How is this kind of "advice" anything but plain old-fashioned victim-blaming?
If ever an entire category of HN posts deserved an instant trip to -4 territory, these ever-present and singularly-unhelpful posts ("Just turn your phone off/leave it in airplane mode/leave it at home/give it up for Lent/sell it on Craigslist/go to Uttar Pradesh and join a Zen monastery") should more than qualify.
Letting scumbags dictate how you live your life -- or how you use your phone -- is never the optimal strategy. Don't turn off. Fight back.
I don't really see how my thought (note: more "thought", less "advice") qualifies for this ire, but, hey, maybe you too need to spend less time on social media being angry at people ;-)
Actually I think a considered and gentle re-looking at one's life is an entirely viable thing to do.
What's so nuts about leaving your smartphone at home, or giving it up completely? Try taking a step back in an attempt to take a cold look at how weird and unbalanced this whole smartphone addiction thing has become. A situation in which, what, 50%+ of any random group of people has head down looking at a screen? A situation in which a family goes out for a meal and spends the time with each member socialising with people in the virtual world but not with each other? A situation in which young girls are self-harming because they're spending 6 hours a day comparing themselves with others online? I live by the sea - a beautiful, wonderful part of the world - but the number of people who simply don't engage with the world they're moving through because of this little square of plastic in their pocket is astounding.
There's nothing blame-y about this - yes, the corporations need a slap at what they're doing with our data and our lives - but we've got individual agency, too.
If ever an entire category of HN posts deserved an instant trip to -4 territory, these ever-present and singularly-unhelpful posts ("Just turn your phone off/leave it in airplane mode/leave it at home/give it up for Lent/sell it on Craigslist/go to Uttar Pradesh and join a Zen monastery") should more than qualify.
Letting scumbags dictate how you live your life -- or how you use your phone -- is never the optimal strategy. Don't turn off. Fight back.