Hi August. I have an anecdote for this predicament which you might find interesting:
I switched to a Nokia flip phone for about 5 months after my iPhone was stolen in August 2023… I will say from experience, the issues which develop by having a smartphone are lesser than lacking a smartphone in a world which *expects* you to have one. There is no more world without smartphones, that alternative life left us for good at the onset of the 2020 lockdowns. The built-in capabilities of iPhones (to use your example) have replaced many skills that used to be commonplace, but are now no longer supported by our culture. Try routing yourself to a new friends house without the map app. Try looking for your keys in the gutter without a flashlight in your pocket. Need to search Google but aren’t near a computer? In some cases, menus, tickets and other pertinent information for real world events, can now only accessed via a smartphone.
When I tried for as long as possible to go without one, I found myself accepting that there were just things I was no longer going to be able to do. That was okay, I reasoned: I had an excuse not to be held accountable, for example for school group projects, since my number wasn’t compatible with iMessage text groups; I carried around a point and shoot camera and took notes down on a pocket notebook; I made peace with the new way of going about the world. And admittedly, I was quite content with it—It made me feel radical and ahead of everyone else.
Then, after half a year had passed, my family and friends‘ criticism became more frustrated and urgent. They lamented on how difficult it was to communicate with me, or rely on me to navigate efficiently. They had a point. I was happy with this new lifestyle, but as a result, they constantly struggled to get through to me via text, give me directions, or do for them any one of the dozen abilities I had forgone in my abstinence. My decision to give up the smartphone left me feeling selfish. I had dropped out, and I had left behind those who could not so conveniently join me on that other side.
Smartphones have many extremely useful features. I once made a list and it had easily two dozen items. Many of those helpful things are built in, other we make a willful choice to install and incorporate into our lives. Unfortunately, many of those 3rd-party digital tools are built to to distract us from the edge of the world beyond the phone, and keep us coming back for more.
My proposal: make a compassionate agreement with yourself. „my phone is a TOOL.“ So, when you find yourself using it for purposes which can’t be readily explained as useful or necessary, stop there, and reconsider your need for that application. Keep installed only those which have the potential to be needed at a moment‘s notice. All else which can be deleted or removed from the home screen—let them go.
Important is, not to punish oneself for falling into the trap of manipulative software design. You mention this—August—they are designed with an addictive quality. It is not our fault that we have become subservient to our tools, but we do still have the agency to weaken their grip on our lives.
I could go on about mindfulness, which I believe is a major part of the issue, but some of these apps are straight exploitative. Even with notifications turned off, the maladaptive neural pathways they have carved into our minds are difficult, maybe downright impossible to correct. Nonetheless, any wisdom from someone who is critically thinking this through—about our psychological relationship to this not yet understood parts of modern culture—is useful for the rest of us who, too, have become aware of the problem, but are unsure of what to do about it.
As for me, I now have a smartphone again. My parents made it hard to say no when they offered to help pay for a new iPhone… Some of my habits remain, but there are now much fewer apps installed, and I feel better about my use. If I were to better follow my own advice, I would delete everything which is able to be deleted. Maybe aside from Substack… I can still justify Substack…
TL;DR, the smartphone isn’t inherently the problem, it’s the way we view our relationship to them. They are tools, and our power is not necessarily forgoing possession, but maybe in choosing to deliberately defer their use for all the frivolous ends they serve as convenient means for.
Will, you raise excellent points, and in my own journey to move away from using an iPhone, I often consider some of your same points. How would I navigate places? How would I manage tasks like scanning tickets? Would giving up my iPhone mean sacrificing my social life and settling for a more sedentary, home-based existence? Letting go of the iPhone can also feel like severing ties with social circles. How does one stay connected with friends and family? It seems almost impossible in a technological advanced society. So, to your point, the issue may not lie with the iPhone itself, but rather in how we use it.
