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so recently i have been seeing more and more people doing "digital minimalism" videos, which is the principle of dividing all the functionalities of the modern smartphone into physical separate parts: a simple flip phone or dumb phone, digital camera, notebook, agenda, calculator, etc...
you would ask me why people would do this, well because they may have been burned out and overwhelmed by the fact that social media takes a huge place in our everyday lives, phones this days can do literally EVERYTHING, we have no privacy and are being used as a product, and that almost everything is online now. which i think is really great, and that means that more people are willing to step away from modern social media and/or tech, but i have been thinking about something
are those people really doing it because they want to, or just for the video? not saying that they are all faking it, of course. im just asking myself a question, is it becoming a trend? are they gonna stop after it's finished? maybe they are gonna have enough (which ill understand because its hard), or not.
i am not saying that a trend is inherently bad or harmful, id even prefer them to do this for the trend that not at all, if it motivates them then i am happy about it. by that i mean do they really put investment, passion and dedication into doing this?
sorry now i am gonna be a little out of the subject, but between those 2, i find some kind of correlation.
for example, recently i have seen a video titled "going back to the early 2000s for a week", i watched the video and got immediatly dissapointed when the guy doesnt even record the video with a camera from this decade, boy you already failed the concept, congrats. he barely talked about the technology he was presenting and just flew over them. not even talking about the fact that when he bought an old console, he didnt think about it needing a memory card. you'll ask me whats wrong with all this, he simply didnt know, or he does what he wants? well that shows that he didnt do any researches to really be into the concept. if he really wanted to live it, he'll dedicate his time to it. i dont wanna sound like a raging grandma i swear i am sorry lol but i hate half-assed essays.
are they playing on people's nostalgic/anemoic feelings? are they doing this to exclusively get numbers and views from it? of course i have found a few people that were really into it, i am not talking about them, and i am thanking them for all their researches, passion and dedication.
back to what i was talking about, i think that the concept of "digital minimalism" is great, but in terms of possession personally i wouldnt call it minimalism because, well it is the smartphone that is minimalist, because it has everything on it... i would rather call it "digital detox" even if it is already an used term. but psychologically speaking, yes, that would be minimalism.
and im even starting to think about this: what if we succeed to do a digital detox while keeping our smartphones as they are, with all their functionalities and social medias? i think that would be so fun to try, but hard. i havent seen anyone doing this, for now. i personally tried it but i failed really fast because phones nowadays are purely designed to make you addicted and keep you on it as long as they can... lol
anyways thats it i hope you loved my not very well organized blog... bye :3
(ofc if i have made any mistakes you can always correct me in the comments)
Comments
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Andrea!
I keep seeing those videos too and it's honestly bothering me sm... Like I love the idea of not being on on my phone for a while, but now it's become a sort of trend which I hate bc I feel like no one really understands why some people are actually doing the no phone thing. Social media has seriously rotted our brains so much that it's just normal. (ﾉД`)
EXACTLY!! like those people are doing it because its stylish and not even for the pure reason behind it : a detox. and i do agree, thats so sad that we had to get to the point of making videos about us trying to get away from our modern digital tech. though i think its mostly the GAFAM's fault and that not everyone doing this digital detox thing is faking it, i dont wanna demonize it, i even think its a great idea. but some of them do it for the sake of aesthetic and attractivity, not even for the purpose of it (like... why are you recording yourself with your phone of latest laptop? arent you supposed to do it with a camera? at least live the experience to its fullest or dont do it at all)
by ╋⁶⁶⁶━☣︎𓃶🜏𖤐𓄃𓂀; ; Report
Teo-licious
These things seem like a great idea, but people that post about it online mostly do it for attention (of course, there are exceptions, but those are an occasional occurrence)
Thurzday
i used a dumb phone for about 3yrs-ish, n it was a million times better for my mental health. i had to get a smartphone again for college related reasons, and within a week i was addicted all over again. rn i have a time limit on it, and as few apps as i can force myself to have, but i still feel that constant urge to pick it up n waste time on it :(
i find these "digital minimalism" videos super hypocritical, as someone w/ experience the flaws are just glaring. if the point is to spend less time on social media, why post about it on social media? imo it is like 75% nostalgia bait :/ i hate that the "conclusion" most of these videos come to is "yeah this is better for your mental health, but using a smartphone is just soooo muuucchhh easierrrrrr youd be stupid for picking any alternative" i think they come at it from an incredibly biased perspective - instead of genuninely trying it out n exploring it, they (subconciously) sabotage themselves (not researching about memory cards) reinforcing the opinion they came into it with (mobile phone = good, because mobile phone = normal) AND affecting the opinion of anyone watching. its just conformation bias n it drives me insane.
