Hello Fediverse!

I'm happy to announce the Single Purpose Devices community on Lemmy, a place for discussion, sharing of ideas and recommendations about the growing trend of single purpose devices: rather than relying on a smartphone that brings you anxiety and demands attention, how about going back to the days of carrying a MP3 player, a notebook and pen and a beautiful camera?

While people join this movement for a variety of different reasons, from reclaiming digital privacy, to mental health, to evading anti-customer repair policies and malicious software updates, we can all share our own experiences and tips. See you there!

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[–] 16 points 1 year ago
[–] 13 points 1 year ago

I still use my old iPod from like 15 years ago.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    I use a few

    • Raspberry Pi alarm clock
    • Raspberry Pi for music, packed with stored playlists
    • Videophone thing for meetings
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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I wonder if using a whole computer for in the spirit of a single purpose device. Seems a bit overkill.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    Is the objective to "reclaim control over your technology", or is it to be a single purpose device? I can think of a lot of single purpose devices loaded with subscriptions and telemetry, and just as many general purpose computing platforms without that crap that let you be in control.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    Pi Zero is barely a 'whole computer' – that phrase overestates the situation

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Ah well, a Pi Zero I suppose is less overkill.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    There was some science-fiction writer in the mid 20th century argued that each household would have one humanoid robot. Because, he said, if you have a robot vacuum and a robot lawnmower etc. you'd need multiple computers, and that's overkill.

    Sounds silly in hindsight because a 'whole computer' turned out to be cheap and small, and it's not a big deal to have multiple.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Its funny because I only have a smarphone for when im working but I have found it as a handy camera. So I think it might be worth it as long as you don't use it for stuff you can do on your laptop. Its like you have to use it minimally. Like not using it for social media or games will cause you to barely use it. or it least it does for me.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I just opened my new discman earlier today. Still kind of newfangled since it has a rechargeable battery as opposed to needing double A's, and can read mp3's from a micro SD card. Wouldn't be surprised if it has a flux capacitor somewhere in there too. Back in my day... gradually nods off while muttering

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Wouldn't be surprised if it has a flux capacitor somewhere in there too

    Wasn't the last (working) one destroyed in a train accident somewhere in the 80s? Not that I'm old enough to have first seen this movie back when it was released. Absolutely not.

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