It seems that every 6 hours, some other blogger witnesses the great epiphany that when you greatly reduce your daily distractions, you are greatly less distracted.
I found the article interesting because he was talking about how mobile distractions could be better managed:
"Now, I’d love for there to be a way for me to know about high priority interrupts – things that actually are urgent. But my iPhone doesn’t do this at all in any discernable way. There are too many different channels to reach me and they aren’t effectively conditioned – I either have to open them up to everyone (e.g. txtmsg via my phone number) or convince people to use a specific piece of software – many, such as Glassboard – which are very good, but do require intentional behavior on both sides."
Again, not rocket science, but considering on the production side there are many folks jockeying for attention on your mobile device (download my app, use my app) it is interesting to hear from someone who funds some of those companies that a break is needed.
I for one will be interested to follow along as he tries other methods to increase effectiveness of the immediacy of his smartphone "interrupts".
Except "some other blogger" in this case is Brad Feld, cofounder of TechStars and MD at the Foundry Group. This has implications beyond the obvious 'distractions are distracting' articles for startups and the surrounding community.
A big value-add of HN is aggregation of trends in investing. PG obviously interacts directly, but linking to opinion pieces from Fred Wilson or Brad Feld clearly has a place too.
Who gets a tweet notification on their phone (who gets tweet notifications on their phone, that would be a starting point) and stares at it o n their tiny phone screen instead of just pulling up twitter.com on the screen in front of you? (the premise he was describing...) Everything else aside, this makes no sense to me.
I get so few notifications that I will only get my phone out if it dings and it wasn't Gmail or Twitter (DMs only) or Google Voice, all of which are always instantly available via Chrome pinned tabs or extensions. They're minimal, they don't make noise, I only notice to check them when I'm in a lull and looking for something to do while GitHub takes ages to compress my Git repo.
Do the people that write these articles think that the rest of us have the same ADD they do? I guess I forget how many people will still be midsentence and check their phone and zone out. No, it's cool, I'll just sit here and stare at you and wait.
It's about trying too hard to be a hipster technologist. It's _sooo_ in now to pretend you don't rely on your phone like everyone else does.
I think it's resonating in the bubble chamber with that extremely, poignant statement made by the KC Chiefs quarterback regarding paying attention to people rather than our phones commenting on the murder-suicide committed by his teammate: http://youtu.be/vc-e-T39Z80?t=21s
Oh, and people are dumb for sharing their photos on instagram. Somehow that also got pretty lame in the last couple of weeks when I wasn't paying attention.
Well... my point wasn't that you can't use your phone, just that it's silly to be a slave to it. I don't care if people want to use Instagram and I didn't see the Chiefs video.
I guess I don't really see it as "hipster technologist" because it seems rather obvious to me. I think it does to a lot of people whose phones are primarily a utility and only a toy when they want a distraction (waiting at the DMV).
I guess it's good that people are waking up to the fact that they need not let technology be more in charge of ones life than themselves.
Sorry, my comments were not really directed at your points only motivated by them and were a response to those of the orginal blog post.
I'm curious though, did you ever evaluate wp7/wp8? Microsoft was pushing in its marketing message that it was designed to solve this very problem, live tile updates, at-a-glance utility rather than deep distraction, etc.
I've never found Android, the OS, to be distracting. I'm a swipe and a tap away from any notification. I prefer it, no doubt because I'm used to it, but all the same. With the new lock screen widgets, I'm pretty sure it's faster/directer access than any other mobile OS.
I never really got those ads, you get what you put into your phone. I think the people that spend a bunch of time on their phone are spending the time because they're choosing to be on it. It's not like my brother stares at his iPhone all the time because he's looking for his bosses email... it's because he's texting, or playing a game or lazily streaming music via youtube, etc.
He finds his phone distracts him with too many notifications and his solution is wearing glasses that can clutter up his vision with data? It seems to me that having notifications flashing in my periphera would be way more distracting than a blinking light on my phone which I can place out of sight whenever I want.