im currently trying to use my phone less, bringing my 3ds places for entertainment, lookin into mp3s for music, etc, but i sadly need a smartphone for college T~T i truly hope we reach a point were we move past the need for phones all together, im so sick of em, im so sick of everything being heavily reliant on them, im so sick of it just being assumed that everyone has one n the social alienation that comes from not having one or from not having social media, it just sucks >:(
all that being said, i do think like 25% of these videos r genuine. n i really hope the people that do it for real actually learn from it :)
thank you for your comment! and i am actually in the same situation, due to my studies i need a smartphone ugh... and in the current world we live in, everything is revolving around the smartphone, and everything is online. so it is incredibly difficult to try to live without one. how did we get to this stage of it being like a part of our essentials to live? to me it didnt ameliorate social interaction, i think its destroying it. it destroyed my social life and im trying to get it back... though its really difficult and my loneliness is killing me... to be fair i am so close to buy a doro flip phone lol.
AND YESS i agree so much that is nostalgia bait... i personally dont want to live in the early 2000s, but i want to live my social life as if it was the early 2000s, i want to live AS IF. before the current smartphones we got today, because it changed the world so much... i dont keep my old stuff due to nostalgia, but because it has so much potential that we forgot, it works, and it just does what it has to do : one-purpose only objects. just does what it has to do. as phones did before, simply message and call, and occasionally had agendas and an alarm. of course i dont wanna demonize smartphones because they can be such a huge plus in some people lives... but seriously i dont really see that much positive things after my experience with them.
and sadly i dont think that we are gonna go back to old phones as a whole, BUT, there are those new technologies that could replace smartphones and even pcs, you know those apple and google glasses... personally i think its the humanity downfall's pre final boss lol. i am so sad about the fact that one day, everything will be digital, you wont touch anything anymore, its just gonna be on a floating screen in front of you, and real that scares me. i really say no to extreme comfort and luxury. its so sad that the essentials of human beings are dissapearing... like seriously, smartphones are literally very small square pcs... nowadays they are all heavy 7 inches brick. like, thinking about it do we really need all that? do we need a small portable pc? should we?
also the fact that if you dont possess a smartphone or even social media, you are immediatly alienated, rejected. especially in today's schools. where they are literally children. that makes me so sad. i want to go back to the time where children were exclusively playing with toys, writing stories, well doing kids stuff, and not scroll on an ipad for 6+ hours a day.
by ╋⁶⁶⁶━☣︎𓃶🜏𖤐𓄃𓂀; ; Report
I too am sick and tired of smartphones, and have been since July 2021. I'm a college student that doesn't own one and hasn't now for nearly 2 years (since June 4th, 2023). Maybe I'm just lucky, since I haven't technically even "needed" one so far even upon starting college in late August of last year and have successfully been able to find workarounds to the few times where having a smartphone was almost expected (such as being able to pick up physical copies of my concert tickets that I purchased online at the ticket booth when I saw The Used on May 11th of this year), though I do still fear that one day, for some reason or another, I'll be forced to own another one even after I've made the promise and commitment to myself to never go back.
Should the worst ever come to worst and I am actually forced to actually own a stupid smartphone again, I do already have a very specific model I have in mind (the Unihertz Titan Pocket) and I will activate it on the most limited plan I can possibly get for it, consciously choosing to use it as a PDA and removing all unnecessary and distracting apps (plus keeping it on mute all the time in case anyone ever tries to call it, as I will still have my 4G flip phone as my main line and still use that baby for all of my calling and texting purposes). Oh, and I'd make sure to get a cool little stylus for it as well, as I dare not touch its screen with my fingers.
by xxRebellious_Emmaxx; ; Report
im glad that you found a way! im seriously thinking abt getting a doro flip phone for 2nd hand, theyre cheap and basic. though i want to wait until i go to therapy (because my smartphone addiction comes with other issues, i pretty know that if i ditch it now its not gonna fix my problems and my relationship with screens), and until i can really ditch my smartphone... also i have heard of that unihertz smartphone, though i do not have an opinion because i havent got one... i once thought about buying one, but it would be useless to have the same thing but smaller? but for people that want modern smartphone functionnalities and a small lightweight brick i think its useful.
