[sacul]

(This turned into a bit of a rant...)

So, AFAICT, Hustle provides a service that's nearly as bad as robocalls. From their front page: "Hustle works because people read and respond to texts—and to communication that feels more human." So it's a bait and switch, just like a robocall: you contact me in a way that makes you feel personal, approachable and reasonable to me so that you can gain my attention.

Look, try to see this from my perspective. Without saying anything about the honor and motives of those behind Hustle, it's like I'm being attacked from all sides - Facebook, Robocalls, and now Hustle - to gain my attention. This has always been the case, perhaps, but our modern technology – coupled with a knowledge of human psychology – is a powerful tool (weapon?) for gaining access.

Here's an idea: I don't want to be assaulted all the time via the always-on electronic device I have in my pocket!

I still want to have access whenever I want it. Maybe I can't have it both ways?

[jerf]

I am currently being hammered by robocalls, in relative terms at least.

I can't remember the last time I got an unsolicited text.

An anecdote to be sure, but I don't hear anyone complaining right now about unsolicited texts, so it doesn't seem like Hustle is the problem.

"I still want to have access whenever I want it. Maybe I can't have it both ways?"

You can, actually, and it isn't that hard. I have a strict "one strike and you're out" policy with my apps; if I see a notification I don't want, I either fix the notification preferences in the app right away, or if the app doesn't permit what I need, nuke the app's ability to notify. My phone is pretty quiet.

[reaperducer]

I don't hear anyone complaining right now about unsolicited texts

Really? You must not be listening. Do a quick Google News search and you'll find dozens of articles about it.

My T-Mobile hotspot has 133 unsolicited (and unread) text messages in it right now because spammers think it's a cell phone.

During the last election I received 50 or 60 unsolicited political text messages from both parties on my work phone.

Unsolicited text is a problem.

[craftyguy]

> I can't remember the last time I got an unsolicited text.

There's some bullshit law that allows political parties to harvest voter telephone numbers in my state, so I get pummeled by unsolicited text messages from political campaigns.

For the ones that actually have a human on the other end monitoring it, replying with 'I cannot vote, I'm a felon' (regardless of what the actual law is for voting and felons in my state) is a good way to get them to leave you alone.

[rightbyte]

I've never got any in Europe. Maybe the cheap spam bots are not localized?

Only robot calls I get is after contacting customer support they autocall you and ask the enter a rating of the call.

[xanipher]

It hasn't always been the case, mostly because for most of human history attention wasn't the limiting scarce resource to things.