What we need is a virtual secretary: someone who will triage all our calls, and only ping us if something urgent comes through. Maybe two levels of pings, one for urgent, the other for important. Everything else just gets silently noted for later attention. Simple concept, but the implementation has a number of sticky wickets. How, for example, can software evaluate the importance of a phone call from my wife, who may be calling to tell me that our child is headed to the hospital, or that her mom called to thank us for a lovely Christmas gift?
I agree with his conclusion that there has to be a 'better way' than the smart phone, but my situation is slightly different. The author still embraces technology as the best way to handle our day-to-day problems. Mine have turned somewhat away from that.
A year ago I owned an iPhone 3GS. It was more than enough. I got the iPhone 4S, however, because some apps required a faster processor, so the simplest of tasks slowed down my 3GS. It just seemed like iOS was bulkier.
Fast forward to the present day, and I find myself only using my smart phone (iPhone 4S) to listen to music and use its GPS/map function. Sometimes I use it to check for venue reviews. I send a couple messages a day, be it SMS or a messasing app, and probably talk on the phone an average of a few times a week for a few minutes. I use Twitter as an RSS feed, too. For all its prowess, I don't seem to be doing much on it. I would sell it and get a cheap $10 phone, except I already bought it and as an ex-musician, I cannot stand listening to the radio, so I plug it in to my car stereo for that reason.
Basically, I feel like my smart phone was an expensive, over-rated, hyped piece of technology and machinery. Either we are not using it for the right reasons or it truly is a futile piece of metal that can be replaceable.
Again, this is my situation. I don't have a calendar and meetings I need to keep tabs on, so it may very well be that I am not part of smart phone makers' target audience, oddly enough.
Have you considered getting a stand alone mp3 player? If you're really into music, the sound quality on a Cowon or a Sansa clip is better than on any phone I've listened to, and the battery lasts much much longer (I get about 100 hours on my Cowon J3). You can pick up a Sansa clip for about US40, and it comes with a Micro SD card slot, so you can chuck a 32-64gb card for not a lot of money.
Thank you. I will consider it. I used to not want to carry two bulky things, but that was because I used to live in a city where I only used public transport. Since I've moved to the US, I now have a car, so I guess I can always leave the MP3 player in there.
I carry my Cowon J3 + phone on the tube everyday and don't find it a problem. It's thin and light enough that I barely notice it in a pocket. I'd recommend the Sansa Clip if you are going to leave it in the car - I leave mine in my gym bag. The sound quality is great, and it's cheap enough that it's not a huge deal if it gets lost/stolen.
I tend to agree, with both you and feld on your points. The only thing that really stands out for me is that, its there when I need it. When I'm lost I can pull up directions. If I'm standing around I can browse or play a game. If I need look up something quick I can google. If I need to compare prices I can amazon. If I do get an email that needs an immediate response I can do it (although email and chat are really a discipline on the user part to not answer everything right away). And of course pictures and video at a moments notice.
Its these quick types of interactions that make this technology endearing for me. Otherwise all these apps are just complete nonsense.
I understand and agree if you have that need, sure. Personally, I don't. I was sold on the fact that 'It's there when you need it'. I believed it. Then I started calculating and understood that the amount of times I 'need' it and the low priority and non-emergency of the matter did not pay off.
For example, I wanted Walmart to price match something on Amazon. They don't price-match online retailers. Okay. I'll buy it off of Amazon. Including taxes and shipping and handling, I would've saved $5. I'm not a consumerist, so I hardly buy things and wouldn't save that much a year. I'm probably a technology vendor's worst nightmare, though. I find that the better deals are always on Amazon/online because either Best Buy/Fry's don't have the same models or I am not willing to pay more for the convenience of having it immediately. For example, I'm an audio guy. I want to buy a particular set of cans. Big box stores would never and have never stocked these pair. The specialized stores that do charge way more. That's pretty much all specialized gear, unless it is old hardware/technology (Rokit monitors, e.g.).
