Fortunately for me, using computers is not a source of income but a hobby, so I say this with an extremely privileged and ignorant point of view: I learn coding by reading books and experimenting. I learn Linux by reading the Arch and Gentoo wiki and experimenting. I have (thus?) no problem keeping away from the menace that is the addictive, toxic, detrimental internet culture of today and vibe coding and unattended OS installations and what have you. Does it give me a false sense of superiority? Yes. Does it also genuinely make me feel free and unburdened? Yes.

Being good at talking is not equal to being right. Falling victim to manipulation is not equal to being wrong.

I am on a Samsung S23, rooted via Magisk. Debloated with Universal Android Debloater NG. I am running Android Firewall + to block user and system apps that are not essential for normal operation, including the Play Store. I only unblock it once every month to update some system critical packages. I am also running AdAway to block specific hosts that some system critical packages make connections to without my permission. I am also using App Manager to block internal trackers and to disable app ops and permissions that are not needed for normal operations. The hosts that I allow my phone to establish connections to that are owned by Google and that possibly collect data are play.googleapis.com (don’t remember this one), android.googleapis.com (neither this one), play-fe.googleapis.com (to update apps at the Play Store) and mtalk.google.com (for push notifications).

The reason I go such lengths instead of “simply” ditching Google, is because a few dear friends are on the Japanese spyware Line and because I use USB Audio Player, a paid app, whose certificate doesn’t validate without logging in to the Play Store. All in all, two apps… But I rather translate that into “friends” and “HiFi music”. 🙂

I am really happy with my setup and it works without any hickups - expect for when I push it too far, because I like to experiment by removing packages that people don’t recommend removing but that are closed source and thus cannot be verified without decompiling. Which is a skill I don’t have.

Question: did you install MicroG or something, on that Linux phone? Asking since you’re saying that you’re not ready to completely degoogle yet.

Cool! Thanks! I did read somewhere that if I’m certain that a variable isn’t going to have to change its value throughout the program, then it’s better to make it a constant. Out of security concerns? Anyway, thank you so much! 🥰

• I successfully wrote a program that prompts for and verifies pin numbers. It then temporarily saves the last entered pin number into an array. TODO: error handling (input type, overflow, etc.).
• I finished the game MiSide and now I cannot stop wanting a psychotic yandere girlfriend.
• I did my first round of IPL hair removal.
• I adjusted the dosage of antidepressants, which seems to have helped a little.
• I met with a career counselor to discuss my options if I were to quit my current job, only to realize that I should remain at my current job: love the colleagues, love the boss and I have no problems with the job itself. That more than many could wish for.
• Successfully sold my gaming console collection for about $2200.
• Managed to decrease porn consumption from several times a week to once a week, sometimes once every two weeks.
• Found a great facial mousse with 50 SPF.
• My new glasses push against my nose like crazy and they leave a mark on my nose too, so I think I’ll switch them for another model before the guarantee period runs out. Which is really sad because I love them. Gold/pink, huge, round. 🥺
• Had my first panic attack in many months. Like, come on, I thought this was over!?
• The ruling class still holds a tight grip on the means of production.

Just doing my civic duty.

I feel you. Interestingly, Linux communities, especially the Arch one, but also programming communities over at StackOverflow, can be pretty exclusionist and elitist, while, for instance, electrical engineering, electronics and other hardware oriented communities feel more inclusive and welcoming. Are there conclusions to be drawn here? Software vs hardware? 😆

This is a really well written post. That’s all I came here to say. /srs

The obligatory add-on to a comment that says “that’s all I came here to say”: this phenomenon can be seen in a great variety of communities and I believe that it speaks for not the characteristics of the FOSS community, but rather some detrimental socially constructed human tendency to feel superior by oppression.

Most certainly. I was fishing for nostalgia reactions. But I’ll add a tone indicator.

Fuck/s

Is you partner a friend, a sexual partner, a romatic partner, somebody that you only share a room with, somebody with whom you follow traditional relationship values such as marriage, sexual exclusivity and such? What is sex to you? To me, masturbation can be made a part of sex, but “simply” making yourself feel good is not sex. In the same way, porn consumption could surely be made a part of sex with a partner. If my sexual partner would watch porn without telling me, I would be hurt and think that I am not enough for them, even though I really try to live by the above: that masturbation and sex satisfy different needs.

Which doesn’t even take into consideration the fact that I wouldn’t watch porn if I had a sexual partner, since porn inherently is immoral, since there is no way the consumer can know how the actors are being treated. MAYBE OnlyFans and such are a bit different, but I don’t know…

I wish it said “Open Source has a POSIX Problem” 😭

Edit: a suggestion for any future memes on the topic is to not call it pornography, because that assumes and normalizes that the abuse material could in some way be recreational.

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Thanks for the pointers. 😝

Oh, I just meant that I’m experimenting, evaluating and thinking instead of “just” searching for a straight answer on the world wide web.

Edit: Also meaning, that when I post a question here, I have already writhen (spelling?) in pain for a few hours or a day without getting anywhere.

I’ve been at it for two days without researching and I can’t figure out how to “hand over” the updates of the history array from within my “new pin” function to the main() function. I have to learn about scopes. Good fun!

Not porn. Not staring at the home screen hating myself wanting to end my life until I feel hungry enough to eat some uninspired shit from yesterday or taking a shower to act like I’m preparing to go somewhere and that my life has purpose. Not that. Hm… I guess I don’t use my phone to pass time. I do use my rooted and nuetered tablet to learn programming from time to time though. 😊

I attach my wired Deltaco WK90b to it. Bada bing bada boom. 🙂

Some suggestions:

• read books
• listen to books (the Internet Archive is great for this)
• write with pen and paper (diary, emotional journalling, poetry, transcribing your senses into written words, whatever)
• install AI blocking filters (uBlock Origin or host files or settings in Duckduckgo etc)
• practice boredom (“dopamine detox” is bullshit, but getting accustomed to writhing a little bit when there is no stimuli and instead focusing on your breathing, how your body feels or the dust particles in your room is not)
• yoga, walkabout