Twice now my wife and I have gone back to "dumb" phones. Circumstances made that very difficult a few years ago (needed to make money so did door dash), and the difference is staggering. Three devices are less efficient, but efficiency seems to be the great lie of the modern world.
We are inundated with the idea that efficiency equals competence or ability. What we get instead is lives and art turned into conveyer belts churning out the same thing again and again.
It seeps into family life as well. How easy is it to turn away a child's request because you know it will take too long and they will do it in the most roundabout way possible? How many times have you decided to watch a video instead of look at the instructions for a board game? The world of efficiency has robbed us of depth and understanding. I'm with you all the way on this. The fastest (and probably best) way to escape is to remove the vampires from our lives so we can live fully again.
I share deeply the joy of using dedicated equipment for disparate activities.
I work on a company laptop, but read the news and subscribed magazines on my private one.
If I take photos, it is always with a camera. The whole collection of photos on my phone maybe reaches a dozen, maybe not: an address on a banner, a brand of paint in DIY store, a timetable on a bus stop somewhere on vacation.
The books I read are either printed on paper, or, if digital, on a dedicated e-reader (not a Kindle, actually). Another device to charge and maintain? Yes, but the screen is matt and does not glow. And the device serves to read books.
For listening to the music, I choose my full-size stereo amplifier rather than the phone and headphones. Podcasts—yes—they are better on the phone.
I wear a wrist watch, a simple and legible device with analog look. No need to tap on the phone to tell the time.
A pencil and a scrap of paper for a shopping list.
So, what do I have a phone for?
It reminds me to take away recycled garbage on correct days; the schedule is offen irregular.
And, last but not least, from time to time, I talk with people on the phone. I like talking with people on the phone. If you dig deeply enough in the functions of your device, this leagacy feature is still available!
I get it, but do we really want to go back to 3 devices instead of 1? Sometimes I do. I think the advancement of AI in our lives will be the thing that draws the line for me.
This sounds deeply wise. I appreciate the insight about the cues and how they may silently drain our attention.
I'm down to using a landline, dumb phone when traveling, analog wristwatch, a shared family camera, and a laptop for writing and accessing the internet. Even so, I do find it's tricky to balance the reading/researching impulse with focused writing using the laptop for both. Perhaps it's time to find a way to separate these two functions?
The most important thing for me is that I don't have a 'device' with me either when I'm out on the land, or when I'm in prayer, or with my family. Simply keeping tech out of these realms of most intimate connection gives room for me to be present with life in its fullness.
I use my phone as little as possible for taking pictures, but then I am a photographer and hate the phone brickyness, and the way it mangles images. I also do not keep games on my phone, or anything that I don't need for various jobs. At home, when not needed, it stays by the charger near the toaster.
While I do have some very nice digital cameras, I also still slow down and shoot a lot of film - you've only got X number of shots, they have to count.
I also have taking up shaving with a straight-razor. This started chiefly during the time when Gillette then Harrys went stupidly woke, but as this is a process that also just takes far longer, and requires more focus, clarity, and deliberation, I can do nothing us but shave at that time.
So many excellent passages to quote and preserve here. I wish everyone could read this and understand it. This absolutely blew my mind! I'm going to print it out and share it with friends, haha.
Thank you for publishing your thoughts here. It’s nice to know that there are people in the world that feel the same way about things as I do, even if I don’t know you in real life. It’s definitely a benefit of digital connection, even though I would rather not be on as much.
Thank you for this. Last night, for the first time in a while, I started writing a short story in a book that I use only for creative writing. I hadn’t thought about why making that distinction has been important, but now I do.
You just taught me why I must use my laptop to write and respond here, on Substack. I have a hate/hate relationship with my phone. There are times I'm in a place where I scroll on the phone to read and respond. Big mistake. I never spellcheck or read back what I write when I use the phone—it's usually done in a hurry, automatic response, almost. Later on, when reading the response to my own it's down right embarrassing to read back what I wrote.
Oh how I felt the irony of reading this on my work laptop while email notifications jumped in... This piece explains so much... why I prefer writing with pen and paper and can get the flow of the words to come so much more readily, why I feel a sense of dread and 'freeze' when I open my laptop... and why I really like keeping my iMac upstairs in my writing room completely free of work and life admin.
"Long ago I used to write on a typewriter. I did not take pictures with the typewriter. I did not make phone calls on the typewriter. I only wrote on it. Which means that the sight of the typewriter, pressing on its keys, and the sharp clacking of letters stamping through the ink ribbon, were associated with the act of writing and nothing else."
I was thinking about this as I rode in the car the other day. How, when I was little, my mother used to have a Camcorder for taking videos, and a small, simple, gray camera for photos. I remember being intrigued by both devices. I was thinking how, back in the day, photos were for being printed and handled and framed, not something to be viewed and swiped through on a stale, flat screen. I didn't live through much of it, but I sure do miss the days when you needed multiple devices to do different things. When things were real, and not just limited to the confines of a screen. As for brain drain -- I often find using devices makes me unbearably distracted. Sometimes I don't even know what I'm about. It's a horrible feeling. Thank you kindly for this essay. It is nice to know the cause of my distractions.
Very interesting , I had not thought of the combining devices into 1 portable device, which rarely leads our side, and the brain drain it leads too. All to not miss something that might be important-the tyranny of the urgent.
Twice now my wife and I have gone back to "dumb" phones. Circumstances made that very difficult a few years ago (needed to make money so did door dash), and the difference is staggering. Three devices are less efficient, but efficiency seems to be the great lie of the modern world.