* Integrated GPS
* Maps
* An RSS reader
* Twitter
* Messaging apps
* SMS
* Phone calls
* Music player
* Other apps that got slow on the older iOS (?)
And yet you think your smart phone was "an expensive, over-rated, hyped piece of technology and machinery".
You ARE a smart phone makers target audience. Just because you're not running a moon mission on thing doesn't mean it's not performing its intended function. Show me a device that does all that for $10.
Ultimately, I think you are misreading what I've said.
My priority on my phone is my music.
As far as the rest:
Integrated GPS/Maps: I used GPS because I recently moved to a city in which I did not know where things were. As I have become more accustomed to my surroundings, I use the GPS less and less. I can replace this with an actual/physical map, which is what I used to do and do on road trips (I don't rely on GPS on road trips). I like getting lost and exploring my surroundings, actually.
RSS reader: I mostly use this on my PC. I don't need a phone for this. I don't need to be updated on world/breaking news when I'm not on my computer. It's like, why do you need to carry a newspaper all the time? Same deal. If there is an emergency, SMS should suffice. All phones offer SMS.
Phone calls: regular mobile phones do this. I'm not sure why you bring this up and tie it to a smart phone.
The apps that got slow were the messaging apps (Kik, Beluga which got bought off and another which I don't recall the name anymore). They were especially slow-loading. I can do without these if I/everyone had unlimited SMS. I don't play games on it. I don't watch/stream any videos because Verizon 3G sucks.
I use my phone about as much as you do and totally feel it's worth it.
What are your monthly fees though? I have an unlocked Galaxy Nexus (older version, $350) and one of those $30/month, unlimited text/data, 100 minute talk, no-contract plans from T-mobile. Seems reasonable to me.
I bought the 4S 32GB (locked) with a new contract. It came out to ~$360, if I recall correctly.
I'm with Verizon, so monthly payments would be ~$100. But because I like to save money, I'm on a family plan with other people and we divvy up the costs. Because of that, I end up paying way less than the regular Joe. I pay $50/month and I feel I can still pay less, except there is a married couple in the plan, and friends and other relatives, and the costs are divided slightly unevenly. Anyway. I don't know the specifics of the plan, because I hardly use my phone. But I think it goes something like unlimited texts and 1000 minutes shared, and for my line, 2GB of data. 2GB data alone costs $30 with Verizon.
Just today I looked for a new phone to replace my 11 year old Samsung C35. I'm only replacing it because I swapped the battery 4 times already and unfortunately the battery doesn't last more 3 days anymore.
My requirements were: No touchscreen, classic phone keyboard, no camera and no 3G/4G/Wifi.
Samsung E1200 for 20$, here I come. The reviews are great, it runs nearly 3 weeks without recharging and weighs 65g. It can do exactly the three things I need: Call, SMS, Alarm.
I've only had my Android phone for about a month, but I love it. I do NOT check it often during the day, but it is a great combination of phone, portable entertainment center, quick-check (and delete) of email, nano-utility-computer, good-enough camera (finally, in a phone), and hot spot.
Yeah, for actual work I still use a full size computer, but the hot spot feature comes in handy when I'm out of the house or office.
My smartphone is working for me, but what I realized about two years ago is that I do not need the latest and greatest one.
Basically what I want from my smartphone is: phone, turn-by-turn directions, music player, emergency web browser, emergency email, wifi tether.
Essentially any Android phone will fit my needs, so I moved over to using much cheaper devices on off-contract plans. My first was an LG Optimus V ($150) on Virgin Mobile ($25/month for 300 minutes and unlimited data, since I use Google Voice and Groove IP that turns into nearly infinite minutes) which I recently replaced with a HTC One V (also $150 usually, but was recently on a one-day sale for $50... $50, no contract!). Sadly moving to the One V bumped my monthly rate up to $35/mo (Virgin Mobile grandfathered in older phones into their old $25/mo rate despite the lack of contract, which was nice) but that's still super cheap compared to most people I know with $80+ plans.