I have been using a dumb phone since June 2024 (7 months now), and you do raise some good points around concerns when switching to a phone. They are similar to the concerns that I had when I just started using my dumb phone as well. But I figured I'd give you some ideas about how I handled some of those concerns in case it helps!
For navigation, I've started drawing simplified maps on paper, or writing down cross streets and then figuring it out once I get there. I live in Chicago which is extremely walkable, I don't have a car, so doing this by foot/bike/bus/train is easy compared to having to navigate without a smartphone while driving. It also gives me the opportunity to ask strangers on the street for directions and I generally enjoy those interactions.
For scanning tickets, I still haven't run into a venue that isn't able to look up your ticket in their system using only your name and perhaps your physical ID. If I'm going to an event with a friend, I simply forward my eticket them and they're able to pull up my QR code at the door.
I'm still in groupchats, and if the groupchat is purely on facebook Messenger or other apps that my dumb phone can't have but my laptop can, then I just make sure to check them when I'm on my laptop. For anything more urgent, I let my friends/family know to just call/text my number.
Things like Uber/Lyft rideshare are still a mystery though. I believe there is a number to call to book an Uber but I've never tried it before.
The bikeshare system in Chicago is able to provide a physical key to those who don't have the bikeshare app on their phones. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't be able to scan a bike to ride. It feels like I'm at the mercy of all of these interfaces: phone apps to be available on laptops, restaurants to have physical menus, and event venues to have a way to search me up by name.
Will, this is all reasonable. My 21 yr old son broke his smartphone earlier this year and ended up buying a CATc22 for $60. This has turned out to be a good compromise device — it runs Android, so can run apps like Maps, but the screen is so tiny and not-great quality that it isn’t enjoyable for most of the most addictive activities one can do on a normal smartphone. He says he’s never going back.
Love the first line—"I didn’t have any friends in high school, but I did have a phone."
Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Anna Lembke is good on this topic too. And I've heard from Dr. Garrett Smith that repeatedly spiking dopamine overloads the body's detoxification system, because dopamine breaks down into an aldehyde.
Thanks, Tao. The book looks very relevant. I also wonder about longterm neurological effects. We did not evolve to process at this speed and intensity.
Love the excerpt, my goal is to treat my smartphone like any other piece of work equipment and leave it at the "office" when done with the work interval. Have you noticed that along with smartphones, we now hyper-track everything? We can't just "be more active" or "walk for an hour," we need to "achieve 10K steps" or "exercise in Zone 2."
Hyper-tracking is necessary, I suppose, if you're training for the Olympics or are a professional athlete, but why is Average Joe/Jane worried about this?
Yes, this is what I do with my tablet, which I need for illustration work. It stays where I use it. The key here is portability. Smartphones wouldn't be such a big problem if they were a. gigantic, or b. chained to the office like a landline!
And yes, tracking is an odd obsession people seem to have these days. You always see people checking their Apple watches on runs. Why? Can't you just trust the feeling/experience? I worry we've outsourced our intuition to machines.
I really want to switch to a dumb phone but my parents pay for my phone plan rn (i’m a teenager) and I’m trying to save up to make the switch because I’ll have to pay for it myself. I used to have a digital camera and now shoot on film, and I prefer it so much to the iphone camera, and I’ve become more intentional when taking photographs (it’s just so expensive i have undeveloped film from months ago). I’m also planning to get an ipod and a reliable watch. I go on bike rides without my phone and feel so free, it’s amazing!!
A question on your digital format pamphlet… does it read sequentially or is it laid out in ‘printer spreads’ so that it can be printed and stapled back into a physical pamphlet? I am an English teacher with middle schoolers and I’m interested in exposing them to this pamphlet, but not in digital form. Thanks!
I deleted all my social media and apps some time ago. Not having Twitter has been the most impactful for my mental health. I am also now having to kick reddit and youtube, the last two remaining apps, because they've managed to suck all my attention in the same way my old apps did. This was almost scary when I realized that basically everything will funnel your attention perfectly for hours of nothing. I cannot remember a single thing I read, saw or cared about on these apps for the last probably five years, striking.
