Flip phone February. Perhaps you heard this “new” description of the month. No, it is not a new Hallmark card series- although they seem to have a card for every occasion. Rather it is a month-long attempt to practice a different and, according to researchers, healthier behavior. It is in line with dry January, sober October, dry July: a small commitment in behavior, just thirty days or so, in order to receive some health benefits.

This past month my “smart” phone was not acting too smartly. It turned out the cellular data connection of the phone was not working at all and so I could not make and receive calls nor communicate texting with SMS. After many phone calls and much conversation with our phone carrier, it was determined that I needed to receive a replacement phone but it would take about two weeks to resolve.

So I pulled out the old portable telephone (thank goodness we didn’t get rid of it during the move) and plugged it into the jack attached to the incoming internet box which is attached to the breaker box in the basement. All of which is behind an access panel. Due to its location, it was a little awkward using the phone. If we removed the portable from its base, we had to return it to its recharger every night. Having not used the phone in this house, it was strange to hear a muffled phone ring. We would wonder outloud, “what’s that sound"? Then it would dawn on us, “the phone!” and we would dash downstairs, hoping to get to the phone before the caller hung up.

When my cell phone first stopped working, I panicked. How was I going to communicate? I was waiting to hear back from some workmen and their means of communicating was texting. There was a new group in which I was involved and I was afraid I would miss messages of upcoming events (again using texting). Being new to the area, I didn’t know many of the people’s email addresses, regular addresses, much less their last names. If they tried contacting me and I didn’t respond, I didn’t want them to think that I was ignoring them.

Once I let go of the idea that I didn’t have to respond immediately to any texts and that if folks needed to get me, they could, I relaxed. I kind of enjoyed the two week reprieve.

Having just dealt with the smartphone problems a recent NY Times article* caught my attention. The author talked about trying a flip phone for a month.

I thought is that even possible? The repeated comment from the carrier was that I needed to update to a new phone (not go “backwards”) because my old phone would soon not be “supported”. While waiting in the carrier store, I was amazed at the bombardment of all the new phones. It seems as if what really is updated is the speed in which the advertisements can be sent to us -faster, in better color and “more realistic”. The upgrades are for things that I am pretty sure I don’t want.

As the author of the article points out, she was tied, maybe addicted, to her phone. By scaling back to just a flip phone, she felt she had more time, felt physically better and eventually (took her family and friends a little bit of time to adjust) led to better relationships because she was actually calling and talking to them. There was a down side- her work, some of the items in her house, even her car required having apps. She had to find other work arounds and that took time.

Around the same time I heard a radio interview with a physician, Dr. Romie Mushtaq, the author of The Busy Brain Cure. Her premise is that we need to reset our brains. A lot of our ills comes from our technology: blue screens, overstimulation, having to always be “on” 24/7. She goes in depth about many physical ailments and how, by buying her book and program, one can feel better in 6-8 weeks. While I am a little suspect about an individual having the miracle cure - which is usually self-promotion, she does offer some universal suggestions that the writer of the NYTimes article also suggested:

Important to not look at the blue screen (or any type of blue screen- monitor, TV) at least 45 minutes before bedtime.
Limit the number of interactions of looking at the phone. Ironically, there is an app that records the amount. But, that might not be a bad app to have in order to assess how much we are tied to our phones.

In the beginning of those two weeks, I was fussed and bothered about the whole phone debacle. When I finally let go of the fact that I wasn’t missing anything (the people who needed to get in touch with me were still able to do so) it was kind of nice. I didn’t feel the pressure of having to check my phone regularly and felt somewhat free. Almost as if I were on holiday. I realized that while I wouldn’t say I was “addicted”, I certainly was no longer using the smart phone as a tool. The tool had become my master- dictating my schedule, even my moods.

What about you? Has your phone become a tech appendage? Does it dictate how your day is arranged? Have you ever had your phone inoperable for a while? What happened? Did you learn any lessons? What were they?

I am back in the smart phone world. My phone was replaced and so far, all is working fine. While I still look at my phone, I am finding I am not doing so as frequently. I realized that before I was looking at it, more from habit that any desire for new information. I just needed to break that habit. While I don’t know how practical the flip phone February might be- switching over to a different phone for a month- I do know that when I had to be without a smart phone, it was rather nice.

*https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/06/technology/smartphone-addiction-flip-phone.html