"The flip phone thing started as an empty threat. It was late December, the shortest, darkest days of the year, and I was still on new hire probation, cloistered in a mostly empty office building during the week bookended by Christmas and New Year's. My first desk job meant that I was spending more time than ever alone, with little other than a screen to keep me company. And so, to fill my otherwise empty days, I scrolled."
"Istarted poking around the Internet for alternatives to the many functions my iPhone performed. I read Wirecutter articles about refurbished mp3 players and Reddit comment threads on car dashboard-mounted GPSs. I asked my parents if they still had their handheld digital camera in a junk drawer somewhere. The trickiest thing to replace, I realized, would be talking and texting."
A six-month period living with a flip phone began as a reaction to overwhelming news and constant social media engagement. Constant exposure to headlines and algorithm-driven controversy produced anxiety and a sense that technology was manipulative rather than liberating. The experiment involved seeking practical replacements for smartphone functions, including refurbished mp3 players, dashboard GPS units, and handheld cameras. The most difficult functions to substitute proved to be voice calls and texting, highlighting that reducing reliance on smartphones requires more than turning devices off—it requires viable, intentional alternatives and structural shifts in digital systems.
Read at The Nation
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