Happy New Year Becca! Glad you're feeling better about content creation. And this Z Flip 5 video was interesting. A unique perspective! And I downloaded minimalist phone, and I'm gonna try it! Also, my New Years resolution is to get a new job (I edit video & content creation 😉) and have it be a job that allows me to work remote, (or at least hybrid) and pay me what I'm worth. (working in higher-ed for the last 12 years, and it can be tough on the wallet at times)
I just spent my entire day binge-watching RU-vid videos and ho-ly do I feel terrible. This video is a great wake-up call to focus on what's happening around me again, because I'm too often one of those people staring into their phone screen. Have a wonderful year everyone and thank you for the consistent quality content you're putting out at The Verge.
Had the same problem and it drastically helped to turn off youtube recommendations. My youtube homescreen is completely empty and I can only watch videos, if I search for them or click on my subscriptions. RU-vid shorts is disabled as well.
Ooo. I like that launcher that displays how much time you’ve been on the app next to it. I feel like that visual cue would prevent me from opening apps. If only they had that feature on iOS.
I've had the Flip 5 from launch. Got it for the exact same reasons, found the same frustrations, and seriously love it overall. I would only add that the uniqueness of the phone is surprisingly satisfying, and watching videos in flex mode is more convenient than expected when I'm mostly just listening while doing other things. Great video Becca, happy 2024!
I found what actually kept me away from my phone was use a smartwatch! I have a 12 mini which is already a small screen with not so good battery life, and I use an apple watch se which relieves that fomo anxiety from receiving important notifications. But instead of opening up a notification on my phone and get sucked in and scroll endlessly, I just glance down at my watch and most of the time it's not even an urgent notification so I get on with my day immediately. For this reason alone I find it so tough to go back and wear analog watches from my collection lol
Becca, you are one of the only voices that makes the Verge worth checking. You and Deiter were my big two. I don't think I'm unusual in that regard! Keep at it, here or on your own.
6:23 On iOS, you can add multiple Siri Suggestions widgets to a Home Screen. Apps in widgets don’t (seem to) duplicate after applying the change, so it’ll basically shuffle everything quite frequently
"Try another phone for using less of phone" - This doesn't sound anything reasonable to me except - An advertisement !! THANK YOU SAMSUNG FOR SPONSOR THIS VIDEO,
Maybe the Motorola razr+ would have been the better device to try to do this with as well as allowing yourself to use the full screen for a camera. Just a thought.
you have one + ? I've been doing the same on my razr 5g 2021.. And love it... Specially because I can do it one had.... But... It's only half screen of the + .... So I've been thinking to get one.... If you have one.... How's the experience ? It's my idea or it is a little bigger than the 2021 ? Is not uncomfortable... ?
The theme and script of this video make me think about the nothing phone 2, and like, this is a good chance to revisit that phone ( I know it's not the usual in this channel doing those kind of videos ) see how software has mature to this point since launch and how can help you out with that goal, looking forward for more Becca video's with this kind of editorial, is really great (just as all the content) happy new year everyone!
I was the same way, the thing that finally got me to lower my social media intake was simply to disable notifications. It's a slow burn but I'd have one busy day and wouldn't check my phone and with no notifications to draw me in, so I'd only check the apps when I remembered, Not when they told me too. As the days/weeks went on it was less and less till now I only really check them in the morning and maybe late at night.
This does help a lot. I disabled most notifications except for the most important ones (messages or emails) and that did wonder for I actually do with my screentime
Yep but this should be easier to do. I spend a lot of time setting up permissions and blocking different apps notifications. Maybe Samsung could set up a notifications group policy?
Over the past year or so I’ve been trying to be mindful of this. I removed social media apps from my phone (other than RU-vid, which does get some Shorts attention a couple times a day) and exclusively use them on desktop which are way less addicting and rewarding. I notice how sucked in everyone is on their phones frequently. I try to remind myself that sometimes, like me, people are using them for work, navigation, etc, but I also recognize that a lot of it is mindless social media scrolling. Feels bad man.
