Life without a Smartphone 

Website Article: christitus.com/switching-to-dumbphone/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Would you ever give up the smart phone that we are all addicted to?

Despite being a phoneless person for many years (just using google voice on my laptop), still manage to be pathetically non-productive.

Total respect for anyone who's willing to do some self-reflection; and for being willing to be bored now and then!

I agree. Before the iPhone came out in 07, everyone was much less distracted. The Blackberry wasn't nearly as fun, and the flip phone was just there. The irony, today people use the Headspace app to meditate using the phone.

Never had one, never will have one. People are so envious every time I mention it, how I can just live without one. They won't even argue with me and instead just do some inner self-reflecting. I've _never_ had anyone try and convince me otherwise. I think this is really telling of the times.

I've never owned a smartphone. I've used a flip-phone since subscribing to our cell service. No anxiety for me and I don't take it to the bathroom either -- ha ha.

You know which generation seems more addicted to the Internet? Boomers. My parents are constantly on it especially my mom. Many women in their 60s and 70s are constantly online. Nothing else to do. My mom did not get a smartphone until 2011. Didn't even know how to email over 10 years ago and she worked in real estate offices for years. She was really one of the last people I know who got into Internet usage and smartphones. Now she's constantly on RU-vid and Facebook just like her peers. It's the Millennials who are trying to get off the Internet more. They're the ones buying dumb phones. But their parents? Constantly online. Acting like Karens on Twitter. Trying to cancel everybody.

I haven't touched FB or Twitter for over four years now, and my life got so much better again... I do have a new-ish Android to have android car maps and electronic ID (practically a must in Sweden in the cash-free society) available. Thank you for bringing a positive alternative to semi-automated stimulus addiction up in a way that doesn't scare people away. This needs to be done more, and highlighted more - especially to people that really ARE feeling serious fatigue or even depression without even knowing why.

Thanks Chris for highlighting this. I went on another route by removing all the social media apps and have a very basic setup for a smart phone. It is used mainly for making calls - Android Auto for navigation in my car. Screentime is roughly 5 - 6 minutes a day at best. I do all my online /internet new feeds on another device that way I do not need to touch my phone much. Productivity and focus and increased tenfold

Ive been threatening to do this for years, especially when I used to work at a desk. But now I'm on the road 3 weeks out of a month. While the phone gets ignored while driving, when I'm stopped its a major link to home. Pictures, videos, and facetime with wife and daughter are a soul saver.

I think its a great move for mental health and productivity. I will probably do the same in the future or something close to that, I don't really use like 99% of the features in my phone, I can just bring an old ipod, a notepad and physical copies of books and mangas with me in my backpack and I'll have basically all the features that I need from my phone except texting and calling(which I can do with dumb phone) and social media(which i want to minimise).

"Come on, Marty! We are traveling back to 2007, before this fruit and robot based hell took over!"

I don't understand. A while ago, you did a video about how you were stopping using GrapheneOS because it was too inconvenient (you needed your Google stuff). Yet, here you are clear out the other end using a dumb phone.

Glad to hear you liked the experience! The MP02 is an excellent device and it should serve you for a long time. Using a dumbphone changes lives!

I’m loving how much content there is about dumb phones, hours and hours, I’m learning so much about them. A valuable use of my time.

"The reason why you have decision fatigue is because the smartphone does everything, and I do mean everything, it will do anything and everything you want to fill in every single bored second of your day" -Chris Titus I will print this on a poster! So on spot! Thank you man

Thank you for your insight I’m on day two of dumb phone still working out the kinks. My average per day was 6 1/2 hours a day worst was 12 this has been very encouraging to me to go down this route.

Thoughtful points to consider! Always good to catch you on RU-vid!

Thank you for that video. Your take on the topic and the things Cal Newport wrote plus a little bit of self reflection, I was able to use my phone just for taking pictures, Texting&Calling, Navigation and listening to Music and Podcast. It rly makes my phone less stressful

Man, I've been doing this for a year and I'm loving it.... My fiancé and I are moving to a new city soon and I got kinda scared because of the lack of a GPS on my phone and I was pondering the idea of buying an iphone because of the need for one but honestly I'm just gonna try to explore and get to know the city without one. I felt so dirty when I almost bought one just because of that, i'm not gonna be pushed into the purchase just because of that one thing. Life's so much better without one!

