As is most things in life, the balance is the hardest thing to achieve.
I’d think of giving up my smartphone, but that’d mean I’d not be able to use WhatsApp to communicate with family and friends that are on it. Heck the parents group at my kids school is on WhatsApp. I’m not going to make everyone switch to “this other special” app. I gotta be where others are in this context.
Another is Maps - it is modern convenience that is hard to live without. Not only do I get turn-by-turn navigation, but I can quickly check whether the shop I want to go to is open or not. No, a Garmin device on a car doesn’t really solve that elegantly.
Thirdly, majority of my actions are on a web browser and it often happens when I’m mobile. Sure, I could remember things and then find them when I’m at my desk - yeah, I’m not going to remember that..
Fourth - my phone is my camera. I have pictures of my family memories, daily utility stuff.. even quickly taking a picture of a design I see somewhere as inspiration to stash it in my Notes. I can’t imagine giving up that convenience.
I’m however conscious of the bad effects of having the social drug on my hands. I don’t have Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, games or the like Apps on my phone. My battery usage report says 70% of the time was spent on web browser, and my mini iPhone lasts 1.5 days on a full charge.
Dumbphones have cameras, so if you can't or don't want to remember a map, you can take its photo. My short term memory if good enough for that. Random installable apps are really the only edge smartphones have.
This kind of compromise probably sounds reasonable to someone trying to break an intractable smartphone addiction.
But as someone who has never really had a problem with my smartphone, taking photos of a map and trying to pan around on a dumb phone sounds like pure torture. I can’t imagine it working well for any of the locations I actually need to pull up a map for, which are almost exclusively far away and require long sets of directions.
I guess the idea is that over time you'd learn to navigate without needing the turn by turn instructions that a smartphone spits out - like how people used to do it. It wouldn't just be to break smartphone dependence, but to gain a sense of direction if that makes sense?
Though your point about the phone/map telling you if the shop is open or not is a pretty strong advantage
Serious question: Is there a dumbphone that has a camera that is even remotely near a flagship from the last year or two? (Pixel/iPhone/Samsung) I wouldn't realistically carry around a camera everywhere because of bulk/UX, yet I (and most people) do care about having a pretty decent camera to take photos day to day.
Part of the reason modern flagships take such great pictures is computational photography. A dumbphone almost by definition can't do that, even if the optics were equal.
In 2022 I did a year long stint on a Nokia 110 4G and I carried a Canon PowerShot G7X Mark 3 around. It's a one inch sensor compact camera that fit my pocket just as well as my smartphone did (and since there's nothing to do but make phone calls and text with a super shitty UX that phone lived in my backpack). The UX for a camera is more annoying depending on how and why you take pictures. It does force you to be a little more mindful and focused on what you're doing though.
i have been back on a dumbphone for quite some time now. i use the web almost exclusively on laptop - when i am mobile i don't want to be connected to it.
whatsapp works great in the browser on a laptop. if you only have a dumbphone you can use your number to register the whatsapp "app" on any tablet and can then log in on any other browser you want to use it on. works super nice.
I had used WhatsApp in the browser on a desktop some years ago, at web.whatsapp.com, but when I tried the same site recently from a mobile browser, it redirected me to plain whatsapp.com, and asked me to install the mobile app.
I guess that was because it detected that my browser was on a mobile phone, by the user agent header.
It's possible since at least 2 years, maybe more. You still need a smartphone to create the account, but apparently you don't need the phone to be online, at least not all the time, not sure if it keeps working if it's offline for months. (note I'm not a Whatsapp user, so maybe it changed again or I didn't fully see something...)
you don't actually need a smartphone at all. i discovered this by accident when my smartphone died. here is what i did.
- installed the whatsapp "app" on my crappy old android tablet that i hardly ever use
- used SMS to my dumbphone to link the installed app to my phone number
- opened "web.whatsapp.com" on my laptop browser
- scanned the QR code in the android app to link the browser session to my account
so, i am now happily using web.whatsapp.com in my laptop browser day to day and all i needed was a crappy android tablet and a dumbphone to set it up.
i have been using web.whatsapp.com on laptop for long time - pretty sure it's 3-4 years at this stage. maybe i am wrong on that.
i also find the browser/laptop whatsapp much nicer to use - copying/pasting etc. is so much easier than a smartphone, for me at least.
I’d think of giving up my smartphone, but that’d mean I’d not be able to use WhatsApp to communicate with family and friends that are on it. Heck the parents group at my kids school is on WhatsApp. I’m not going to make everyone switch to “this other special” app. I gotta be where others are in this context.
Another is Maps - it is modern convenience that is hard to live without. Not only do I get turn-by-turn navigation, but I can quickly check whether the shop I want to go to is open or not. No, a Garmin device on a car doesn’t really solve that elegantly.
Thirdly, majority of my actions are on a web browser and it often happens when I’m mobile. Sure, I could remember things and then find them when I’m at my desk - yeah, I’m not going to remember that..
Fourth - my phone is my camera. I have pictures of my family memories, daily utility stuff.. even quickly taking a picture of a design I see somewhere as inspiration to stash it in my Notes. I can’t imagine giving up that convenience.
I’m however conscious of the bad effects of having the social drug on my hands. I don’t have Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, games or the like Apps on my phone. My battery usage report says 70% of the time was spent on web browser, and my mini iPhone lasts 1.5 days on a full charge.