gnome

joined 2 weeks ago
[–] gnome@programming.dev 1 points 12 minutes ago

Yeah, it was prevention - to my knowledge there wasn't a comparable internet-blocking feature in Android at the time. I have a dumb phone from way back that I switched to, and I shut off my smartphone. For desktop, it was primarily site blocking extensions like Block Site, and willpower to develop a habit. I'd still use the internet for things like banking and - since I was re-studying CLRS - SO and reference collections, but I trained myself to a hard cutoff of not using it besides the purposes I switch it back on for. The rest is on paper: my books are physically with me or loaded on an e-reader.

I should clarify that I had taken last year off to recover from burnout, and I was freelancing. I think that helped a lot with being able to detach for that long.

[–] gnome@programming.dev 1 points 50 minutes ago

This is wild. Another problem with fudging what used to be a trail is what that means for fingerprinting people online. Especially given recent attempts to take down the Internet Archive. I'm not saying forum histories are/were iron-clad "paper"/e-trails, but they can and do get used for cross-platform profiling.

[–] gnome@programming.dev 30 points 2 hours ago (3 children)

Anecdotal, but I can see this. Last year, I took a 2-3 months off of what I now call recreational internet use (e.g. keeping up with the news, forums, etc.), because my mental health and cognitive abilities have deteriorated a lot. The result wasn't just improved mood but also regaining cognitive skills that I thought I had lost forever. Brain fog also lessened. A year later now, and the improvements are stable and still there, even though I do use the internet recreationally again. It's still not where I used to be before, but it's a work-in-progress anyway.

[–] gnome@programming.dev 1 points 1 day ago

It's not far-fetched, infinite growth and all.

Since Kobo e-readers have public library integration where I live and I no longer have an Amazon account, the Kindle I bought is just sitting there. If it pans out into a subscription model and Amazon also cans other forms of side-loading, honestly Kobo + physical books would be my only go-tos: why pay extra to borrow from Amazon when my taxes already go to a library system from which I can also borrow books? I've transferred the books I had on the Kindle. Maybe it can be reused with a pi should it come to.

[–] gnome@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

Thanks, I'll take a look!

[–] gnome@programming.dev 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Why would it be bad idea to use both? According to Tor+VPN, provided you connect to VPN first, it should be fine.

[–] gnome@programming.dev 1 points 2 days ago (5 children)

I used to use Tor to surf surface + deep webs, but not the dark web — basically a substitute for the common browsers but without the incessant tracking and attempts at personalization.

I do agree that a VPN + Tor, disabling JS, and avoiding identifying forms are up there in terms of safety measures. I'd add that using Tor on Android is also iffy, but I'm still looking into it.

[–] gnome@programming.dev 5 points 1 week ago

True, though, we do need a quicker solution with a lower barrier to adoption ASAP. Carbon capture could be a good long-term approach to augment CO2 management, provided we figure out the details of CO2 solution "loads"/proportions, costs, maintenance, and capture locations.