Right. One would assume a phone-only approach would be "maximum simple" but it isn't (for me). I always want/need a desktop environment for one thing or another, and when it comes to phone use/to grab and browser vs NOT to grab and browser, there is a lot of "fuck this, I am setting this down" going on with a phone than anything else. The laptop is a commitment, as is sitting at a DESKtop - sit and think of what one can do, and then having the ultimate (sometimes only) tool to do it. As where a phone tends to be a fast notification slab, quick on/quick off. If it were for social media and push notifications I don't think smartphones would have become as big as they ARE (and always will be - until Cthulhu claims it's thrown upon humanity) ;)
So, I go analog with pen/paper, notebook(s), and even keep the apartment quasi analog - temp/humidity "weather station" running off a single AAA, tea candles for short term lighting if need be (otherwise mostly pitch black in the apartment), the window AC unit I ordered is analog (albeit electric of course, just no digital elements that I can tell - knobs and buttons), analog desk clock, and soon an AM/FM/NOAA radio w/ 2-band HAM (listening) capabilities. I may even f*** around and get a CB radio for good measure, not that those elements are too "analog", but might as well mention.
Regardless, simple and small fuss. May Alexa destroy Siri and the IoT homes die with their trendiness
I could easily do without a phone, but my wife won't let me. :-)
I've no idea how people don't lose their minds on over phone notifications. Or maybe they slowly are? I'm fine with reminders to put the garbage out, or that some appointment is coming up. But I literally become angry over incoming text messages, as though someone else is insisting I do things (what I consider) "the stupid way". Why would I want to fight with a keyboard smaller than my hand?
Okay, there's voice to text... but just getting the phone into that mode seems more hassle than worth. And Cthulhu forbid you screw up and attempt to correct it manually. I guess you can just start over, but that quickly starts to feel like being a slave to a device.
Nope.
Whoa! A CB radio? That's still a thing? I had no idea. I mean, I hail from the days of the novelty song "Convoy", and recall wanting one. But it just wasn't practical on many fronts - mainly the "couldn't afford it" front.
But, oh, the envy.
Don't need such these days. I'm too tired of people to get a device that implies more people.
Well, that's not completely true. I oscillate in and out of too tired of people. I get tired of 'em, then suddenly yearn for 'em again, and of course soon enough remember why I got tired of 'em.
It's... well, you know.
Then again, voices can be (originally "are") pretty special.