I most revelatory thing is that you feel lonely without it, the apps create between you and everything else a parasocial relationship. You might have it with a place, people you know and people you don't know, and they have it with you, but none of you know or speak about it. I think everyone is now uncomfortable with being lonely because the phone gives you a gratifying "out" whenever it happens. That's been the hardest, but one of the best, things from letting it go, being more comfortable in loneliness or boredom and letting it drive me to action to do something meaningful.
Yesterday another Substack post sent me searching for dumb phones again. I very nearly switched in 2023 but after a vacation interrupted my momentum I kept my iPhone. Back in 2016 I had only a flip phone and a laptop; this was the year I managed to journal everyday, start writing poetry, and finally get back to reading to the tune of 34 books. It seems time to do it again. The image of still being stuck to a screen in a decade is loathsome, and the last thing I want for my children is to become smart phone addicts. How can I expect them to choose an offline life if I set the opposite example?
So I did this for 11 months, it was an interesting experience.
For background, I am self-employed writer and painter, and use the internet to make a small living, so have always had, and still have, a home PC connected to the internet with an ethernet cable (none of this wi-fi nonsense).
In October 2023 the price of Virgin Media got silly and they broke my landline, so I sacked them off and did without for 11 months. I stared using the local library for uploading stuff and checking emails, where we get 2 hours access 5 days a week. That was sufficient for working needs, and meant I couldn't listen to Youtube, or do much social media. And being a public space, I had actual social interaction with people - it was a bit like going to the office every day.
So I was having HOURS at home without internet access at all, all evenings and 2 whole days a week. How my brain reacted was quite scarey really. For 3 weeks afterwards my brain was craving the interaction, and it was most unusual - it was difficult to focus on anything, and there was the constant feeling of 'I might-be-missing-out-on-something'. I distracted it by getting audio books on CD from the library, listening to Lord of the Rings. After those few weeks it kinda settled down and was able to spend the evenings reading and just being relaxed. Having many unread books in my house, plus whatever the library could provide, this became a peaceful nirvana. Once you get into a position where you physically cannot check your emails or PMs, then, well, you can't and that's that.
I kept that going for 11 months. What drove me back to getting the internet at home was the censorship in the public library system. Here in the UK the libraries have security software that is designed to prevent children going on the internet and buying guns or learning how to make bombs. But it is a blunt instrument, and it blocks out a lot of military history sites I use for research. That and a new provider at £15 a month fixed for 2 years.
I do actually feel it's a retrograde step, because now I'm spending more times on screens again!
After reading your tweets the past few days and now this. I made the plunge.
My dumbphone should be arriving in the mail soon. For so long I was paralyzed by choice on which one to get, but reading your thoughts made me realize that it was not choice paralysis but rather anxiety at living without my iphone.
I feel a new sense of clarity, and I am approaching this with the knowledge that it is probably going to take time to properly adjust and won’t be instant (which is the whole point! Life is not instant!).
I just wanted to say thank you, I look forward to reading more of your thoughts.
P.S. I think the point that resonates with me the most is what you said about pre internet idols and role models. I love reading obscure first person diaries of napoleonic soldiers and figures and I always feel a sense of dread at the lack of comparative connection and free time in my life. I hope this will help.
Hi Kevin, you can't imagine how much it means that my words have inspired you to take action in your own life. I think you're right to diagnose your decision paralysis as anxiety – or even addict brain? And yes, it will take time to adjust. Please don't feel discouraged if it's uncomfortable (as it should be) or you relapse (happens to the strongest of us) or you don't notice a difference at first. It will take time to uncover who you are and how you think without screens. As I said before, reach out to me if anything comes up. Sending encouragement and gratitude your way!