by ╋⁶⁶⁶━☣︎𓃶🜏𖤐𓄃𓂀; ; Report
(i also wish my dad consulted me instead of buying me a new phone by surprise, not complaining of course, but i ALWAYS want to choose my own stuff. plus my older phone was literally ok we could just have repaired it)
by ╋⁶⁶⁶━☣︎𓃶🜏𖤐𓄃𓂀; ; Report
mikey
its not the same but recently i completely removed all portable technology from my life for 8 months n it was actually really nice and good for my mental health. Though i will say i wish i wouldve had a flip phone and an mp3 player at the time, it did get quite lonely. But after a while i got more comfortable with it. If youre realizing your mental health is declining i really reccomend stepping back maybe not as long as i did but long enough for you to start feeling okay on your own. Its hard but it really does feel nice
this is genuinely a good idea, sadly i cant get away from my phone completly bc i need it for my studies people etc, but ive tried to reduce the functionnalities of my phone and separate them. everything thats shopping platforms like vinted i only put them on my pc's browser, i deactivated the customized feed, so i only buy what i need. i also go on social media exclusively on my pc (except for whatsapp n discord bc i got important ppl there). i also now have a digicam, an agenda, a notebook, a walkman, a discman and a mp3. im also planning on reading way more books, ive borrowed some a few days ago
by ╋⁶⁶⁶━☣︎𓃶🜏𖤐𓄃𓂀; ; Report
Sounds awesome!!
by mikey; ; Report
Jo ☥
It seems very hypocritical to me to vlog about wanting a digital detox... Detaching from general use of modern technology is such a great thing but not to do as a fad. I do hope for the eradication of cellular phones- as convenient as they are.
I doubt that there's a possibility for both digital minimisation and social media. As you've said it's built to stimulate its consumers. It's inevitable. Perhaps even the most self-disciplined falls trapped. I come from a biased view however, I'd say humanity would be better if we all just smashed it... and I say that as a person who always have that impulse lingering in my mind when I'm on a computer or phone.
well some people enjoy sharing some of their adventures, and most that say they are doing a digital detox, mean stepping away from social media, but i think its so much more than just that
im sharing the feeling about cellular phones needing to be eradicated, but i feel like this is impossible, because we have came so far into this technology, we cant back away - except if WE decide to do that on OUR own. and i think that they even dont need to be eradicated, just downgraded and less present in our everyday lives
but its so hard in a world where now, smartphones and social media are immediatly required to go through everyday. for example, a lot of kids and students can be alienated if they dont own a smartphone, or if they simply dont have modern social medias, to be fair its so devastating to witness
by ╋⁶⁶⁶━☣︎𓃶🜏𖤐𓄃𓂀; ; Report
Yeah, definitely. If we've gone back to just wired phones and flip phones, there would be a massive difference. I'd say it's important to evaluate the connotations of progress and how advancing doesn't necessarily mean anything good. Backing down from what we're constantly upgrading sounds unlikely but I do wish that we can strive to that future.
My main problem beside it being so ubiquitous and pushed is how constantly we depend on them. There's many good things about it like the GPS but then there's games, videos, everything in the world just in our pockets. That itself sounds (and is) so overwhelming. With mobile phones we've grown really hedonistic to the point we discard the importance of boredom.
I do agree that is doesn't necessarily need to be eradicated but reduced, ultimately. My ideal phone is just to call/text and navigate
by Jo ☥; ; Report
I ditched my smartphone for good nearly 2 years ago in early June 2023 and honestly, my only regret is not doing so sooner. These glowing slab of glass bricks have caused more harm than good to our society, especially so to developing children and teens and have practically become the new cigarette (especially so with the rapid expansion and proliferation of invasive modern social media platforms within the past 15 years or so).
Hell, I get angry every single time I see a parent who lets their small child watch brainrotting YouTube Kids Cocomelon videos on their iPhones or iPads while I'm out in public. These children will likely be significantly impaired in so many ways in their later years due this completely unnatural, yet so disappointingly and shockingly normalized practice of modern parents not wanting to spend some time with the children they've chosen to raise and oh I don't know, giving them real physical toys and coloring books as well as making them go play outside the way parents did not too long ago.
