The writer mentioned that both the “Light Phone” and Briohny’s smart “High Sense A9” phone, priced at $480, come with digital screens akin to Kindle screens. Briohny stated, “I personally found that the duller the screen, the easier it was to not get addicted to it.”
The writer pointed out that research supports this claim, as one study showed that simply switching a smartphone to grayscale mode helped people reduce their screen time by 18%.
She noted that the boredom factor with her basic flip phone was reassuring, with its small, dull main screen. However, she faced a challenge in transferring her service from her iPhone’s SIM card to the actual service for the flip phone. Yet, she quickly adapted to typing texts and emojis slowly using just 9 keys.
Writing anything longer than two sentences required immense button pressing, so she replaced texts with calls. This was problematic as most people don’t want their phone to function as a calling device. When friends and family answered her calls, conversations were much deeper than mere text exchanges, with emotions being clear and direct without needing complex emoji deciphering.
A survey by Pew Research Center in 2021 found that 31% of adults reported being “almost constantly online,” a feat only achievable due to the existence of smartphones.
Responding to a colleague’s question, “Do you feel less informed?” she said it wasn’t true as information still reached her, albeit more slowly, through her desktop which displayed news websites, newsletters, and social media.
The writer acknowledged some drawbacks of depriving herself of her smartphone and its apps. Sometimes she couldn’t charge her electric car without the smartphone app. Preplanning was necessary without Google Maps, as she usually relied on it to get anywhere beyond 15 minutes away. She had to search for routes in advance and commit directions to memory, reactivating her neglected navigational skills.
She couldn’t set up her robotic vacuum cleaner, which only operated using an iPhone app, and couldn’t monitor her banking account on its smartphone app, which allowed her to transfer money from her high-yield savings account when it dipped.
She also couldn’t log into many of her online accounts, including her New York Times account which required two-factor authentication via the smartphone app.
Despite these challenges, she managed to go without a smartphone for the month. It was comforting to regularly disconnect from the internet for hours at a time, allowing her to read four books and take long drives with her husband, engaging in conversation instead of remaining immersed in separate auditory worlds with AirPods. She felt she had more time and control over what to do with it.
After about two weeks, she noticed she lost the “thumb twitch,” a physical urge to check her phone in the morning, or while standing at traffic lights, waiting for the elevator, or any other idle moment.
Commenting on the writer’s experiment, Dr. Bowman said it may have made her mind feel freer as if she had more time (both true), but “in our society, it’s hard to maintain that in the long term.”
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