長々と剥いた

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.

Since about this time last year, I have been watching a webcam of a nest of Peregrine Falcons on the top of the campanile on UC Berkeley's campus. This time of year is breeding season, so I watched last year as eggs were incubated, hatched, and chicks were raised by the resident campanile pair, Annie and Grinnell. Here's their website, where you can find the webcams and other information about the falcons/links to their social media. And here's a direct Youtube link to the nest cam; there are also two other cameras aimed at other areas surrounding the nest box.

One thing I really enjoyed about watching as the chicks grew, raised by Annie and Grinnell, was a sort of existential reflection on life and "carrying on". Falcons are approaching as different and separate from humans as an animal can get (I would compare to a dog or a raccoon, for instance, where they're clearly not human in any sense, but we live more closely with them, and they resemble the way we look/live more, even just as fellow "four-legged" mammals.) With this in mind, as I watched Annie feed her three helpless babies, and I watched those babies grow, reaching for the chunks of pigeon meat that their parents dangled above their mouths, I felt a certain sense of the completeness and continuity of life. What compels these birds to nest and raise these broods? There is an intense attention and protection Annie and Grinnell display during this time, although I don't believe that this continues past the moment when the child birds leave the nest. It's almost business-like, since we "know" that these birds don't care for each other or for their children past an instinctual level. That aspect of it, though, is what made it so touching for me. Like, life continues--and there is an instinctual aspect to all this, to continuing on (not just as an individual, but the life on earth itself). In addition, falcons are carnivores, and they eat primarily other birds (the campanile birds eat a lot of pigeons), so there's that aspect too, of life and death, so closely tied together.

As I mentioned earlier, it's breeding season, so Annie had laid two eggs with Grinnell by the end of March, and we were expecting a third (I don't know that much, but I think three must be an average size for falcon broods. Last year there were four eggs, and three of them hatched). Then there was some tragic news; on March 31st, Grinnell was found dead in Berkeley. I have to admit I was hit pretty hard by this news--not devastated, or anything, but I did shed a few tears for Grinnell, and for the potential loss of the brood, since Annie wouldn't raise a brood by herself. Grinnell had been living atop the campanile for several years, and had raised several broods with Annie (they were mated, and I don't know the extent of what this means to falcons, but they were "living together" and raised several chicks together over a period of years). It was tragic news to the falcon cam watchers.

It's been ten days since then, and a "New Guy" has started wooing Annie (and she's laid another egg since Grinnell died, which is a good sign). From what I understand, another falcon coming in during breeding season and "adopting" the previous partner's eggs is uncommon but definitely not unheard of. At this point, I think we can be sure that Annie and New Guy will be incubating and hatching the eggs together--he's been incubating them, and been delivering prey to Annie (and she's been eating it). I'm so relieved by this personally--I loved watching the nest last year and was honestly really looking forward to it--and it's exciting to see New Guy get involved with the eggs and with Annie, since he has different behaviors than Grinnell did.

These birds continue to give me perspective as well as interest and entertainment, which is more than I can say for a lot of my past times. I'm sad and longing for Grinnell, but happy and hopeful for the future of the brood and for "New Guy" (who is supposed to get an official name sometime soon).

As a bonus, here's a tweet from today about a behavior called "loafing" and a falcon fact--male peregrine falcons are called "tiercel"s, which comes from the fact that they are about one third smaller than the females.