I guess it helps that I generally don't give a rat's ass about what anyone else thinks of how I choose to live my own life or about keeping up with stupid trends, though unfortunately, I do realize that I'm in the minority here (especially when compared to most others around my physical age) and that most people are a bunch of conformist sheep who don't care for authenticity and fighting for a freer and fairer world where we're not enslaved to our electronic devices the way many seemingly are now and fattening up the pockets of the rich, powerful, and greedy pigs who want us to be enslaved all by design, with little to no consideration of ethics, all to continue grifting more money from us, the consumers of said electronic devices (such as smartphones).
Still, I'm hoping more people will eventually wake up and realize how damaging these devices truly are to our society, to our species, and especially to our children (as their brains are more vulnerable and susceptible towards developing addiction and certain mental illnesses than adults' brains, with growing evidence pointing towards social media and smartphone usage in teens being linked with the ongoing teen mental health crisis that's only been worsening since 2010).
And honestly, if I had a child right now, I would absolutely NOT let them own a smartphone until their 18th birthday. A flip phone when they're a preteen/teen, yes, but nothing more sophisticated or "smarter" than a clamshell that can't do much else other than make calls and send/receive text messages as well as a few other basic functions (exactly like the cellphone I own currently) until then. Just as parents shouldn't be letting their children smoke cigarettes, they also shouldn't be giving them smartphones, either.
by xxRebellious_Emmaxx; ; Report
Also, as another thing I've noticed is how unfortunately, older, more analog systems and ways of living life are slowly disappearing and are pushing more and more people into using these dastardly devices. Even physical paper bus route maps on some bus systems (including and especially a major one that operates around where I live, ironically enough) have all but disappeared in the last 5 or so years, alarmingly enough. Yellow pages books have disappeared. Hell, they even took out most of the news paper stands on the sidewalks in my town and in all of the neighboring ones as well.
And yet, hardly anyone seems to bat an eye or to open up against this madness. We truly are spiralling into a dystopia that is perhaps even worse than Wall-E and Idiocracy combined and on an accelerated rate at that, if we don't come together and do something NOW before it truly, officially becomes too late.
Sometimes I wish a solar flare would finally come and strike the Earth already for this very reason (as well as for the others I've mentioned as well).
by xxRebellious_Emmaxx; ; Report
Very well worded, I love your insight! The longevity is very good, what model do you own? I want one myself as the sight of a mobile phone makes me sick- yet I’m waiting until this phone dies and when I can change my parents mind… I’m going to uni soon, as in one more year in highschool, which is in my city and my parents fret about not knowing my way without a GPS.
I’m not around children much but whenever I am, I have this feeling of pity and rage. I see that they’re screaming and repeating whatever the hell they saw online to catch the attention they never get. If I weren’t to be an old crazy cat lady, like I predicted I was going to be a decade ago, and had children I’d do the same. Limit them as much from technology and teach them about the quality life. But as schools depend on technology more than ever, it might result in to alternative teaching.
Memorabilia is now a lost cause. Currently as I’m writing this, I’m manually burning a few CDs. Everything being online… I don’t know how it doesn’t bug people. Nothing’s permanent anymore nor is it really valuable.
It’s enraging how quickly were advancing to an online dependency and no one sees the harm. Advance doesn’t necessarily mean great
by Jo ☥; ; Report
About the solar flare, I do too. It may not be forever but hopefully people start to see the better life
by Jo ☥; ; Report
this is a lot of comments and i cant answer everything, but i truly am happy to see people realizing one of the world's current biggest flail, and doing something about it :)
i also really wish i could get rid of that damn smartphone, not completely disconnect myself, just have a little device to simply keep contacts with my loved ones. but right now i unfortunately cant because of the situations my studies put me in, and most people i interact with are on whatsapp, and a few on instagram.
maybe one day ill finally take the step and do it when ill be ready. i am gonna maybe wait until highschool finishes, or until my smartphones dies (i dont lie i have tried to kill it myself but that mf is one of a solid brick...). because my dad worked his ass off to get me this phone and i dont wanna throw his money in the air, and dissapoint him. i had an samsung s9 from 2018 but unfortunately the battery is dying... we could have just changed the battery to be fair. that phone is still solid and useful as ever. i think obsolescence is some kind of a lie. still runs perfectly
still i separated my phone functionalities in different parts. i dont use streaming devices anymore (even if i cracked them) i now exclusively listen to music on my portable cd player, or my mp3... i bought a 2nd hand cassette, im planning on getting more dvds and physical games on my old consoles, i got my grandma's old digital camera. im also burning cds too, and i have been collecting cds and vinyls for over 3 years.