Literally done this 3 times, within the last 3 years. Last month I got one because I started working again and needed one (really the only reason I end up having to get one). Now I've fallen back into old habits spending more than 6 hours a day on the phone.

Great video! Brings back the good ole days where technology was simple and a lot of people didn't really care too much about it. For kids, dumb phones are great, they will learn to remember phones numbers and learn what's it like to not have everything at your finger tips so soon. Overall smartphones are terrible. There is no privacy with them especially with constant location tracking like taking photos for example. Just use a normal camera and put the photos on a big hard drive. In fact use your computer more than your phone like using desktop apps more then mobile apps. Also delete your Facebook Accounts if your not planning on setting up business advertising.

Good for you and point taken on decision fatigue. Respect! However I think efficacy of the dumb phone method will vary greatly from person to person. For example I never really used social media and when on a toilet I am too focused on my mission there to even think about being bored. Considering that I almost never use voice calling my version of this challenge would be "no phone" not "dumb phone". And... nothing would really change. I would be more tied to my desks (which can be bad) but I will still be doing the same things the same amount of time each day. I'd just be using bigger screens to do them.

The best video ever, we all need to do this. Less smart phones, less tracking..

Lol, i needed this video man, i too started a new journey with Social media Detox, and it was really REALLY! a big game changer, i too am now way more productive and my mental health is much better as compared to what it was before the detox, i have uninstalled all the social media apps, disabled yt app as well, i only have messenger apps installed for now and i don't keep the internet active 24/7 now, i only turn on mobile data or wifi to see if i have an pending messages 3-4 times a day, before i used to spend hours rolling through yt shorts and killing my time, it also helps with your focus and attention span, i took a hobby of reading books, the first day i started reading a book (that was my 3 day of social media detox) i could barely read 10 pages, but after 17 days i can read for hours without even realizing that i am that much zoned into it. People should try to get rid of these addicted things from their lives, especially for students, your ability to focus and have less fatigue and less mental anxiety is what is gonna help students get through their education, so it is necessary that they don't get so addicted to these things in the beginning.

Wow, this video just resonates with me. I also left using smartphone and gave it to my sister. And for using internet, I bought a 4G Wireless dongle. My mom, and other family members also, kind of challenged me that I won't be able to do this, maybe because they saw how avid user I was of smartphone. What they didn't know was what clicked me to do this, and I'm not doing this for showoff or any luddite thinking(that companies are evil, they are controlling etc). I also felt the same level of euphoria, just after the week after erasing my phone and finding workarounds for the things like mobile hotspot. I regret that I didn't write my experiences and all the arguments going around in my head in that week. And I also, doubt that I'm going back, and currently I'm also finding some things challenging like navigation, but slowly I'll surely find workarounds.

This is great to hear - even though I'd bet a lot us would feel uncomfortable hearing it. Now that a lot of people aren't having to travel as much for work, this could be an opportunity for them to try this as well. As long as I have my computer for work, I can do my job and don't rely on my Smartphone all day. Chris, you're a tech badass/leader. Thumbs up this video so that more people see it!

I'm wondering whether a KaiOS flip phone would work as well for this purpose.

Welcome to the club. I went old school several years ago, and never looked back.

20%- honestly the wrestling with " if I want my endeavor to be successful so I have to share it I have to put it out there" and the "what if I put it out there, what if I say my dreams and goals and people watch me fail, they watch my dreams fall through...how will I recover" I feel like this fear is a real feeling like you're saying but ALSO my wiser self is like..." How much more painful could it be to be rejected for something you actually cared about, To fail and try again when you really care about something..... Then it would be to just live a life caring about nothing and always playing it safe"

Congrats on giving it up!

I did this as well and felt the same way. Now glad that I've stumbled upon your experience as well

Watching this on my tablet. What I did to get the "dumb" phone experience was use ADB to uninstall RU-vid, Chrome, etc... I don't have Facebook or Twitter so didn't need them anyway. After I got everything I wanted off and had my phone setup with maps and such still working, I removed Play Store also. So now I've got a device that works for me.

Phone usage has been a huge distraction for me and seeing other people on their phones more than talking to the person next to them makes me wonder what would happen if everyone got off their phones. Definitely going to only use apps just for business. Wish me luck 🍀

More power to you, Chris. I'd consider doing the same if I wouldn't demand on Signal for communication and if there were more mobile phones (that's what I like to call dumbphones) that could actually act as 4G modem via USB. My old Sony Ericsson Cedar J108i was amazing in that regard and it performed great as mp3 player as well! Too bad 3G/UMTS is no more in Germany, so it's useless now.

