#smartphones and data

[azeutreciathewicked]

I never got a smartphone, and some days are rough. I can't use a lot of apps that are only available through smartphones, I can't do some convenient things. and I keep misplacing my dumb phone when I need to do phone verification for a few things. I definitely feel like a cranky old anti-tech person, which is ironic since I have a background in technology theory and ethics (so I know what it does to me). I'm also so scared that such a device can be so easily stolen, hacked, or otherwise compromised, and I would not be able to live with that level of stress constantly. I knew it would suck my attention and soul away like nothing else. And I still manage to spend too much time online thanks to wifi. So I've been actively limiting how I access social media, and it's helped my brain so much. The cyborging / extended mind is super easy to slip into (see: Andy Clark and extended mind theory). And there are some great things that come of this phenomenon, but it's also insidious when the end result is about distraction, hypersocializing, and never giving our brains time to rest. (Also see: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt) Between the data/privacy issues and how it's rewiring your brain, it's a really good idea to try to do a reset and reflect on what you are using your smartphone for and make deliberate choices about how you use it going forward.

I know millennials are getting the traditional generational luddite reputation at this point for sneering at smart devices and banging on about privacy and not needing all those fancy functions etc. but I am speaking to you right now as an experienced activist: you have to start seeing your smartphone as your big red glowing weak point. it is a repository of all the information someone could conceivably use to ruin your life, and you carry it around with you all day every day guarded by maybe a 6 digit PIN (or a photo of your face, seriously turn off face unlock right fucking now).

[corviiids]

found a note from october last year where i tried to pitch myself a lawlight chatfic and immediately rejected myself

[ganondoodle]

the company i work for decided that its switching from the german formal "You"(Sie) to the informal "you" (Du) in all of our websites so now we have to scour the entire database to change it and i quite frankly hate that, not just bc the unecessary extra work but especially bc its such a weird and unecessary change

i bet its bc everything here is getting englishfied (both literally and culturally it feels like, when my new boss talks its half in english bc every second german word is just replaced by an english one despite there being perfectly fine words for it in german too, its so annoying) and bc they want to sound more personal in hopes of getting more clients bc 'company is your fwiend uwu!!', i know this here is the amercian tm site so you wouldnt understand really but i do not want to be greeted with 'du' by companies, no, thats too personal, you dont know me and im not giving you my data, stay away!!

i guess thats how i would describe it .. the formal you is like a polite distance, like someone you dont know staying outside your personal space, but when its the informal 'you' it feels invasive unless i told you you can call me that, and that goes double for companies

maybe its a small thing that doesnt seem important but i cant stand it, im just a little part time worker doing data work so i got no say in it but the companies founder also announced hes giving his post to his kids some time ago so ...... since then theres been alot of changes and new projects that solely aim to imitate whats popular and whats done by other companies, despite ours being one that is, or used to be, intentionally different, like, that was the POINT, but i guess chasing trends is just too appealing for CEOs

[renapuppy]

I want some use of my phone that is not either of

a: a vehicle for advertisement

b: any social media app that incentivizes you to keep scrolling forever and also a vehicle for advertisement (see point a)

I hate that the first thing my dysregulated brain wants to do to fill the void is to just sit and consume until I feel so numb that I get sick of it

I hate that the model for the vast majority of phone apps to is scrape for data and advertise to you. what a horrible way to live. I miss the early smart device days when it all felt new and fresh. now everyone wants to sell your personal data or sell u something

[milfbrainrot]

smartphones really fucked up storytelling. grey's anatomy had a whole plot around a guy whose pain management was legitimately watching porn but there was a power outage, so cristina had to awkwardly come up with and orate erotic fiction to calm him down. you can't get that today with pornhub being accessible from anywhere.

[fashion-foxy]

The tech bro inside me that makes fun of people who don't know how Ai works and the 2000s teen movie popular girl in me who passive aggressively makes fun of everyone balance out perfectly into someone who cannot watch most movies

[emptyheadgamer]

so i downloaded the duckduckgo browser just to use it for blocking app tracking and i knew it was bad out there but jesus christ

[affairsmastery]

Apple has removed its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature for UK users, a move prompted by government demands for access to cloud data. ADP, which offered end-to-end encryption for iCloud backups, will no longer be available for new users, while existing users must eventually disable it.

