> stan wrote:
> AI will help accelerate this trend. It's already becoming
annoying. Who
> needs 100 different AI sources pushing their crap in your face
every
> minute?
>
> Will Stults spent too much time on his iPhone, doom-scrolling the
site
> formerly known as Twitter and tweeting angrily at Elon Musk as if
the
> billionaire would actually notice. Stults’s partner, Daisy
Krigbaum, was
> addicted to Pinterest and YouTube, bingeing videos on her iPhone
before
> going to sleep. Two years ago, they both tried Apple’s Screen Time
> restriction tool and found it too easy to disable, so the pair
decided to
> trade out their iPhones for more low-tech devices. They’d heard
about so-
> called dumbphones, which lacked the kinds of bells and whistles—a
high-
> resolution screen, an app store, a video camera—that made
smartphones so
> addictive. But they found the process of acquiring one hard to
navigate.
> “The information on it was kind of disparate and hard to get to. A
lot of
> people who know the most about dumbphones spend the least time
online,”
> Krigbaum said. A certain irony presented itself: figuring out a way
to be
> less online required aggressive online digging.
>
> The couple—Stults is twenty-nine, and Krigbaum is twenty-five—saw a

> business opportunity. “If somebody could condense it and simplify
it to
> the best options, maybe more people would make the switch,”
Krigbaum said.
> In late 2022, they launched an e-commerce company, Dumbwireless, to
sell
> phones, data plans, and accessories for people who want to reduce
time
> spent on their screens. This wasn’t Stults’s first attempt at
> entrepreneurship; his past efforts included a made-in-America
clothing
> brand in Colorado (“That went under,” he said) and a coffee shop in
the
> back of an ill-attended Hollywood comedy club (“A doomed
enterprise,”
> Krigbaum said). Dumbwireless, however, has been much more
successful.
>
> The couple’s home, in East Los Angeles, has turned into a kind of
> dumbphone emporium, with five hundred boxed devices stacked up in
what was
> supposed to be a dining room. Stults takes business calls on his
personal
> cell, and on one recent morning the first call came at 5 a.m. (As
the lead
> on customer service, he has to use a smartphone—go figure.) They
pack each
> order by hand, sometimes with handwritten notes. They have not yet
quit
> their day jobs, which are in the service industry, but Dumbwireless
sold
> more than seventy thousand dollars’ worth of products last month,
ten
> times more than in March, 2023. Krigbaum and Stults noticed an
> acceleration in sales last October, which they speculate may have
had
> something to do with the onslaught of holiday-shopping season. Some
of
> their popular phone offerings include the Light Phone, an e-ink
device
> with almost no apps; the Nokia 2780, a traditional flip phone; and
the
> Punkt., a calculator-ish Swiss device that looks like something
designed
> for Neo to carry in “The Matrix” (which, to be fair, is a movie of
the
> dumbphone era).
>
> The growing dumbphone fervor may be motivated, in part, by the
discourse
> around child safety online. Parents are increasingly confronted
with
> evidence that sites like Instagram and TikTok intentionally try to
hook
> their children. Using those sites can increase teens’ anxiety and
lower
> their self-esteem, according to some studies, and smartphones make
it so
> that kids are logged on constantly. Why should this situation be
any
> healthier for adults? After almost two decades with iPhones, the
public
> seems to be experiencing a collective ennui with digital life. So
many
> hours of each day are lived through our portable, glowing screens,
but the
> Internet isn’t even fun anymore. We lack the self-control to wean
> ourselves off, so we crave devices that actively prevent us from
getting
> sucked into them. That means opting out of the prevailing
technology and
> into what Cal Newport, a contributing writer for The New Yorker,
has
> called a more considered “digital minimalism.”
>
> The Light Phone débuted in 2017, before smartphone exhaustion
became a
> mainstream ailment. The company’s co-founders, Kaiwei Tang and Joe
> Hollier, have sold tens of thousands of phones. The Light Phone II,

