Eric J Gruber @ericjgruber@mastodon.social

It pains me to write this, but we’ve had a regression of sorts.

‘A step backwards’

https://babystepper.com/2018/09/04/a-step-backwards/

#TheYearOfNo #DebtFreeJourney

Hey #lazyweb, if you wanted to find a web designer for a project you were making, is there a recommended service/website for that?

I just finished this. Highly recommended.

Food for thought of the day: In the age of image recognition software that is continually getting better, are images considered PII?

I put my phone on top of the fridge when I got home from work last night. I managed to not touch it for several hours, so that might be a good first step.

Man, I am such an addict to these devices.

The coder who built Mastodon is 24, fiercely independent, and doesn’t care about money

https://mashable.com/2017/04/06/eugen-rochko-mastodon-interview/#X._l6nfn2kq1

Well, shit. I just realized that on Sept. 8, I'm taking my oldest daughter to her first concert, Taylor Swift, for an early birthday gift.

When I ordered our tickets, they were only available digitally on my stupid phone.

So I guess I have about three weeks to make a decision.

The only thing I'll say about this more tonight is this: Steve Jobs was a genius. His drive to make the iPhone a perfect machine brought an amazing tech to the world.

And if you look at how phones were designed before and after the iPhone, it clearly changed tech forever. You can see that here: https://www.cultofmac.com/145083/what-phones-looked-like-before-and-after-the-iphone-transformed-the-industry-image/

But it's telling that Jobs didn't let his children use these devices. Why?

"We think it's too dangerous for them in effect," Job said.

https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-steve-jobs-never-let-his-kids-use-ipad-apple-social-media-2017-3

I'm not going to make a decision on this tonight. I'm going to think about it some more.

I really like the concept of waiting before saying or doing anything big, a la Jason Fried's "Give it five minutes" https://signalvnoise.com/posts/3124-give-it-five-minutes.

Should I go this route, it doesn't have to be permanent. Really, how many decisions we make in life are forever anyway?

Hell, even AIDS isn't a death sentence anymore. I'm not comparing AIDS with a smart phone, but you probably get my point. If I get a feature phone and can't stand it, I can always go buy another one.

I assure you, Apple will release a new phone within a few months. They have to appease the ravenous consumer and keep building that $1 trillion market cap.

Maybe this is why people prefer records over CDs. I don't know.

I went to Walmart today for some groceries and to pick up some gifts for my son's birthday. I was curious, does Walmart even still CDs anymore?

Turns out, they do but it's a very limited selected. There were an overwhelming number of greatest hits CDs by most of the artists. CDs were awful. They scratched, the liner text was too tiny to read, and they could be easily stolen from a car.

Now I wish I had my old iPod.

One thing that would be affected is my Apple watch data. The watch is tightly coupled to the iPhone, and that data would just go away if I relieve myself of the iPhone.

My gosh, what have we done to ourselves that we have to be tied to a computer all the time. I've checked my investment portfolio twice this weekend. They're closed! I am happy to report I didn't lose any money.

I get it. I have an addictive personality. And maybe I just can't handle this much power in my pocket.

This morning I was in bed, and my daughter came in. She was talking to me, and of course I got to thinking about something else.

While she was talking, I started to pick up my phone. For what? I don't know. I guess something on the internet must have been more important to me than her.

As I picked it up, she said, "Why are you getting on your phone?"

I was crushed.

My wife thinks I wouldn’t adjust well. I think after 15 plus years she still doesn’t know me.

But maybe I don’t need to have text be that great. I can do that fine on the Mac. I live 15 minutes from work. I could always use a *gasp* real map if I needed it.

I watched this movie last night called “While We’re Young,” and there were some things about the hipster couple that sounded strangely appealing.

VHS and CRT TVs? That’s practically free entertainment these days. Etc.

I know, I’m over 40 and sounding like an old man, but internet life really was more enjoyable before 2007.

I’m getting pretty close to purchasing a feature phone and giving that a try for awhile.

Sadly, the options aren’t that great. The Nokia 3310 looks decent. Other than that ... I dunno.

I would love to have a phone that does text great and that’s it. No internet. No glowing rectangle screen. Just great texting and call me if you want to talk.

I completed all the levels at all difficulties on Sky Force Reloaded today.

And then I wept for there were no more worlds to conquer. Excellent game.