this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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I find myself checking out pretty often and just making myself feel bad about the state of the world, or killing half an hour on stupid games that I could 100% live without. This is probably pretty common, and I'm wondering what other people have found as a way to do more productive things with their phones in the downtime.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I mean… there’s porn

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I feel like there's an opportunity to combine these things.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Something, something up and down and up and down and …

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Porn quotes?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

Honestly, since Reddit became dead to me, I spend a lot less time on my phone overall. Aside from the things you mention, I usually keep an eye on my work emails and messages, just in case there's something I need to be ready for in the morning.

Aside from that, my phone's primary purpose during personal hours is to use IMDb to settle friendly disputes with my wife in front of the TV. ;)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

I don't find much use for a phone. Mobile banking and web browsing is pretty much all I use it for. Don't worry about being productive its a never ending hill to climb. Do what you need to do then enjoy the rest of your day

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I mostly listen to music, read ebooks, take notes in class and work on termux, actually most of my time on my phone is spent on termux connecting to my servers, Essentially my phone is a pda with remote access

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

-Get a lot of spam calls and texts

-Read e-books

-Keep email notifications up to remind me to check them on desktop

-Watch Youtube to fall asleep

-Listen to my work in progress songs between working on them, take notes on what to do next

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Read e-books

There have been times when I have wanted to do that, especially when I forgot my physical book when I'm outside the home and I have some spare time...

Regardless, I don't know why I never feel comfortable with it, perhaps I'm a bit spoiled with my iPad and my Kindle, I have the same feeling for mangas and for comics.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's exactly for that convenience and random downtime that I keep a few on my phone! Waiting in line has never been so enjoyable.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Perhaps, as a backup option might be a good call.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I take a lot of pictures. Mostly of my pets. Yes, I do actually look back at old photos and I love it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

I don't have any social media (other than this, which I guess counts). Where my friends hit their Instagram or Facebook, I just scroll through my old photos. "aw look at the time the cat found a box" or "oh remember when we went to storm king?".

Works fine. Less rage.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

With Inoreader I plugged in a bunch of RSS feeds of gaming news and stuff related to my hobbies. I like it because there is no comment section to engage with unless I really go out of my way, which I have no desire to. I get all of that out of my system here on Kbin.

What I find interesting is I was able to get one feed from a sub that doesn’t really exist in many forms on the Internet that I know of. I figured with the API fiasco that it wouldn’t work, but it does. It just spits out a text version of new posts for me essentially. Very useful for keeping up on VGM vinyl news.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Pull it out. Look at the time. Remember I didn’t want to doomscroll. Put it back. Repeat.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Productive is not what I'd call what I do but anyway: I don't follow things that make me miserable or even just "people". My feeds are full of all kinds of fun stuff, like my fandoms or science or art. So I don't ever "doom scroll", really, but read about what other people thought about that newest episode or some new thought they had about an ancient episode or general fan squealing about a ship or the newest weird findings about spinosaurus or 'look at these new photos Perseverance has taken' or 'look at this detail in this awesome painting' or 'this is how to improve this aspect in your drawings'.

Yes I am on tumblr. Yes I am on tumblr too much.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

A foss game Lexica - the word sources are quite diverse so it's very easy to learn new words.

I like making music, while phones aren't ideal there's definitely possibilities. Flip, G-Stomper, Koala Sampler and Kaossilator are my main go-to's.

And I use my phone notes quite a bit, be it for lyrics or just organizing my thoughts, things I want to get done, ways to do them, lists of things. I do a lot of this handwritten but it's handy having them written digitally too.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I read the first page of hacker news twice a day. Once in the morning, and once at night. Usually nothing comes of it, but sometimes some new tech shows up with immediate application for one of my clients. Or someone posts something really insightful that makes me think.

If I want to play a game on my phone for 15 minutes? Fallen London. Great writing, tons of content.

I (strictly) have no social media apps on my phone. My rule is to decide how to spend time, then do it -- never ever just do things to 'kill time' (it is, after all, time that kills us).

If I don't know what to do, I study. I pick a subject and try to learn it to an 'average' level of competence. I typically do this ~2 hours a day, and it's been my conscious habit for approximately 25 years so far. This is hard, but possible to do on a phone. Sometimes I'll do research on a phone, and save the links to read properly on a laptop later. If I scroll on a phone, it is an act of hunger and hope.

