Last October, I switched off my iPhone, removed the SIM card, and inserted it into a Nokia 2780 that I ordered off the internet. I deactivated and archived my Instagram, left all the group chats, and got in touch with my European friends through email. Now, a full calendar year later, I can say without hesitation that I am never, ever going back.
My north star
Flip phones are somehow a contentious topic. This is because anyone that goes against the status quo creates a hostile environment. It’s human nature to be attracted to those who are similar to us (creates a sense of safety) and unfortunately instinctual to initially bristle against those who are doing something different than you. Whether that’s smartphone usage, political beliefs, or relationships with substances. It’s like how we hate people who do dry January or announce on social media that they are leaving social media.
I think I’m pretty average in that I tend to enjoy going against the grain a little bit, but generally conform as I value being in community above all. I often find myself attracted by differences once I learn a little bit more about what’s going on, and am certain that this person is not going to proselytize me about their thing, whether that’s an extreme diet, sobriety from anything, or in general, any ideology.
So with that said, I do not care about your phone usage, I don’t think I’m doing it “right,” and I unfortunately do not have a paid partnership with Nokia for my $25 phone. I got rid of my iPhone in order to align my life with my own set of values and achieve self-fulfillment—as there is no other reason to do anything.
This is mainly a guide for people who are using smartphones now and are interested in switching as I am focusing on the parts of life that are either amenable or totally incompatible with life disconnected. I’ll be honest about the parts of life that I simply have to live without, and I’ll be transparent about the techie workarounds but to be clear, I do not have a secret smart phone that I use everyday, lol. The last iPhone I had was a 12, and I lost it somewhere in the streets of Portland last winter when I was still carrying it around for my bus pass.
Some of you are absolutists, and that’s not going to work here. We can’t turn back time. You can absolutely live completely and fully without the internet, but you have to really change your life. You can totally live ethically with a smartphone, but you will also face struggles. In my opinion, living ethically in either path requires a lot of self-discipline and intentionality.
I work as an editor and marketer of books, and as long as I get my work done, I am not obligated to carry an iPhone for my job. Sure, there are apps like two-factor authentication that we use, and occasionally there’s social media marketing that I can’t do on a desktop, but those are pretty easy to work around, and I’ll explain how.
The other caveat is that I am still spending no less than 8 hours a day with access to the internet. I don’t want to make it sound for one second that I don’t spend a ton of time on the internet, because I do. I have wifi at home, I have wifi at work, and I spend 40 hours a week looking at screens (well, maybe 20% of that time I’m in meetings or reading printed manuscripts). With that said, when people talk about phone addiction or wanting to reduce screen time, I’m pretty sure they’re talking about how they use their phone in their leisure time. (Although of course, phone habits affect work and productivity, which I’ll get into below.)
The biggest, most granddaddy of all caveats is that life will, yes, no shit, be more inconvenient without an iPhone. The process of breaking up with your small screen might feel reductive, primitive, and straight up delusional. And that, my friend, is why it’s interesting.
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