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.
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.
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 am really excited about this but not sure where to start or how to think of it. With the pamphlet still forthcoming, is there anywhere else I can find your writing or learn more for starting this process? THANK YOU for your work.
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!!
Just wrote about this and my hate for Whatsapp (I live in Europe) and I miss those days, I definitely do because even though I didn't find my people until much later, the fact was it allowed me to explore my creativity and without so much damn comparison! It's becoming too much! I hate promoting my stuff on comments but if you would like to know what it was like, my last post talks about it a bit. Also miss printed media, owning CDs and getting film for my camera. My ipod nano was great and I do like wireless headphones for the gym but I think we surpassed useful to just too much.
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?
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've been thinking about ditching my smartphone for months and not been able to muster up the strength to make the change- your writings might be the final push I needed! I feel that I lose so much time to it, filling my head with meaningless stimulation instead of dedicating that time to my creative interests. It really is an addiction. I'll be very interested to read your pamphlet when it's ready.
You summarize the paradigm nicely: meaningless stimulation vs. creative interests. I want us all to have more time for the latter, and for whatever else makes us feel alive and present.
Nowadays I own two smartphones: the personal and the professional one that the company where I work provide me. Last week I started to leave at home the personal smartphone on purpose. It feel incredible not to carry two anvils in my pocket and to realize that I spend 00:00:00 screen-time when I get home (and checking that nobody called or texted me anyways).
Another thing curious thing about all this is: why we, the digitally average people whose lives are not economically dependent on tech-social media, and sometimes without social media presence (which is my case), are so unhealthily attracted to the lack of notifications/interactions and with persistent FOMO? Shouldn't we be calmer and more peaceful than an influencer or a social media average user?
Hi August, I feel *desperate* to free myself from the tyranny of my smartphone.
I did read Lanier's 10 arguments several years ago, and did delete all of my social media accounts, which felt wonderful but, over the past couple of years, I created new ones when dealing with what had been diagnosed as a terminal illness and felt I needed to connect with as many people in my life as quickly as possible, and, now clear of the disease, I have allowed my phone and its apps to stealthily creep back occupy ridiculous amounts of my time and energy.
I would love to read your pamphlet as I can't seem to find my way out of the forest of dependency on googlemaps and dual authentication and all the rest.
Whilst it sounds like it will be money very well spent, the $40 for a copy shipped to the UK is prohibitive for me for the next few weeks - if there were any possibility for a digital copy/concessionary fee, I would be very grateful.
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!
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.
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.
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 am really excited about this but not sure where to start or how to think of it. With the pamphlet still forthcoming, is there anywhere else I can find your writing or learn more for starting this process? THANK YOU for your work.
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!!
Just wrote about this and my hate for Whatsapp (I live in Europe) and I miss those days, I definitely do because even though I didn't find my people until much later, the fact was it allowed me to explore my creativity and without so much damn comparison! It's becoming too much! I hate promoting my stuff on comments but if you would like to know what it was like, my last post talks about it a bit. Also miss printed media, owning CDs and getting film for my camera. My ipod nano was great and I do like wireless headphones for the gym but I think we surpassed useful to just too much.
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?
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've been thinking about ditching my smartphone for months and not been able to muster up the strength to make the change- your writings might be the final push I needed! I feel that I lose so much time to it, filling my head with meaningless stimulation instead of dedicating that time to my creative interests. It really is an addiction. I'll be very interested to read your pamphlet when it's ready.
You summarize the paradigm nicely: meaningless stimulation vs. creative interests. I want us all to have more time for the latter, and for whatever else makes us feel alive and present.
Great writing.
Nowadays I own two smartphones: the personal and the professional one that the company where I work provide me. Last week I started to leave at home the personal smartphone on purpose. It feel incredible not to carry two anvils in my pocket and to realize that I spend 00:00:00 screen-time when I get home (and checking that nobody called or texted me anyways).
Another thing curious thing about all this is: why we, the digitally average people whose lives are not economically dependent on tech-social media, and sometimes without social media presence (which is my case), are so unhealthily attracted to the lack of notifications/interactions and with persistent FOMO? Shouldn't we be calmer and more peaceful than an influencer or a social media average user?
Hi August, I feel *desperate* to free myself from the tyranny of my smartphone.
I did read Lanier's 10 arguments several years ago, and did delete all of my social media accounts, which felt wonderful but, over the past couple of years, I created new ones when dealing with what had been diagnosed as a terminal illness and felt I needed to connect with as many people in my life as quickly as possible, and, now clear of the disease, I have allowed my phone and its apps to stealthily creep back occupy ridiculous amounts of my time and energy.
I would love to read your pamphlet as I can't seem to find my way out of the forest of dependency on googlemaps and dual authentication and all the rest.
Whilst it sounds like it will be money very well spent, the $40 for a copy shipped to the UK is prohibitive for me for the next few weeks - if there were any possibility for a digital copy/concessionary fee, I would be very grateful.
How do I downgrade?
Thanks for writing this.
Intrigued by your pamphlet!! Sign me up.
I want the pamphlet!! lol