This post was last updated on July 13th, 2022 at 09:52 am
When Jose Briones decided over a year ago to switch from a smartphone to a minimalist device, he was able to draw from his experience growing up in Nicaragua.
Access to technology in Nicaragua, where a GPS unit could cost a family two or three months of their earnings, was limited. “I grew up without the need of a phone at all. If I needed to talk to my friends, I would walk to their houses. I would take public transportation,” said Briones, who moved to the United States when he was 15 years old.
Even when he did get a cell phone at 12, it had to be used sparingly because calling minutes were expensive. “You used it wisely because you didn’t want to be in the middle of nowhere and not have access to a phone in an emergency,” he explained during a March interview with Frugalmatic.
His minimalist experience in youth “absolutely played a role,” Briones said, in his recent decision to scale back his online consumption and switch to a “feature phone,” or a “dumb” phone. By practicing digital minimalism, Briones is better able to focus on tasks that matter most. He lives in Georgia, where he works on religious-focused community service projects. “With community services, especially during the pandemic, I was not tied to my phone all the time. So I was out there looking at the needs of the community and creating resources that the community might find helpful,” Briones said.
He’s also found a niche in reviewing minimalist devices for his You Tube channel, and he started a podcast, The Dumbphone Show.
A self-described techy, it wasn’t an easy transition. “At first it was difficult because I had some ‘withdrawals,’ like I needed to have access to the latest news, or the latest videos, or whatever I wanted to have access to,” Briones acknowledged. “Honestly, it was a tough place because I was used to having the latest features and the latest operating system. I’m a techy guy. I love tech.”
As has happened for many people who’ve put aside the smartphone, Briones discovered the joys of a less-tech lifestyle. “The more I embraced the principles of turning off my screen, being present with my friends, the more I realized my anxiety reduced. My levels of social needs were met with interactions in the real world and not with constant messages and access from people,” he said.
Now he’s experimenting with what he calls “online days” and “offline days.” He picks days or periods of time during a day when he’s unreachable. “You say, ‘All this morning I’m not going to touch my devices. I’m just going to be by myself, be in my own thoughts. Things of that nature.’ It’s something that you need to plan, or at least I do,” Briones explained.
Ultimately, he sees more people becoming “digitally burned out” and seeking out devices that will create barriers between them and the relentlessness of the online world.
If you agree that more is not better when it comes to online consumption, make sure to check out Briones’ You Tube channel. His reviews can help you find a minimalist device that fits your lifestyle.
Read more excerpts from his March 16 interview with Frugalmatic below:
FRUGALMATIC: How did you become interested in digital minimalism?
JOSE BRIONES: The way I become interested in digital minimalism was after years of struggling with what we call today as smartphone addiction. I don’t necessarily like that term or what it’s become at this point, but after years of getting the latest and greatest devices—you name it, I used to have it—I was getting tired, digitally burned out. Then I started exploring different books. The introduction for me to digital minimalism was specifically from Cal Newport, his book. It’s very good. But even before that, I was finding different books, resources, You Tube videos that helped me understand how to grasp a better balance between my online usage and my offline life.
F: What don’t you like about that phrase ‘smartphone addiction’?
JB: ‘Smartphone addiction’ is an OK phrase. The issue is that while some people experience withdrawals/anxiety from their smartphone use, it is not a well documented phenomenon to catalog it as an addiction, in my opinion. It is a compulsive behavior and many are glued to their screens, but at the end of the day it does not have any physical repercussions like other addictions (substance-based addictions). It is real and people should seek help if their smartphone use is interfering with their jobs, but I don’t think the literature supports the idea of smartphone addiction yet.
I think once the studies on the pandemic are over, we will see more troubled use. But until then, I prefer steering clear of the addiction terminology or at least use it lightly since there are various schools of thought around it and no general consensus yet.
F: How important is not having a smartphone in terms of being a digital minimalist?
JB: I just shot a video today kind of tinkering with this idea that being a digital minimalist doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a feature (dumb) phone. It is an advantage, for sure, because you have less distraction or less access to a certain degree. But you can be a digital minimalist and have a smartphone. You just need to be mindful of how you use it.
