My smartphone is dumb...and I like that

Since I started this blog I've been joking that I'm using the internet like it's 2005. But that got me thinking: how did I use the internet before? How did I use my phone, what I liked about it, what I wished I could do with it. 

I've watched a few videos of people who either "dumbified" their smartphone or went back to an actual "dumb" phone. I'd like to say "omg they're right!" but I dont feel that way. 

Here's the thing:

I don't blame the phone. I don't blame myself either. I blame techbros with their profitseeking algorithms and AI. But it didn't use to be this way. So I've been thinking on it.

How did I used to use the internet before?

I would use it mainly on my computer. I'd have to turn on my computer, I'd check my email, check Facebook or mySpace, check whatever website I was interested in reading regularly, log into yahoo!Messenger to change my status to some cheesy emo lyrics and chat with the same three people. I would look up information on Google and videos on YouTube. What I'm getting at is it was an intentional block of time I'd have to use it and I had to go to the websites I wanted to go by typing stuff or organising them into my bookmarks.

How did I use my phone?

As an mp3 player, obviously. I'll be honest I've always hated talking on the phone. My phone was alway an mp3 player. I would put my own files on the memory and organise them and drain my battery with it completley. I used to get a lot of "your phone is so smart" reactions cause I used all the features like the notes app, reminders, and calendar. But my phone wasn't better than most. I just really like being organised. I also had a little bit of internet on our plan and I could use the browser to check my Facebook and Email and even Messenger. 

What did I love about it?

I loved the convenience of it all. I used to have that feeling that I have access to so much info and conectivity. It trulu felt like the cusp of an age where things would be easier, more convenient, less stressful.

What I wished I could do with it?

I wished I could have access to the same stuff on my phone as I could access from my computer. - that happened. Everything is synced and theres wifi and great mobile internet plans and the big ass smartphone screen is very convenient for that....less convenient for pockets tho.

I wished I would have better camera. - That happened too.

Then why am I so unhappy about it? What didn't I want it to do.

My last "dumb" phone was a mix of a larger touchscreen and normal phone buttons. It had a good browser and even a Facebook app. I used to joke that I'd change it when they invent a phone that could make crepes....and then it exploded. So I got my first smartphone that didn't make crepes. 

What it did do however was depleting its battery in record speeds. Smartphone batteries have come a long way since then but if you've told me back then that I'd be impressed with a two day battery life I would have thought you're crazy.

For a while, except streessing about the battery, I couldn't necessarily say anything else bothered me. What started to bother me was the constant stream of updates bloating apps with features I didn't need and slowing down my phone in less than two years. And that's been a constant thing with all the smartphones I've had, and there were plenty cause they tend to get useless in about two years. 

Actually I also had (still have) a tablet. That I loved so much. But exactly that bloating made it useless. I use it as a ebook reader and music player cause thats all it can do. It can't even open youtube through the browser anymore cause browser is "outdated" and none of the apps can update cause there's not enough space and they won't work wihout the updates. 

But I wasn't too bothered by the constant battery issues and even by the two year "expiry date". The issue was never the phone. Then was it the internet?

Kinda. But not really. First it was the ads. So many fucking ads. All hail adblockers! So that problem was solvable. Also I was ok with paying so the creator got paid and I didn't see the ads.

When I stopped liking the internet that much was when everyhing started implementing algorithms to show you stuff not chronologically but by "popularity". Especially on social media. I seriously want to see things in chronological order and see all the stuff all the people I follow post. 

The algorithm changes started a domino effect. Even if I managed to set my feeds to be chronological, now bigger creators were spamming content instead of posting normally so the algorithm wouldn't shit on them. And the constant stream of multiple posts a day would drown friends posts. I also struggeld with that on the "creator" end cause I was running some small pages that previously worked nice in tandem with some blogs. And suddently I had to use scheduling services to post multiple times anday and make content plans and shit. Wich was overwhealming to do.

I'm also of the belief that the biggest internet mistake our generation made was convincing our parents to join social media. Now the people who would tell us not to believe all the shit weirdos post on the internet started believing all the shit weirdos post on the internet. But that's a can of worms for another blog post. 

Now everyone was creating content to feed the algorithm instead of creating stuff they wanted to create. Creators I liked started to feel spammy and gimmicky.

Then there was a social media app boom and then we were no longer on just Facebook and maybe Twitter and Tumblr. We were now on multiple different apps and we were jumping from app to app to see everything everyone did. We had a bunch of apps that kept inflating in our phones, killing all the space. 

Everything got a paywall or a subscription or whatever. Everything needs an account. Everything wants a bunch of permissions and to send you a billion notofications. And I'm not talking about notifications about who interacted with you. I'm talking about notifications about random accounts "you may know" are now on Instagram, and notifications from the fucking music app about bands you never listened to ever. 

And sure you can change the settings to the notifications. But for some you change it and it still does it. 

Now every app is updating to put AI into it...wich I can turn off...but its still bloating my phone. 

Ok, that was quite a rant. I could go on.

But what I'm doing about it?

Since I started this blog I've had so much fun posting. I dont think about how the post will do or how how the algoritm will see it. I dont really care. 

But what do I so about social media? I still have Facebook and Instagram. Technically I think I have a few more accounts that I need to hunt down and close. But I use Facebook and Instagram...as magazines. Thats what I've realised. I open them the same way I used to open magazines lying around. I very rarely ever post or interact with stuff. And thats fine. A step that I've taken since I accepted that they are nothing more than magazines is that I deleted the apps and now use them throught the phones browser....not Chrome, but the phones light browser. I disabled Chrome. I dont need two browsers. 

I actually moved all the apps that I don't necesarily need as an app but can use in the browser to the bookmarks and deleted the apps. Phone runs so much faster now! Even the Google app! That doesn't mean I don't use Google anymore. I do. I just set it as the first page of my browser app. I never understood why there was a Google app alongside Chrome and the phone browser. And whenever you opened the Google app to search something you got bombarded by articles you didn't ask for in the discover page.

I deleted the Youtube Music and goig back to using the phones app as an mp3 player. I listen to the same 10 songs for long periods of time anyway. I dont need acess to all the music ever produced. And I don't want any yearly wrapped and stats and top listener badges and notifications about music I don't listen to.

Putting music on my phone limits the number of photos I can store on my phone...and that's good. Why am I keeping 13 pics of my cat in the same position but slightly moved? I need to be more attentive with my camera roll. Actually delete what I don't wanna keep and organise what I keep. Cause when theres 3000 pics in one big folder good luck finding the memories or the useful images. And no, I'm not setting AI loose on my private gallery to scan for "that time I had a weird rash I wanna show my doctor". 

I also exiled the green owl to the web browser. I'm its most loyal slave with a 1300+ streak. I dont need it to yell at me to get my lessons in.

I kept Maps, Gmmail, Messenger, Keep and, for now, Youtube. I'm gonna try using it on browser first. If there's no jarring diference than I'll delete that too. 

I also deleted Google Drive and Docs. I used these a lot when I was in college and I held on to them cause they felt important....but I'm not in college anymore. And I barely ever need them. And if I do theres always the browser version or the PlayStore to get them anyway.

I'm even typing this on the phone browser version of Blogger. 

My phone is lighter. I find it easier to navigate my own stuff on the phone and I'm not bombarded by sugestions all the time. I feel more like I'm  using the phone I wished my "dumb" phone to be and less like I have the most confusing Tamagochi in the universe.