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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[–] ebits21@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean… there’s porn

[–] Thavron@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] trk@aussie.zone 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

[–] elvith@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago

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

[–] nis@feddit.dk 3 points 1 year ago

Porn quotes?

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. ;)

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 10 points 1 year 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

[–] BmeBenji@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year 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.

[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 7 points 1 year 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.

[–] eezeebee@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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

[–] kratoz29@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year 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.

[–] eezeebee@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year 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.

[–] kratoz29@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

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

[–] brokenlcd@feddit.it 8 points 1 year 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

[–] BolexForSoup@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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.

[–] averyminya@beehaw.org 6 points 1 year 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.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.de 6 points 1 year 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.

[–] Bebo@literature.cafe 6 points 1 year ago

Read ebooks. Check email.

[–] redballooon@lemm.ee 6 points 11 months ago

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

[–] Mambert@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago

I've been playing chess and chess puzzles.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year 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

[–] redballooon@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 months ago

Strange events...

[–] SecretPancake@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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)

[–] Saigonauticon@voltage.vn 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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.

[–] hackris@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 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...)

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago

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

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 4 points 11 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.

[–] Vej@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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

[–] Thisfox@sopuli.xyz 4 points 11 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.

[–] ferrodegaragem 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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.

[–] pietervdvn@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago

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

[–] starbreaker@kbin.social 3 points 11 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.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year 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.

[–] vortexal@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

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

[–] willya@lemmyf.uk 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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.

[–] livus@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Mostly duolingo and lichess.org.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 2 points 1 year ago

Looking for used cars right now.. :)

[–] noisypine@infosec.pub 2 points 11 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.

[–] backhdlp@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 11 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.

[–] jeebus@kbin.social 1 points 1 year 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

[–] Amanduh@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Pour one out for my homie reddit is fun

[–] chepox@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

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

[–] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I make GPX traces for OpenStreetMap. I also make annotations and even small edits for the same project. Listen to music and YouTube videos (don't really watch a lot), check my messaging apps, etc. I actually try a lot of stuff from Fdroid.

[–] MrFunnyMoustache@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year 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.

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