This decision weakens iCloud security, allowing Apple to access user data, such as iMessages, when legally compelled. Critics warn this leaves UK users vulnerable to privacy risks, as governments and tech giants clash over encryption. Apple expressed disappointment, citing rising data breaches, but emphasized its commitment to avoiding backdoors that could be exploited by hackers. The change highlights the ongoing tension between privacy and surveillance in the digital age.

[hiimcanadia]

My first smartphone had a setting where I could turn off mobile data connection for individual apps and it's still my favorite feature I've ever seen and I'm so upset that neither of the phones I've had since then have that option. Especially since I can't send/receive all text messages without internet (which is a whole different thing that pisses me off), so if I want to like, save data while playing mobile games, I can't get those messages until I turn my data back on, which is very easy for me to just forget to do

[gilfrespecter]

Listening to coinstar by the growlers and thinking about mel so hard I get nauseous

Ridiculous stream of conscious in the tags apologies but not really

[runawaymarbles]

Grocery stores putting coupons in their weekly ad that you can only use if you download their app is evil, actually

[alertarchitect]

So I've been watching videos on older tech stuff, right? I just find the history of how computer technology has developed from the 50s to now (a lot before the 50s is boring to me because most of it is just either "the military did it to kill people" or "Random Military Scientist #27 was bored and made Pong") fascinating. However, this background curiosity lead me to watch some videos on various cell phones from the late 90s to around 2010 - and that made me think of something...

Namely that this was PEAK phone design.

The Blackberry Style. And I'm 100% serious when I say that.

Think about it - it's the perfect level of connectivity. It has enough smart features for the shit that we need phones for today, while the flip design not only protects the screen, but in this modern hellscape of companies wanting everyone and their mother to scroll forever - to consume every ad fed to them, to tune the algorithms to them, to get their data and sell it off, and even to not-so-subtly push fascist propaganda through said algorithms like we've seen Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok do time and again - the inconvenience of that screen discourages that exact issue. The physical keyboard is also great for emails, texting, and for me, Discord since that's where I keep in touch with 90% of my friends - while also not having the keypad issues of taking 10 minutes for one message like you had on the older flip phones.

Put modern specs on this, a modern version of Android so it can run what I need it to (mainly just podcasts and Discord tbh), and okay Bluetooth for earbuds & handsfree car connectivity, and this is honestly the only phone I would use until the end of time instead of these stupid slabs of glass, with shitty touchscreen keyboards that cause more trouble than they're worth, that encourage doomscrolling and overconnectivity, and features most people will never fucking need.

[coulsonlives]

How the eff are people saying Threads is a better platform for people than Twitter, Reddit etc, when you can't even use the service or view anything on it unless you download an app?!

[willowwindss]

Wait til they figure out tik tok also has access to your entire phone…

people who are just finding out about internet tracking and data mining in the year 2025 and that your special robot friend does not respect your privacy lol

[soloh]

I hate when I say things like "oh I want an ipod classic but with bluetooth so I can use wireless headphones" and some peanut comes in and replies with "so a smartphone with spotify?" No. I want a 160GB+ rectangular monstrosity where I can download every version of every song I want to it and it does nothing except play music and I don't need a data connection and don't have to pay a subscription to not have ads and don't have popups suggesting terrible AI playlists all over the menus.

Gimme the clicky wheel and song titles like "My Chemical Romance- The Black Parade- Blood (Bonus Track)- secret track- album rip- high quality"

[beesmygod]

ed zitron, a tech beat reporter, wrote an article about a recent paper that came out from goldman-sachs calling AI, in nicer terms, a grift. it is a really interesting article; hearing criticism from people who are not ignorant of the tech and have no reason to mince words is refreshing. it also brings up points and asks the right questions:

if AI is going to be a trillion dollar investment, what trillion dollar problem is it solving?

what does it mean when people say that AI will "get better"? what does that look like and how would it even be achieved? the article makes a point to debunk talking points about how all tech is misunderstood at first by pointing out that the tech it gets compared to the most, the internet and smartphones, were both created over the course of decades with roadmaps and clear goals. AI does not have this.

the american power grid straight up cannot handle the load required to run AI because it has not been meaningfully developed in decades. how are they going to overcome this hurdle (they aren't)?

people who are losing their jobs to this tech aren't being "replaced". they're just getting a taste of how little their managers care about their craft and how little they think of their consumer base. ai is not capable of replacing humans and there's no indication they ever will because...

all of these models use the same training data so now they're all giving the same wrong answers in the same voice. without massive and i mean EXPONENTIALLY MASSIVE troves of data to work with, they are pretty much as a standstill for any innovation they're imagining in their heads