I switched back to a flip phone a few months ago.

After my 3rd smartphone in 4 years broke, I just got frustrated with such expensive products being so fragile, and on a whim at the store I said "screw this, do you have flip phones?" The girl at the store laughed and said, "yes those still exist". I now have a phone that makes calls, texts, and can sync email and calendars (work required) , plus some other basic things like an alarm clock and FM radio. It costs $20 a month.

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I wanted to save money on my mobile bill and have a sturdier device, but this is the stuff I didn't expect:

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• That I'd spend a few days freaking out in some kind of weird "smartphone withdrawal", habitually touching my pocket, while trying to remember how to use T9.
• That my social media usage would basically dwindle to nothing (a few times a week) because that urge to scroll was no longer there.
• That my attention span and focus would slowly improve over weeks, to the point I'm way more productive at work and at knocking out long overdue "to do" lists.
• That I would notice friends, family, and like 50-80% of random strangers with their heads buried in a screen WAY more than I ever had before.
• That I am becoming intolerant of people replying "huh?" or "wait, what did you say?" in conversations when their faces are buried in those screens.
• That I would start consuming art & entertainment & news much more deeply. Reading text more slowly, and not half-watching movies while looking at IMDB to figure out "what else that guy was in".
• That I would pick up the nice digital camera I received a few years ago as a gift and rediscover a love of photography - capturing fewer photos with an intention of artistic expression, not just mindless snapshots of food.
• That Garmin GPS have a McDonald's button in 2018 (What a time to be alive!)
• That a pencil and 50 cent notebook works pretty much as well as Google Keep.
• That I can be bored again, and boredom is a good (and sometimes scary) thing that can be filled with creativity and introspection.
• That being the only person in a Starbucks not on a smartphone makes you look like a WEIRDO because apparently people watching is rare these days?
• That only charging my phone about once a week, and not really caring if I forget it at home are quite freeing.
• That smartphones are really cool, and super convenient, but convenience comes with costs that I don't think our society has fully recognized yet.
• That it is really, REALLY satisfying to snap your phone shut when some annoying telemarketer calls you.

TL;DR - I went back to a flip phone and it had a bunch of unexpected benefits. You might want to try it out sometime.