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by jmcgough 3173 days ago
Was it hard to make the transition? I wish I could get rid of my smart phone, but I'm so dependent on lyft, my gps, etc, that it's hard to separate the addictive parts from the parts that are really useful.
3 comments

Well, I have a Garmin for GPS (which is arguably inferior but it's fine) and I don't live in an big city so we don't have Uber or Lyft here anyway. I can see how for some people it is a requirement to have a smartphone - esp if you need to be constantly tethered to your email (dev ops etc...)
so the trick is not ditching your device access to online stuff, but your physical access. without a cellphone in big urban centers you'd have a tough time moving around. well, I would.

public transport in big us cities are broken down by little cities, which any European would call neighbourhood... and parking in sf and ny is impractical. now you have to know how to transfer between several buses routes, or even if you decide to just take a cab, you must know the cab number for the company for that specific little region you find yourself at. I can't imagine not having a phone with a browser to navigate this mess, obviously designed to limit mobility.

Maybe delete the apps that's you want to force limited exposure to.

Deleting my native Facebook app did me wonders. I can always use the website if I really want to but I naturally visit less frequently

I did the same, as well as using a chrome extension to block my feed on the non-mobile version. It's been a great decision.
I switched to an iPhone SE recently and it seems to be the best of both worlds. Uber, GPS, and internet are there if I need them, but that tiny screen makes aimless browsing much less tempting.