2mo ago

Is America headed for an age of dumb phones?

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2mo ago

Is America Headed for an Age of Dumb Phones?

www.businessinsider.com /appstinence-movement-tech-lovers-dumping-smartphones-age-of-dumb-phones-2025-5

21 comments

No. A very small number of people is.
- BI is one of the biggest culprits of trying to push social trends in a ridiculous, serflike direction, and then they wonder why their 'prestige' has dropped to the level of rag.
  
  Genuine question - can you speak more on how this article would promote a social trend in a "serflike" direction? I've been thinking about switching to a "dumb phone" for the same reasons as the person in the article, and I've seen it as a potential reclamation of my time and attention to the present moment.
  BI definitely publishes a lot of nonsense, but I feel like I'm not fully understanding your meaning.

America is headed for an age of dumb.

- I wish popular cell phones would offer an eink option. I know there are 1-2 phones out there, but they always seem to be on some ancient version of Android.
  
  If my kindle played audio files / podcasts that would be half of what I use it for.
  
  The best one is a Chinese only one that is a massive struggle to get GApps on it. It can be rooted now, but still not exactly an easy phone to set up for Western use without caveats.
  Boox Palma was so close. It just needed cellular capability.

Paywall removed https://archive.is/9zoA9

I'm all for reexamining how we use our time and I'm definitely trying to get myself off always looking St my phone when I'm not doing anything.
But why does that mean buying a new product? You can change your behavior by just not looking at those things. And when you do legitimately need to have your phone to check something, you can develop the discipline to do that one thing and then put it away. Just seems like the obvious move.
- I agree with you in concept, but I think in practice people struggle with the self discipline, and that's kind of the fundamental problem with apps (and particularly algorithm-based social media). I've set timers to limit my usage of certain apps, including my Lemmy app, to encourage mindful use, but I can understand why someone might want or need more of an enforced limitation.
  You might not replace your current phone with a "dumb" device, but when it's time to get a new device eventually, you could ask yourself if less-smart device might meet both your functional and other needs.
  Edit: I guess to me this is kind of like: why are people overweight? They can just not eat as much. And while that's technically true - and advice I follow - it's apparently not that easy for everyone. If it was, we wouldn't see problems as pervasively as we do.
- As somebody who has in recent years changed habits like this, I agree with you. But its a harsh change at first.
  Turning off most notifications is a key step. It changes your mentality from reaction to your device to a proactive action at a chosen time. It's a huge shift and well worth it.
  Then I started turning my services off at times. No, I don't need to take a call while driving or check messages in the store. That stuff can wait.
  My overall logic is that I don't need to make myself available to any and everyone at any and every time.
  Sure, sometimes it bites me in the butt as far as convenience, however my quality of life has improved overall. I am very protective of my time and mental attention now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
  I highly recommend taking small measures to test the waters. Then increase as you acclimate to it.
- You think we should bring back dumbphones because it will help us use social media less
  I think we should bring back dumbphones because it would make the devices more interesting and creative
  I am become the Joker