A little over two weeks ago my flip phone arrived in the mail. It has minimal features, which was the main reason for my purchase. It has talk, text, weather, maps and a few other minor features. It has zero social media and no web browser.

Before making the switch I averaged around 5 hours of screen time per day. I came to the conclusion that that was ridiculous and unneccessary. In the past few weeks I wrote about why a flip phone was suddenly sounding like a great option. Shortly after having those thoughts, I decided to make the purchase.

Two weeks in, I am here to say that it was a great decision.

The first few days are the most eye opening. You suddenly realize how frequently you check your phone, constantly looking for ways to distract yourself in idle moments. With the limits of this new phone, there is nothing to do besides what is absolutely neccesary.

One of the first days after receiving this new device I was in a waiting area. It was very crowded. There were probably around 75 people waiting for their number to be called. Typically in those situations I’d pull out my phone and find something to make the time go by. This time I had nothing to distract myself. It was very relaxing. All I did was sit and observe my surroundings. Most people’s eyes were glued to their devices, just like mine would have been had I not recently eliminated my distraction.

I enjoyed the stillness. A moment of silence doing nothing but observing my surroundings. I realized how distracted we have become, how much we miss by not taking the time to sit and look around. It’s almost as if there are two worlds existing side by side; the real world that is right in front of us and the technological realm that only exists in our life when we give it our attention.

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I feel more free. My mind feels more clear.

I’ve realized that I don’t need to know what is happening at all times. I don’t need hundreds of thoughts floating into my brain at all hours of the day. There’s a beauty in less. In the process you become more aware of the present. You see the things you didn’t see before. You notice the wonders of life that were there before that you never slowed down enought to see.

My screen time has been close to zero. The timing of receiving my flip phone coincided with my family going on a trip to Colorado. We spent most of the time outside enjoying the mountain air, sitting around at different restaurants and coffee shops. There was hardly any time spent in front of a TV. I used my flip phone for taking a few pictures and communicating when neccessary and occasionally checking the weather or using maps. I had my laptop with me which I used for 30 minutes or less over the entire trip.

It’s much easier to be on technology less when you are spending time with people that you love. At times social media gives us the feeling of being connected with others while lacking the truest form of realtionship and communication in the physical.

There are certain things that are more difficult. I no longer have the ability to google things any moment I have a question. That was very odd at first. I’d have a question and start to reach for my phone. I then remembered I no longer had google. The answer would have to come at a later date.

It was also freeing. I don’t need to have the answers to every question at any moment. It helps keep me in the present. If I want to look something up I know that I can when I get home.

I still have my Iphone and have the ability to use most of the features when I’m on wifi. My social media apps are still deleted off of my Iphone. My goal is to use it sparingly. It’s almost turned into an Ipod. I have spotify and can download songs to be listened to when there’s no wifi. I also have a few other apps that are necessary at times, but overall my iphone usage is pretty low.

I have a hard time beleiving that I will ever want to switch back. It is early and my thoughts on that could change, but the benefits have far outweighed the minor inconveniences.

Life is more full, my mind more at ease, and my thoughts more clear.

I will share more of my insights on this topic as time goes by.

~ Luke

Sometimes I love my iPhone. Other times I feel that I would rather abandon it completely. Constant connection. Constant access. Everything at your finger tips at every moment. It’s a gift and a curse.

I remember being a kid in a time where smart phones had not yet taken over. I was born in 1997, 10 years before the first iPhone was released. When I wanted to look something up, I walked over to my family’s home computer. Google wasn’t at our fingertips like it is today.

Before getting my first phone the only connection I had to my friends, outside of being in person, was through email. Email chains were going around non stop. Most of us didn’t have phones at the time, which forced us to use a different means of communication.

My first phone was an old samsung with one of those qwerty keyboards that flipped down. All I could really use it for was calling and texting, which at the time was incredible. Going from using a computer to having a device with you at all times was quite the experience.

I didn’t get an iphone till around 9th grade. Instagram had come out around that time, but it was much different than it is today. No addicting short from video content. It was solely content from the people that you followed. You could even run out of new content when you caught up with all of the posts.

Today is much different. Our attention is being hijacked at a much higher rate than it was back then. No social media platform would ever dare to stop showing you posts. They want your constant attention. And it’s hard to not give these platforms your attention unless you strictly discipline yourself. Getting on your phone to check a text turns into “let me open instagram for a second”. 1 hour later you realize you’ve been scrolling reels for hours and wonder where all of the time went. It’s a vicious cycle.

It’s only in hindsight that we recognize the beauty of a more simple time in a world where the devices in our pocket didn’t steal our time at the rates they do today.

Many people are starting to question if they really want to be constantly consumed by this high tech world. Lots of us can feel deep down in our soul that we should spend less time on our devices.

A few months ago I deleted all social media from my phone for a week. I felt the best I’d felt in a long time. So much clarity. A feeling of ease. Less stimulation. Then I eventually redownloaded all of my social apps. I pretty quickly got back to an absurdly high level of screen time.

It should be simple. If I don’t want my smart phone to keep taking over my life why don’t I just stop using it? The reality is that many of us are phone addicts. It’s very hard to limit usage when it’s accessible 24/7. It’s like telling an addict to just have a little. That is very difficult when our brains crave the dopamine that comes from spending time on our smart phones.

The flip phone is the best solution to this problem. If you just delete the apps off your smart phone you can just as easily change your mind tomorrow and redownload them. The more barriers that you add to switching back, the more likely it is that you stay the course.

I’m ready to make the switch.