Flip Phone February
Remember these?
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
To Sleep, Perchance to Dream...
What do you think about technology? Is it helping you in life or is it hindering? Can you go a week, a day, a morning, an hour without checking your phone or any of your devices?
Dr. Larry Rosen is a scientist researching how technology and our brains function together. His study determined that technology, namely smart phones with its notifications and blue lights disrupts our sleep. It makes sense that the emissions from the blue light of devices can make it difficult to fall asleep, but it is also the notifications, blips, dings during the day that can cause sleeping problems. All those alerts can cause anxiety, perceived or not, and can cause increases in cortisol levels. He writes:
“My colleagues and I at California State University, Dominguez Hills, conducted sleep research that stems from my lab’s work on the “psychology of technology,” where we have discovered two important variables that encourage us to use (and misuse) technology, thereby losing sleep: (1) poor executive functioning, which includes our (in)ability to pay attention, problem solve, control our impulses, and make decisions, and (2) anxiety. In our work, anxiety is sometimes referred to as FOMO, or the fear of missing out. We see this anxiety in the majority of smartphone users who feel uncomfortable if they are not in direct contact with their phones — and their many electronic connections — 24/7/365. A dead battery and no charger can bring upon a panic attack.”
His suggestion is to use our phones as a tool: to control the tool, not to have the tool control us. He writes in Harvard Business Journal:
“During the day, practice not reacting to incoming alerts or notifications like one of Pavlov’s dogs. Don’t check your phone every time it beeps. In fact, turn off notifications and check on a schedule to retrain your brain’s neurotransmitters (particularly cortisol). Start by checking every 15 minutes, and gradually increase that to 30 minutes or more. Tell your family, friends, and colleagues that you may not respond immediately, but you will within a specified amount of time, such as 30 minutes to an hour later.
Stop using all devices one hour prior to sleep.
Put all devices away in another room rather than keep them in the bedroom to discourage you from checking them during the night. (If you must keep a phone nearby in case of emergency, set it so that it only rings when certain people are calling, but still place it across the room and away from your bedside.)
An hour before bedtime, start dimming the room lights slowly to release melatonin.
During the last hour before bedtime, choose an activity that your brain will find predictable and, thus, not anxiety-provoking. Consider any of the following:
Watch a television show that you love, maybe even a repeat.
Read a paper book (or use a Kindle which doesn’t emit blue light) by a familiar author.
Listen to music that is very familiar like a playlist of your favorite songs. If you need a device to do this, burn CDs and get a CD player. (The key is to use a device that doesn’t have internet access, email, or a phone.) Keep the volume low.
If you awaken in the middle of the night, try this trick: have a song lyric in mind (not the whole song) that you plan to sing in your mind over and over to block the anxiety and allow you to fall back to sleep. Another option is to learn one of many meditation techniques and practice and use those skills to calm your mind.” (https://hbr.org/2015/08/research-shows-how-anxiety-and-technology-are-affecting-our-sleep)
I can relate to Dr. Rosen’s anecdote about the panic attacks with uncharged phones. I had a similar experience one time when I traveled by myself to our little cottage get-away. At the time we did not have landline service and only relied upon our cell phones. I had a couple days of panic while I saw my usage bar shrinking as I was trying to figure out why my phone was not charging. (And yes, we had power and I did have the charging cord.). The thing is, my panic was totally unnecessary. I was not in any place that could be called the hinter land. I had neighbors closer than 50 feet. If I needed to contact family members I am sure that the neighbors would’ve helped. I could’ve certainly driven to the phone store to assist me. Worst case financial scenario would be that I would’ve had to buy a new phone. I was in a position of options which did not need to include panicking. Before cell phones, I certainly visited places that did not have phone service or service readily available. Back then, the likelihood of my having a problem was just a probable as now, but I never panicked back then.
I have been thinking Dr. Rosen’s research and my smart phone usage and my difficulty in sleeping at times- waking up @ 3 am. Is there a correlation? I am wondering if I have been too attentive to my phone- letting it dictate my day rather than the other way around. I am trying to implement some changes: namely responding to the phone at specific intervals in my work day and eliminating any notifications.
What about you? How are you with your smart phone? Are you always looking at it? Or do you not know where it is? Do have trouble falling asleep or in waking up in the wee hours of the morning? To what do you attribute the lack of sleep?
According to Dr. Rosen, when asking respondents how often they look at their phone, a person might say 30-40 times a day. In collecting the data, he determined it was more likely 70-150 times. (This was his review in 2017).
I found the following on reviews.org. They interviewed over 1,000 Americans about their cell phone habits as well as checking the phones’ screen time report. Below is the information from this last year. The statistics seem to be getting worse every year. (I do think the pandemic probably had something to do with it. Looking at our phones, trying to get more information about COVID was one way we could make sense of it all.)
In the history of humankind, the time frame of development and phone usage is just a blip. But in looking over the last century, any introduction of a new technology has increased our dependency on it, i.e. being controlled by it, rather than not: airplane, automobile, television, landline telephone, wireless/radio/stereo -not counting the 8 track tape :).
I wonder if we just have to settle-in to the phone idea. Think of it as a garden tool perhaps. I certainly do not think about or check my shovel all the time, only when I am prepared to use it.
If you look at the list of most important technological advances it varies depending upon the compiler: printing press, electricity, domestication of horses, penicillin, optic lens, paper currency, steel, internal combustible engine. I wonder did any of those inventions and technologies change brain chemistry as much as the phone?
Regardless, there has always been the tension between being so enamored by our inventions, our collective human cleverness if you will, and, in turn being “ruled” by our inventions and struggling not to do so.
For our physical and mental health, I think we need to humbly choose the latter.