I’m kinda the opposite, the smart phone brings freedom from sitting in front of a computer stuck inside a room all the time. I dont use social media much at all as thats been stripped back to just FB for a few groups catering to specific interests and IG is just somewhere for inspiration as i follow a bunch of people whose sound/aesthetic i like.
Well, yes… that’s why everyone loves it. It gives you access to so many awesome stuff that is inspiring. It looks like you are doing fine with only a FB group and Insta. But my phone is constantly pinging me with super cool stuff that I don’t know how I can keep up with. The fear of missing out (that new podcast, post from your fav “Influencer”, artist or what ever). I feel I am getting sick of this and it’s as hard as heroin to get away from - because it’s awesome! It’s a rabit hole and I can’t find the exit. I am happy for everyone finding the balance and don’t care about missing anything “potentially important”. Turning off my phone now for your and my convenience 
Apart from tv perhaps getting better there wasn’t a lot of difference to what I did and my parents did, there is a massive difference in the generation of the past 10 years or so, and she might not think tik tok is garbage but I do
It’s full of wannabes and they’re all obsessed with likes and acceptance and changing their image and altering their photos etc etc, the world has gone mad since social media came along
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One thing you can do is to turn off all notifications. I did it for everything besides the messengers I use, besides that I don’t get any attention digits on my apps unless I open them to check if something is up. I have zero social media on my phone and only running Insta on an old spare phone that always stays at home. So I check it once or twice a day for 5 min. max and that’s it. Since I turned this into a habit my phone time has declined drastically. And if I‘m outside my phone rests in a pouch that blocks all signals to avoid any tracking next to turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (not just disconnecting, something that everyone should do when it’s not being used consciously).
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Spotify?! what Spotify?!
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Got a Nokia 2720 flip a few days ago.
Going take the plunge
Edit: my advice take a look at the 2019-2020 Nokia phones over the light phone. The LP is pretty expensive for what it is.
The Nokia’s have WiFi and 4g so you can still connect your laptop when on the go. And they also run KaiOS which supports WhatsApp (selling point for me).
They do come preinstalled with Facebook and Twitter but they are supposed to be removed with some easy hacking.
Happpy detoxing
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…offline is the next bio… 
stayin’ off the grid, underneath the radar is sexy…and pure resistance feel…
i use my way too smart for me phone “only” for talking and texting…some music providing on a walk or in the car…some navigation…and sometimes as a recorder or a metronom…
and that’s about it…
no fb, no whatsapp no google, no online banking…no thanx…
and using some oldschool flip phone or marsbar nokia is new school of cool…
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I use mine to call people, for them to call me, to text and text back. Torch is handy as is the camera.
Having internet can be a lifesaver too and is good for whiling away a spare 10 mins.
This is all outside the house. When I’m in the house it sits on the side unless I need it.
Don’t do FB or Spotify or any of that.
It’s a tool like any other tool. If you don’t want to do Spotify etc then don’t do it. I wouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water tho and get rid of all the ‘smart’ features of a smart phone.
There are a few very well done apps that lock you out of other apps that you choose to disable on specific times. They have some specific trick to block you from hacking it : like a super password that you five to a friend, or even having to pay like a few euros to disable the app (when you have an emergency!).
I tried and used several of them for over a year and it helped me to change my habits.
A solid plan. IDM takes most brain power anyway
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back in the days, even camera did not convince me.
what did is internet banking, and later NFS (i really appreciated it only recently — not having to touch anything but your phone for making a payment is priceless these COVID days).
off topic (sorry). But I upgraded my iPod to a ssd and it makes me very happy.
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The funny thing is in another 10-15 years the smartphone will seem antiquated and we’ll all be wishing for the ‘good old days’ of the smart phone…
Unfortunately, mass adoption inhibits any real effect that can be won over current methods of media engagement. But you can certainly engage your own self control where possible.
Incidentally since leaving Facebook proper I’m on here a lot more now. But I’m not gonna beat myself up about a tool for staying in touch with people and things during this Covid period.
Spotify and streaming is probably another issue as discussed heavily in the other thread. Keeping buying records, buy a bands individual records if u like them.
