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May. 15th, 2021 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pedantherIf we've known each other long enough, you may recall me mentioning seven years ago that I'd finally bought my first ever mobile phone.
As of last month, I am now onto my second ever mobile phone.
Mechanically, there was nothing wrong with the old phone, though it was a bit dinged around the edges, but the age of the OS had started to be an issue; it couldn't communicate with anything that uses the latest encryption standards, including specifically the app we have to use here to log our movements in case of COVID contact tracing. It also, whether for that reason or another, couldn't talk to the Fitbit I'd bought when I decided I needed to get serious about getting active again, and since the Fitbit wouldn't activate without at least one device talking to it that meant the Fitbit was just a pricey not-even-heavy-enough-to-be-a-paperweight.
So, now I have a new phone, and a working Fitbit.
I've opted for the not-quite-newest model of the same brand of phone as my first; the sales assistant suggested an alternative less-famous brand that did the same things for a somewhat better price, but I opted to stick with what I was familiar with. This turned out to be helpful in a way I hadn't anticipated, because it turned out the new phone was able to talk to the old one and copy over my call history, address book, etc., which I bet wouldn't have happened if I'd gone with the alternative.
The Fitbit is turning out to be pretty helpful. It's the first thing I've tried that's been actually successful at reminding me to get up and stretch my legs at regular intervals during all the time I spend seated at the computer. I'm also getting good use out of the sleep quality function, which assures me that I'm getting a reasonable amount and quality of sleep for someone in my demographic and that I don't appear to have sleep apnea. (I didn't really have any specific reason to think I did have sleep apnea, but it was one of the health issues I used to vaguely worry about maybe having, so it's good to be able to put one anxiety to rest.) Other functions I've found helpful are the app for staying hydrated and the app that reminds me every morning to think of at least one thing I achieved the previous day. The mindfulness app will also occasionally pop up a message suggesting that I step away from the screens and go outside, which entertainingly has only come up twice so far and both times when I was already outside and well away from the screens.
Another thing I've done to keep me active is get into Ingress, which I've been vaguely interested in ever since it started but didn't have a good enough phone for before.
Ingress is a GPS-based game that involves visiting landmarks and other points of interest and doing minigames at them -- the quick way to explain it these days is that it's Pokemon Go with only two factions and no Pokemon. (Strictly speaking, Pokemon Go is Ingress with three factions and added Pokemon; Ingress is the original game that established the framework on which Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite were subsequently built.)
One of the main reasons I got into it was that I hoped it would encourage me to get out and about more, which has turned out to be very much the case. I knew that one of the things preventing me from going for regular walks was chronic indecision about where to walk to, but apparently that was literally the only thing holding me back; within a couple of days of installing Ingress I'd settled into a daily walk routine and I've never looked back. From day to day, there's always something within walking distance for me to go and look at, particularly since the longer I'm at it the more my definition of "within walking distance" expands.
The local Ingress scene is pretty quiet; there are a few casual players, but only two really active players. The two of us are in opposing factions, which works out pretty well because it means each of us is giving the other something to do. At least now I've levelled up to the point where I have access to all the tools and we're reasonably evenly matched. When I was still a low-level player, there was a point where I was getting discouraged that every time I started making headway it seemed like my opponent would sweep past and set me back to square one, and what kept me going then was that out of the blue he sent me a very nice message thanking me for playing because until I'd cropped up he'd spent ages with nobody to play against and now he was enjoying the game again.
As of last month, I am now onto my second ever mobile phone.
Mechanically, there was nothing wrong with the old phone, though it was a bit dinged around the edges, but the age of the OS had started to be an issue; it couldn't communicate with anything that uses the latest encryption standards, including specifically the app we have to use here to log our movements in case of COVID contact tracing. It also, whether for that reason or another, couldn't talk to the Fitbit I'd bought when I decided I needed to get serious about getting active again, and since the Fitbit wouldn't activate without at least one device talking to it that meant the Fitbit was just a pricey not-even-heavy-enough-to-be-a-paperweight.
So, now I have a new phone, and a working Fitbit.
