Head in the Cloud: From Smartphone to Dumbphone

In my last post I wrote about how I was spent quite a lot of time over the last couple of months reading up and listening to podcasts on AI, digital surveillance and disruption caused to society by new digital products. Initially this interest was triggered by my own concerns over how attached to my smartphone I had become, or perhaps I should say, to certain apps on my smartphone. Twitter being a particular addiction of mine, or a quick browse through Facebook or Instagram. Perhaps it was just me, but increasingly I was finding that after a session of browsing on these platforms I was feeling annoyed or frustrated and that this really wasn't good for my own well being. My 'filter bubble' was reinforcing the things that could make me cross (politics, education) or increasingly I was seeing things being posted on platforms by friends and relatives and found myself starting to dislike them, which was a reaction I was then disliking in myself and a person I didn't want to be. I had also become very conscious of the surveillance element of using a smartphone in particular. I use a Samsung S8+ Android mobile and a mighty fine piece of tech it is too, but I'm also aware that like all smartphones it is also a superb tracking device. Through the Android OS and my various accounts, Google are fully aware of every step or journey I make, along with various apps installed relaying my location to goodness knows who. It does make you think that if your government said we are going to provide every citizen with a device that would track your every movement, recognize your face, has your fingerprints and can listen to what you are saying (Alexa, Google Assistant, Google Home) there would rightly be an outcry. However, that's exactly what we have allowed to happen with smartphones and also health tracking devices such as the Fitbit. Big tech now has an unbelievable amount of valuable and sensitive data on us all, and you can't vote them out of office! So, it's no good whinging about it, what could I do to address how tech was making me feel and behave? Was it possible to live without the smartphone attached to me?

Two days ago a bought myself a new mobile phone. A very un-smartphone or a dumbphone as I see them being called. It's a Nokia 105, bought in Re-Generate It for £12.99! I can make and receive calls, I can text. It has a basic calculator and I can play Snake Xenzia if I do get bored. It has the classic Nokia ringtone. It has no Bluetooth, camera, doesn't connect to Wi-Fi, no internet access and apps cannot be installed. Screen is 1.8inches, is 11cm long, 5cm wide and weighs 73g. I charged it two days ago and the battery indicator has barely moved. The last time I had a phone with this functionality was probably in about 2005! My Samsung S8+ is an absolute monster compared to this, with a 6.2 inch screen, weighing 173g and is basically a small tablet computer.

Heck, look at the size of it!

Two days in and what have I noticed? The lack of size and weight is very noticeable. The S8+ filled my pockets and would have to take it out of them when sitting down. I don't even notice the Nokia in my pocket. I'm also not worrying about dropping it. A couple of months ago I cracked the screen on the Samsung and because of it's size and the rounded edge to the screen it was going to cost £250 to fix! Thank goodness I had tech insurance. Making calls is ok, however I think I'm going to miss having my Google Contacts. All my contacts are saved in my Google accounts which is great when I move phones. I sign into my Google accounts and the contacts move across. No such ability with the Nokia, I had to manually add my family and some friends numbers in. I currently have over 1000 contacts in my Google Contacts list containing school and individuals numbers. There's no way I'm going to be able to manually add these! A couple of people have texted and responding has been a bit fiddly. No full onscreen keyboard. I text using the number pad, often having to press the button a couple of time to get to the correct letter. I haven't yet worked out how to create a capital letter! I'm sure I'll work it out soon. Have I missed not being able to access my emails, look at Twitter, Instagram or Facebook or search? As of yet, not really. In reality how urgent are any of these things and couldn't we all just wait until we get home and access them via your device. To be honest, I still had my Samsung connected to the Wi-Fi at home and did spend some time on it last night looking at Twitter but that's what I'm trying to get away from. Therefore today, the Samsung is switched off and if I need to access a social networking platform I'll be doing it from my laptop. Let's see how the next couple of days go :-)