alt Hacker NewsI am a similar age to Geohot and I have tried to escape smartphones to a dumb phone. It didn’t work. So many things that used to work without a smartphone don’t anymore and people don’t realize it.
• Surface parking in my city is all by QR code. Where there are machines, they are broken because no one cares.
• Social groups are on iMessage or RCS. RCS is not nearly as backwards compatible with MMS as it seems and you WILL get dropped silently, eventually.
• Some restaurants literally don’t have print menus (they’re expensive! QR codes are cheap!).
• Rideshare, bike rentals, etc. are all dependent on apps. Taxis are not reliable or available.
The list of tiny cuts goes on and on. When you have a smartphone you don’t realize the affordances that made it possible to be without them are disappearing.
I’m sure you can do it in a smaller place but you have to be dedicated and willing to suffer in a city.
Replies
>So many things that used to work without a smartphone don’t anymore and people don’t realize it.
Have you considered using a GNU/Linux phone (Librem 5 or Pinephone)? There is no dependence on a megacorp and QR codes work fine. Some services might redirect you to a web app if you show them such phone.
Similar age as well, and damn, if I could actually convince my bank to let me approve transactions with a dumbphone... The reality is just that a significant part of the modern world is contingent on carrying around a brand-name smartphone