Me personally my listening habits have changed but I bought a lot of records as a kid. But the whole music landscape has changed since then. I’m still buying vinyl but it’s mostly for personal classics not so much modern stuff.
I can only point to say TV in my own country where music channels have been axed and programs on music or variety shows with live bands basically no longer exist. Now we just have things like The Voice and all the those other talent shows. I don’t even pay attention to it.
In that way the smartphone can give u what u what, but it can also be dangerously nostalgic, even though it’s supposed to be futuristic. YouTube is mainline nostalgia and that’s right in your pocket.
It’s the continued march of The Digital taking over everything analog. You can keep peeling off the layers to get back to your paper mail and maps and Discman in your bag with a torch with AA batteries and a 35mm camera, why not? The smartphone was the answer to carrying all this crap around in the first place, now we want to break it all a part again?
I really can’t see it happening, but what will happen will be another layer above the smartphone that will be even more invasive, time consuming and distracted than the phone is now, the smartphone will seem cute and harmless in comparison by then…
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I cant really escape from it all that much because I rely on it too much for work.
All I can say is that my usage is minimal, I have FB and IG but hardly look at them more than 3 times a day, and not for long.
One thing I made a point of, is to never have spotify or apple music related algorithms enter my mind.
I dont want to relax and be fed music I could like.
I want to find music I really want to listen to and buy the damn record.
On vinyl if possible (I ll let my son worry about what to do with the collection later ) but I always start with the MP3 album that finds its way into my old 64gb MP3 player…
Other than that phone stays in my pocket and I miss just about every call.
Because I cant hear them because I listen to my music player.
Full circle 
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I had not heard of the Light Phone, seems interesting. I find myself getting more and more mad at my phone these days. Any notification, and I am like, “What do you want?!?!”
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I never got into Spotify. I don’t Like it. Could never find the music i Like, plus the App never worked in my Car.
But with the Bandcamp App…its Like an iPod. And i have the music playing in my Car Stereo that i payed for, and of which the Artists get a good Share Off.
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I mostly listen to Tonieboxes with funny figures on them these days … . Alternatively there are kiddo’s audio books on the Sonos system … . Puberty may start over here, just for the soundtrack though.
I have an “old” Iphone 6s, does the job no need for more but also would not want to go back to my Scottie pager. 
By the way, Spotify never got me in. I am back into CD’s myself. Cheap and tech lite. Still love the booklets/album notes!
I have a 2-3 year old Nokia. It’s a smartphone, but I only use it for three things, talking to my mom, as a flashlight at our summercabin and as a calculator. Nobody else ever calls me (which is good as I hate talking on the phone) and I use my iPad Pro for all the nerdy stuff when I’m on the go. It’s too big to whip out in the street and start browsing so it always stays in my bag until I get to my bus home or a park bench or whatever.
I can’t stand the zombies on the streets walking around with their eyes locked on their screens. I’m amazed there haven’t been more car crashes and traffic related fatalities in the recent years as I see people on social media while they’re driving their cars. It’s a crazy world we live in.
(But I DO own maybe six or seven iPods and two discmans and a bunch of walkmans for my portable music needs. I don’t care much for streaming.)
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Personally, I don’t think blaming smartphones for our lack of willpower is fair. It’s what we choose to put on or link to the smartphone that’s the problem. Don’t want any calls, change your number or plain don’t give out that number. Don’t want Facebook and all the others, delete them or don’t install them in the first place. Also, I think having a communication tool on you at all times is great for safety considerations (especially for women) – easy methods of calling the cops (even discretely if the situation warrants it), the ability to get in touch with someone nearby in case of emergency, maps so we don’t go to unknown areas without a clue where we are, the list goes on and on.
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Haha, same here.
I think smartphones give with one hand and take with the other, I don’t really like the way tech is going, but there is not much we can do about it unless you don’t need a bank account, cashless payments, email, internet, navigation and so on. Sold as “freedom” but really it is the opposite of that, it is external control, surveillance and commodification of ourselves, but hey we can look at funny videos at any time of the day, anywhere - you can’t put a price on that 
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