I was playing board games recently, and while bored, I looked around and saw a dumb phone being passed around on a table.
Imagine an old Nokia with number keys and a tiny square screen. But it’s running Android, and this guy, fully present in the moment, was setting up his Clock app, and using it as a timer for a game of Monikers.
It was so cool.
For a while now, I’ve been trying to reduce my phone usage. But it hasn’t really stuck.
I don’t know what it was, but something about this moment, combined with New Year Energy inspired me to try again.
I want to move over completely to a dumb phone.
For now though, I’ll just try experimenting with something less extreme first: just making my phone kinda dumb and as boring possible. Would it work as well as a dumb phone?
I’ve removed all social media apps (except for messaging), and I’ve made everything grayscale. All the beautiful colors the human eye can see, gone. Now I just have a boring brick.
How has the week been?
It’s been a mix. On one hand, I’ve undoubtedly reduced my phone usage. Every day, I’ve used my phone less.
There was even a day where I basically didn’t touch my phone, and from morning to night, the battery went down 15%.
But that’s when I realized screen time wasn’t the point.
The point was that I was still carrying around a full featured smartphone and I was still reaching for it whenever I was bored. There was the undeniable pull of a magic rectangle in my pocket.
And despite not having social media or “fun” apps anymore, I was still finding ways to entertain myself by browsing random websites I didn’t even want to visit.
I think I need to go full dumb phone.
Maybe this is me romanticizing it all, but I think there is a special commitment when a person goes full dumb phone.
It’s a dedication and a promise. “When I’m with my friends, I want to fully be there.” And “when I’m trying to get things done, I want to commit my full attention to it.”
I think this was partly why that board game night moment spoke to me so much. I want to be fully present.
So far, I’ve procrastinated on getting a dumb phone because I use my phone camera a lot (partly true and partly an excuse). But I could always just carry a camera around if I need to.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a scary leap. But I want to try.
I have very little to lose, and I have a whole world to gain.