Focus mode on iOS. You can create a Custom Focus and customise the home screen of it. You can also decide which apps are allowed to send you notification for each Custom Focus
I use focus mode on my iPhone, set the wallpaper to black, silent notifications, choose only essential apps and rearrange them to different location from my regular mode.
As someone whose phone has been switched off for a while now. The thing that allowed me to do this was an apple watch with cellular on it. AND more importantly the will power to steer clear of using that thing. None of the apps or screen times work if your will power doesnt.
As an Android user, the app drawer actually could reduce my app use time by just removing it from the homescreens. The habit is still there, but greatly reduced. Perhaps having the need to open the phone, open the drawer, search for the app and then start to doomscroll, would add another friction layer, but it's an additional cost to downgrade. I would rather add a 7-pin requirement to open any of those doomscrolling apps.
yeah using app drawer is a good suggestion, the fact that you can't see notifications count after the first thing you get into the phone really reduce the urge to click in. Another way is to use iOS with blank home page and only using their app drawer, cuz their app drawer is so messy a lot of people is bothered to even go in, and iOS notification center is so messy that for me I don't even go to read them.
I like this. I had a Samsung fold and it was great except I was always on my phablet. I've moved to a very capable Samsung S8 Ultra with the s23 phone. I'm still at a loss though. I want a smaller phone but I dont want to give up the camera or battery life. I go out exploring on my bike and could be out all day. When I return to camp I can view / edit my content on my tablet. I think there are a lot of people in a similar position that want their phone to have: 1) good camera 2) great battery life 3) be a tether for other devices like tablets, watches, drones etc 4) be non intrusive. 5) provide more control over what we see and when we see it.
I make use of focus modes on iPhone. I have different apps on my home screen for each focus mode which I have switch automatically by time or location. It still requires discipline on my part because the hidden apps are still on my phone but when I’m at work the social media apps are hidden (for example)
Great little piece, made me think how I am truly controlled by my phone! Thats strange saying (writing) it loud! I enjoy watching all your video pieces and think that you do a great job reviewing cameras and enjoy watching you talk about photography and taking pictures! Will continue to watch whatever content you make in 2024 (now). Happy New Year ….
I have bought AW U2 and I put my phone somewhere out of reach and out of sight. Since I am connected to the wifi with the watch all the time, I dont need to carry my phone 90% of the time during the day so it is not tempting me to use it. This helped me to reduce my daily average screen on time to 2h and 30m on my phone. Something similar to your solution. Another thing, I switched to smaller phone, 15 pro because the Max version was just so tempting to use just because of how good everything looked on the bigger screen.
It's so great that you are tuning in into the real world vs living inside a screen while being programmed by the apps. The Minimalist launcher worked for me, I did thought about what you do with your Flip 5, but I don't have the money to buy a phone that expensive. It worked for me using a BlackBerry Classic from 2018-2019, then an Unihertz Jelly Pro which is the most challenging 2.4" screen, lastly I used the Unihertz Titan Pocket which I had the same problem as you seeing long texts, but the pros is that it has a QWERTY keyboard that doubles as a scroller and you can set shortcuts for every letter with one or two presses, plus if you use the launcher you could set other buttons for other apps like the power button (not only for flashlight). Unfortunately something happened to it so its stuck on needing a flash Partition so now I use an iphone for the online stuff and a Nokia 6300 2.4" screen a KaiOS device to use outside. Good luck in your journey! ❤ 7:39
you have one + ? I've been doing the same on my razr 5g 2021.. And love it... Specially because I can do it one had.... But... It's only half screen of the + .... So I've been thinking to get one.... If you have one.... How's the experience ? It's my idea or it is a little bigger than the 2021 ? Is not uncomfortable to do it one hand.. ? Thanks
This was such a fun video. Great video Becca. I've set up screen time of half hr for insta and I've noticed myself feeling a lot better already. Damn it'd be nice if it was possible to just not be addicted to your phone but this device is made to be addictive so we need learn self control anyways great concept. I think I prefer the motorolla flip phone (but I'm aware it takes noticably worse photos).