For example, on iOS, Apple devices, there’s this mode called parental control. You could set it up for yourself and have somebody else, a significant other or family member, set up a passcode. And essentially you dumb down your phone to the bare essentials: phone calls, text messages and maybe WhatsApp or an app or two that you really use. Then you can put all the time-sucking applications away, and you don’t have access to them. There are similar versions of that on Android. Also, there is a launcher called Unpluq. It’s a company that makes a key device that allows you to not have to use your smartphone.
Having a feature phone is an advantage because you have less access, but that doesn’t mean you’re a digital minimalist. I’ve used feature phones like the one I have here, the Nokia 6300 4G, and this thing has access to everything I want: browser, Reddit, WhatsApp. Feature phones are getting smarter and smarter nowadays. So having a feature phone doesn’t mean you are a digital minimalist, but having a feature phone will reduce your phone usage just because of the experience. I think it’s decently important if you’re trying to get away from smartphone life, but you can still be a digital minimalist with a smartphone.
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F: I’ve seen some of your reviews of minimalist devices (on your YouTube channel), and I do enjoy them. They’re really informative. In your experience, what makes a great minimalist device versus a mediocre one?
JB: There are a lot of devices you could buy, but the first thing I would say that makes a great feature phone is support from the company. I can name a good amount of feature phones that though they’re good at what they do, they may not have support. For example, I tested the new NUU F4L, the Schok Classic, and AGM M5. They’re great devices, but they have certain bugs, a certain sluggishness, or lack of support in a certain area (like text messages or group messages). Because they’re not going to get the support that they should get, you’re stuck with a device that’s less than ideal.
So it should be supported. That’s No. 1. Besides that, it should have a couple features that work universally for everyone. It should make calls and be supported on the latest technology, like Voice-over LTE. That’s ideal. Also, three-way calling and caller ID are basic features that every feature phone should have.
On top of that, a good group message experience. A lot of the feature phones I’ve tried out allow you to receive group messages, but when you send a group message, it sends it individually. It doesn’t send it as a group.
Also, a way to view images or receive images, download them or put them in storage.
F: What’s your go-to minimalist device?
JB: Right now my go-to device is the Light Phone 2. The reason why is because it has good call capabilities. It still doesn’t have call waiting, but it’s coming up. It does have great support. The Light Phone team listens to the community. They listen to the feedback. They listen to what features the community wants, and then those that are matching with the company’s philosophy, they will release those. So that’s a company I like to support. Yes, it’s a little expensive. It’s $299. But that premium price gets you a premium support experience.
Over the past 18 months, it’s been getting a lot of updates. Now it has music. It has podcasts. It has an alarm. It has a calculator. And they’re trying to release directions next, so you have access to a GPS tool. For me, that’s my ideal device as of right now because of the support and the tools that it has.
F: What advice would you give somebody wanting to spend less time on a smartphone? What’s a good first step toward digital minimalism?
JB: Turning off notifications is the first step. In order to make it really work, you need to turn off the notifications. Train yourself to look at your phone only when you need to, not when the phone rings or the screen comes to life. That’s a good training step.
The second training step in order to get into the lifestyle is to start quitting services. So this is a tough one, and here is where I find the most friction when people switch to a specific device. If you switch to a dumb phone from a smartphone and you did not quit the services from the smartphone, you will go back most of the time. For example, if you have Spotify, Uber, or another paid app and there’s no equivalent of it on your computer or another device, you will have limited success, at least in my experience, going into the feature phone life.
We have become used to these services, and we pay for these services. So we’re attached to them. If you quit all these services on your smartphone, it will be easier to transition to a feature phone because you’re only going to be using the basics.
Where do you see the future of digital minimalism headed?
JB: There’s this trend right now toward digital minimalism because there’s a lot of digital burnout in our society. People are on Zoom, people are on digital platforms, like Slack. Email, it’s constant nowadays because we’re working from home. We don’t have to go to an office. We don’t have to go into the real world. We have unlimited access to TV, like you can be watching a show and working from home at the same time.
So, I see a lot of people are going to get burned out at some point in time. They’re going to look for these alternatives. I definitely see more companies being like, “We’re just going to give you the bare necessities on our phone or digital devices.” I think digital minimalism is not only about phones. I see that other companies are trying to reach into practices of meditation and mindfulness, taking time for yourself, retreats.
And I see more feature phones being developed. It may be a dream of mine just because I personally believe in them, but I definitely see a space for feature phones in the future, especially for Gen Z, who grew up with smartphones. That was the only thing they knew. They’re going to rediscover the feature phones, kind of like for the nostalgia factor.