This is already being built from a company with a similar vision : Lite Phone
https://www.thelightphone.com/
Lite Phone 2: Campaign https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light-phone-2-design#/
Dumber phone
11–20 of 347 posts
Re: Dumber phone
#12Way ahead of you here. I've upgraded to the original Nokia 3310 years ago, and it does the trick.
> I've upgraded to the original Nokia 3310 years ago, and it does the trick.
I wish there was a "dumbphone" that supported and extremely small number of utility apps, like Signal.
Re: Dumber phone
#13Personally, I would love a flip phone with a removable battery and a physical button on the side to turn WiFi hotspot functionality on/off -- with OFF being the default. Having a phone that you only need to charge once a week is a great feature!
A coworker of mine recently picked up a Nokia 3310[1] for that exact same reason/purpose.
Re: Dumber phone
#14I adhere to a lot of these rules myself and have recently noticed peers doing the same.
Another I'd add that really makes the phone boring is putting it in grayscale mode. On iOS: Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Color Filters > Grayscale. Then you can set the Accessibility Shortcut to Color Filters, and when you triple click the home button your phone goes grayscale.
I don't have it on 24/7, but do enable it any time I feel myself getting sucked in too frequently.
Re: Dumber phone
#15Good write up I’ve been working on a similar trajectory for my own smartphone usage. I’ve toyed with getting a dumb weekend phone but I think this might be the way to go. I don’t want to ignore technology I just want to make sure I’m in control as much as possible.
Re: Dumber phone
#16Thank you to the author for a thoughtful, nuanced take complete with actionable suggestions, that doesn't talk down the immense benefits smartphones have brought especially to the disabled.
Re: Dumber phone
#17I'm not sure if I want a totally dumb phone, but I do want one that isn't subverted by my carrier, Google or Apple. We need a solid open baseband that runs at 3G speeds at the very least.
Did you read the article? It's not about buying a flip phone, it's about turning your smartphone into a slightly dumber phone, to alleviate your brain's addiction to it.
I did read the article, I don't personally have a problem with addiction. My phone only gets used when I'm either sat on the toilet, waiting for a bus/taxi, or deliberately talking to somebody.
The problem I do have with my phone is that its not actually under my control.
Re: Dumber phone
#18Personally, I would love a flip phone with a removable battery and a physical button on the side to turn WiFi hotspot functionality on/off -- with OFF being the default. Having a phone that you only need to charge once a week is a great feature!
Get a 3310 and a mobile hotspot with a data-only sim? The Huawei E5770 has 500h standby 20h activity, an ethernet port and USB power output (to act as a powerbank).
Re: Dumber phone
#19One huge distraction-enabler is the fingerprint sensor. It makes things too easy for me - I put my hand in my pocket, put my finger on the sensor, and by the time it's in front of my face I can be mindlessly browsing reddit.
So I would add the following tip: disable the fingerprint sensor if you have one (also face recognition, etc), and replace it with an inconveniently long password. This way you really need to think about whether it's worth the time to open your phone.
Re: Dumber phone
#20As somebody who had an always on internet connected PDA back it times when most PDAs were black and white, I can say it will eventually pass. The sense of novelty will vanish, and the thing will not be as interesting when an average person first see it.
> As somebody who had an always on internet connected PDA back it times when most PDAs were black and white, I can say it will eventually pass.
I don't think the software and cultural environment was that same for those devices as it is for smartphones now. An old internet-connected PDA chiefly had utility apps like this guide advocates. There was nothing from giant companies whose business is to capture and sell your attention, no attention slot machines, no games built to drive in-app purchases. Things now are qualitatively different, even though the hardware might be in some ways comparable.