I want an ally : ) I want a friend. I’m very, very close to ditching my phone for a dumb phone. If you have any logistical advice or resources to share I’m very ready to receive them
Hi! I'm working toward publishing the pamphlet so can't share too much from it, but I'm happy to answer any specific questions you might have about the process of switching. What do you think is holding you back?
thank you for writing this. it has given me a lot to think about. i bought a flip phone four years ago and i used it as my primary phone for 7 months. then i had to use my smartphone for school because it was getting too stressful to navigate and keep up. and then i'd forgotten i have a flip phone at all. when it ran out of battery, it became a brick and i never picked it up again. until last year. i'm using it as my secondary phone now. i get calls and texts from it. i use it when i'm out and about. tbh i have a good footing about how i use and balance my smartphone and my flipphone (and my computer because it's where i access social media). but that's only because i thought about my device usage a lot. now i'm thinking more about how i can improve minimizing my time on the internet and my devices.
I also really want to make the switch but the only thing I will miss it the connection between creative people in my city. So I was thinking to hang pin up -boards with a message around the city to show people that there are alternatives to connect and you definitely don't need social media to do that. I'm hoping that slowly people will pin up a message if they want to connect or if they are also going offline or want to work on projects together or something. Do you think that it will work ?
I have had this question for close to a year now. What's the point? I feel like that can go both ways. I'm starting to lean towards when this phone dies I'll just get a flip phone and a nice camera and anything extra can be on an ipad or tablet back at home.
Hi August. I have an anecdote for this predicament which you might find interesting:
I switched to a Nokia flip phone for about 5 months after my iPhone was stolen in August 2023… I will say from experience, the issues which develop by having a smartphone are lesser than lacking a smartphone in a world which *expects* you to have one. There is no more world without smartphones, that alternative life left us for good at the onset of the 2020 lockdowns. The built-in capabilities of iPhones (to use your example) have replaced many skills that used to be commonplace, but are now no longer supported by our culture. Try routing yourself to a new friends house without the map app. Try looking for your keys in the gutter without a flashlight in your pocket. Need to search Google but aren’t near a computer? In some cases, menus, tickets and other pertinent information for real world events, can now only accessed via a smartphone.
When I tried for as long as possible to go without one, I found myself accepting that there were just things I was no longer going to be able to do. That was okay, I reasoned: I had an excuse not to be held accountable, for example for school group projects, since my number wasn’t compatible with iMessage text groups; I carried around a point and shoot camera and took notes down on a pocket notebook; I made peace with the new way of going about the world. And admittedly, I was quite content with it—It made me feel radical and ahead of everyone else.
Then, after half a year had passed, my family and friends‘ criticism became more frustrated and urgent. They lamented on how difficult it was to communicate with me, or rely on me to navigate efficiently. They had a point. I was happy with this new lifestyle, but as a result, they constantly struggled to get through to me via text, give me directions, or do for them any one of the dozen abilities I had forgone in my abstinence. My decision to give up the smartphone left me feeling selfish. I had dropped out, and I had left behind those who could not so conveniently join me on that other side.
Smartphones have many extremely useful features. I once made a list and it had easily two dozen items. Many of those helpful things are built in, other we make a willful choice to install and incorporate into our lives. Unfortunately, many of those 3rd-party digital tools are built to to distract us from the edge of the world beyond the phone, and keep us coming back for more.
My proposal: make a compassionate agreement with yourself. „my phone is a TOOL.“ So, when you find yourself using it for purposes which can’t be readily explained as useful or necessary, stop there, and reconsider your need for that application. Keep installed only those which have the potential to be needed at a moment‘s notice. All else which can be deleted or removed from the home screen—let them go.
Important is, not to punish oneself for falling into the trap of manipulative software design. You mention this—August—they are designed with an addictive quality. It is not our fault that we have become subservient to our tools, but we do still have the agency to weaken their grip on our lives.