smartphone, and social media in general, have somewhat ruined my teenage years. when i finally realized my addiction, i took months to get over the despair, and im still going through it now, even if its a bit better. im trying to make my life better and prepare for my 20s to be fullfilling.
by ╋⁶⁶⁶━☣︎𓃶🜏𖤐𓄃𓂀; ; Report
I'm a crazy pigeon lady myself (and I mean hey, someone's gotta look out for these domesticated little feathered dinosaurs), though I was speaking hypothetically about the way I would raise a human child if I weren't childfree, of course.
I've made a blog post a few months ago regarding the disappearance of physical media and have taken the initiative of purchasing a few spindles of blank CDs and DVDs from some local office supply stores near me (I've already burned a few and plan on burning more soon, especially so when it comes to making backup copies of my photos/videos from my digicam, mix CDs of songs I enjoy, bootleg DVDs of some shows that never got proper/complete series DVD releases for whatever reason, etc). I do also sometimes borrow DVDs from my local library or rent DVDs of shows and movies I don't currently own from a small, local video store that's close enough to where I live, depending on the title I'm looking for, as a little side note. I don't use stupid official streaming services and I never fucking will. If there's anything the internet has taught me, it's that anything on the internet can be removed at any time without warning and sometimes for no good reason at all.
I agree with you that such a heavy reliance on the internet is dangerous for so many reasons, yet nobody seems to realize or care about the risks involved here, both current risks and potential future risks as well.
by xxRebellious_Emmaxx; ; Report
Haha, I'd say I am too as well. I keep trying to get someone to go out bird watching with me, but everyone keeps rejecting that idea. And yeah, I get it. I see myself more of a cool auntie.
Ah yeah, I remember reading that blog, kudos!
I usually tend to buy DVDs from the op shop (thrift store), they're pretty cheap- I got a couple seasons of Buffy and LOTR for under $10!
It's such a great idea to back up photos and download all of your favourite songs and TV, so you can reflect on your youth when you're older. I pity those who don't, it's like they don't have an identity; like they never existed. How's your camera like? I've been saving up to get one for myself but I've been bouncing over if I should get film or digital.
Seeing how many people of the our (and new) "online generation(s)" detaching themselves from technology, there may be a shift to how our techno-advanced world would be. But to say that it'll be like how it was before, in the 20th century, is unrealistic. Though to be fair as a person who likes to spend time with older folk, I may not be so accurate. Any time I see someone else of my age, I suddenly feel like a whole half-century older than them.
Soon, I fear that we'll soon forget and ditch all the necessary things in life such as directions, reading, or even thinking for ourselves- with how this is going. For some reason, we seem to not use our cognition
by Jo ☥; ; Report
My camera is a 2005 digital camera - the Kodak Easyshare Z730. Unfortunately, it's broken (the shutter button completely stopped responding) and it looks like I'm just gonna have to suck it up and purchase another one of the exact same model from eBay (same place I got this one, by the way).
I do sometimes use disposable cameras (either Fujifilm or Kodak depending on what I can find while I'm out), though, especially if I'm going somewhere where I'd be too concerned about my digicam getting lost or something and also to follow in the footsteps of my folks that used these sorts of cameras for themselves before I was even born as well as throughout the 1st few years of my life up until I was 6 years old (the Mayans were right after all, ROFL) and have decided that it was time for that very same torch to be passed down onto me now that I'm older.
Both cameras end up producing photos that if you didn't know any better, could easily be passed off as authentically vintage due to their graininess and somewhat skewed color saturation and cool toned hue saturation levels.
by xxRebellious_Emmaxx; ; Report
What a shame. Hope you can find it for cheaper. I'll have to take a look at it.
The problem I have with disposable cameras is how to recycle it, since it's only single use.
I love the vintage look of cameras, everything is too clear and a bit exaggerated when looking at the Iphones camera.
What a shame the world just ditched the camera.
by Jo ☥; ; Report