This route isn't for everyone, if you're one of those people that is really married to your phone and you actually use it for things like video streaming and such, use the latest and greatest, but for me it is working out great.
I want to thank you. I just looked up the HTC One V, and what I saw leads me to think I will switch to this.
If I may impose and if you or another reader have anything you would care to add, may I pick your brain as to any other observations / trade-offs you made in your decision to go with the HTC and/or to stay with Virgin Mobile? As opposed to, as a primary example, another pre-paid plan or phone.
(If not, hope I haven't annoyed by asking. Just in case a specific interest / use would inspire further comment.)
--
I've also considered the T-Mobile based plans, but I'm afraid that coverage on the far city-fringe and beyond might just be too spotty. Although I'm not sure Virgin would be better -- the last I recall, though, it ran on Sprint, which actually did ok around here, at least for voice.
It was the Optimus V that first convinced me to do this, the HTC One V was kind of the next logical choice given the price and was a nice speed/screen/camera bump over the Optimus V.
The HTC One V is a great phone for the price, the only real negative to it is HTC's Sense skin over Android isn't that great (IMO, YMMV) but you can reflash it with alternate community ROMs to get standard Android look and feel.
If the Nexus 4 were readily available there's a very good chance I would have tried that on one of T-Mobile's prepaid plans, but since that was sold out with no clear information on future availability I'm going to go with the One V for now.
For $50 (sale price) -- and the $10/month bump, I guess -- the One V seems a very low cost trial, while waiting to see how things develop with the Nexus 4 availability.
The One V price I found was $99. Of course, who knows what it will be, tomorrow.
I've been looking at / waiting on the Nexus 4, as well. But for $99, I may well just do the One V for now, and wait to learn how people in the area do or do not like their Nexus 4 / T-Mobile experience.
31 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 67.6 ms ] threadInsightful.
"Now, I’d love for there to be a way for me to know about high priority interrupts – things that actually are urgent. But my iPhone doesn’t do this at all in any discernable way. There are too many different channels to reach me and they aren’t effectively conditioned – I either have to open them up to everyone (e.g. txtmsg via my phone number) or convince people to use a specific piece of software – many, such as Glassboard – which are very good, but do require intentional behavior on both sides."
Again, not rocket science, but considering on the production side there are many folks jockeying for attention on your mobile device (download my app, use my app) it is interesting to hear from someone who funds some of those companies that a break is needed.
I for one will be interested to follow along as he tries other methods to increase effectiveness of the immediacy of his smartphone "interrupts".
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how-to-set-and-use-do...
I don't know the specific android thing, but do know people who use it.
A big value-add of HN is aggregation of trends in investing. PG obviously interacts directly, but linking to opinion pieces from Fred Wilson or Brad Feld clearly has a place too.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.fel...
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4453104
Who gets a tweet notification on their phone (who gets tweet notifications on their phone, that would be a starting point) and stares at it o n their tiny phone screen instead of just pulling up twitter.com on the screen in front of you? (the premise he was describing...) Everything else aside, this makes no sense to me.
I get so few notifications that I will only get my phone out if it dings and it wasn't Gmail or Twitter (DMs only) or Google Voice, all of which are always instantly available via Chrome pinned tabs or extensions. They're minimal, they don't make noise, I only notice to check them when I'm in a lull and looking for something to do while GitHub takes ages to compress my Git repo.
Do the people that write these articles think that the rest of us have the same ADD they do? I guess I forget how many people will still be midsentence and check their phone and zone out. No, it's cool, I'll just sit here and stare at you and wait.
I think it's resonating in the bubble chamber with that extremely, poignant statement made by the KC Chiefs quarterback regarding paying attention to people rather than our phones commenting on the murder-suicide committed by his teammate: http://youtu.be/vc-e-T39Z80?t=21s
Oh, and people are dumb for sharing their photos on instagram. Somehow that also got pretty lame in the last couple of weeks when I wasn't paying attention.