I use my smartphone to listen to downloaded podcasts on my commute (no radio or cell signal where I live), and I use it to listen to music/podcasts while I workout. I use it for banking, paying bills, email, phone calls, texting, etc. It's also nice to have when I'm stuck waiting somewhere for a while with nothing to do. It's really really useful. I would need a large variety of different things in order to replace that one tool.

:) WELL DONE! Kudos for doing this and sharing! ? Curious what phone you are using that has wifi tethering for your car deck? ALL THE BEST! Cheers!

I have an old flip phone, a tablet, and a Garmin watch (which can sync to my PC). Smart phones are a plague and attention vampires. Plus they are really more of an albatross if you live an active lifestyle. If you go to a gym or out for a brisk walk or jog, where do you put the thing so it's not dragging your shorts down?

I've only had an old school flip phone up until a couple years ago, then I finally got a smartphone - ONLY because my brother in law had an extra line on his plan. So it only costs the price of the phone. I've always acknowledged the cool things you can do with them, but two years later and I still keep in in the glove box, or use it occasionally for 2-step verification, and once in a while a....a.....a phone call! I resist for the same reasons you have abandoned yours - I have just seen too many people going through life staring at their phone.

He went back

Can I ask will microsoft authenticator work as an app on a small phone if an organisation needs it? Does 2FA work on the simplePhone?

This makes me realize how addicted people are to their phones nowadays, and how lucky I am not to be one of those people. I am certainly staying with my smartphone thought, I see it as a tool rather as an everyday thing, it lets be browse the internet if I don't have access to a computer, serves calls and messaging, and has alarms. It can ocassionally be useful for some photos and other stuff, and if I think about it; yes it does everything, the problem I think lies in people getting absorbed by it (because of social media mostly) and making it part of their life instead of using it as a tool, which is what they should use it for, it's certainly not pleasant to meet with someone and then that someone spends more time on the phone than with you..

Where I live you almost cannot avoid having a smart phone and I am an old guy who grew up with phone booths. I don't use my smart phone for entertainment, at all.

I haven't really had a proper smartphone and haven't really had a reason to get one yet. The reason that's had me closest to getting one though is the mere ease of meeting new people and making friends, especially if you're entering a new school or something like that.

I think a good middle ground could also be to limit your usage, It would take massive self control but it could help.

It’s something I also wanted to do but here in Denmark authentication to government, banks and more is almost impossible without a smartphone, sadly.

Humans are really social creatures and we want our opinions written down and known even if we are introverts in real life. We could be the quietest nerd in a public setting but a keyboard gangsta when we are online. We want shared experiences with other people. We enjoy listening to opinions. We want to watch how another person reacts to a trailer or scene. Internet provides all this. A utopia for even the insecure, shy, loners.

Well I only use my smart phone to watch your videos 😂

You pretty much hit on what I was starting to think about doing, there are times I do have a legitimate need for a smartphone, but it's very limited, and for the most part there's work arounds ala VMs for example. But that may be the approach I end up taking is dumb phone with tethering and have a glorified ipod touch/android MP3 player for the small handful of things I do need when it comes up and maybe see if I can find a solid point and shoot style camera again. I already go and hide my phone behind my monitor to charge it, it was initially meant to be there so I could still see it since I hate ringers so I kept it on silent so I could just see the flash/screen light up and I have times I leave my phone on the other side of my place, sometimes physically chucking it. I mostly rely on self control, which is great until it breaks, so I'll have to figure out a good system for it but I'll probably move into this vein in the future once I get some things lined up.

I am really impressed that you are staying with the dumb phone. I am addicted to the phone and have been using it even for things that are better done on my pc. I bought a Doro 5516 with sdcard storage for £26 and immediately ran into a problem. The iPhone doesn't save contacts to sim card, so I had to refer to the iPhone for current business. That discouraged me, and I put the sim card back in the iPhone. But I agree, smartphones are exhausting; so useful so bad for my poor brain. I will try again

Or even higher than giving up a smartphone. You could go the ascendant route and just resist the urge to look at it except at specified times of day and set your phone to only ring for your contacts

Interesting that someone who works in tech like you uses a dumb phone. I use a dumb phone too, but I don't work in tech, and I use it because the internet is just too addictive, and with a dumbphone I have to deal with the addiction only on my computer.

