Unplugging to Recharge: Why “Dumbphones” are making a smart comeback
How I got here
In 2022, I tutored several undergraduate classes on ‘Brain and Behaviour’. One of the assignments required students to undertake a behaviour change project of their own, utilising strategies they had learned in the course. While the behaviour change itself was a negligible component of the grade—the real task was the lab report—students could choose anything they wanted. I expected to see goals like eating healthier, exercising more, or seeing friends more often.
To my surprise, a staggering 90% of students chose to target their mobile phone usage. What was even more surprising was their shock when they brought conscious attention to their screen time. Many had never realised how high it was, with some reporting averages in the double digits per day. While a few argued that their work or studies required phone use, a sense of concern was palpable.
This led me on a journey to examine my own relationship with my phone. It’s one of those things I feel I can’t go without, but I’m not always happy about its presence. A common cliché among motivational speakers is to highlight that we have far more time in a day than we believe; just look at your screen time and imagine what you could have done with those hours. While I don't want to completely villainise a cheeky, mindless scroll, I would concur that at least a portion of that time could be better spent. I’m not here to sustain arguments for and against phone use or debate the ethics—put simply, I personally just wanted less of it.
I picked up Johann Hari's book Stolen Focus after hearing great reviews, and it brought to light so many elements of modern phones that I hadn't noticed, yet were staring me in the face.
Modern Phones and Notifications
Have you ever received a notification and, before you know it, you’re deep in Instagram Reels, forgetting why you even picked up your phone in the first place? Phone notifications play a massive role in inflating our screen time. One of the parts of Stolen Focus that really stuck with me was its exploration of the almost insidious way notifications are designed to make us pick up our phones.
Hari interviews Tristan Harris, a former Google Design Ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, who says:
“You can try having self-control, but there are a thousand engineers on the other side of the screen working against you.”
Simply put, it’s not that we lack willpower; it’s that teams of people are trying everything they can to get you to pick your phone back up.
Armed with this revelation, I tried to minimise notifications to reduce the prompts to use my phone. My first tool was my smartwatch. At first glance, you might assume this would increase phone use. After all, aren't you just strapping a little screen to your wrist that tells you when something is happening on your phone? For me, it worked the other way. The watch allowed me to filter only ‘important’ messages through to my wrist, so I didn’t have to touch my phone to find out why it vibrated. If my phone buzzed but my watch didn't, I knew it wasn’t important.
Secondly, I implemented ‘notification batching’. I believe iPhones may have a native way to do this, but as an Android user, I don't have that luxury—and as Hari finds, that is by design. I used a third-party app to group notifications I deemed less important and deliver them in a batch at select times. I started with everything that wasn’t a direct message arriving on the hour.
Did it work?
Kind of.
Introducing: The Dumbphone
While I was noticing a decrease in my phone use, I still found myself drifting to my phone for a mindless scroll whenever I was left in the absence of a salient distraction (God forbid a thought gets through). This led me down the rabbit hole of "dumbphones."
A dumbphone is simply a phone with limited capabilities, built primarily for core purposes: texting and calling, with few, if any, app availabilities. The hard part for me was that I still wanted a phone that would allow me to call an Uber, pay for my coffee, listen to music on the way to work, or open my banking app. For my first attempt, I chose the chunky “Cat S22 Flip” for a nostalgic hit. Unfortunately, my dumbphone dream was short-lived, as the phone was incompatible with Australian cell towers.
Interestingly, not long after, a prominent YouTuber I follow, Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), made a whole video on dumbphones and the experience of living with them. Known for his in-depth tech reviews, MKBHD weighed in on the trend, offering a pragmatic look at the current state of these minimalist devices. He highlighted both their potential and their significant limitations in a smartphone-dependent world.
His key takeaways mirror the challenges many face:
The Appeal is Real: The core promise is reduced screen time and fewer distractions, leading to more presence in the real world. Dumbphones excel at this, promoting intentional communication and offering vastly superior battery life.
The Reality is Compromise: Adopting a dumbphone involves significant trade-offs. We’ve built our lives around smartphone conveniences—reliable GPS, mobile payments, ride-sharing apps, high-quality cameras—that are either absent or severely hampered on these devices.
The "Perfect Dumbphone" Doesn't Exist (Yet): After testing various devices, MKBHD's team concluded that no single device perfectly balances digital detox with practical functionality. Each comes with its own set of compromises.
A More Practical Solution?: For many, a more realistic approach might be to "dumb down" an existing smartphone by aggressively managing notifications, deleting social media apps, and using focus modes.
Dumbphone connection paradox
Interestingly, from the dumbphone test there was one thing that jumped out to me, and that was the paradoxical shift in sense of connection.
We have formed our lives in connecting through our phones, and swapping to a dumbphone had reviewers mixed in how it made them feel connected to those around them. One of reviewers cited that they suddenly felt disconnected from the online social space, suggesting that the phone was making them feel less connected then ever. While the other reviewer suggested that they were more connected, as they were more present and engaged at social events. Really leading to the question: does making it harder to make plans and find out events around you warrant the benefit of less distraction while you’re there?
Conclusion: More Than a Device, It’s a Declaration of Mental Space
So, where does this leave us? The journey into the world of dumbphones reveals a crucial insight: the "perfect" device that offers seamless modern convenience without any of the addictive distractions may not exist. As MKBHD's analysis suggests, for many, the solution isn't necessarily a new phone, but a new mindset.
This isn't just about screen time; it's about reclaiming our mental and emotional well-being. From a psychological perspective, the constant barrage of notifications and the algorithm-driven infinity pools of content are not neutral. They hijack our brain's reward systems, which can keep us in a state of low-grade anxiety and perpetual distraction. This digital noise makes it incredibly difficult to achieve deep focus, be truly present in our own lives, and connect authentically with others.
Choosing to limit your phone's functionality—whether through a dedicated dumbphone or by intentionally curating your smartphone—is an act of psychological self-care. It's about setting boundaries to protect your most valuable resources: your attention and your time. It’s a declaration that you want to:
Cultivate Presence: To experience moments without the reflexive urge to document or distract.
Foster Deeper Connections: To give the people you are with your full, undivided attention, strengthening relationships beyond the screen.
Reduce Cognitive Load: To free up mental bandwidth from constant task-switching and information overload, allowing for clearer thinking and creativity.
Listen to Your Own Thoughts: To create enough quiet to hear your own internal cues, process emotions, and simply be with yourself.
Ultimately, the goal isn't to demonise technology but to move from a reactive relationship with our devices to an intentional one. You don't need to buy a flip phone tomorrow. Start small. Ask yourself: What is one function of my phone that disrupts my peace, and what is one small step I can take to reclaim that peace today? The smartest choice may not be the phone you hold in your hand, but the conscious decision you make about how you use it.
Where did I land?
I am trying to become more conscious of when and how I use my phone. There are simple rules I have made for myself around limiting the phones use while out in public with other people, and being more mindful and present in whatever activity I am doing.
I will in the future try again with a phone like the Boox Palma but currently there are small things that I cant go without (such as NFC, the thing that makes tap to pay work) that I would need to see in it before it could TRULY replace my phone. A halfway point between devices will likely fail.