I guess I don't really see it as "hipster technologist" because it seems rather obvious to me. I think it does to a lot of people whose phones are primarily a utility and only a toy when they want a distraction (waiting at the DMV).
I guess it's good that people are waking up to the fact that they need not let technology be more in charge of ones life than themselves.
I'm curious though, did you ever evaluate wp7/wp8? Microsoft was pushing in its marketing message that it was designed to solve this very problem, live tile updates, at-a-glance utility rather than deep distraction, etc.
I never really got those ads, you get what you put into your phone. I think the people that spend a bunch of time on their phone are spending the time because they're choosing to be on it. It's not like my brother stares at his iPhone all the time because he's looking for his bosses email... it's because he's texting, or playing a game or lazily streaming music via youtube, etc.
I agree with his conclusion that there has to be a 'better way' than the smart phone, but my situation is slightly different. The author still embraces technology as the best way to handle our day-to-day problems. Mine have turned somewhat away from that.
A year ago I owned an iPhone 3GS. It was more than enough. I got the iPhone 4S, however, because some apps required a faster processor, so the simplest of tasks slowed down my 3GS. It just seemed like iOS was bulkier.
Fast forward to the present day, and I find myself only using my smart phone (iPhone 4S) to listen to music and use its GPS/map function. Sometimes I use it to check for venue reviews. I send a couple messages a day, be it SMS or a messasing app, and probably talk on the phone an average of a few times a week for a few minutes. I use Twitter as an RSS feed, too. For all its prowess, I don't seem to be doing much on it. I would sell it and get a cheap $10 phone, except I already bought it and as an ex-musician, I cannot stand listening to the radio, so I plug it in to my car stereo for that reason.
Basically, I feel like my smart phone was an expensive, over-rated, hyped piece of technology and machinery. Either we are not using it for the right reasons or it truly is a futile piece of metal that can be replaceable.
Again, this is my situation. I don't have a calendar and meetings I need to keep tabs on, so it may very well be that I am not part of smart phone makers' target audience, oddly enough.
Just another overstated opinion, I guess.
Its these quick types of interactions that make this technology endearing for me. Otherwise all these apps are just complete nonsense.
For example, I wanted Walmart to price match something on Amazon. They don't price-match online retailers. Okay. I'll buy it off of Amazon. Including taxes and shipping and handling, I would've saved $5. I'm not a consumerist, so I hardly buy things and wouldn't save that much a year. I'm probably a technology vendor's worst nightmare, though. I find that the better deals are always on Amazon/online because either Best Buy/Fry's don't have the same models or I am not willing to pay more for the convenience of having it immediately. For example, I'm an audio guy. I want to buy a particular set of cans. Big box stores would never and have never stocked these pair. The specialized stores that do charge way more. That's pretty much all specialized gear, unless it is old hardware/technology (Rokit monitors, e.g.).
Different strokes.
* Integrated GPS * Maps * An RSS reader * Twitter * Messaging apps * SMS * Phone calls * Music player * Other apps that got slow on the older iOS (?)
And yet you think your smart phone was "an expensive, over-rated, hyped piece of technology and machinery".
You ARE a smart phone makers target audience. Just because you're not running a moon mission on thing doesn't mean it's not performing its intended function. Show me a device that does all that for $10.
My priority on my phone is my music.
As far as the rest:
Integrated GPS/Maps: I used GPS because I recently moved to a city in which I did not know where things were. As I have become more accustomed to my surroundings, I use the GPS less and less. I can replace this with an actual/physical map, which is what I used to do and do on road trips (I don't rely on GPS on road trips). I like getting lost and exploring my surroundings, actually.
RSS reader: I mostly use this on my PC. I don't need a phone for this. I don't need to be updated on world/breaking news when I'm not on my computer. It's like, why do you need to carry a newspaper all the time? Same deal. If there is an emergency, SMS should suffice. All phones offer SMS.
