Dumbing Down an Existing Smartphone

When people become cognizant with the fact that they are wasting hours each day staring at their smart phone and are missing the interaction with the world around them, their initial tactic is to use their existing smart phone and uninstall social media apps, the web browser and possibly install some type of minimalist interface (aka launcher) to make the installed apps/icons less appealing and harder to find.

This is a critical first step in acknowledging that you have an unhealthy relationship with your phone. Unfortunately, in my experience, it rarely works long term. In this article, I’ll provide my thoughts as to why this is the case.

Why doesn’t dumbing down a smartphone work?

It’s easy to undo

The changes that are made to dumb down a smart phone are easy to undo in most cases. Whether that is removing the apps that are distracting for you, such as social media, news, games, or even the web browser, in most cases there will be that “one essential task” that needs doing to justify going to the app store and installing that app again.

You’re connected to the device itself

Even in those cases, where the phone has been completely locked down to remove the browser and app store (guide coming soon!) I find that removing distracting apps doesn’t break a connection to the device itself. Imagine you have been using this very sexy phone for social media, news consumption, watching videos etc and suddenly, one day, you decide to dumb the phone down to reduce distractions. That’s great in theory, but your brain still recalls all the dopamine it’s received from the device in the past and even though it may be impossible to use distracting apps, you’re fighting a battle with your brain. When I’ve done this myself, I’ll still constantly check the device for notifications, take the phone with me everywhere I go and I will always hold the phone, remembering the days when it provided me with excessive dopamine!

The form factor makes it appealing

A large slab of glass, often with an always on display, means that even though your smartphone isn’t quite as smart as it once was, it’s still just a swipe away from accessing the screen. I believe that additional friction is an important component of digital minimalism and to succeed, it’s important to make accessing your device less convenience, hence the frequent use of flip phones as minimalist devices.

And those are my thoughts on why dumbing down a smart phone doesn’t work for digital minimalism, at least for me. I find it often works for a week or two, at which point I become so frustrated with my sexy device that’s incapable of doing more than taking photos and possibly navigation, then I switch back to my dumb phone and enjoy the mental clarity once more!