From The Flip Side

FAQs about my life with a dumbphone

Oh, I’ve seen TikToks where people do that.

People say this to me often–literally since my first day of having a flip phone, when the AT&T employee transferring my iPhone’s eSIM raved about how fun she found the trend. 

Since reading about a group of Luddite teenagers in New York, I knew that dumbphones (an endearingly obvious, zeitgeist-y term) were making a resurgence. But TikTok hasn’t been on my phone for a couple of years; I was oblivious to the paradoxical fad of getting clout on social media for phony disconnection. 

The superficial side of the flip phone craze does make sense given Gen Z’s ever-expanding practice of adopting past generations’ trends. However, in typical Gen Z fashion, no one will care about their new hunk of plastic in a few months. I don’t have much hope for its lasting power, especially considering that many of the trend’s adoptees use their flip phones in tandem with an iPhone. 

Is that your only phone?

I understand having a flip phone to use when going out with friends. But it is puzzling that people can see how disconnecting from their smartphone allows them to be more present and not extend that mindfulness into their time alone.

Being absent from my own life is not appealing, and just the option of smartphone use is enough to distract me from time spent with myself.

Moderation is incredibly difficult when it comes to something so casually addictive as a smartphone. Having both an iPhone and a dumbphone would not rid me of the struggle to resist the immediate gratification of smartphone use, and I would prefer to use my mental energy elsewhere than temptation.

Do you feel out of the loop?

From a happily ignorant distance, I’ve seen with more clarity the insignificance and superficiality of the references I miss. Trending memes, TikTok sounds and current pop culture events happen and disappear in the blink of an eye, and while I knew that to some degree prior to swapping out my smartphone, it’s now blindingly obvious how quickly the social media cycle moves. 

More than that, the drama that I’m sure I would have consumed for a week (despite its complete irrelevance to anything happening in my life) now goes in one ear and out the other. 

There was a point at which I became so out of touch with social media and trends that I stopped engaging in conversations about social media and trends. And honestly, if something is culturally relevant enough, I’m sure it’ll be explained to me sooner or later. 

Was switching difficult?

In my efforts to disengage from my smartphone, I had already uninstalled all social media, the Canvas app and my email. Removing all traces of school and work from my phone allowed me to stop repeatedly reminding myself of all the things I had to do and left my attention clear of unnecessary anxieties. 

Web browsers were the last thing to go. This was difficult–until I no longer had the option to immediately sate my need for an instant answer to whatever minute question, I didn’t realize how consuming that need was. It got to the point where I had a list in my notes app of things I wanted to Google once I was back at my laptop–a list that, looking back, was filled with inane questions like, “who is [CELEBRITY] married to?” or “was [ACTOR] in [MOVIE]?”

Our monkey brains are not equipped to handle access to the amount of information and entertainment a smartphone brings to our fingertips! Relinquishing the infinite extension of knowledge that constant access to Google provides freed me from an overwhelm I wasn’t aware I was dealing with.    

Now, my laptop serves as my point of access for school, work and social media. While I’m away from it, I’m forced to let go of the irrelevant anxieties that used to be imposed on so many moments. 

There’s also an aspect of intentionality that comes with sitting down at a “non-mobile” device to access those platforms. 

Items used for their own discrete functions are more appealing to me in general. A compact digital camera and an hourly planner are my dumb replacements for the Photos and Calendar apps with a tactile and intentional use that can’t be found on an iPhone.

In preparation for my dumbphone era, I upgraded my purse to one large enough to fit all the items I could no longer rely on my phone as a backup for–notably my wallet, camera, planner and book.  

Do you read more?

After deleting TikTok a couple of years ago, I had to re-establish my reading stamina, which was a little bit humiliating but definitely worth it. Returning to books has been centering and doesn’t give me the anxiety of days wasted on TV and Instagram. I’ve also expanded the genres and perspectives I read, which is much more fulfilling than the inescapable echo chambers of social media. 

My hobbies have also been getting more attention. It’s a common experience to know how to crochet, have the yarn and never get around to finishing a project (or whatever hobby you have sitting in your back pocket). I finally have been using my time to knit, learn an instrument and bake–casual activities much more fulfilling than screen time. 

Does it have Spotify? 

I can upload music I’ve pirated or ripped from CDs. It’s much less intimidating than choosing from the endless options of streaming services, but I still have access to Spotify on my laptop for a more intentional exploration of those choices. 

My phone also gets FM radio–I’m often listening to KQED. Doom scrolling through news apps is much more depressing than the neatly packaged NPR radio reporting I can tune into between classes. I still feel informed and I get to hear about issues I otherwise would not. 

How will your friends know where you are?

It does worry me to consider the potential ramifications of losing Find My, Apple’s device tracking app. When going on a first date or walking home at night I can no longer turn to the comfort of a friend having the ability to pinpoint my location (read: my phone’s location) if I don’t send an “I’m home safe” text by the agreed-upon time. 

Whether the sense of security offered by Find My is false is a discussion for another time. 

For now, I find myself avoiding scenarios where I would usually text a friend to keep an eye on my location. This means fewer opportunities for something terrible to happen and, as a happy byproduct, fewer opportunities for anxiety over whether or not something terrible will happen. A tool that makes potentially unsafe situations safer is not a solution to the discomfort those situations cause–I am glad to avoid them in any case.

Will you switch back?

As with anything, there are costs and benefits to dumbing down your cell phone, and the decision to do so should take comprehensive consideration of what those mean to you.

Regardless of whether or not you take action, I would encourage you to reflect on whether you could imagine your life with a dumbphone. This is by no means a condemnation of those who can’t–but it is important to know where you end and your phone begins.

Some people are able to maintain healthy boundaries with their smartphones, and many who can’t don’t care. Despite all my efforts, I have never found myself in either category. 

My flip phone has removed that concern completely, and I don’t foresee myself giving up a life where I don’t have to continuously wrestle myself into reality.