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- Hacker News
- > if you spent a lot of time on X you will likely remember a particular one: everyone seemed to be suddenly becoming fans of Adolf Hitler... I did not leave X the platform, but I did leave X the interface
You know, it really is entirely optional to hang out at the Nazi bar.
> A phone connected to cell is an always-on tracking device
A phone connected to wifi is also an always-on tracking device. You can't really escape this without removing the "phone" part of the equation
by swiftcoder - See also the 2019 book by Cal Newport, "Digital Minimalism": https://calnewport.com/my-new-book-digital-minimalism/
> I propose a philosophy of technology use called digital minimalism in which you radically reduce the time you spend staring at screens, focusing on a small number of digital activities that strongly support things you deeply value, and then happily ignoring the rest.
by tokepi - This is why I am so careful about what I click and what signals I send to the algorithm. If you don't want to see car crashes then don't rubber neck with morbid curiosity at the first one.
I have never seen a Hitler post but if I saw one I would immediately block that user and the algorithm knows that. It doesn't show me people arguing it shows me debates and tech. Because that's what I taught it to do. It is not even hard it just requires a little discipline.
When a friend sends a link I refuse to click on it unless my VPN is on and I'm using Mullvad Browser. I don't want their taste (which is quite often look at this outrageous thing) ruining my feed.
by fartfeatures - X is the only social media I use, and I use it a lot. I’ve never seen a Hitler or a Mao post. My feed is saturated with my intellectual interests. It’s a joy to use, filled with novel discoveries that I often want learn more about.
Getting this experience is simple: don’t click or garbage, occasionally block content you don’t like.
by kaiwen1 - > ...used some kind of semantic search to show the user a search result from the local database immediately, and then followed that up with a very small LLM writing a text answer. This gives actually-good answers in a very reasonable timeframe
I have tried this very same thing on https://grimoire.bio. Large corpus of biological knowledge with detailed visualizations that are shown immediately upon searching, but adding LLM answer when missing/needed.
by levmiseri - This is a great blog post. I do a lot of similar things on my phone (GrapheneOS, airplane mode, CoMaps).
Phones are not inherently bad for privacy; the cell connection and default apps are most of the problem. Due to their security model (app sandboxing, permissions, verified boot), they’re a much better place to start for making a private OS that protects user data. Using GrapheneOS with airplane mode, as Vitalik mentions, is more private than most comparably usable desktop setups.
The thing that I’d been looking for on this minimal setup was a way to prevent access to the browser or installing apps at will. It was easy enough when I was on iOS; I just used Apple Configurator [1] to block Safari and the App Store, but on GrapheneOS, there was no great solution.
Recently I made a device owner app [2] which allows hiding any UI app and locking itself. It ended up being quite an elegant solution as I found out that I could do it all in the main Owner profile and allow full access to app stores for updates. The only way around it is with the lock code or a factory reset.
I find it great to have no easy way around it, so my phone becomes a very private device whose functionality I intentionally set ahead of time. It’s way more secure than a traditional “dumbphone” as it has E2EE messaging, additional hardening, and frequent updates. You get all the benefits of powerful apps like Signal and Bitwarden, but without the distractions.
[1] Apple’s Mac MDM app anyone can use. You need a Mac and to factory reset your phone first.
- Notably absent: AI minimalism.
I think that's telling. If you're reducing digital human interaction on social media (which yes, has its share of problems) but replacing it with "social" interaction with AI, that's not minimalism. You're replacing one vice with an even worse one and coping about it.
by muvlon - Regarding the social media part, hugely recommend revanced, for those in android.
My Instagram app (besides showing no ads) shows just the stories and feeds of people I follow, chronologically. Just a couple days this way will make you realize how little content there is, my friend's Korea trip has been the top one for like a couple weeks already.
Then you can get the DMs to avoid FOMO and realize how antisocial the whole thing is.
No idea if it works for x, I left that long ago and everytime I've checked out of curiosity I've been shocked at the absolute cesspit it is.
by torben-friis