Phone calls: regular mobile phones do this. I'm not sure why you bring this up and tie it to a smart phone.
The apps that got slow were the messaging apps (Kik, Beluga which got bought off and another which I don't recall the name anymore). They were especially slow-loading. I can do without these if I/everyone had unlimited SMS. I don't play games on it. I don't watch/stream any videos because Verizon 3G sucks.
What are your monthly fees though? I have an unlocked Galaxy Nexus (older version, $350) and one of those $30/month, unlimited text/data, 100 minute talk, no-contract plans from T-mobile. Seems reasonable to me.
I'm with Verizon, so monthly payments would be ~$100. But because I like to save money, I'm on a family plan with other people and we divvy up the costs. Because of that, I end up paying way less than the regular Joe. I pay $50/month and I feel I can still pay less, except there is a married couple in the plan, and friends and other relatives, and the costs are divided slightly unevenly. Anyway. I don't know the specifics of the plan, because I hardly use my phone. But I think it goes something like unlimited texts and 1000 minutes shared, and for my line, 2GB of data. 2GB data alone costs $30 with Verizon.
Just today I looked for a new phone to replace my 11 year old Samsung C35. I'm only replacing it because I swapped the battery 4 times already and unfortunately the battery doesn't last more 3 days anymore.
My requirements were: No touchscreen, classic phone keyboard, no camera and no 3G/4G/Wifi.
Samsung E1200 for 20$, here I come. The reviews are great, it runs nearly 3 weeks without recharging and weighs 65g. It can do exactly the three things I need: Call, SMS, Alarm.
Now to get rid of the iPad.
Yeah, for actual work I still use a full size computer, but the hot spot feature comes in handy when I'm out of the house or office.
Basically what I want from my smartphone is: phone, turn-by-turn directions, music player, emergency web browser, emergency email, wifi tether.
Essentially any Android phone will fit my needs, so I moved over to using much cheaper devices on off-contract plans. My first was an LG Optimus V ($150) on Virgin Mobile ($25/month for 300 minutes and unlimited data, since I use Google Voice and Groove IP that turns into nearly infinite minutes) which I recently replaced with a HTC One V (also $150 usually, but was recently on a one-day sale for $50... $50, no contract!). Sadly moving to the One V bumped my monthly rate up to $35/mo (Virgin Mobile grandfathered in older phones into their old $25/mo rate despite the lack of contract, which was nice) but that's still super cheap compared to most people I know with $80+ plans.
This route isn't for everyone, if you're one of those people that is really married to your phone and you actually use it for things like video streaming and such, use the latest and greatest, but for me it is working out great.
If I may impose and if you or another reader have anything you would care to add, may I pick your brain as to any other observations / trade-offs you made in your decision to go with the HTC and/or to stay with Virgin Mobile? As opposed to, as a primary example, another pre-paid plan or phone.
(If not, hope I haven't annoyed by asking. Just in case a specific interest / use would inspire further comment.)
--
I've also considered the T-Mobile based plans, but I'm afraid that coverage on the far city-fringe and beyond might just be too spotty. Although I'm not sure Virgin would be better -- the last I recall, though, it ran on Sprint, which actually did ok around here, at least for voice.
The HTC One V is a great phone for the price, the only real negative to it is HTC's Sense skin over Android isn't that great (IMO, YMMV) but you can reflash it with alternate community ROMs to get standard Android look and feel.
If the Nexus 4 were readily available there's a very good chance I would have tried that on one of T-Mobile's prepaid plans, but since that was sold out with no clear information on future availability I'm going to go with the One V for now.
For $50 (sale price) -- and the $10/month bump, I guess -- the One V seems a very low cost trial, while waiting to see how things develop with the Nexus 4 availability.
The One V price I found was $99. Of course, who knows what it will be, tomorrow.
I've been looking at / waiting on the Nexus 4, as well. But for $99, I may well just do the One V for now, and wait to learn how people in the area do or do not like their Nexus 4 / T-Mobile experience.