Screens cause great damage to the human spirit without a single benefit. (Feature Phone Post 1)

[ebaths]

I recently decided I had to upgrade my iPhone 8. I’ve been on a slow, steady attempt to reign in my technology usage. Within the last six months I’ve deleted Twitter (the app, then my account), Instagram (just the app), and Youtube (just the app…I still use Youtube in the browser. It’s a work in progress). This has been overall extremely good. When I decided to upgrade, I had an opportunity to exit the Apple environment and possibly exit the smartphone altogether.

When I explore “anti-technology” discussions, I often see the sentiment “the phone itself isn’t the problem; the problem is how we use the phone”. I disagree—there’s definitely levels of phone usage (“scrolling apps” like Twitter, Pinterest, or Tiktok are way different than Email, Messages, or Kindle) but absolving the phone is wrong. The screen itself is addictive. A smartphone without any apps would naturally be less addictive than one with apps, but a smartphone with just Email and Photos is still addictive and coaxes the user to keep picking it up. I’ve found myself mindlessly refreshing Email. EMAIL!

I think this effect exists with all technology to some extent. I remember being a child and being so interested in my mom’s Nokia 3120 I constantly wanted to use it. Not even playing games, I just wanted to mess with it and change the ringtones and stuff. I don’t think this is unique only to me or only to a certain subset of children, I think these little pieces of technology are obsession-building for us. Screens, in general, are very distracting. I think it’s a common problem that people can’t focus in a room that has a TV on, even if the program is nothing interesting to them.

The beautiful screen is the killer. I firmly believe that owning a Nokia 3120 is more positive than negative in a person’s life; I do not believe this about owning an iPhone.

And I have one! I have a damn iPhone!

So I considered getting a “dumb phone” or “feature phone,” basically a phone that doesn’t have all the features of a current gen smartphone. Oftentimes, these also are in a different form factor (no touch screen, T9 keyboard, etc). The king of feature phone reviews is Jose Briones, if you’re interested in shopping around for one he’s who I’d go to first to get your bearings on what’s available.

Assuming that, if you want to downgrade, you want to minimize what your phone can do, I’d start by making a list of “required” apps that you wouldn’t want to live without. For me, it looks like this:

• Calling and Texting. When I think about it, the main reason I’d carry a cell phone in the first place is so that my girlfriend can call me when I’m out of the house. I think most people would agree that having a device that allows the people you live with to contact you when you’re out is extremely useful. I don’t really need all my other contacts to be able to contact me at any time, though.
• Navigation. I have lived without this as an adult, for the year I lived in Japan and didn’t have cell service. It’s not that bad actually, but it requires that I do a lot of pre-planning before I go places. There are many situations where I feel a lot more comfortable having a navigation app to help me get back home. I think that navigation apps are an overall boon to modern life. I would like to lessen my reliance on them (or constant use of them, even when I really don’t need them). If you’re like me, I would recommend trying out not using navigation apps for a few days. Pre-plan your routes and don’t look at maps when you’re out. You might enjoy it!
• Rideshare services. I hate to say this, but I do actually think that these are basically irreplaceable. Ergh, I don’t know. They’re not irreplaceable. But there’s those few-and-far-between times when they make the difference between an irritating day and the worst day of your year so far. I’m pro-taxi but there’s definitely times when a taxi is significantly less useful than a rideshare app, just realistically. Obviously people (and I) lived without them in the modern world. I mean I probably take like three rideshares a year total so I’m definitely not a brand ambassador. My final thought on the subject: I don’t always need access to Uber, but when I’m in an unknown location, I want access to it.

When you figure out what features you actually need in a phone, you can start considering the models that will work for you. Some are super simple and only have a few apps, some are basically full smart phones but just add a bit of friction to everything.

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's a good analysis.

I'm not sure I agree that the screen itself is inherently addictive. I do know that many software programs are heavily engineered to be addictive; people knowingly and maliciously did this for the sake of sucking money out of victims. But just because some people make abusive programs does not necessarily means that all programs must be abusive or that the base tech itself is inherently addictive. You'd have to test for that with a blank but lit screen, and I don't think people would find that very attractive for anything but a flashlight.

I grew up near an Amish community, so I use their core principle: "Before adopting a new piece of technology, first determine if it will do more harm than good. If so, do not adopt it." I draw the line in a different place than they do, but I draw it, and most modern people never even stop to think if a new gadget will be beneficial or harmful.

The details may vary from one person to another. I don't use a smartphone, partly because I hate phones, partly because I'm a privacy advocate, and partly because the fancier the tech the more likely I'll fry it just by existing in the same room. I am attached to my desktop computer, which ... mostly works. I could still write without it, but in today's marketplace I probably couldn't sell things without it. So for me, the benefits outweigh the costs and risks for a desktop, but not for a smartphone.

You have to think about what kind of life you want to live, how you want to spend your time. I'm a wordsmith, so I spend a lot of time writing, and a desktop is the best tool I've found for this. Unless I want to last for ages, then I'm back to writing it on clay and firing it. Yes, I've done that; yes, in this modern life. And then I chuck it in the nearest landfill because every archaeologist makes a beeline for the middens, so that's where you put things if you want to talk to the future.

I also spend a goodly part of my time outdoors yardening. For this I like hand tools. Okay, I love modern metal tools. But if I need something quick, I am very likely to pick up a stick or a rock, which are the oldest tools humans have used. Hair algae in the trough water garden? A stick! Need to pin down the bag of bulbs so it doesn't flap around? A rock!

Think about the kind of life you want to live, what you'll need to do that, and what will get in the way of that. It may or may not be what other people want. If you're making very different choices from the usual, people can be brutal about it. But you can't let other people live your life for you. You're the one who has to deal with it. So choose your tools mindfully, and try not to sabotage yourself with bad ones.