American writer Kashmir Hill shared her experience with switching from a smartphone to a basic phone for a month in an attempt to curb her addiction to the phone, which she was using for over five hours a day. She mentioned that her biggest regret in 2023 was her relationship with her smartphone, which regularly logged screen time exceeding five hours daily, time she spent on various important activities such as work, family text messages, reading news, and communicating with distant friends. However, this activity was increasingly accompanied by a kind of unsettling regret associated with unhealthy behavior.
The writer decided to make a complete change in December 2023 by abandoning her $1300 iPhone 15 for a $108 Orbic phone, a flip phone that can only make phone calls and send text messages. She pointed out that this change was neither easy nor quick, and the decision to “downgrade” to a flip phone was so unreasonable that her telecom company did not allow her to do it over the phone; she had to go to the store.
Her basic flip phone’s battery life was not only comically short but also lost connection when on the move and needed to be restarted to reconnect, but it was the only phone from the minimum options supported by her low-budget mobile carrier. Therefore, the writer advised inquiring with your telecom company about supported models if you want to embark on a similar experience.
The writer reported that there are distinct options with reliable service available, some of which have mapping capabilities, music players, and speech-to-text conversion. According to Jose Breones, who created “Dumbphone Explorer” to help people choose from the 98 models he tried, the minimal phone market has expanded in recent years. Breones (28), who still stays connected enough to manage his sub-site “Dump Phone” and post device reviews on YouTube, uses a smartphone during work hours but switches to a $299 Light Phone 2 at night and on weekends and holidays.
This device was designed to be used for as little time as possible by founders who were discarded by technology developers who measure success by the number of hours users spend glued to their apps. The credit card-sized phone can send text messages, make calls, keep a calendar, play music, and podcasts, but it doesn’t do more than that.
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