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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 10th, 2023

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  • I’m sure what I’m about to say has already been echoed by others, but there are a few factors working against them. This is from a US/Canada perspective. Other countries may have more or fewer barriers.

    1. Mobile hardware - Mobile hardware has higher security. Some of this is by design for the user, since mobile devices are more likely to fall into wrong hands than e.g. a desktop. Some of it is corps preventing users from using their hardware in ways they don’t want you to, though. The level of locked down mobile hardware has only increased over time.
    2. Carriers - This one is particular to North America, I think. Carriers here have a long history of meddling in phone hardware - from bloatware to SIM locks and everything in between. One of the things they do since LTE is require device makers to pay them to get certified to make calls on their network. Linux capable devices are too niche to be able to afford this. This is why Fairphone, for example, even with its Android-based OS, only works on one carrier here.

    Those are the main two barriers here. Things like apps can have workarounds for those that would be interested in early adoption of Linux phones. But there’s no way around the combination of carrier certification costs and limited options of only very locked down hardware.





  • Presumably if there isn’t a user report for whatever distro I’m using

    Distro is unlikely to matter, as long as you don’t pick a really obscure one. And even then, flatpaks will probably work fine.

    Protondb also looks to be focused on Steam, I’m guessing it’s like MacOS where if it’s a game not on Steam then you’re shit out of luck if there isn’t a Linux specific version?

    Steam is the easiest to work with and most well-supported. But there are other managers like Heroic Launcher and Lutris that can cover non-steam. Knowing whether a game can run on proton/wine outside of Steam does likely require a google search, though. Most things can be made to work as long as the game doesn’t require kernel-level anticheat (e.g. Destiny and BF6).









  • The benefits of having a full-featured computer in my pocket are just too many for me to ditch it permanently if I have a choice. While it’s certainly able to distract me if I let it, I don’t think I’ve ever had it disrupt my sleep (aside from late night phone calls).

    I think it’s better for most (and potentially easier) to keep to the smartphone and just better control the applications that are on it and the notifications that they raise to make sure it isn’t overly distracting you. This may require disabling certain pre-installed apps (e.g. Facebook is one I always disable and just interact with via browser when I want to). Another pattern to follow is adding barriers to the things that distract you most so it takes a little more effort to interact with your distractions. Hank Green’s Focus Friend app that got popular recently is an example of that – placing an emotional barrier on getting distracted when you need to focus.

    But ultimately, we all need to do what’s best for ourselves. Everyone’s suceptibility to distraction is different and if a dumbphone is what works best for you, then by all means, go with that for as long as it’s useful.


  • Industry growth. Turns out it’s a lot easier to “think of the children” when the industry is small and niche than it is when it’s making investors billions of dollars a year. Turns out capitalism makes problems harder to solve once the problem itself makes money (see also: tax preparation)

    That’s also why the moral panic people switched from trying to censor games through government to trying to do it via finance (e.g. Collective Shout lobbying banks, credit cards, and payment processors).

    Though if your question is about why the contrast between moral panic over game content and the lack of moral panic over actual victimization — I think that’s always been the case, unfortunately. People seem more fearful of their children losing their morals than they are of people with no morals harming their children.