Technology

Because they are manufacturing consent for closing the platform, calling installing apps from other stores "sideloading" and hiding the options behind "SUPERDUPERDANGEROUS" warnings, making you wait 24h for literally just installing software on your own phone. They know 99% of people won't even bother. It's obvious what they want to do, this is a step back because of the outrage, have no doubts that they're gonna keep pushing it

What if we locked up Google's store behind some obscure tech menu and make them wait a day? Them everyone would just use the built-in option, right? ... In what other industry would you say this is reasonable? How about waiting a day to buy groceries, or water, or gas for your car? ... Doesn't make sense, does it.

And why believe Google at all? A day now, but why not a week later. There's nothing stopping them from altering the deal. You, my friend, are in Lando's shoes. And you don't quite realize it yet. Tell you what, you're not allowed to reply for 24 hours. Go think about it.

PostmarketOS isn't GNU

Anyways it'd be interesting to see more niche OSes on phones (there's a mobile port of Genode/Sculpt OS for example)

Or the year of free (as in freedom) pocket computers, since the global telephony system goes against the freedoms.

No. You can do a lot more. You can develop alternatives and enforce anti monopoly legislation.

This. Degoogling and using FOSS alternatives can only take you so far. We should drastically reduce smartphone usage. I got a dumbphone so I can be reachable. Outside of work, my smartphone is mostly powered off. I can't realistically get rid of it, as I need a bunch of banking apps, authenticators, Google Maps at times (and no, there's no real alternative to this, everything else sucks). But I only use it when I absolutely need it. It's gathering a lot less data than it used to. I'm striving to be as low value to big tech as possible. Reducing smartphone use has also done wonders for my wellbeing. I read more, I've regained my attention span, I have more time to do stuff I like. Stop scrolling, there's nothing but bullshit on the next screen, you're not missing out on anything. Stop trying to replace one app or site with another. Just let it go, it was never worth it.

My wife would hate it, if I were no longer reachable.

No. I haven't used Google apps on my phone for years already. That includes Google Play Services and the Play Store. Most apps are open source and I'm self hosting my media.

We gotta claw this shit back.

Yep. My disdain for the combination of fascist government where everything is surveillance, and sociopathic corporations and billionaires where everything is a cynical cash grab, overcame me excitement for tech "products" a long time ago. I'm in the US so it's especially bad.

I still have a smart phone that's 4-5 years old, and I do of course use it every day, but I consciously avoid using it every hour. I love when I misplace it in my own house, to then not look for it for hours. The only person who is going to message me anything urgent is my wife and she knows where to find me.

Constant phone addiction is one of those situations where when you remove yourself from it you can more easily see it in others. It's like there's a new form of body language where when you see that slight forward tilt of the head you know they are in the Phone Zone without even seeing the rest of their body.

Android Hostages lol, what am I supposed to do use an Iphone?