Black Brick
I think I’ve matured as a person.
Denial
I remember 2 years ago, I was sat around the table with friends and someone made a comment about how I loved using my phone. I shrugged it off. Of course I wasn’t going to admit I was addicted to my phone. I knew that I was on my phone quite a bit but never realised the extent I was reliant on it. I was active on a few social platforms (still to this day). I never really thought of using them less, but I can see myself back then complaining about a few days without Instagram, for example. The same friends later mentioned I should get off my phone, I denied ever being addicted to it. This prompted my descent into the rabbit hole of phone addiction.
Anger
I went home that evening and actually thought about it. I understood I liked my phone, I always had understood that, yet that same night I realised the fact I was addicted. I used the term lightly, addicted in the sense that I couldn’t go a few days without it. I was dissapointed in my phone usage, nearly reaching 5-6 hours per day on it, most of it being social media.
Every man has two lives, and the second starts when he realizes he has just one
Confucius
I saw this quote on my daily Instagram feed that night. It just hit me. I put my phone flat on the table and stared at my blank screen of my PC. My brain processed that quote for some reason, compared to the hundreds of other inspirational reels. The quote simmered in my brain for a minutes and I fully understood I had to take steps towards improving my life, considering I wasn’t proud of my past relationships, friends and partner wise. The first step in my self-improvement was to get rid of my phone addiction.
Bargaining
And so my journey began. The first step I took towards improving my screen time was the simplest step I could think of: un-installing. I un-installed Instagram, right after making a post to my story announcing my future lack of presence on the platform; which I admit was a bit corny. This worked well for the first few days, fueled by my motivation to heal my addiction. A feeling of FOMO hit me so I simply went to YouTube. YouTube was much better, in my opinion, due to the arguably more educational content the long-form content provided. A few weeks later I caught myself watching YouTube Shorts, which literally stopped me in my footsteps, walking in town. YouTube Shorts simply replaced Instagram Reels, completely defeating the whole purpose. I laughed to myself.
I then relapsed back to Instagram Reels, mostly due to me friends telling me I was missing out on videos people posted on their accounts. I devised a different plan to reduce my screen time. I took a figurative step back and put time limits on the app (on iOS that is). Start slow, you know? This method worked well for longer than I expected, nearly 4 months (which looking back isn’t a long time). However I build a muscle memory to dismiss the time-limit notification. I watched a few videos just recently and I understood why people do that. Social media apps (and OS developers alike) use time limit notifications for two scenarios:
Oh sure, I’ll take a break!
Some people take the suggestion of taking a break from the app, which subconsciously makes people more comfortable with the app, building trust. This also encourages people to spend more time on the app itself.
Don’t tell me what to do!
Some people, on the other hand, rebel against the warning to take a break. This directly puts them back on the app. So more time spent on the app.
Either way, the user is spending their precious time on the app, whether or not they want to.
I then swapped my phone to the Google Pixel 6, that I won at the Hack @ Google summer camp in Zurich, Switzerland. I promptly moved everything from my iPhone XR onto my Pixel, and accustomed myself to the Android experience. (So far so good)
Depression
Depression hit maybe a month and a half before this post was written (so about April of 2024). I decided to order a flip phone, but which one? My dreaded return to Reddit was guaranteed now. I went on to the r/dumbphones subreddit to do some reaserch on which phones I could use to simplify my smart phone usage, yet while still having a useful device in my right hand pocket. I was genuinly shocked by the amount of people that shared my problem.
Acceptance
The r/dumphones subreddit really broadened my view to the dumbphone concept, which I had generally had assumed was only Nokias and the sort. People would carry all these niche asian designed smartphones from the early 2010’s using custom firmwares or designs. This was to make these now obselete phones (due to a halt in production and features) veritable tools for day to day use. One device that caught my eye was the Cat S22 Flip, a rugged and waterproof device designed for the worksite. It fit my tastes perfectly, due to my climbing addiction and love for the outdoors (and considering I’m clumsy and drop things quite often).
The Cat S22 Flip is a flip phone that runs Android 9 GO, which has full support to the Play Store and can donwload any app you can think of. I read that most people had their apps that caused their addictions on their S22s and yet they never used them. The screen size of the flip phone is at a size where it’s practical for day to day use, yet is inefficient at releasing dopamine when scrolling on social media.
Join me
I’m aware that sounds like a John Lennon song but seriously, I really recommend going on a “digital detox” (however ridiculed that word is) for a little bit. It’s a greate experience for all, however addicted to their phones. The Cat S22 Flip can be found on eBay at around $65 (excluding shipping) and has a large community, ensuring you can find answers to your questions. Another product that helps me focus while studying, for example, is the BLOCK Phone Blocker, which is an extremely (yet overpriced) farraday cage for your phone. It prevents your phone from recieving any signal, from cell-signal to WiFi, allowing you to completely disconnect when you need to do so.
Let’s all make our inefficient black bricks in our pockets something of worth again.