Why Dumb-phones are the Future
By Vikram S. Negi on Jun 16, 2025
Nowadays doom-scrolling and content addictions have become the new normal for a lot of people. An easy way to fix this would be to elimate the suspect in question. Your smartphone.
Should we just give up the convenience features that are shipped with our smartphones? This is something I'm currently trying to figure out. Eliminating your smartphone is an easy decision to make, but it also comes with a lot of sacrifices like online payments and GPS navigation.
Will I be doing the switch? Seems unlikely, only if a dumbphone comes with android operating system. Here are the reasons behind not switching instantly:
- Online payments
- GPS navigation
- Two-factor authentication
Maybe if a company like Xiaomi decides to release a phone with a keypad similar to nokia, but has a light-weight android operating system. Note: I am suggesting Xiaomi, as they have release a similar phone in USA.
Android is built on the open-source linux kernel, yet the OS is propritary and heavily walled by Google.
One question to ask, but does that not defeat the purpose of not using a smartphone? The thing is having a smaller screen on your phone should limit prolonged use of it for doom-scrolling.
When the time comes to buying a new phone, I will probably an android phone less than Rs. 10,000. This way I and kinda forced to not use it as often and mainly use it as a gadget like it was intended to be. With limited features and not so smooth user experience I hope to be off-put by this low budget phone.
Yet, this does not entirely solve my internal addictive tendencies to seek stuff that should not be seeked. Some dragons must be slain before the get too big to control. To inculcate some discipline in my life, this must be a crucial step in the right direction.
The escape from the hellscape must be the new adventure we must embark upon. Note that achieving goals in life with willpower alone is not astute. Using willpower keeps a part of the brain to focus on it, making it less efficient to concentrate on the task at hand.