i switched to a flip phone and i am never going back
Written by Jeanne Alailima
All images from Pinterest
Smart phones, despite being around for less than twenty years, have become a necessity of everyday life. Just like food, water, and shelter, it seems that technology has come to be thought of as one of our basic physiological needs. I was always fascinated by the idea that something so new within the existence of humans could feel so essential to our survival — to the point where many feel as though they are helpless without their smart devices.
It’s easy to feel inadequate in navigating our technology-driven society without the constant aid of a smartphone. I, like many, began to notice this pattern of dependency within my own life, which is what set me on the path towards switching to a flip phone: it’s not that people aren’t aware of the downsides of smartphone addiction, they just feel helpless to stop it. Let’s make no mistake; this helplessness is entirely by design.
As a society, we’ve become desensitized to the harms of excessive technology usage, propelling ourselves into a constant cycle of dismissive excuses for why smartphones ultimately do us more good than harm. We often tell ourselves that it’s not that bad or that alternatives would be far worse, but, just as humans have existed for centuries, a life without a smartphone is possible, and, if I may, more fulfilling. Smartphones have been seamlessly integrated into every facet of our lives, a constant and pervasive threat to our dwindling attention.
This continuous connectivity has blurred the boundaries that make up different parts of our lives by creating an expectation to be reachable at all times. It’s impossible to enjoy time with a friend without constant notifications that are demanding your response. A quick glance at the time has the power to derail your focus by revealing unread text messages, and even if you choose to reply to those messages later, you’ve already become less present in whatever you were doing before — and you probably forgot to check the time too.
It’s unnatural to have this much stimulation, and it can often feel like a Sisyphean task to read and respond to everything. We’re all exhausted.
There truly is very little fulfillment in most of these online exchanges: I’d given up conversational texting months before I switched to a flip phone because I found it to be almost meaningless (I would even go as far as to say that it detracts from the experience of seeing that person face to face since you have one less thing to talk about: Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism expands on this idea much better than I can). Phone calls are my preferred mode of reaching people, with texting relegated to pure utility.
Many may agree with my criticisms of technology, but hesitate at the suggestion of taking a drastic step like switching to a flip phone. After all, why can’t one just exert better self control? And while, of course, it is possible to strike a balance (as I’ve seen many do through limiting app notifications, setting screen time limits, etc.), I personally found it exhausting to have to work against the very nature of my smartphone in order to get it to function in the way that I wanted it to. I’ve found that the permanence of a flip phone wins out to easily toggled app limits; substantial actions are necessary to create substantial change. Switching to a flip phone is certainly not a decision that works for everyone, but for those that seek technological simplicity, it’s an effective solution.
Still, it took me a full year of consideration before I actually made the switch, and after a little over two months, I have no intention of going back. The T-9 texting navigating the phone certainly took a bit of getting used to, but after a few days I got the hang of it, and I’ve grown to love having tactile buttons to press instead of a touch screen. It didn’t take long for me to notice drastic changes in the way that I treated my phone.
For one, it made me excruciatingly aware of how much others are on their phones. Riding on the train, waiting in lines, or even having a conversation with someone, it’s hard to ignore how normalized it is to fill every spare moment with entertainment. Obviously, I don’t have anything on my phone that I can use to passively entertain myself in these circumstances, but I’ve found a lot of peace in just existing with my thoughts.
Even as someone who had a very low screen time before switching, I was amazed at how much my technology usage was eating away at my day. I don’t check my flip phone for at least an hour after waking up, and I’ve started a routine of reading first thing in the morning — I had always put it off, but it’s added so much value to my life.
I’m often asked about why I go so far to make my life inconvenient for the sake of digital simplicity. This question has come to be somewhat frustrating to explain to people, especially given that the inconvenience is the reason I made the switch to a flip phone. Convenience is, first and foremost, the enemy of critical thinking: it undermines our ability–and will–to come up with new and engaging thoughts. We live in a world of instant gratification that has made us believe than an immediate result is always better than nothing, but it would benefit us all to become more comfortable with the feeling of not knowing.
The flip phone that I purchased, the TCL-Flip3, actually came with more apps than I bargained for; it’s equipped with Google Maps, the internet, and even email — all of the things people feel that they are giving away with their smartphone. But, unlike a smartphone, these apps are so inconvenient to navigate that nobody uses them unless they actually needed to. There is no such thing as a casual Google search on this phone (scrolling moves pixel by pixel), but I know that if I should ever find myself in a pinch, I would have these apps available to me. I haven’t had a reason to do so yet, and I often find gratification in navigating places without Google Maps, amusement in not having the answer to something I would have Googled, and a much better ability to spell things now that I don’t have access to spellcheck. Having a flip phone has gotten rid of the impulse to immediately offload the task of problem solving, and I feel that I am better at adapting to difficulty as a result.
There truly is no one-size-fits all approach to creating a healthy relationship with technology, and even though switching to a flip phone has done wonders for me, it is simply not realistic for everyone’s life. I hope that, at the very least, you have developed a healthy dose of skepticism towards the ways that technology demands our attention.