We are inundated with the idea that efficiency equals competence or ability. What we get instead is lives and art turned into conveyer belts churning out the same thing again and again.
It seeps into family life as well. How easy is it to turn away a child's request because you know it will take too long and they will do it in the most roundabout way possible? How many times have you decided to watch a video instead of look at the instructions for a board game? The world of efficiency has robbed us of depth and understanding. I'm with you all the way on this. The fastest (and probably best) way to escape is to remove the vampires from our lives so we can live fully again.
I share deeply the joy of using dedicated equipment for disparate activities.
I work on a company laptop, but read the news and subscribed magazines on my private one.
If I take photos, it is always with a camera. The whole collection of photos on my phone maybe reaches a dozen, maybe not: an address on a banner, a brand of paint in DIY store, a timetable on a bus stop somewhere on vacation.
The books I read are either printed on paper, or, if digital, on a dedicated e-reader (not a Kindle, actually). Another device to charge and maintain? Yes, but the screen is matt and does not glow. And the device serves to read books.
For listening to the music, I choose my full-size stereo amplifier rather than the phone and headphones. Podcasts—yes—they are better on the phone.
I wear a wrist watch, a simple and legible device with analog look. No need to tap on the phone to tell the time.
A pencil and a scrap of paper for a shopping list.
So, what do I have a phone for?
It reminds me to take away recycled garbage on correct days; the schedule is offen irregular.
And, last but not least, from time to time, I talk with people on the phone. I like talking with people on the phone. If you dig deeply enough in the functions of your device, this leagacy feature is still available!
My phone is with me all the time so I can take pictures of what I see. But I think you’re right the phone screws with memory and attention.
I love the salted human metaphor. Puts a new perspective on how Christ knew we humans can become bland.
This is incredible. Thank you so much for this!
I get it, but do we really want to go back to 3 devices instead of 1? Sometimes I do. I think the advancement of AI in our lives will be the thing that draws the line for me.
This sounds deeply wise. I appreciate the insight about the cues and how they may silently drain our attention.
I'm down to using a landline, dumb phone when traveling, analog wristwatch, a shared family camera, and a laptop for writing and accessing the internet. Even so, I do find it's tricky to balance the reading/researching impulse with focused writing using the laptop for both. Perhaps it's time to find a way to separate these two functions?
The most important thing for me is that I don't have a 'device' with me either when I'm out on the land, or when I'm in prayer, or with my family. Simply keeping tech out of these realms of most intimate connection gives room for me to be present with life in its fullness.
I use my phone as little as possible for taking pictures, but then I am a photographer and hate the phone brickyness, and the way it mangles images. I also do not keep games on my phone, or anything that I don't need for various jobs. At home, when not needed, it stays by the charger near the toaster.
While I do have some very nice digital cameras, I also still slow down and shoot a lot of film - you've only got X number of shots, they have to count.
I also have taking up shaving with a straight-razor. This started chiefly during the time when Gillette then Harrys went stupidly woke, but as this is a process that also just takes far longer, and requires more focus, clarity, and deliberation, I can do nothing us but shave at that time.
So many excellent passages to quote and preserve here. I wish everyone could read this and understand it. This absolutely blew my mind! I'm going to print it out and share it with friends, haha.
Thank you for publishing your thoughts here. It’s nice to know that there are people in the world that feel the same way about things as I do, even if I don’t know you in real life. It’s definitely a benefit of digital connection, even though I would rather not be on as much.
Thank you for this. Last night, for the first time in a while, I started writing a short story in a book that I use only for creative writing. I hadn’t thought about why making that distinction has been important, but now I do.
You just taught me why I must use my laptop to write and respond here, on Substack. I have a hate/hate relationship with my phone. There are times I'm in a place where I scroll on the phone to read and respond. Big mistake. I never spellcheck or read back what I write when I use the phone—it's usually done in a hurry, automatic response, almost. Later on, when reading the response to my own it's down right embarrassing to read back what I wrote.
This is a great article
Oh how I felt the irony of reading this on my work laptop while email notifications jumped in... This piece explains so much... why I prefer writing with pen and paper and can get the flow of the words to come so much more readily, why I feel a sense of dread and 'freeze' when I open my laptop... and why I really like keeping my iMac upstairs in my writing room completely free of work and life admin.
"Long ago I used to write on a typewriter. I did not take pictures with the typewriter. I did not make phone calls on the typewriter. I only wrote on it. Which means that the sight of the typewriter, pressing on its keys, and the sharp clacking of letters stamping through the ink ribbon, were associated with the act of writing and nothing else."
I was thinking about this as I rode in the car the other day. How, when I was little, my mother used to have a Camcorder for taking videos, and a small, simple, gray camera for photos. I remember being intrigued by both devices. I was thinking how, back in the day, photos were for being printed and handled and framed, not something to be viewed and swiped through on a stale, flat screen. I didn't live through much of it, but I sure do miss the days when you needed multiple devices to do different things. When things were real, and not just limited to the confines of a screen. As for brain drain -- I often find using devices makes me unbearably distracted. Sometimes I don't even know what I'm about. It's a horrible feeling. Thank you kindly for this essay. It is nice to know the cause of my distractions.
Very interesting , I had not thought of the combining devices into 1 portable device, which rarely leads our side, and the brain drain it leads too. All to not miss something that might be important-the tyranny of the urgent.
Wonderful article. I would, ahem point out that Luddites believed in appropriate technology,they didn't just hate any technology out of hand