I could go on about mindfulness, which I believe is a major part of the issue, but some of these apps are straight exploitative. Even with notifications turned off, the maladaptive neural pathways they have carved into our minds are difficult, maybe downright impossible to correct. Nonetheless, any wisdom from someone who is critically thinking this through—about our psychological relationship to this not yet understood parts of modern culture—is useful for the rest of us who, too, have become aware of the problem, but are unsure of what to do about it.
As for me, I now have a smartphone again. My parents made it hard to say no when they offered to help pay for a new iPhone… Some of my habits remain, but there are now much fewer apps installed, and I feel better about my use. If I were to better follow my own advice, I would delete everything which is able to be deleted. Maybe aside from Substack… I can still justify Substack…
TL;DR, the smartphone isn’t inherently the problem, it’s the way we view our relationship to them. They are tools, and our power is not necessarily forgoing possession, but maybe in choosing to deliberately defer their use for all the frivolous ends they serve as convenient means for.
Will, you raise excellent points, and in my own journey to move away from using an iPhone, I often consider some of your same points. How would I navigate places? How would I manage tasks like scanning tickets? Would giving up my iPhone mean sacrificing my social life and settling for a more sedentary, home-based existence? Letting go of the iPhone can also feel like severing ties with social circles. How does one stay connected with friends and family? It seems almost impossible in a technological advanced society. So, to your point, the issue may not lie with the iPhone itself, but rather in how we use it.
I have been using a dumb phone since June 2024 (7 months now), and you do raise some good points around concerns when switching to a phone. They are similar to the concerns that I had when I just started using my dumb phone as well. But I figured I'd give you some ideas about how I handled some of those concerns in case it helps!
For navigation, I've started drawing simplified maps on paper, or writing down cross streets and then figuring it out once I get there. I live in Chicago which is extremely walkable, I don't have a car, so doing this by foot/bike/bus/train is easy compared to having to navigate without a smartphone while driving. It also gives me the opportunity to ask strangers on the street for directions and I generally enjoy those interactions.
For scanning tickets, I still haven't run into a venue that isn't able to look up your ticket in their system using only your name and perhaps your physical ID. If I'm going to an event with a friend, I simply forward my eticket them and they're able to pull up my QR code at the door.
I'm still in groupchats, and if the groupchat is purely on facebook Messenger or other apps that my dumb phone can't have but my laptop can, then I just make sure to check them when I'm on my laptop. For anything more urgent, I let my friends/family know to just call/text my number.
Things like Uber/Lyft rideshare are still a mystery though. I believe there is a number to call to book an Uber but I've never tried it before.
The bikeshare system in Chicago is able to provide a physical key to those who don't have the bikeshare app on their phones. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't be able to scan a bike to ride. It feels like I'm at the mercy of all of these interfaces: phone apps to be available on laptops, restaurants to have physical menus, and event venues to have a way to search me up by name.
Will, this is all reasonable. My 21 yr old son broke his smartphone earlier this year and ended up buying a CATc22 for $60. This has turned out to be a good compromise device — it runs Android, so can run apps like Maps, but the screen is so tiny and not-great quality that it isn’t enjoyable for most of the most addictive activities one can do on a normal smartphone. He says he’s never going back.
Echoing Kevin - have been on the cusp of this decision for a while, and your words pushed me over the edge. Thank you.
Flip phone is on its way. I'm excited. Working on an essay about it...
Great to hear, and I'm looking forward to reading the essay!
Here it is!
https://www.aquestionablelife.com/p/on-flip-phones-and-finitude
Nice! Writing about phones seems to land much better than visual art, might be worth exploring why that is.
But with so much freed up time in my evening I’m planning to work on some woodblock/lino prints related to this in some way.
Good luck
Likewise!
I’ve been wanting to ditch my Eyephone for a Flipper but not sure where to purchase? Any advice?☺️
Just saw link/👍😎🥰
Love the first line—"I didn’t have any friends in high school, but I did have a phone."
Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Anna Lembke is good on this topic too. And I've heard from Dr. Garrett Smith that repeatedly spiking dopamine overloads the body's detoxification system, because dopamine breaks down into an aldehyde.
Thanks, Tao. The book looks very relevant. I also wonder about longterm neurological effects. We did not evolve to process at this speed and intensity.
Love the excerpt, my goal is to treat my smartphone like any other piece of work equipment and leave it at the "office" when done with the work interval. Have you noticed that along with smartphones, we now hyper-track everything? We can't just "be more active" or "walk for an hour," we need to "achieve 10K steps" or "exercise in Zone 2."
Hyper-tracking is necessary, I suppose, if you're training for the Olympics or are a professional athlete, but why is Average Joe/Jane worried about this?
Yes, this is what I do with my tablet, which I need for illustration work. It stays where I use it. The key here is portability. Smartphones wouldn't be such a big problem if they were a. gigantic, or b. chained to the office like a landline!
And yes, tracking is an odd obsession people seem to have these days. You always see people checking their Apple watches on runs. Why? Can't you just trust the feeling/experience? I worry we've outsourced our intuition to machines.
I really want to switch to a dumb phone but my parents pay for my phone plan rn (i’m a teenager) and I’m trying to save up to make the switch because I’ll have to pay for it myself. I used to have a digital camera and now shoot on film, and I prefer it so much to the iphone camera, and I’ve become more intentional when taking photographs (it’s just so expensive i have undeveloped film from months ago). I’m also planning to get an ipod and a reliable watch. I go on bike rides without my phone and feel so free, it’s amazing!!
A question on your digital format pamphlet… does it read sequentially or is it laid out in ‘printer spreads’ so that it can be printed and stapled back into a physical pamphlet? I am an English teacher with middle schoolers and I’m interested in exposing them to this pamphlet, but not in digital form. Thanks!
Hi Steven, it's sequential but I'm happy to send you a file formatted for stapling. Feel free to message or email me.
I deleted all my social media and apps some time ago. Not having Twitter has been the most impactful for my mental health. I am also now having to kick reddit and youtube, the last two remaining apps, because they've managed to suck all my attention in the same way my old apps did. This was almost scary when I realized that basically everything will funnel your attention perfectly for hours of nothing. I cannot remember a single thing I read, saw or cared about on these apps for the last probably five years, striking.
I most revelatory thing is that you feel lonely without it, the apps create between you and everything else a parasocial relationship. You might have it with a place, people you know and people you don't know, and they have it with you, but none of you know or speak about it. I think everyone is now uncomfortable with being lonely because the phone gives you a gratifying "out" whenever it happens. That's been the hardest, but one of the best, things from letting it go, being more comfortable in loneliness or boredom and letting it drive me to action to do something meaningful.
Yesterday another Substack post sent me searching for dumb phones again. I very nearly switched in 2023 but after a vacation interrupted my momentum I kept my iPhone. Back in 2016 I had only a flip phone and a laptop; this was the year I managed to journal everyday, start writing poetry, and finally get back to reading to the tune of 34 books. It seems time to do it again. The image of still being stuck to a screen in a decade is loathsome, and the last thing I want for my children is to become smart phone addicts. How can I expect them to choose an offline life if I set the opposite example?
AMEN!
Living without the internet (at home)
So I did this for 11 months, it was an interesting experience.
For background, I am self-employed writer and painter, and use the internet to make a small living, so have always had, and still have, a home PC connected to the internet with an ethernet cable (none of this wi-fi nonsense).
In October 2023 the price of Virgin Media got silly and they broke my landline, so I sacked them off and did without for 11 months. I stared using the local library for uploading stuff and checking emails, where we get 2 hours access 5 days a week. That was sufficient for working needs, and meant I couldn't listen to Youtube, or do much social media. And being a public space, I had actual social interaction with people - it was a bit like going to the office every day.
