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Dumbing down your smart phone

i have been on a journey to untangle my tasks from my iPhone. i'd be out in the world someplace, pull out my phone for something as menial as checking the time, or as well intentioned as capturing the moment in a pic, and immediately get sucked into texts and instagram™️ and all the virtual things happening in this tiny lil demon light box. the goal: pull my phone out of my bag ONLY for phone things. that's texting, calling, and apps that can't be replaced the solutions so far: 🕰️ i started with a watch (shoutout Casio) and i wear it every day. once I broke the habit of checking my phone for the time, I felt legitimately freed from something Major 📷 I bought a small digital camera to leave in my bag. the pics look better and I don’t get distracted by the virtual world when I'm trying to capture something in the now 📚 I bought a kindle. It fits in my jacket pocket (literally) and gives me something to do when I'm on the train or waiting for an appointment that isn't scrolling I just realized so much of the time I spent on my phone was not intentional. It was a thing I was doing in between Other intentional moments. my screen time is still several hours a day (don’t get me wrong) but I think my brain has healed at least 3%. welcoming other ideas as well💡

@carbo

Sep 24, 2024

25

☎️

Dumb phone life

I’ve converted to a flip phone and it’s honestly so fun lol. I think the way we have access to everything, and everyone, in milliseconds is rotting our brains and making us such an entitled society; entitled to other people’s time and energy on demand, their lives, business, etc. but I also think the way we get sucked in with links from app to app, ads, videos, and doomscrolling, everything is designed to be addictive and it leads (at least for me) to less productivity and more procrastination. I think having to work just a little harder, even to do something as simple as research something, can be good for us. So what I’ve done is essentially converted my iPhone to a wifi connected iPod touch like from the old days. I’ve left on certain apps like FaceTime, banking apps, Spotify, kindle app, I kept this one to use occasionally and all my saved recipes on my phone of course, etc. but I leave it in my room and just use it in the morning or before bed for reading or checking emails, music for working out, stuff like that, and leave it at home for everything else. Screen time of course is way down which is nice, it’s also really nice to not feel like I constantly need to be checking something, opening a message on an app, etc. I also have found so far and think it will continue to help me not spend so much money impulsively on things I don’t actually need. Aside from all of the benefits, I think in general I just find it funny and all of my friends think it’s hilarious lol. I’ll have to figure out what I’ll do for airports, maybe bring the old iPhone with me, connect to airport wifi, scan boarding passes with it. I’ll figure that out when I get there.

@saylor

Feb 26, 2025

2

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do a dang digital detox

Not just social media, force yourself to use technology as a tool. no news scrolling. take email off your phone. No TV! break your wordle streak! buy a crossword book instead and give your eyes a little rest 😴 then come back to only the things that make your life better and set strict app limits on everything else!!

@julie

Mar 23, 2025

Top Recs from @saylor

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Sketchy tik tok

So we all think it’s sketchy that Tik Tok is already back right? And that they posted a statement kissing Trump’s ass and making him out to be the one saving Tik Tok when he isn’t even sworn in yet? And now Trump wants the US government to have a 50% ownership, aka turning Tik Tok into state owned media just like I thought was happening. And I’m sure most people won’t be able to stay away from Tik Tok and Meta which is so disappointing. I want nothing to do with Tik Tok now because I know the app as we knew it is already gone at this point.

@saylor

Jan 19, 2025

23

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Get a digital camera!

There’s something about the quality of digital camera photos that make a picture of anything you take look more pleasing (to me anyway). The nostalgia, the saturation, I love them. I have a couple cameras that still work from when I was a kid, but I also bought one on eBay that was similar to one that used to be a favorite of mine. I just throw it in my purse and take it everywhere, and it’s so much more fun than trying to get the “perfect shot,” especially now that I’ve deleted Meta and gone with Pixelfed it seems that people love posting anything from the little things they see or their drinks. It’s making photo sharing fun again! Although, if you do download Pixelfed (which isn’t the point of this post but) I highly recommend using it in your browser on your phone for now, they’ve already made things run smoother from when I first downloaded but they’re definitely still working on the app.

@saylor

Jan 20, 2025

10

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Take yourself out to eat!

So many people are so scared to do things on their own, but it can be so fun and liberating! I’m my own favorite travel partner. You can try fun places without worrying about what someone else is in the mood for, meet so many people, people watch, read, visit museums Or other stops and take all the time you want, etc. I think a lot of people care too much about what others think when they’re seen doing something or dining alone, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter. Starting out, go to a restaurant that has a bar and sit at the bar, you can enjoy your food and maybe a drink, if you get anxious about people talking to you or aren’t having fun people watching, take up watching the sports on the tv to look occupied! Or maybe your solo outing could first be taking yourself on a museum date and getting to spend as much time as you want in each exhibit.

@saylor

Jan 18, 2025

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