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  • No, I'm addicted to the apps in my phone. Without them (or internet to use them) I don give a damn about that thing.

  • I'm addicted to the internet

    The phone is just one of many ways to get to it.

    It's like saying a drunkard is addicted to "the bottle". They aren't. They are addicted to alcohol.

  • When I'm tired, I am, and I hate it. With more energy I do other things, but the phone is always that super-low effort thing to pick up.

    I have a book to read, and paper and pencil for sketching next to me, and those are the things I want to do, but they feel like effort right now.

  • I'm addicted to my laptop and basically any social media platform. Block one and I'll find plenty of others to waste my time on.

  • Absolutely.

    Going somewhere? Music and maybe a game!

    At home with nothing to do? Music, videos, or maybe a game, even if doing other things!

    Going to my different classes in the allotted 10 minutes? Music!

    I'll gladly admit I'm addicted to not just my phone, but also some of my other electronics as well.

  • Addicted means it's a bad thing. Did people used to be addicted to A-Zs, reading, talking to friends, reading news, etc?

    My phone just provides an easy way to do the things I already want to do.

    • "Addicted" means: exhibiting a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity.

      If something is chronically prohibiting you from living a normal healthy life, that would be considered an addiction. If you have set times or you have the ability to responsibly engage with something without it interfering with other tasks or obligations, it likely is not an addiction. If you continue to do something which is more often detrimental to your well being yet you feel you're getting a rush by doing it, that is likely an addiction.

      No. No one is asking if talking to friends or reading the news is an addiction. However, if you find that you are engaging in these activities as a way to absolve or distract yourself from other obligations, you may fit the definition of being addicted.

      This really raises the moral question of what are people supposed to do with their time. If you have the means to care for yourself, who's to judge you for what you do with your time? If you choose to not have a family or not participate in your community or give back to the world in any way, is an addiction really a problem? If you're choosing to not have a healthy productive life, is an addiction to drugs or gambling or sex or social media detrimental to anything?

      • This really raises the moral question of what are people supposed to do with their time. If you have the means to care for yourself, who's to judge you for what you do with your time? If you choose to not have a family or not participate in your community or give back to the world in any way, is an addiction really a problem? If you're choosing to not have a healthy productive life, is an addiction to drugs or gambling or sex or social media detrimental to anything?

        I've never met anyone with an apparent addiction - and I've met quite a few in my day - that were completely happy with the life they were leading. Probably because real addiction entails a loss of control that would be detrimental to your life and self-esteem. Even if you have no one around you, if you want to do anything else with your day besides drink and you constantly fail, it's not a good thing for your mental health. You'd continuously find yourself in degrading situations.

        Coming to terms with "choice" in the context of addiction is a difficult thing to me. I'm really not sure where I stand on it. It's definitely not the same as making decisions when completely sober, you're not completely helpless or without personal responsibility either.

        And then some people seem to be able to consume copious amounts of drugs or alcohol at some time in their life and then just walk away from it without issues. Perhaps it's genetics, or a personality thing, who knows.

    • What you're describing doesn't sound like an addiction, no, but does that mean no one is or could be addicted to their phone?

  • Yep, and we’re surrounded by enablers, too. I left my phone at home accidentally when I went out with the fam. “Fuckit, I don’t need a phone. Let’s just go…”

    And not only did it become quickly obvious how much I use my phone (NFC payment, looking up store hours, nearest grocery store, etc) but how much everyone expected me to have a phone and everything on it. Use my phone to pay. I don’t have it, I gotta use a card. Give my kid cash for when we drop her off to hang out with friends with apple pay. Can’t do it, no phone. Here’s $15 cash. (Eye roll, carrying change is a burden now) Use loyalty card at the store. Nope, it’s on the phone. Wife has to use hers. Can’t get my daughter’s text messages, and even though she knew I’d left my phone, she still texted me.

    People expect you to have all the conveniences on a phone, including the ones that are convenient to them.

  • Yes. When I go off backpacking where it can't do anything, it takes 2-3 days for me to stop reaching for it or having any sort of brief anxiety reaction when it's not in my pocket.

    • I have the exact opposite experience. As soon as I hit the trailhead my phone gets turned off and put in a waterproof bag. I almost never take it back out until the trip is over.

      Though my wife keeps hers on hand for taking pictures so I guess I benefit from her phone being handy.

  • Not really. I like to have it most of the times with me - even at home. I just like to feel its weight in my pocket.

    But that doesn't mean I'm using it always, only if there's really nothing else, I check the few apps I use then read articles and shit or mess with Termux.

    According to Samsung's weekly reports, I use it less and less each week.

  • If I could get away with not having a cellphone, I would honestly much prefer to not have one. Unfortunately, the modern job market and my wife wanting to be able to reach me make it unlikely that I could do so without suffering some fairly major issues.

    Initially, I quite liked the idea of being able to consolidate multiple devices, like an e-reader and music player into a single device, but I've really come to resent the expectation that I should always be available to contact at all times.

    If I could ditch mine, I'd really rather just have some sort of portable device in a similar form-factor that could play connect to WiFi, play music and podcasts and work as an e-reader. Bonus points for some sort of offline map/navigational capacity. I don't want to get texts or phone calls, and only be able to access email and the broader internet when I'm somewhere with WiFi.

    I like to think I'll eventually get to a point where I can do that without having to worry about being unable to get jobs for not responding quick enough. Unfortunately, it seems like more and more things are trying to make cell phones an unavoidable aspect of participating in society, whether it's banks only offering OTP texts for 2FA, or so many venues no longer even offering the option to print your tickets at home, but instead requiring you to display your ticket in an app on a device with an active data connection.

  • Maybe... I depend on it for a bunch of stuff: my calendar, my personal and work email, communication with friends and family, getting my news, taking pictures of fun stuff I'm doing with my kids, reading books, grocery shopping, etc. During a recent power outage, I ended up going to a bookstore for a paper book, since that seemed to be the thing I missed most.

  • Yes, for maps and speed traps, to reach my loved ones, for being reachable, to provide connection to my notebook so that I can work outside or not at home, and so on...
    It's one of the main tech innovations of the last 30 years, I find it ok to be addicted to it, as we were addicted to electricity 50 years ago but we could still survive somehow without for a small time

  • Is that what it is? Addiction?... Or am I just absorbing information as I would?

    For that matter, is it a detriment that I sit here, scroll, read, investigate, research, find random topic I never expected and learn something new?

    My phone's just a tool. Replace it with a book, and I'm still doing the same thing for myself, if it's out of boredom.

  • No i barely use it. Come on lemmy sometimes, and other than that its just for texting, emails, phonecalls, and gps all of which are rare for me to do. I mostly use it for work. My battery lasts forever as a result i charge it like every 2-3 days and its old so youd think it would drain faster.

    • i checked and in the last 4 days i have 3 hrs 18mins of screen time and 1 hr of that is a messenging app i kept checking last night and leaving open as i was waiting for a message.

  • Looking at my usage, especially last Sunday, yeah.

    Yes, I know, I tried both Firefox and Vivaldi, both had some things I quite didn't like, I keep trying them like every 3 months.
    Sorry, I can't name them, I keep forgetting the specific issues.

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