So I was having HOURS at home without internet access at all, all evenings and 2 whole days a week. How my brain reacted was quite scarey really. For 3 weeks afterwards my brain was craving the interaction, and it was most unusual - it was difficult to focus on anything, and there was the constant feeling of 'I might-be-missing-out-on-something'. I distracted it by getting audio books on CD from the library, listening to Lord of the Rings. After those few weeks it kinda settled down and was able to spend the evenings reading and just being relaxed. Having many unread books in my house, plus whatever the library could provide, this became a peaceful nirvana. Once you get into a position where you physically cannot check your emails or PMs, then, well, you can't and that's that.
I kept that going for 11 months. What drove me back to getting the internet at home was the censorship in the public library system. Here in the UK the libraries have security software that is designed to prevent children going on the internet and buying guns or learning how to make bombs. But it is a blunt instrument, and it blocks out a lot of military history sites I use for research. That and a new provider at £15 a month fixed for 2 years.
I do actually feel it's a retrograde step, because now I'm spending more times on screens again!
After reading your tweets the past few days and now this. I made the plunge.
My dumbphone should be arriving in the mail soon. For so long I was paralyzed by choice on which one to get, but reading your thoughts made me realize that it was not choice paralysis but rather anxiety at living without my iphone.
I feel a new sense of clarity, and I am approaching this with the knowledge that it is probably going to take time to properly adjust and won’t be instant (which is the whole point! Life is not instant!).
I just wanted to say thank you, I look forward to reading more of your thoughts.
P.S. I think the point that resonates with me the most is what you said about pre internet idols and role models. I love reading obscure first person diaries of napoleonic soldiers and figures and I always feel a sense of dread at the lack of comparative connection and free time in my life. I hope this will help.
Hi Kevin, you can't imagine how much it means that my words have inspired you to take action in your own life. I think you're right to diagnose your decision paralysis as anxiety – or even addict brain? And yes, it will take time to adjust. Please don't feel discouraged if it's uncomfortable (as it should be) or you relapse (happens to the strongest of us) or you don't notice a difference at first. It will take time to uncover who you are and how you think without screens. As I said before, reach out to me if anything comes up. Sending encouragement and gratitude your way!
I read this to my family on the way to Christmas Eve Mass. They really liked it and we might all switch to dumb phones!!!
How do I downgrade?
Research devices made by Kyocera, Sonim, and Sunbeam Wireless.
I want an ally : ) I want a friend. I’m very, very close to ditching my phone for a dumb phone. If you have any logistical advice or resources to share I’m very ready to receive them
Hi! I'm working toward publishing the pamphlet so can't share too much from it, but I'm happy to answer any specific questions you might have about the process of switching. What do you think is holding you back?
I really like listening to music from Spotify, otherwise I'd be happy to get rid of my smartphone. What do you suggest for music?
thank you for writing this. it has given me a lot to think about. i bought a flip phone four years ago and i used it as my primary phone for 7 months. then i had to use my smartphone for school because it was getting too stressful to navigate and keep up. and then i'd forgotten i have a flip phone at all. when it ran out of battery, it became a brick and i never picked it up again. until last year. i'm using it as my secondary phone now. i get calls and texts from it. i use it when i'm out and about. tbh i have a good footing about how i use and balance my smartphone and my flipphone (and my computer because it's where i access social media). but that's only because i thought about my device usage a lot. now i'm thinking more about how i can improve minimizing my time on the internet and my devices.
I also really want to make the switch but the only thing I will miss it the connection between creative people in my city. So I was thinking to hang pin up -boards with a message around the city to show people that there are alternatives to connect and you definitely don't need social media to do that. I'm hoping that slowly people will pin up a message if they want to connect or if they are also going offline or want to work on projects together or something. Do you think that it will work ?
I have had this question for close to a year now. What's the point? I feel like that can go both ways. I'm starting to lean towards when this phone dies I'll just get a flip phone and a nice camera and anything extra can be on an ipad or tablet back at home.