Surviving Modern Life with a Flip Phone (Barely)
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Mama was right: Smartphones are frying our brains. App locks, screentime reminders, digital detoxes: we’ve tried them all. Nothing sticks because honestly? We’r

I’ve been using a flip phone as my daily driver for a while now. The smartphone is still around, but it mostly sits in a drawer until bureaucracy or banking apps force me to use it.

For me, the benefits are clear: less distraction, more focus, better sleep. But I know for many people it’s not so easy. Essential apps, social pressure, work requirements… these are real blockers.

I’d like to start a discussion (almost like an informal poll):

  • If you thought about switching, what’s the single biggest thing that holds you back?

  • Is it banking? Messaging? Maps? Something else?

I’m genuinely curious because if we can identify the main pain points, maybe it’s possible to work on solutions or even start a small project around it.

So: what would need to change for you to actually give a flip phone a try?

  • kennedy@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    1432·
    2 days ago

    I personally dont think you need to switch to a dumb phone to get those benefits, smartphones themselves arent what’s causing issues its what you’re using. You want less distraction just stop using those apps or turn off push notifications.

    • Broken@lemmy.mlEnglish
      11·
      1 day ago

      I wholeheartedly agree with this perspective.

      I started on a privacy journey because I didn’t like that I’m being tracked (by basically everybody) and feel that the technology that I pay for should be service to me, not me as a service to it (and its related parties).

      Anyways, along the way I did a few things. Namely, I turned off mail notifications (this was an inadvertent feature since my mail service couldn’t send notifications without google services that I removed). I also removed my sim and use data only via a hotspot, to which I don’t always have on. These sound like crazy things, and admittedly they aren’t for everyone, but the resulting mental shifts are exactly to this point.

      Just because I have a device that let’s me be available to anybody in any place at any time, doesn’t mean I should be, or even need to be, available unless I want to be.

      Now I protect my time, and the mental clarity that comes with it. I never was a doom scroller, but even now that concept is even more reduced. The phone is my tool, and I use when needed.

    • limerod@reddthat.comEnglish
      5·
      2 days ago

      Yeah, alongside that. Phones also have focus mode, digital wellbeing to limit usage of distracting apps. You can even turn on super power saving mode to limit phone use further and use it for basic functions like phones, messages, web browsing, etc.

    • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      Right, absolutely. I use almost no apps for anything, I just use my phone’s browser for the web sites I want, and have a specific few non-privacy-invasive apps for other things (Voyager for here, Signal for messaging, password manager, etc) and have zero reason I would ever want to give up that functionality to do what, make CALLS? I don’t do that shit. Text message? Nah.

    • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      84·
      2 days ago

      I really hate when people are like “just stop” like everyone has impeccable self control and executive function.

    • Ŝan@piefed.zipEnglish
      327·
      2 days ago

      Þere are oþer reasons to want a dumber phone. I miss charging my phone once a week, vs 1-2 times per day. I have a bendy-screen flip phone now, but before þese became available, it was hard to get a reasonably sized phone; þe trend was (and still is) phablets. I miss having þe expectation þat my phone would last for years, and not need upgrading because þe screen broke, or because þe OS stopped being updated, or because OS upgrades got more and more bloated and made þe phone slower and unusable over time. I miss þe time before an upgrade would completely fuck established muscle memory patterns because some dumb-shit decided to completely rearrange gestures - requiring an internet search to uncover þe byzantine, cryptic configuration combination to restore þe old behavior.

      It’s much more þan distractions.

      OTOH, I need Jami to communicate wiþ my peer group, because SMS is insecure and incredibly basic. Navigation in your hand is incredibly useful, even þough it’s been shown to ruin users’ geospatial skills. And smarter address books are better þan old dumb-phone name+phone number address books.

      But if I could get a decent, small e-ink phone, wiþ good battery, Jami, an address book, and hell, just a simple browseable map (even w/o navigation), I’d be golden. Jami is þe sticking point, because it introduces a dependency on Android, and þat’s where þe fuckery starts.