breaking down the dumb phone lifestyle because it's consumed my life and i need to share
i watched eddy burback's video about not using his phone for a month and it absolutely captivated me. so i looked into r/dumphone and have been fantasizing about getting rid of my phone, but am unable to just yet, so i'm sharing what i found useful :)
tldr; almost everything you do on your phone that's online, you can do in a web browser. and if you don't have a laptop or PC, get a library card and use your public library's resources.
first things first, evaluate what your current smartphone is to you. is it a way of communication? entertainment? banking? think of everything it is for you. you can now begin to find alternatives. below are some suggestions for the major uses of a smartphone.
for communication: get something that isn't a smartphone. look into all forms of basic phones: flip phones, slider phones, brick phones, etc., and figure out which style will best suit your communication needs. if you need/want something closer to the design of a smartphone, check out the light phone.
you can also look into getting a landline. either way, you will have to find a provider compatible with your choice phone. each provider website should include a "bring your own phone" option and you can look up phone compatibility. you will also likely need to keep track of your contact, so get a rolodex or an address book.
for music: mp3 player. no seriously. mp3 player. this is the closest thing to streaming music you will be able to get. if an mp3 player isn't your style, you can get a portable cd player or a portable cassette player and begin collecting physical media. (you can also burn your own cd playlists btw). also, get a radio.
for entertainment: there are so many alternatives to this. first, you can always stream movies and tv on a smart tv and not your phone. other than this, you can get a dvd player and begin collecting dvds of movies and tv shows you enjoy. you can go even further and get a vcr and collect vhs tapes. many movie theaters offer a subscription service that allows you to see multiple movies a week for a much cheaper cost overall.
you can also take a full turn away from screen-based entertainment. you can read, and i mean really read. get a library card. learn a new skill, start a new hobby, go into the community, etc. these things are generally better for you, so even if you don't want a dumbphone lifestyle, try to integrate these into your life as is.
for banking: write down your banking login information and log in on a web browser. you don't need apple or samsung pay, most cards these days have tap to pay. carry cash on you. learn how to balance a checkbook. keep track of your expenses on your own. opt in for email or snail mail notifications from your bank so you can receive any alerts necessary.
for telling time/alarms: girl be serious. get an alarm clock and a watch.
for camera: get a digital cam!! they are incredibly cheap, especially if you buy them secondhand. you can get any type of physical camera, really, but a digital cam is the most user friendly, portable, affordable, and has the same capability to take a quick picture that a smartphone does.
for navigation: if you use navigation in your car and it doesn't already have one built in, get a GPS. if you bike, get a GPS and a bike mount. if you walk or use public transit, you can use map websites to plan your course and print it off (like mapquest or public transit websites), or you can write down the directions if you prefer that.
i've picked out what my alternatives would be and i have crunched the numbers and it would cost me just over half of what it would cost for the lowest-cost new iphone. so not only will you be simplifying and making your life better, you will overall save an incredible amount of money.
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Today my mom was on a zoom with a bunch of people she grew up with and referred to me with my correct pronouns and one of her friends said, oh, cupcake uses they/them pronouns? And my mom said yes, and her friend says she doesn't get it, how can my mom even remember to use this pronoun, etc and my mom goes:
Well, I struggled with using "Ms" at first, too, and so did you, but we got used to it. And sometimes I fuck up but my kids love me and forgive me for not being perfect.
keep active during the winter and avoid doomscrolling
being on the phone 24/7 is out in 2026 and connecting in real life with people through clubs, socials, sports, and dinners will be the norm
also use traditional technology like poloroids, physical books, ipods, record players, anything but an iphone
listen to morning brew daily, and on twt the discourse is: boomers are criticising gen z for not drinking and being social in bars. gen z's are known for being antisocial or socially awkward
but theres a new trend coming with substack, ending doomscrolling, all these run clubs and book clubs, the fact that youtube was the number 1 social media platform in 2015 (longform)
so if you feel tired of staring at your screen for hours a day, its not just you, we all need the break from the brain rot.
some of my conscious choices to decrease screentime:
spend time iceskating everyday: it's only been day two and its so fun i always cant wait to go back. i just fb marketplace skates and got into a public rink so i love the low barrier of entry
start listening to audiobooks while knitting socks: habit stacking!! audiobooks actually really work for me but only in the daytime because when i listen to go to bed i fall asleep in two seconds, so i have to keep repeating the chapter. i love knitting its such a flow state activity, and socks are so practical, so quick (i can get one done in about 5 hours) it's the perfect mini project i never get tired of. i hope i can design a sock collection before the end of the year lol
i hope to start hosting a book club soon dm me if you'd join :)
I went to IHOP with my parents for dinner on Wednesday night and something really made my evening. I was wearing a Christmas sweater with Snoopy and Woodstock from Peanuts on it and one of the servers said that she liked it. I thanked her and I'm still smiling at that comment.
Due to current deadlines and ongoing issues with my mental health, I am making the decision to take a step away from Tumblr.
I am continuing to write and if any of my followers want to reach out, please feel free to send me an ask or drop me chat - I will be checking in occasionally and will be online Friday nights for our weekly promos but other than that I won’t be around much.
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I went to a funeral service last night. It was my neighbor. She left a husband and two children. The daughter, 11, is friends with my son.
Just before the service began, she went around the room and said thank you to the guests. I hugged her. My mom hugged her. A lot of people hugged her.
And then it’s time for the service to start. She sat on the front row, two rows in front of me, next to her aunt — her mother’s little sister.
When the pastor began to talk about her mother, I could see her shoulders shaking as she broke down and cried. Her aunt put her hands around her, hugging her.
That’s when it hit me: No amount of hugs could ever replace her mother’s hug. No amount of words of comfort and sorry looks could ever take away the pain of longing to hug her mother and know that it’s not the last time she gets to hug her.
I couldn’t bear seeing her as she’s wiping her tears while a choir of her Sunday School friends — boys and girls her age — singing about god’s love that’s new every morning, none of them truly understood how dreadful it is the newness of the first morning you’d have to wake up without your mother in the house.
My 11 yr old nephew repeated an anti-proshipper, pro-censorship script today, and called me a "disgusting degenerate," and then stomped to his room and refused to say goodbye to me when I left.
When he was a toddler, he cracked one of my ribs, and it hurt less.