Im a phone minimalist mostly, if im in the house im on my tablet People who complain bout battery and such its like how long were u on your phone Small front screen doesnt bother me and i love that i can do most things from front screen which saves battery
Nice video. Maybe one day small phone will come back in fashion, who knows. I know many people including me, buying a 350 dollars iPhone SE4 (whithout top and bottom black bars) / or a less tall iphone Mini, almost a "square screen" that could solve this issue of being a slave to our phone. Maybe...
I wanted to do this! I want my OG HTC Magic size screen, but modern day internals. It felt great in the hand, but the screen would be too small to look at a lot.
Great vid! FWIW, Razr Plus solves all those weird "why not this?" behaviors you were annoyed by on the Z Flip 5. Something I do to keep things intentional is remove all the non-essential apps from my home screen. I have a gesture assigned to the search function of my launcher, so I need to type the name of most apps I want to launch. If I can't remember the name in the moment? Moving on.
I also have the feeling you stated. I decided to reduce my phone time to 3 hours daily from previous 6 sInce the 1st. What I noticed is I get sad and quite annoyed when I see my friends on their phones all the time. I'm not trying to judge but "keep your phone down it's not that bad IRL". 😅
I think a good idea to see your messages or whats covered by the key keyboard is if they have a button you long press on the keyboard so it lowers its opacity till its not visible and when you let go it's back. It's much better than the keyboard pushing the messages up and down, and disorienting your view. And maybe by holding the button if you move your finger up and down it will scroll up and down. And if you move left or right, the cursor will move through the letters or something.
I’ve recently gotten an Apple Watch Ultra 2. It has helped me get off my phone a lot. I even leave the house without my phone. The ultra works really well away from the phone. I’ve got cellular setup obviously. All I have on my watch is calls and texts come through. It’s great.
I tried the launcher app for Android, but definitely the best is to close your social media accounts. I have not used them since then. Becca u are the best!!❤
I feel like this might also work well with a super-small regular, phone, that are non-folding so more durable and much cheaper. There are a few that exist but the clear standout is the Unihertz Jelly Star, it's a 3" 16:9 screen though, so really even smaller than the Z Flip and even more of a pain to type on. And I will admit the software support is lacking vs a Samsung - I wish major manufacturers did small phones again!
Vjeran here! We've been very active on our Shorts/IG/TikTok so we did a little announcement there when it happened. 😌 (and thanks for watching both videos 🙏)
it never bugged me but i’d really appreciate if we could have Becca’s pronounce shown on the intro, i’ve been pretty sure and even researched her website but i am getting more and more confused these days…
oh man, I've been doing it since I got the flip 5, and looked up what can be done w/ the front screen. Only time I've really flipped it, is when the apps only work in full screen mode.
No offence but already at 1:33 becca says she needs to set some rules. Regardless of which smartphone you use, whether IPhone, Pixel, flip phones, they are all the same. It requires rules to be set and discipline to stick to the rules. After all you can potentially hide almost all apps from the screen of any phone so only relegating the apps launcher to the apps drawer. (Yes, even iPhones can hide apps from screen) So no offense, this is kinda not useful.
Remember when Paul took a whole year off the internet and documented it. Seems like we have gone a long way from that these days lol. Thanks for the video Becca!
Thank-you .. I've never thought of approaching a flip phone like this .. Damnit, Apple, get me the 15 pro flip before I forget how great this could be ..!!
Thank you for making this video. It made me miss my old Motorola Defy MB525 - a "full size" android phone with a 3.7" display (and probably as thick as the Z5 Flip). I certainly hope that genre of phones will return.