I've opted for the not-quite-newest model of the same brand of phone as my first; the sales assistant suggested an alternative less-famous brand that did the same things for a somewhat better price, but I opted to stick with what I was familiar with. This turned out to be helpful in a way I hadn't anticipated, because it turned out the new phone was able to talk to the old one and copy over my call history, address book, etc., which I bet wouldn't have happened if I'd gone with the alternative.
The Fitbit is turning out to be pretty helpful. It's the first thing I've tried that's been actually successful at reminding me to get up and stretch my legs at regular intervals during all the time I spend seated at the computer. I'm also getting good use out of the sleep quality function, which assures me that I'm getting a reasonable amount and quality of sleep for someone in my demographic and that I don't appear to have sleep apnea. (I didn't really have any specific reason to think I did have sleep apnea, but it was one of the health issues I used to vaguely worry about maybe having, so it's good to be able to put one anxiety to rest.) Other functions I've found helpful are the app for staying hydrated and the app that reminds me every morning to think of at least one thing I achieved the previous day. The mindfulness app will also occasionally pop up a message suggesting that I step away from the screens and go outside, which entertainingly has only come up twice so far and both times when I was already outside and well away from the screens.
Another thing I've done to keep me active is get into Ingress, which I've been vaguely interested in ever since it started but didn't have a good enough phone for before.
Ingress is a GPS-based game that involves visiting landmarks and other points of interest and doing minigames at them -- the quick way to explain it these days is that it's Pokemon Go with only two factions and no Pokemon. (Strictly speaking, Pokemon Go is Ingress with three factions and added Pokemon; Ingress is the original game that established the framework on which Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite were subsequently built.)
One of the main reasons I got into it was that I hoped it would encourage me to get out and about more, which has turned out to be very much the case. I knew that one of the things preventing me from going for regular walks was chronic indecision about where to walk to, but apparently that was literally the only thing holding me back; within a couple of days of installing Ingress I'd settled into a daily walk routine and I've never looked back. From day to day, there's always something within walking distance for me to go and look at, particularly since the longer I'm at it the more my definition of "within walking distance" expands.
The local Ingress scene is pretty quiet; there are a few casual players, but only two really active players. The two of us are in opposing factions, which works out pretty well because it means each of us is giving the other something to do. At least now I've levelled up to the point where I have access to all the tools and we're reasonably evenly matched. When I was still a low-level player, there was a point where I was getting discouraged that every time I started making headway it seemed like my opponent would sweep past and set me back to square one, and what kept me going then was that out of the blue he sent me a very nice message thanking me for playing because until I'd cropped up he'd spent ages with nobody to play against and now he was enjoying the game again.
no subject
Date: 2021-05-15 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-16 01:04 am (UTC)(I could add that I found the talking head who represented the Enlightenment during the tutorial mission extremely sinister, but to be scrupulously fair I'm not entirely certain I'd have felt the same way if I hadn't already made up my mind.)
no subject
Date: 2021-05-16 06:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-17 10:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-17 10:19 pm (UTC)I don't think I have any recollection of it ;-p
I was given my first-ever mobile phone in I think 2011, when I went off on a solo boating trip with no other means of emergency contact. I remember it took about three days for me to learn how to switch it off, which was a worry since I had no means of recharging it on board... that was *not* a 'smartphone', which would have gone flat in 24 hours or less!
I'm currently on my second. I can't remember what happened to the first, but by the time I needed a replacement things had moved on so far that it was actually quite difficult to buy a mobile that simply telephoned people instead of running apps. Fortunately there was a market in cheap basic phones 'for festival use', presumably the thinking being that they were likely to get stolen while their users were stoned out of their minds or else get dropped in the mud. It currently costs me £5–£10 a year to run, apart from the annoying discovery that if I don't spend any money at all for more than a certain period of time then all my current credit gets wiped and it forces me to top up again with the loss of however much money was on there :-(
So obviously I'm not terribly keen on the idea of parking meters, doctor's surgeries, test&trace systems, etc. that only function via 'apps'...
The only incentive I've found for a daily walk routine is the idea that it's the only effective way for me to write -- which makes me quite happy to go on and on walking if I'm feeling that I'm actually getting something done. I very rarely walk until I actually get tired, because that would take an awfully long time (several hours, anyway -- I generally get footsore first). But a writing session might well last over an hour, even if I only come back with a couple of paragraphs at the end of it.
That was decent (and intuitive) of him!