Making my smartphone dumb(er) – Digital Minimalist Phone Setup
The phones of today are modern marvels, allowing us to carry a phone, computer, television, camera, library, radio, and our entire social network around in our pocket.
And they are addicting.
Each app is designed to keep our focus. Every color, sound, notification, haptic feedback carefully selected to draw us in and when our attention starts to wander or our interests wane – we are given a little dopamine hit to keep us plugged into a digital world while ignoring the real world around us.
Earlier this year, I switched to a flip phone for 30 days as a way to reevaluate my addiction to my phone.
Over those 30 days, I learned what I was missing both from enjoying the real world and a few of the modern luxuries that a smartphone provides.
So, I set out to make my smart phone a dumb phone, turning my iPhone into a tool that serves me rather than a nefarious pocket gremlin that controls me.
In this video, I will walk you through how I dumbed down my iPhone and turned it into a digital minimalist phone.
The goal of all of this was to break my addiction / reliance on my phone. Each change was done to either make my bad habits or triggers either invisible, unattractive, difficult, or unsatisfying – which are the inverse of the laws of habit change from James Clear’s Atomic Habits.
