how to live (mostly) phone-free ᯓ★

so you've learned that it really is that damn phone! and you're wondering how you could possibly phase out the need for a smart phone in a world that grew around the basic need for them. i'm here to tell you that while it might not be completely possible (due to so many aspects of everyday life that require a smart phone), there are steps you can take to diminish the need for that big, annoying light box that constantly vies for your attention. please note, i am no scientist, i'm just a 21yr old who grew up before smart phones and has since recognized that life actually feels more meaningful when you're not looking at a screen all day. :)

what's so bad about smart phones?

there is no denying that the invention of smart phones have completely changed the way our society operates, for the better AND for the worse. i will admit, it's kinda awesome having one single device you can have all your media, documents, and entertainment on, especially when you can bring it with you everywhere. smart phones have become an essential in our day to day lives, containing GPS, notes, pictures, emails, and an app for just about everything you could ever want at the tips of your fingers at all times. smart phones can also be life savers in events of emergency, like 911 dials and recording evidence when you become a bystander in a violent crime. for these reasons, having a smart phone could result in life or death in the most extreme cases. but there comes a point when the smart phone starts to become more than a tool, and it becomes an energy-draining void for almost everyone who owns one.

the attention span problem

smart phones have been prevalent in our culture for almost 2 decades now, and we have always found ways to entertain ourselves with them. from virtual lighter apps, snapchat filters, and cat collecting games to short form content, we have always found ways to entertain ourselves. but when do we know when to quit?

phones are specifically designed to grab ahold of your attention, and to keep it there as long as possible. humans are naturally drawn to bright sources of lights and loud noises. have you ever been late to a class and everyone looks at you when you open the door? a smart phone works the same way, but it's constantly sending those attention-grabbing signals to your brain. social media is the biggest culprit of using these tactics to keep you glued to your phone as long as possible. by being able to customize your instagram post to exactly how you want it with thousands of options for photo editing and music choices, you spend more time on instagram than you would have if you just posted one picture with a simple caption. but if you do that, instagram's algorithm will only show your post to a small portion of your followers, and the reward-seeking part of your brain won't be satisfied with how little attention your post got. so you do all the extra bits for your post, and at that point you've spent maybe an hour on instagram, and once you make a post you should repost it to your story. then wow what are your friends posting on their stories? and then wow what's this suggested reel about? ooh that reminds me, let me go see what's on tiktok. what are people saying about this tiktoker on twitter? and you see how it spirals and spirals, and eventually you've spent 3 hours just looking at your phone. queue TSLAMP by MGMT!

feels bad, man

if you're self aware like i am, you'll notice how looking at nonsense for so long impacts your mood and motivation to do literally anything else. unfortunately, social media makes it really easy to feel like shit, whether you're intaking all the bad news from around the world or comparing yourself to others. the thing is, humans aren't meant to take in so much information at once! refer back to narcissus and his beautiful reflection. if you recall, dear reader, in Greek mythology narcissus became so infatuated with his own reflection in the water, he fell in and drowned. this story is very reminiscent of the phenomena we are seeing today. people become obsessed with the numbers and try to look a certain way to fill that ever growing void of validation. this never works, and chasing the need for validation only throws you deeper into the pit of unhappiness. it becomes an addiction. but there is hope, and it lies in the physical world!

what can i do about it?

fortunately for every human on earth, god has gifted us with the incredible physical world, and senses to take in all its beauty. we are designed with nervous systems that are attuned to the natural world. generally, we know when we are safe and when danger is near, thanks to ancient knowledge stored in our DNA. but smart phones are really good at disrupting our nervous system with all their lights and sounds. they create a sensory overload, and if we spend too much time in that state we become restless, irritable and unpleasant to be around. if you've spent any amount of time looking at a screen, you've probably felt this before, and some people more than others. the key is to simply, get off your phone!

going analog

now, i know, phones are just so convenient because you don't have to carry around a million things when you can just carry one, but that's where the secret lies! the inconvenience becomes magic when you take the steps to unburden yourself from your phone. i'm talking writing physical notes with a pen and paper rather than Chat GPT. finding yourself a digital camera for pictures, rather than pulling out your phone and then promptly getting distracted by a notification. buying physical media like magazines and CD's rather than using a music service that advertises ICE. living a more physical life in this way is literally healthier for you and your brain, and i'll tell you exactly why.

the way our brains work

it's not secret that smart phones have ruined our attention spans and are slowly (maybe fastly?) making us less intelligent. with the rise of AI, why would you ever need to think critically about anything anymore when the answers are right at your fingertips? the thing is, thinking critically is actually good for our brains! shocker! it keeps our minds sharp and we can trust ourselves more when we know we can solve problems on our own. that's why you always see old people playing high-mental activity games like chess and sudoku- it's because it keeps their brains working and problem solving. if we stop using these functions of our brains, we lose the ability to process complex problems. then, we become completely self-reliant on the internet for all aspects of our life, because we won't know how to do anything. but there's a secret that most people don't realize, and it's that the brain actually works better when presented with physical information. for example, if you write down your to-do list on a notepad instead of typing it into the notes app on your phone, you will absolutely remember it better without having to look at it. the physical sensation of writing it down gets imprinted into your brain because you will remember the smell and feel of the paper or the fact that you had to squeeze that last word in at the end.

fighting the loneliness epidemic

returning to a more physical way of living also brings community together. with the rise of smart phones, we really lost the art of meaningful sharing. sending reels to each other is sweet, but a hand-written note has charm that a reel lacks. most of us are familiar with the message likes, and i'm here to tell you that yes, it feels impersonal and an instant conversation ender! a hearty laugh has a thousand times more comfort in it than a measly message like. with physical media, the brain (and body!) holds onto it for much longer. if you receive a letter from a friend, you can put it on your wall and look at it every day. it starts to hold more value than a message you saw on a screen for 10 seconds and then forgot about. in the golden age before smart phones, people used to write to each other, share mixtapes, CD's, magazines. books, everything! we can still accomplish that today. zines (handmade mini magazines) have been becoming more and more popular as a way to share stories, information, and art. CD's and vinyls have been on the rise because it feels good to hold the physical music in your hands. even my friends and i have been connecting more because we share our digital cameras and little notebooks we carry around. in a world where the loneliness epidemic is becoming more of an issue than ever before due to the smart phone, physical media might just be our solution.

in conclusion...

smart phones have no doubt brought some incredible technological advances into our society. but we no longer need to advance the world of technology, and instead advance ourselves. we're living in strange times nowadays, in the information age but without using the information granted to us (and now it's muddled by AI). i believe the way we take back our time and our intelligence is through the physical world- including physical media AND physical experiences. no doubt the internet can be a huge aid in helping us achieve our goals, but it can't do everything for us. our brains and our bodies ultimately know what's best for us, and it's high time we meet them where they are- in the physical plane.

thanks for reading <3

-finny༘⋆