The Anti-Smartphone Revolution

Correction: The Lightphone 2 actually has GPS and music capabilities.

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--- "New Thinking" written by Dagogo Altraide ---
This book was rated the 9th best technology history book by book authority.
In the book you’ll learn the stories of those who invented the things we use everyday and how it all fits together to form our modern world.

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//Soundtrack//

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Producer: Dagogo Altraide

[Moon-Real]

Minimising my internet usage felt like dropping a drug addiction.

At first you feel empty or that your missing out, you feel twitchy without that dopamine hit.

But after a week your mind is so much fresher, you’re mental health better and you feel just so much healthier.

Great video.

[phanCAbe]

There's a huge difference here in what they're actually talking about. What all of these people are getting rid of is social media and other time wasting apps. We don't need to actively move backward technologically we just need to normalize the removal of these depressing and time wasting apps.

[latensi]

It's not about internet connection. The anxiety comes from social media and how it's structured. You can totally learn how to use your smartphone for only smart things. First step is to delete all social media apps and mute all non-important notifications. You'll get used to it, and you can still enjoy your camera, music and educative apps etc.

[dommontreal]

I was on vacation in the Caribbean recently. I was completely without cellphone or computer. One evening, I went outside the hotel to admire the stars in the sky. When I came back in the lobby, I saw every tourist watching their smartphone and talking to nobody.


I have a smartphone, but I leave it home almost all the time. When I come back home from work, I look if I didn’t receive any call, and then I leave the phone there if I don’t have any phone call to make. I take the phone with me only if I know I will absolutely need it. What I like the most to do when I queue or when I’m in the bus, it’s reading a book.

[rickintexas]

I’m 59 and am a mechanical engineer. I have used technology to create other technologies my entire career. I have been using computers since the 70s. My iPhone is a tool. I refuse to let it take over my life. When I get a new phone the first thing I do is delete the Facebook app and other time wasters.

I travel a lot for work so the gps function is a huge benefit. Plus having access to monitor email is a great capability.

I feel bad for the modern generations that have let this powerful tool take over their lives.

[zeniktorres]

I use my smartphone as a dumb phone. But I find in certain situations having access to email, scanning ability, banking app, and a few other features are very useful when needed. You just need to delete time-wasting apps and minimise notifications and a bit of self control.

[Michal_Kosakowski]

I was born in a place and time where barely anyone had even a landline. I love the mind blowing possibilities my smartphone gives me. Searching, navigation, education and communicating with others in much better, quicker and easier ways, to name just a few.

I don't have any social media apps and most notifications from other ones are muted. Never felt like my phone makes my life worse in any way. It's that simple. Keep the good stuff, get rid of bad.

I knew people addicted to texting, before the smartphones were a thing. Downgrading the tech is not going to change much for them.

Smartphones are just a tool. It's how you use them makes it good or bad. You can build a home with a hammer or kill people with it.

Peoples' lack of self control and wrong intentions are the problem, not the tool itself.

[momotsukkii]

I really hate what smart phones and social media have done to my family relationships. I get ignored so often by several family members bc they keep picking up their phones while I'm trying to talk to them. When I ask them to stop using their phones while we're talking they get mad at me. Even my mom does this to me. She's one of the worst. I hate it so much. It's a constant anxiety for me whenever I'm trying to talk to them. I miss the old days when my mom and my siblings had regular phones and actually cared to talk to me properly.

[Mutual_Information]

Personal method that works for me: “The phone zone”.

Whenever I’m trying to focus, I place my phone in a separate part of my apartment. It slightly raises the cost of checking it (energy to get up and the feeling I’m breaking a rule), so checking it happens a lot less often.

[loiuhuiygnyguyguiygk]

As an app designer for the past 10 years I completely understand this. You have no idea how many addictive behaviors we try push into apps to get users to stay on longer, how many studies we have around our users movement through our apps... It's dehumanizing humanity in the worst way possible and i'm sick of it. I use a Nokia 3310 in my freetime, and at work i have my android/iphone for testing... but i no longer use them when i am home or off work.

[markaboyce]

I love this concept, but I think I've just matured enough to where I actually use my smartphone like a dumb phone most of the time.

[wplants]

I stopped all social media years ago which felt great!! But now I’m addict to YouTube 😑😑

[CaynesDub]

Here's a crazy idea: Delete your social media and turn off all notifications that are unnecessary. These things can actually be pretty helpful when used properly.
My battery lasts for about two and a half days on a single charge, because I put it back in my pocket whenever I'm done answering a message or googling something. I actually often find myself in the situation where I don't know what to do besides from that and taking pictures.

[incremental_failure]

The issue isn't smartphones, the issue is social media. I rarely check my notifications, it's typically on silent. Living in a foreign country in a city you don't know that well, navigation is incredibly valuable. Ordering food and shopping is another aspect. Never mind the banking and verification apps.

[MrEnKaye]

Fun fact for smartphone peeps that want to "go dumb" to try it out: most modern smartphones have an "ultra power saving" mode that greatly reduces the capabilities of the phone (text/call only, limited internet capacity, no social media) and it's really good for focusing while still having access to those features when necessary.

[ArcWelder]

Sometimes I think about the fact that I cant remember what I had for lunch yesterday but a company in India knows my eating habits from a year ago based on scanning a QR code

[CringeSamurai]

Bottom line: get rid of social media and apps that waste your time. Whether you achieve that by using a dumb phone, or by simply deleting them is your choice.

[boofriggityhoo]

When my phone broke in college, I didn't replace it. Due to family issues at the time, every notification that buzzed my phone alive filled me with dread; I wanted control over when information could interrupt my day, and have the option of being unreachable. I eventually got a phone years later as a hand-me-down gift, but it taught me just how important having that option was. I eventually abandoned all social media and never regained the habit of checking my phone regularly. It's also impossible for me to ignore how normalized this lack of boundaries between a person's life and the internet has become and how much that warps people's perspectives. Connectivity is a two-way street: To be constantly reachable, you must be constantly available - even if just mentally - and that is a stressful way to live. I am glad more people are rediscovering how refreshing it is to be a guest on the Internet rather than a permanent resident.

[RodKB]

Having kids at 7 and 5 yo who are constantly asking when they can get a smartphone like many of their classmates, it has been a dilemma. I think it is a shame that parents allow their kids to start this so early. I can see dumbphones or midphones as an alternative start-up for them sometime in the future.

[TheBlaert]

I haven't used social media in probably 10 years except for Youtube. What struck me is the fakeness of it. On Facebook I knew people who posted pictures of how great their lives were, nice cars and house, happy family etc but I knew in reality they were in debt to their eyeballs and the parents hated each others guts
On another note I have my original Sony Ericsson W810i from 2006, on the original battery. I still use it when I'm hiking in bad weather as a music phone.