One of the first things I did as soon as I started playing with the idea of getting rid of my smartphone was researching which phone would serve my detox best.
It needed to be a ‘dumb’ phone – as they call them – meaning little to no internet facility. Well, if that is how they called them, I want the dumbest one out there.
A lot of phones I looked at still included whatsapp on them as a standard. So I kept looking. I bumped into a great ‘new’ invention that was still in a developing phase called the light phone. Although the phone sounded as if it was designed with me in mind, it wasn’t a winner. It was still being tweaked but most importantly I couldn’t immediately get my hands on it, and I wanted to move quick.
Another high requirement, having a Dutch- and a UK number, was for it to be a dual-sim phone. And there it was: the Nokia 216.
A super simple, super dumb, dual sim phone with zero internet facility, about to facilitate one of my smarter decisions to date.
I started having flashbacks to my first phone being a Nokia and it made me smile. Done. I pressed ‘order’ and brought myself yet a step closer to switching off.
2 days later there it was. You know how youtubers record videos to capture the moment they inbox their new iphone? I was about to go from an over €1000 iPhone to a less than 30 pounds phone, but I think my unbox-excitement was bigger than all those influencers put together.
My gut was telling me that all the features I was about to say goodbye to, were not the things I really needed to be connected, to engage, to learn, to be healthy, to feel alive, to be alive.
Everything about this decision feels like an upgrade.
And then I remembered that there was no way I could easily transfer my phone numbers from that little iPhone nano simcard to my new oldskool SIM cards. But even that couldn’t phase my minimalist heart. I was beyond ready to be relieved from my obligations with my iPhone and all apps included.
Rachida –