Great perspective. It made me check my screen on time for today. I am not bad, but I could improve.

I'm 55 years old and even sold phones and service with Cellular One in the early 90s. I have never owned anything but a landline phone, and 75% of those calls get blocked. Being unimportant is very relaxing.

Camera and personal digital assistant features are my #1 reason for owning a smartphone. Before the smartphone I had several PDAs and several really nice cameras. I didn't even carry a phone till 2001.

Unfortunately at present I'm not able to give up a smart phone as I need to use certain apps for work. What I do though is setup notifications for twice a day - once in the morning before work and again at about 6pm. That way I'm not distracted by random app's sending messages. And when I get home, it goes on charge and I generally don't touch it again until morning. It's a lovely thought though.

It comes down to self control. I use my smart phone almost like a dumb phone. But the utility of a smart phone is nice to have.

So excited to get mine!

You already had only 30 minutes and no notifications. I already see that as a win

Great video! I removed all social media from my smartphone which that alone helps out. Only use them on my pc.

There is a part of me that would like to revert to a dumb phone with a keyboard, the main problem is that I drive a semitruck and the Navigation app on my phone works better than the truck specific gps systems you can buy. Getting lost in a semitruck is quite terrifying and so is hearing a 300$ truck gps tell you to make a U turn.

Really curious about this personal project. Thanks for sharing, hope you can deal with the smartphone-detox.

For tools, I need GPS, the voice recorder, alarms, and a scheduler. It’s nice to have youtube to bluetooth to stereo and TV but otherwise not needed on the go. I did not have any of this before my mid 20s. As a result, I sometimes got lost on the highway.

Hey chris. sry off topic from the video. But do you know how you can check gpu power draw in linux? in windows you can check this with hwinfo -> gpu power -> gpu pcie +12 input power.

BTW, tethering over bluetooth (for internet access) is very effective and uses much much less battery charge than a wifi hotspot.

You're a legend. Going to do it myself

how do you handle phone calls recording and sms backing up for long term personal archive? how do you take photos on the go?

Totally agree with you! I stopped watching TV and read Newspaper 10 years ago. Left FB 3 years ago, the only thing I use my (S Xcover 4) is take phone calls, make phone calls, receive messages, send messages, bank app. Thats all. It Changes Your Lifestyle to the better 100%.

I ended installing shelter on my pixel 6 for the work profile. Installed all my social apps into that. So I have a hard turn off button. Since I don't carry cards anymore I require some digital apps for my license and so on. Good work :) to you

Ironic that the the device that's supposed to increase your productivity by giving everything in reach of your fingertips actually decreases productivity. I guess it's one of those "Be careful what you wish for" things.

I've felt rather liberated since I decided to move away from Facebook. Now I only look at it maybe once or twice a week for a few mins each time.

i tried a dumb-phone too and i loved it as you do - but just for a while. now i'm doing the same thing, but with a smartphone (i need maps, music, a cam and sometimes the knowledge (mostly wikipedia lol)) ... i stopped using it in those "waiting"- or "bored"-times and at home it got a fixed place where i do not touch it but hear calls. i keep my phone clean from sozial-media and stuff, just installed those much needed apps like maps, spotify and duckduckgo-browser. (no store-services are activated unless i need to update something, so it's more struggle to just quickly try a game or something). my bedroom and toilette are general electronic-free zones (always.) it's quite a dangerous and tempting road to drive, but it works for me. i just love the dumb-phone-mentality

I haven't cut the Android phone out completely, but I almost never touch it only for calls(app) and photo taking(with synology backup), 2auth, speed test(almost never). Its all about controlling your self(if you can).

How would that work? I just spent a few days booking flights, concert tkts and stuff for an upcoming trip to Europe & banking security always directs me to my phone app where I need to approve the purchase within the app and often with fingerprint. I guess they could send SMS code to type in but isn't it riskier in this tech age?

I was the first to get a HTC Diamond Touch in Denmark in 2008, and it stressed me so much, that I went back to the real thing. Now I'm on a CAT, but there's a company paid and owned smartphone at my work place. I never use it, it's resting on the dashboard and get cleaned once a week.

What phone do you have? and how come you didn't leave a link to buying it?

