[ryandrake]

Maybe this is a privileged outlook, but I've decided that each piece of technology needs to earn its place in my life, and I'm going to use it deliberately for a specific purpose, if I deem it to be worthy. The smartphone has not earned it yet.

Im not going to live in an apartment that requires a smartphone to get into the door. That may involve me making sacrifices, I don't care. You have to draw a line somewhere. If parking somewhere requires an app, or eating at a restaurant requires a QR code, I'm just going to go somewhere else. I'm not going to chain myself to a smartphone just because society is addicted. Just like I didn't take up smoking back when everyone around me smoked. And when I do need to use my phone, I pick it up, use it for a purpose, and then put it down. No idle, passive scrolling allowed. No notifications. DND mode 24/7. It is not allowed to interrupt me with a call or a message. When I stop work, the phone goes in a drawer until tomorrow. When I go on vacation, the phone gets packed deep in the emergency baggie, or just not brought at all. This autonomy requires a little sacrifice, and stings a little if you're not used to it. But, ultimately I think it's better for my health, both physical and mental.

[moooo99]

> If parking somewhere requires an app, or eating at a restaurant requires a QR code, I'm just going to go somewhere else.

I always hated this kind of technology use. I love technology when it is used to do things that were not possible before or hard to accomplish. I hate QR codes, but even they can be handy at times (without the QR code I would have never encountered the DB ICE Portal for example).

The examples you brought up are small but ubiquitous enough to be extremely annoying. Instead of getting a few printed menus on the table, everybody on the table spends 10 minutes being glued to their phones, zooming and scrolling around to make sense of the offer and select something. Instead of just being able to pull a parking ticket at a meter I have to figure out which of the damn apps I have to use to pay for my parking. And with scammers almost always being smarter then the service providers, I now also have to make sure that I don't fall for "Quishing" scams [1] (honestly no clue if that is as thing elsewhere)

[1]: German: https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/digitale-welt/phis...

[noahjk]

> Instead of getting a few printed menus on the table, everybody on the table spends 10 minutes being glued to their phones, zooming and scrolling around to make sense of the offer and select something.

Great example, phones are absolutely terrible for navigating menus. I really struggle when I can’t have all of the info presented to me at once - I just get lost scrolling around and juggling options in my short term memory.

[ryandrake]

My eyes can scan a large page much faster than my fingers can scroll a small screen.

[busterarm]

Great lessons to be learned from the Amish. This is basically what they do, just the decision is made as a community rather than per individual.

[ToucanLoucan]

The big differentiator for me is "Does this use of technology solve a problem?" I do have a smartphone, FWIW, but it's a tool. And granted, one of it's uses is to kill spare minutes while I'm waiting for someone in a car, or riding public transport somewhere, but that is a choice. I am consciously choosing to partake in social media as a distraction because I have nothing else going on.

In response to your examples here:

> Im not going to live in an apartment that requires a smartphone to get into the door.

110% agreed. I think some kind of smart lock or maybe an RFID thing is just a door lock that is far more error-prone than it needs to be. No reason for it.

> If parking somewhere requires an app

These I can like. The problem is you inevitably run into the problem you always run into: a given app provider is almost certainly not your local municipality, and you have no idea which provider a given area will have chosen to accomplish this. If this could be standardized into one provider, operating as a utility, that simply works everywhere in the United States, that would be fucking brilliant. Just pull up to any public owned lot or stall, scan a QR code, select how long you're parking, and be auto-billed according to pre-set preferences.

But of course that's not the real experience. You have to download a new app for any given place, set it up with an account, another password you're almost certainly going to forget, give yet another nameless corporation your personal details and payment information and fuck knows how they're going to store them, and repeat this process wholesale the next time you have to park somewhere else. That's maddeningly stupid.

> eating at a restaurant requires a QR code

Perhaps controversial, I think this is okay. Especially if it's the type of restaurant where the menu frequently changes, I think this is honestly a good move. It saves a bunch of paper from being thrown out constantly and gives the staff one less thing to need to juggle as they seat patrons. And QR scanning and opening a web-link is essentially built-in functionality to any smart phone made in the last 5 years or so.

Now, if you scan a link and you need to download a fucking app... fuck that. Hard fuck that.

[mrweasel]

The issue with the QR codes at restaurants, for me, is that they force you to pull out your phone in a setting where you'd want people to put it away. Even been to dinner with people who are on their phone most of the time? Don't give people an excuse to pull out their phone, many are addicted and won't be able to put it away again and enjoy their meal and their company.

The parking I agree with, that solves a problem and genuinely makes our lives easier, but it should never be the only option for paying for parking.

[bluGill]

My phone doesn't have the space that a paper menu does. If I know what I want the QR menu works well, but if I'm trying to decide a menu works much better for comparing the options.

[cocoacat]

I feel the same way. When my apartment got new locks, we could only unlock the doors with our phone. I refused to download the app, so I had to wait outside until someone could let me in. On a similar note I refused to keep a web browser on my phone because I would use it to constantly check the news or other sites. Every once in a while I had to scan a QR code, but I just quickly downloaded a browser then deleted it. Unfortunately with the new iPhone update you are required to have a browser on your phone. Now I must rely on self-control alone!

[gonesurfing]

This sounds very similar to the approach prescribed in the book Digital Minimalism. I just finished it and can’t wait to join you with a somewhat similar approach!

[alexalx666]

yes we need to play Apple's iPad from machine press ad in reverse

[suobset]

That ad was a peak example of good intention and bad execution. Absolute no one in the iPad Pro's demographic (artists, musicians, photographers, etc) are ever going to appreciate such destruction. I remember seeing a version of the ad where someone just reversed the whole thing, and it instantly felt much better.

[encom]

>If parking somewhere requires an app

That battle has been largely lost in my city.

Last year I had to attend a work related course. I'm running a little late, and I get to the place with just a few minutes to spare. Usually I can just tap my debit card and enter my license plate at the terminal, an operation that takes 15 seconds. But this parking garage was app-only. So I spend 15 minutes instead on this bullshit. The first app I tried wasn't supported on the old 1G iPhone SE I had at the time, because I guess parking technology is just too advanced for that neolithic device. Next app works, but of course I have to go through the whole rigmarole of making an account, confirming my email, adding my payment card and then confirming THAT, and so on and so forth. How is this any easier than the old method? My mom would never have figured this shit out. Not that she'd be able to park there anyway probably, because she's inherited my iPhone SE now.

[david422]

> If parking somewhere requires an app

I mean... it is pretty handy to just add more time from your phone instead of running out to the meter to feed more quarters in.

[encom]

Before this app-madness, you would usually just check out with your debit card and pay for the time you used (common in Denmark anyway). No need to guess in advance how long you need to park for.

[SAI_Peregrinus]

In most of the US you had to pay with coins. No cards allowed, and you'd definitely have to guess how long you'd take. Even in the few places that accepted cards you'd still have to pay for a time slot in advance, and go back to the meter in person to extend that time slot.