> released in 2019, features a monochrome touch screen that allows
users to
> make calls, send text messages, and use a few custom apps: an alarm
and
> timer, a calendar, directions, notes, music and podcast libraries.
There
> are no social-media apps or streaming apps. “The point is to create
useful
> utility that does not have the attention economy built in,” Tang
said.
> Like Dumbwireless, Light Phone has recently been experiencing a
surge in
> demand. From 2022 to 2023, its revenue doubled, and it is on track
to
> double again in 2024, the founders told me. Hollier pointed to
Jonathan
> Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation,” about the adverse
effects of
> smartphones on adolescents. Light Phone is receiving increased
inquiries
> and bulk-order requests from churches, schools, and after-school
programs.
> In September, 2022, the company began a partnership with a private
school
> in Williamstown, Massachusetts, to provide Light Phones to the
> institution’s staff members and students; smartphones are now
prohibited
> on campus. According to the school, the experiment has had a
salutary
> effect both on student classroom productivity and on campus social
life.
> Tang told me, “We’re talking to twenty to twenty-five schools now.”
>
> To Tang and Hollier’s surprise, some of the most willing Light
Phone
> converts are Gen Z-ers. Some of them are younger than the iPhone.
Digital
> technology has been an inevitable feature of their lives, yet they
are
> also better equipped, or better motivated, than generations past to

> confront its negative impacts. Apple recently allowed third-party
> developers to write software that accesses the iPhone’s Screen Time

> function, meaning that some new programs can now help users limit
their
> screen time by blocking apps. T. J. Driver and Zach Nasgowitz, two
> engineers in their early twenties, took advantage of this change to
create
> an iPhone accessory called Brick, to fight their own excessive
phone
> usage. Brick, which launched in September of 2023, is a magnetized
plastic
> cube with a corresponding app that allows you to select which
features you
> want to block on your smartphone. Tapping the brick activates or
lifts the
> blockage. Driver and Nasgowitz started with one 3-D printer to
produce the
> accessories; now they have fifteen machines running around the
clock and
> are shipping a few hundred products a day.
>
> There is no one dumbphone solution for everyone. Each digital
addict is
> addicted in her own way. Stults, of Dumbwireless, uses an app
called
> Unpluq, which works similarly to Brick, blocking specific apps from
his
> smartphone while allowing him to maintain the store’s
customer-service
> channels, including e-mail and Shopify. Krigbaum has been a
committed
> Light Phone user for the past two years. She said that she doesn’t
miss
> her smartphone, but that her new device can cause some awkwardness
when
> she meets other young people who ask how to keep in touch. They
mean on
> social media, of course; for the vast swath of Gen Z-ers who don’t
use
> dumbphones, exchanging numbers to text message or, God forbid, call
seems
> archaic. “I’ve been saying, ‘I guess I’ll see you if I see you,’ ”
> Krigbaum said.
>
> When I want to escape from my iPhone, I pop the sim card out
(which,
> unfortunately, is not possible on some newer iPhones) and install
it in a
> red Nokia 2780 flip phone—the closing snap of which brings me back
> instantly to my high-school days, when flip phones were cutting
edge.
> After the surprisingly easy switching process, I take the simple
device
> with me on my daily walks with my dog. If I had my smartphone in
hand, I’d
> be refreshing Instagram or compulsively checking my e-mail while my
hound
> does her business or sniffs tree trunks. With the Nokia, I’ve cut
myself
> off from such meaningless digital stimuli but preserved my ability
to
> answer texts or phone calls if necessary. (I’m too much of a
millennial to
> actually leave the house without any phone.) I find myself looking
more at
> my surroundings, which are particularly enjoyable in springtime,
and I am
> more relaxed when I return from the excursions. When I switch the
sim card
> back into my iPhone, the device seems momentarily absurd: an
enormous
> screen filled with infinite entertainment and information that
follows me
> wherever I go. Then I open all my usual apps in quick
succession—e-mail,
> Instagram, Slack—to see what I’ve missed. ?
>
>
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/the-dumbphone-boom-is-
> real