My Journey with Digital Minimalism

I'm not the best writer but I guess I'll start somewhere... this is my background on technology and where I'm at now. I've been gaming on computers since I was 7 years old. My first phone was a flip phone around 12 years old and then seems like shortly thereafter I got the new iPhone 4. I was gaming a lot in those days to the point where it was unhealthy and causing issues with my schoolwork. I don't think at the time though we knew just how much these devices would increasingly become more and more addicting. As I grew older I went to college and even got an Associates in Science degree in Computer Information Technology. Ever since COVID, I have found myself not even gaming that much anymore but continuing to scroll more and more on my phone. It doesn't matter what I was doing, if I had time to even pause I would quickly go to my phone and try to fill that space and time with a quick Instagram reel or something similar. Now at the ripe age of 26, I have realized just how much time I have wasted doing absolutely nothing with it.

After the last couple of weeks with everything that's being posted on social media (a lot of which I didn't even want to see or go looking for). I decided to take the plunge and get a flip phone. I did lots of research to find the one that's right with me. I landed on the Sunbeam F1 Pro Juniper. It offers everything I could possibly need. It has hotspot (on the rare chance I actually need my iPhone for things such as banking apps), music player, Waze navigation, group text messaging (which is huge for me and my coworkers). It has been such a breath of fresh air and a great conversation starter when I am out in public. I barely even look at my phone anymore. Anything that I have to do online can be done when I get home and have access to my laptop, if needed.

Last Friday I also purchased a digital camera. It's a simple point and shoot called the Kodak PixPro FZ55. I got it off of Amazon and the price wasn't that bad tbh. I already did a test run and took it out for a birthday celebration, it's fantastic! It really captures that "oldschool" vibe from the early 2000s and is so convenient to carry around. Just like the phone, it too will strike up conversation. One of my coworkers said they even wanted to get a flip phone after seeing mine!

I'm not writing this to convince anybody to take the plunge but rather to just document my experience and maybe encourage you guys to think about your technology usage. What is your relationship with technology like? What do you hope to get out of it? If you could make any changes, what exactly would you change?

I don't inherently think there is anything wrong with technology but I do believe it has been designed to steal our attention from the things that really matter. One of the quotes I've read from the book "Digital Minimalism" by Cal Newport says the following: 

“Philip Morris just wanted your lungs,” Maher concludes. “The App Store wants your soul.”

Whether those words are true or not are for you to decide.

***P.S. I was going to post a photo of my EDC (every day carry) but ran into some issues which deleted my previous writing lol. To avoid any further issues, I added that photo to my main profile if you'd like to take a look.