The Second Phone

[tuesday_morning]

I tried. I really tried to overcome my internet addictions via my phone and yet every attempt was met with my inability to exercise proper self-control. No matter what I've done, it's been near impossible to quit using my phone during all of my free time. It's gotten to a point where I feel like I'm barely participating properly in my own life and instead have been trying to live mostly online... it's a sad sort of existence when you begin to live in such a manner. So I started looking online to see what kind of options I have. The concept of a "dumb phone" came up several times and so I decided to look further into them. My mobile phone carrier does not sell dumb phones and you would be hard pressed to find any in-person store that would, due to how unpopular they would be to sell. Perhaps I could buy one online instead, but I don't trust like that, plus I would need to find one that would be compatible with my mobile carrier in order to get any service on it. For these reasons, I decided to just get a second smartphone; the cheapest and smallest one I could acquire in a store.

I now have two phones. One would be for personal use while the other would be for work. I suppose I could still end up falling into the same traps that I did before with the personal phone, but I still wanted to give this a shot. Besides, now if I want to leave one phone in a "cold turkey" sort of way, I can do so without worrying that I'm going to miss out on important phone calls or texts from work that would be time sensitive.

For my detox phone (aka, the work phone), I'll be adjusting it to be as simple as it can possibly be. I might even set some kind of parental controls on downloading apps on the phone. I'm the only one who would be using it, but it would add an extra layer of security to stop me from downloading apps that I absolutely do not need.

I'll be researching other ways in which I can dumb my phone down more, but hopefully in time I would be able to completely transfer myself to the work phone and stop paying for service for the personal use phone. Both come with unlimited talk, text, and data services, but if possible, I want downgrade to a more minimalist and basic phone plan. Perhaps there would be a limit on talk, text, and data, and while that could be a struggle, it would be more affordable and it would discourage me from being on my phone as often. It would force me to interact with the world more directly, and in the end that's what I really need.

Comments

[starfallhaven]

I know they sell flip phones at Verizon, though the options for dumb phones are pretty limited. No clue about other carriers, we've been on Verizon since flip phones were in vogue. -Marcille (she/her)

[tuesday_morning]

If I could, I'd opt for a flip phone over a smartphone. Alas, I need certain apps for work in order to communicate with my co-workers and managers. That's why I opted for a smartphone in the end that's just customized to be a "dumbphone".

Still, it's good to know that's an option if such a thing ever becomes feasible for me to own in the future! Thank you for letting me know. :)

~Rowen

[shadowbliss]

My 2 cents are to remove any non-essential apps (phone, text, email) and use a desktop for social media. It's mostly how I operate. I personally hate using a phone to write posts because of it's "conveniences" being fucking annoying. If it's "I hate using these apps and I can't stop" I'd interrogate why you feel the need to keep using them and that can limit your time on them.

I also get not being able to use a dumbphone (I love using one). However I also get that the modern world wants us to carry around these fragile fucking things that spy on us and whatnot. So I do have one for work (that I also filled with social media apps and a film about the social impact of smartphones) but I still think of my little brick as "my phone."

[tuesday_morning]

Honestly, I love these suggestions and I'm going to make note of them. I especially like the question of "Why do I feel the need to keep using an app that I can't stand?". It's a very good question to reflect on and one that could help to keep me in check more often.

[einhornmaedchen]

Breaking an internet/phone addiction is so hard these days, when almost everything is done online & entertainment is very phone-focused too. I'm crossing my fingers that your plan works out with the "dumb phone". You can do it!

[tuesday_morning]

Thank you for the encouragement!

In all honesty, I've been kind of afraid to use my new dumbphone because I'm not used to going without constant distractions at every turn and moment. Even still, I want to really try, so when I get home today, I'm going to try and prepare my new phone for regular usage.

[brisus]

One of my colleagues still uses a flip phone (AT&T user). I am sure there has to be a solution for those who don't want a smart phone, but as you said, very likely harder to obtain.

Phones are so addicting. I've removed several apps and tried to set key times to sit my phone down. It helps a bit. It is just that we're so connected to everyone now that if you don't have one, it can make even simple things harder.

[tuesday_morning]

There is one option that I could suggest in an instance of trying to disconnect from the phone for an allotted amount of time. At least in my case, being that I own an Android, there's this app called "Digital Detox" that will lock your phone screen and keep you from accessing apps for however long you set the timer for. If you want to end the session early, it costs you a small fee to unlock the app. Otherwise, you will only be able to access apps you previously put on your Whitelist. In an emergency, though, you can make emergency calls and the like. You can also put timers on the apps in your whitelist, so that's another cool thing about the app.

Not sure if it exists for iPhone users or if there is a similar alternative available.

[brisus]

That is cool! I have an android, so I may look into that!