My phone is great, actually
My wife and I are going away camping for a few days. She has this whole thing about wanting to disconnect and not go on her phone. What a liberation that would be. Only really achievable away from the every day with very limited network and charging.
And I get it. Lots of people feel that way. But I... don't feel like that about my phone.
To start with, I love my phone as a physical object. It's a Fairphone I've had for five years. Fairphones are more ethical, more sustainable, and modular. I've replaced the battery, the mic when I dropped it in water, might replace the screen soon (still dropping), and I can do all that myself.
Other things that make my phone great:
- bare home screen. The tray has my camera, Kindle, shortcut to message my wife, Spotify, Notion
- basically zero notifications. A few messages will get through. Not even emails
- it's always on silent. Like many of us, the 'phone' aspect of my phone is pretty low on the list of things I do with it
- minimal apps. Thirty-four - and several of them I'd uninstall if I could. (I have more on my tablet, I'd rather install them there)
- There's nothing on my phone I don't want to be doing - no youtube, no games
- I'm not in any messaging groups with people I haven't met in person (I do, very casually and occasionally, use Discord)
- I have never been on social media
- I don't read the news
I'm doing the degoogling and the OS is something I'm going to get to. Fairphone even offer an /e/OS model.
My phone is a thing I use to do other things. It is a tool. I use it to read, to write (I'm writing on it right now! I've written whole stories on my phone), to practice French, identify stars, set off my robot hoover, organise my life, sometimes (probably not often enough) navigate.
When I'm on it - and I'm on it a lot - I'm doing things deliberately. When I'm not, I'm not. It's away, forgotten. My screen time doesn't concern me. I don't feel the need to 'unplug'.
If you do, I understand! These things can be hard. You should unplug. You should do what you need to do. But I'm going to object to anyone who says smartphones are inherently bad. They don't have to be. And my phone is great, actually.