People sometimes tell me to 'live a little'. I don't think they know the difference between living and dying. Every day, I become more. My neighbors spend their days at home drinking and eating -- every day, they become less.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Read ebooks. Check email.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

I've been playing chess and chess puzzles.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If I aint scrolling Lemmy I honestly don't know anymore...
As a kid I had loads of games on it. Past-me would have looked at old-me and wondered what happened there. :p

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Learning languages with Duolingo, journaling, cooking apps, crosswords, browsing the Ikea app (but that could be considered doomscrolling - the doom of my bank account)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I use it to identify plants. It helps to offset the inflation food prices.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Way too much music and occasionally working on some personal writing projects that don't end up anywhere because I have started so many that I lose interest in an idea/story.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Remote into one of my desktops to get stuff done. Check email. Research for some upcoming project I'm planning.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Nothing, really. I only check the chats with my best friends, look at the time, and check the school timetable (I do have it on paper, but they always make some changes and then I'm the idiot for going to the wrong class...)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Maps.

Look up word etymology. Also kanji and language studies. You don't need a language program like memorize, you can just study words.

Listen to ABC Listen podcasts and live. Listen to my music. Listen to audiobooks.

Camera. Photos and occasional video. I have been photographing some of my garden, same plants each day to show growth.

Stay in touch with friends and family on Telegram, or just with a phonecall.

I know people who use their phone for money but I don't do that. It does contain my drivers licence though. I prefer the licence itself, that said, I don't want to hand over my unlocked phone.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I read. I will typically have a 'big read', a couple of other novels, a non-fiction and maybe a short story anthology on the go at any one point.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I mostly use my phone for reading ebooks. I keep the internet disconnected except for checking email and weather. All social media use is through my PC and not the phone.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I use maps for navigation (mostly OsmAnd) and improve OpenStreetMap with my self-made website (https://mapcomplete.org)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Mostly multi-factor authentication for my day job, because I work for a bunch of cunts who won't spring for a company phone for company apps. The only reason I even have an iPhone is that my mobile provider was giving 'em away for free while forcing people to upgrade to 5G devices.

And if I ever get to retire, first thing I'm doing is getting rid of my phone and home internet connection. If I need internet I'll use a VPN over free wifi at the public library.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Read news, articles, watch science/politics/etc. videos, look at art on Instagram where I post some of my own. And that's it.

As people mentioned, looking at the camera's gallery. Plenty of pics of my cats over there.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Looking for used cars right now.. :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Outside of some of the other things that have already been mentioned, I sometimes use Tachyomi to read manga/comics.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Take photos/videos, shop, code, learn a new language, YouTube/media server content, list stuff for sale, chat(discord/matrix, iMessage), podcasts, read local news/events coming up, listen to music, browse for new recipes, write poems/songs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Mostly duolingo and lichess.org.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Check mails, check Lemmy, check WhatsApp, check Discord. If it wasn't for WhatsApp, I could probably live without a phone.

I guess I also use it to keep the Arch install guide open until I learn the process by heart.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I use mine to SSH into my homelab and fix misbehaving servers so I can use them on the go.

I also have rustc and my full neovim configuration installed inside of termux, so sometimes when I'm really desperate I can write code on the go too. Using neovim and an onscreen keyboard with an escape key and easy access to symbols makes the experience of writing code on a touchscreen... I won't say good. I won't even say tolerable. It makes the experience marginally less agonizing.

Using neovim with a Bluetooth keyboard however is an experience basically equivalent to desktop apart from screen size. On long car trips when in the backseat I like to wedge my phone in the headrest and use it like a tiny laptop. The performance isn't as bad as you'd think.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Pretty much just communication and occasionally looking up some info. I save gaming and everything else for the computer. Phones are portable, but they are pretty awful for anything beyond the basics. Plus, if I'm out and about, I want to be there, not on my phone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I don't really do much when it comes to productivity on my phone, since I need a larger screen, proper multitasking, and a real keyboard to actually get things done. My phone is for communication, navigation, and entertainment.

For entertainment, I read manga, listen to fanfiction and ebooks being read to me with TTS, and watch/listen to YouTube videos.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

learning spanish on duolingo because of travel plans

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I have a budget app that I make sure is on point and keeps me from frivolous spending. I also have my garmin watch app that tells me all my health info. I've paired that app with the myfitness app to record calories and nutrients intake. So, money, health and fitness. Of course I love scrolling and a few clicker games but I would be lost without intuit mint, garmin connect and myfitnesspal.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I actually looked at going back to a flip phone, but figured I would need to carry a camera and a tablet, and all three of those coat more than a new pixel 8. Once reddit is fun died, I use my phone a lot less, and it's for the better

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Audiobook playback YouTube binge watching Torrenting Camara Notes and reminders Lemmy Work stuff

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