Although I still have a smartphone, I cut my usage time to about 10-15 minutes a day for the past 4 years or so. In fact, my phone is on do not disturb ALL of the time and I use Google voice instead of a phone plan and I love it! No more unwanted intrusion on my time or attention.

makes sense. i will probably try it soon too. :)

I work at a hospital in nursing. I am sure I am the only employee who does NOT bring in my phone. I leave it in the car. I check it on my 15 minute and 30 minute lunch, and that is it. I go inside, it stays in my car. I do have my watch with service so if someone is trying to get ahold, which is pretty much almost never, I will see it, then dismiss and continue with work.

I'm yet to read the article, but how on earth are you using your dumb phone as a wifi tether? Also, I don't use my android phone at all, except for that .... but the ills of it is that I'm doing the same things on my laptop now.

im on year 3 with my Light Phone 2 and loving it!!!!

I'm not sure you understand how important this video is even that you have created it :D You are using your power as a popular creator to pass a massage that most Big tech will never allow or automatically remove from social media because you are risking their power grip on us.

I am using nokia 105 in 2023, I am grad student, it helps me focus and enjoy the little things. thanks for the idea of using android in VM.

I just bought the new light grey Punkt, excited to have this phone again, missed using it as my daily driver

I love this video. I’m in different situation, but it’s similar my phone is disconnected. My dad took me off his phone line, its going on five months without a phone. No lie dude it does feel better. But man it’s sad 😢 at some times. The phone is basically a mini computer that does everything I don’t think people realize that till they lose something.

I basically turn off all data, have OSM for offline maps, Coolreader to read books{with every book from several authors}, Mame for gaming, a few roms, some music, so all the functions, gaming, reading without dlc and notifications... I stopped trying to talk to people who are looking at their phones, obviously their phones are more important than me... I just walk away.

It is a bold move, I remember the days of pagers. No texting, no SMS or MMS in those days. If you wanted me to act on a system outage you actually had to call me and... well... coverage was not so good in those days. Today I am on-call, have been on slack and zoom most of my day "working". Meetings that could just be an email. I long for calmer seas.

Next level: permanent internet connection (from a workstation and home PC) is also consuming a lot of energy. Most of my most productive pieces of work done without connectivity. Just a machine with pre-installed environment.

Hey Chris, did you use MFA apps on the smartphone that you had to port to a pc? Or should I just wait for the follow up video: "Why I went back to using a smartphone."? 😉

So I am trying to figure out if I can get service to an old phone that I acquired....

wise move, am glad I'm not the only one... I did it 5 years ago..

since the start of twitters 280 letter update ive been slowly deleting social media from my life and i can say the feeling of "wow this stressed me out and waisted this much of my time and rented this much space in my mind" is real!

I have a company phone for work, I turn my personal phone on silent during my working days, Most of the times if I do not see a call on the screen I do not know someone is calling or texting. I have went days during my work days not even looking at my phone. I have moved all of my company related work stuff like email, MFA apps for remote access, server and network access to my work phone. So I am highly thinking about switching back to a simple flip phone and using a prepaid service for voice. I can use my computer for 'chatting', I don't really upload anything to any social media sites, I don't watch youtube or hardly any video streaming service on my phone, screen to small and to many ADs. I do not have a paid tv service as I use an over the air antenna with a tv tuner box that is connected to my network.

0:07. I just stumbled onto a CNBC feature "How the Cellphone Market is Transforming" and was surprised to see you in that intro (you should be able to search for it on RU-vid, if you haven't seen it yet). With privacy and hacking becoming increasingly problematic on smartphones, I'm thinking this might be the only way forward. I might have to revive an old iPod Classic to start playing music in the car again. 😉

I think DT also ditched using Smartphones ages ago. Can't imagine doing this myself honestly, I save a lot of time doing basic things without having to switch on my PC. I use an S10+ with Custom Firmware.

I think it's related to FOMO, with everything happening and so much exposure thanks to the internet in our pocket.

Just having thrown my phone against the wall has brought me here. I fucking despise this smartphone trash. My first smartphone i got in 2017 because of work. Until then i've never had the urge to get one. And i miss those days.

I have been considering doing the same. KaiOS phones seem interesting and with a bit more function.

Every smart phone, I have ever owned has self destructed after 2 years. Might as well, put the money towards a cool proper camera or a mac computer.

I’m thinking about taking plunge. An alcoholic doesn’t keep booze in their home so this makes sense for my struggles