brickphone update
joys and inconveniences
Nearly three weeks with a brickphone.
The novelty and experiment aspect have lost some of their shine. I've found myself in just one situation that was VERY mildly stressful from not having a smartphone with me. But on putting together the list for this post, it still seems clear the positives outweigh the negatives, plus any inconveniences that have arisen.
The context throughout: I still own my smartphone. (Head towards the end of this article for the explanation.) I have transferred my Sim Card to the Barbie phone, so all my calls and texts come through there, and only take my Barbie phone out and about with me for day-to-day stuff.
Smartphone is permanently on Do Not Disturb, and lives on shelves or in the cupboard in the house until I have some admin / internet requirements.
Here we go, then. The list so far of a life less-lived on a smartphone. I’ve added them as ‘Contents’ below, which I’ll link for desktop. It’s a long word-splurge, so take what you need.
you still need to do life admin
spending way less money
there are no trigger warnings when you “go back in”
phonecalls are everything
(missed) photo opps
addiction curbed
digital to analog
mild stress and lead times
i miss emojis
productivity and progress
music
silence
no bubble at all
WhatsApp
you still need to do life admin
Though I went in all guns-blazing about using the 'home computer' for admin time, the reality of sitting in the only room in our house without a radiator quickly lost its appeal.
Consequently, I took six days (really not so bad, but definitely a little rude) to reply to an email. I also thought I'd totally missed out on a take-part invitation (command) from the pre-school when my friend text to say: "how's your tractor looking?". Christ, WHAT TRACTOR?
Outcome: check your emails. Having a brickphone doesn't mean they don't exist anymore.
spending way less money
Not allowing myself unlimited scroll-time has DEFINITELY reduced my spending online. The thing I have replaced impulse purchases with, potentially, is renting films via the telly. (And, subsequently watching them with full attention whilst Smartphone is tucked away in jail.) I have also, unconsciously, bought more books out and about. Reflecting on that now, it's likely because my brain has a little more space to consider reading real paper again.
there are no trigger warnings when you “go back in”
As I was finishing up a SubStack, I needed to go onto some old Instagram accounts to be able to copy-paste a few embed links.
The feed loaded and I was confronted by two pictures of very beautiful people with very beautiful news, but I DID NOT anticipate seeing these photos at that time.
There is no trigger warning when you simply log back in to social media.
Whether it's just me, whether it's the brickphone, whether I have genuinely started making some progress on healing neural connections, I was knocked sideways by these photos.
In a piece I did at the start of the year, I wrote about feeling the effects of social media as secret scorches on your soul. And it's clear my previous routine – of being on there regularly – desensitised me to its affects (that we are all aware of): detrimental to self-esteem, considering making purchases I hadn't ever considered until seeing them in the feed, negative and unwarranted feelings of unfulfillment.
It took me a good few days to process the fallout of seeing TWO PHOTOS.
TWO.
Again, there's likely more personal context to it, but I could not believe I was having to "work through" something just because I'd opened Instagram.
phonecalls are everything
The chats I've had with people on the blower since using the brickphone have been just... everything.
It is a DELIGHT to want to talk, unburdened, undistracted.
(missed) photo opps
Not having my smartphone to-hand has meant being left unable to capture some lovely moments "on camera". This is something to navigate as time goes on without doubt. In response, I have tentatively dug out my old Canon digicam, which looks very appealing in 2025, especially with its black padded zip case.
It's likely easier fixed by taking the smartphone with me on certain outings. Let's wait and see.
addiction curbed
On ordering the brickphone, I felt an immediate disconnection :) from my smartphone (I wrote about that here). And this severance :) has prevailed: I no longer reach for my phone if I'm "bored" or at a loose end.
There have been occasions when I'd like to do something immediately on the internet. This happened when I wanted to download a Clangers image to use as a background on my brickphone. Yes: what is my life? That's fine to ask.
In general though, I either forget the thing if it wasn't important, or aim to make a physical note and resolve it later on.
digital to analog
One thing in particular cropped up that I hadn't anticipated needing the smartphone for: recipes I've bookmarked in Chrome. At some point, I'll need to write them out and holepunch them for my derpy recipe binder. Also, I still haven't printed out my loyalty card barcodes so I'm often missing out on 5p off my milk at the moment.
mild stress and lead times
I'd left late to get to a preschool birthday party on the weekend. The only parking spaces nearest to the venue were metred. It seemed the machine close by wasn't accepting cards. I only had a note of cash.
