corporations, startups have zero incentive to help. Enough people get through the education system to fill what jobs are needed and the rest can [modern equivalent to flipping burgers] and look at their phones.

  Excuse my writing. The education system did not work out for me and my family works with our hands. I enjoy working with my hands. I am one of the lucky ones. I tried mainstream and it is miserable. I am glad for the tech industry and the internet and the like. We need to do better for those that are not working for management in what is essentially the company town. It will be a better more enjoyable world if we can.

  Makespaces? More funding and expanded mandates for public libraries. Extending what education means and how long people can be involved. I don't know what.

• by karaterobot on 1/1/24, 1:08 AM

  I suppose that selling the solution is what makes the author so optimistic about the problem.

• by newsclues on 1/1/24, 1:34 AM

  I think we are going to see a time when social media progresses through the same celebrated to acceptance to tolerance that cigarette smoking has gone through.

  Social media is no longer cool.

• by holoduke on 1/1/24, 12:38 AM

  We will be walking arround with ar glasses containing so much info that you would literally not able to survive without turning them on 24 hours a day. My doom scenario

• by darklycan51 on 1/1/24, 12:29 AM

  I don't really use my phone as a software developer, mostly because I have my pc with me all the time and pretty much all software is better on pc than on phones (thanks Apple/Google).

  I don't really know what people are doing to be addicted to their phones? maybe you're just addicted to social media? find other hobbies...

• by johnea on 1/1/24, 12:22 AM

  I think the only hope is if the next generation sees it as something that only out of touch old people do...

• by louthy on 1/1/24, 1:07 AM

  It’s not just what the phones give us (in terms of connectivity), it seems we’re addicted to the light itself (same with TV before).

  Presumably, this is some primal sitting-round-the-fire type impulse.

• by TylerE on 1/1/24, 12:27 AM

  Kind of funny how for decades people were wishing for some sort of Star Trek device that put the world's knowledge literally in your pocket. Now that we have it...

• by m3kw9 on 1/1/24, 1:30 AM

  AR replaces phones easily, but technically AR is just an evolution from phones. Instead of holding the phone the the face, it’s held there for you + AR

• by tocs3 on 1/1/24, 8:29 PM

  I have commented below and I would say more but I have to go pay my credit card bill. Real life sucks.

• by mondomondo on 1/1/24, 12:46 AM

  I’m definitely less addicted to my phone than I was before all the obvious Russian botting happened on every social media forum in 2016.