.png)
2 hours ago
1
11 Oct, 2025
Well, it's been a month since I acquired my dumbphone. I think the "honeymoon" phase has worn off, but despite that, I don't plan on going back to a smartphone.
For any newcomers, the dumbphone I have is the Kyocera DuraXV Extreme (pictured below). If you wanna get more details on it see my old post here.
The Dumbphone
So, I kinda wanna talk about what I've learned and a bit of my experience after one month.
Texting isn't nearly as convenient as it is with a smartphone. It can feel like a slog sometimes and I think "I'd rather just call this person". I can't send videos, well I can but they look like absolute shit if sent over SMS/MMS which is part of where the "android camera quality" meme probably stems from. Pictures come over fine. I don't normally send videos, but when I do it's usually videos of my daughter that I send to my mom. I've set up a proton drive folder and gave her access, then just let her know when I've sent something.
I call a lot more now, way more now than I had in the entire year prior to getting a dumbphone. I think this has kinda helped my social anxiety a bit and gotten me more comfortable talking to people I don't know. I find there is more connection with simple calls than what social media in its current form does. It's made me realize how much we've lost the plot on the whole connection thing.
It's also just really satisfying to end a call by flipping the phone.
Navigation wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. I'm notoriously bad at directions, but I've found I'm getting better at building an internal map of my area.
For places I've never been to before, I will write down directions in my pocket notebook. Which, if I'm being honest is becoming my preferred method for directions. This is for a few reasons:
- Maps in cars can be a bit stupid, hard to orient yourself when in a parking lot, or your "location" will show you tokyo drifting on random spots that are FAR from where you're at.
- Pre-writing my directions gives me a general idea of where I'm going beforehand.
- I become more aware of streets and really getting a sense of "where" I am.
- I don't have to get within a certain range before maps will update what exit on the freeway I need to take, I can just have the exit number written. Idk why maps won't just say "exit left at exit 278" or whatever until I'm within like 5 miles of the exit. It'll give me some weird direction on "Turn left onto 500 east" and that's not the name of the street, so it's just giving pointless directions.
- I can look ahead on directions a lot easier, no dealing with menus
Overall, I'm finding I don't really "need" maps in front of me. I'm not an Uber driver, so needing quick access to directions isn't really important. I know how to get to work, home, the record store, the malls, various grocery stores throughout the county, restaurants, etc. Anything I haven't visited before or can't remember the directions I just look it up before hand and write it down.
I've noticed I've started to communicate more with street names, which confuses people. I'll tell them "oh that store is off 500 south and main, a couple blocks east of here". Then I'll get a confused look and am met with people saying they'll need to map it. This was me. Now I feel like I'm communicating directions the way Gen X and even the boomers did.
Work is one of two things I use a smart device for. I use it for my 2-factor authentication when I work from home, so this use is only like once a week.
The other thing I use my smart device for is sleep aid. I have a comfort videos that I throw on for background noise. I probably could do this without a smart device I just haven't gotten around to doing anything about it, and it's still not like I'm REALLY using the phone anyway.
The smart device I use for my 2FA and sleep aid is my old iPhone 13. The wifi card on it doesn't work, so it can't connect to internet without a SIM card or even bluetooth. Basically rendering it to an offline video player that just so happens lets me log into work. I think it's even less functional than an old iPod touch these days.
My phone works well with general alarms, but I tend to keep it in a different room. So, I opted for snagging a Sony Dream Machine ICF-C7iP (pictured below) and put my iPod nano to work.
The Dream Machine
I pre-loaded it with an "alarms" playlist filled with mostly game soundtracks (no I didn't put Chop Suey on it, I'd prefer to not be jumpscared awake or my wife to strangle me).
You can set 2 alarms, I have an "every day" alarm set at around 5:30am, and then a "weekend" alarm set for 7am for when I want to sleep in. It took some learning, but after watching a youtube video on it I figured it out.
My ADHD symptoms (mostly the hyperactive brain part) have gotten better. I think not getting bombarded with notifications, distractions, and hyperstimulation at all times has helped a lot. Which I think in proxy has also helped my sleep.
My childhood creativity has came back in full swing. I've written more music (nothing complete, just jumbled lyrics and some cool guitar riffs/drum fills) than ever.
I'm also okay being bored. Boredom is the precursor to creativity. So, if you want to be more creative, let yourself be bored. At least for me, my brain is constantly going, so it will inevitably come up with some cool stuff.
My phone goes DAYS without needing a charge, and when I charge it it'll be fully charged in like an hour. I plug it in at work or on my commute and it'll be fully charged. I haven't charge my phone since Thursday and it's only at 50%.
I don't think I'm going to go back to a smartphone as a daily driver. I've been seeing way too many positives of switching to a dumbphone. I know it's not for everyone, but I do think a lot more people should try and make the switch. You don't need to completely throw away all smart devices, especially in this day and age where almost everything requires a smartphone it seems.
If you need a smartphone phone for online banking or whatever, see what it would take for you to make it a seldom-used device. Even a cheap android tablet would suffice in most cases.
Anyway, that's pretty much it. Thanks for reading!
Pirate is wearing black joggers and a hand-me-down tee of my dad's
Pirate is feeling relaxed
Pirate is listening to The Wiggles with his daughter.
Pirate is playing Stardew Valley
Previous |
Reply via email: [email protected]