My son was on the brink of sleeping through the whole thing. Parking and party. The beginnings of panic set in that should I have to drive further to find a different "free" space, it would be game over.
If I'd had my smartphone, I could have just apped that sucker. I didn't. The universe relented though, and it turned out the machine was accepting cards and we made it to the party. With no naps or breakdowns.
The brickphone "life" likely requires a longer lead-time for events, appointments, scheduled meet-ups, etc. Just fyi. (This is also a note-to-self.)
i miss emojis
:( the saddest (in both meanings of the word) part so far of the brickphone life is not being able to use emojis. Its classification as another language is in process. So there's validity here of feeling out on a limb. There's so much you can convey just with the frog emoji that I now have to use "wit" for instead when texting.
It does kinda make me love them even harder when they're available. But, it is something I could end up switching back to the smartphone for one day down the line.
I'm serious.
productivity and progress
This has lost its initial momentum since the first few days without Smartphone. However, I find I am much more amenable to, or should I say, realistic about all tasks in general. Even if I'm reluctant to do them, they don't get put off nearly as long as if I'd had my smartphone to procrastinate with.
I am WAY more into writing, and have probably written my most favourite pieces ever over the last few weeks.
Something childish has been rekindled in me. A quiet (re)fascination with the world.
I am FAR less anxious and find it much easier to have small-talk, and – you can take this with a pinch of salty disbelief – I find people are talking to me a lot more. By people I mean mostly cashiers (HAHAHA) but equally strangers. Is this biological? Have my pheromones changed because I'm not as strung out by my phone? Is it a wavelength thing? DID I MANAGE TO CLEANSE MY AURA?
music
Ah. Sweet music.
A quick one.
Our telly's speakers are TERRIBLE, so I use the smartphone at home to listen to good music on my good speaker / earphones.
silence
For some people, I personally know at least two, the idea of spending time in silence in normal day-to-day life feels intimidating. To simply 'be' with the stream of your own thoughts.
I don't seem to mind it, having always liked hearing my own thoughts chunter away in their ridiculous tangents.
Silence, however, is a huge part of the brickphone life.
Suddenly, you are not being pinged every hour (did you know your smartphone delays/creates certain notifications so that you pick up your phone more regularly?), videos don't suddenly auto-play with the sound on...
And also, the visual volume becomes much quieter. Your eyes are freed from the onslaught of square and rectangular scenes, captured and cropped away from their original, natural state.
no bubble at all
Similarly to just not checking my emails for nearly a week, I found myself not having read or listened to any news for maybe 4-5 days. I don't think there is anything ‘wrong’ with that on the surface, but there is likely something wrong with doing that for an extended period of time.
Quite early on in the process, I realised that if you truly limit the time you spend on your smartphone – and as a result greatly reduce your time on the internet – you tend to prioritise completing any admin/tasks, or simply doing nice things online when you are "there".
The problem with this is most of the readily-available news "offline" – via the radio on my telly for example – is from 'legacy media'.
Having been made aware of the corruption within some legacy media by the speed and flourish of new media, it becomes, I think, your own moral duty to diversify your own newsfeed.
I love the BBC. I am a beeb girl through and through. And I really still respect the premise of it as an institution. So you'll catch me listening to Women's Hour, and the World at One, trying to stay relevant by listening to Radio 1, and secretly putting Radio 3's extra station on for the gorgeous tracklist.
But I also love the pace of news online, especially from freelancers.
News isn't a priority for me. However, in the wake of being less online, I now need to spend a little time working out how and where to source the most trustworthy and current pieces.
A brickphone means I am no longer in any "bubble" other than my own weird one. And that's alright in general, but you should probably check in with my boyfriend if he thinks it's having an impact on my/his mental welfare :)
WhatsApp
Tricky, tricky, tricky.
It's got emojis (broken heart).
It's got fast-paced chat.
It's got multimedia capabilities.
It's the most convenient multi-purpose communications app.
There is some FOMO I think from missing the immediacy of group chats. But in general, my WhatsApping has significantly reduced as the people I contact most regularly continue to do so via calls and texts, and in the best case scenario: we actually just see each other more.
I think WhatsApp falls in both the admin and nice things to do online category. So I've been on there a fair amount (but to clarify, I'm talking max 3-10 minutes a day) for messaging, if I need to share a link/file, or to arrange a trip, for instance.
That's it for now.
Come back for more later? Let's see how it's going then.
Thank you for reading xoxo
