Your suggestion about switching to JPEG only...YES. Photographers get so hung up on shooting RAW only whilst also sitting on a massive backlog of photos because editing then is just too daunting / feels like work
“I now print my favorite photos with my little Polaroid Hi Print and Canon QX20 and paste them into pocket notebooks with handwritten notes.” While i understand the experience of this, how does this play or impact the environment as well?
I keep putting off designing and committing to a digital minimalist lifestyle because it feels like such a big undertaking. But at the same time, it feels so so necessary. This is inspiring though! I need to get the ball rolling.
I would love to know how the phone works out for you in the long run. I’m looking forward to updates on YT regarding it. I also really could have used your advice on purchases before I bought the OM System camera recently (though it may not have changed much)! This was a good read, thank you!
“The best purchase is often no purchase.” Oh boy, that rings true. Countless times, I’ve been on the verge of “buy now” for a piece of camera gear...I’ve learned to give it 24h waiting time, and that mostly does the trick. I don’t need any more stuff, that’s for sure. And the stuff I have works great. I know this, but still...
You can also put an iPhone in BW mode and turn off notifications. Definitely not the same amount of friction as an e-ink phone. I am interested in how your journey goes. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely. It is a good solution and I myself do use A free app called dumb phone, which does a nice job of creating a minimal home screen and overall approach to disengagement from an iPhone. That said, I still like the idea of a dumber dumb phone but we’ll see how it goes.
Great post. I read Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism recently and it was a great book with good ideas, and your post aligns with aspects of it pretty well. I've been struggling with this as well (as I just got done browsing reddit for no reason).
I'm curious to know how you'll get on with the eink smartphone long term. I really love e-ink for reading (like, REALLY love it), but it can definitely get a bit tiring for other things. That can either be good, and the right amount of friction, or it might cause you to give up on it. I've thought about getting a Light Phone II / III for a similar experience, but ultimately giving up iMessage, Apple Pay and other needed apps didn't feel right.
I realized that in some ways the perfect "dumb phone" for an apple user is a cellular apple watch. It has almost everything you'd need an want without any of the stuff you don't. The small screen size adds friction, but you can call, text, get directions, write reminders and notes, listen to music, use apple pay etc. And then you have the iPhone plugged in at home when you need it.
Anyway, an alternative to think about if the eink phone doesn't work out, but I hope it does!
Well you definitely picked up on my Cal Newport obsession. I find his arguments very compelling and this undertaking is very much inspired by his approach and line of thinking. As for the e-ink phone, I am very hopeful that it can do just enough. Unlike the light and minimal phone, this one allows you to side load apps of all kinds so technically you can even watch YT but why would you on a b+w e-ink device? And it has NFC so you can do payment (though not Apple Pay). I am completely embedded in the Apple stack so it will be interesting to see if I can make this work but at minimum, I’d love to just have a phone that doesn’t encourage me to interact with it when I’m on my own time.
As the point’s very reasonable, is all that tech schedule really liberating, or we’re all already inexorably embedded inside tech tentacles
Your suggestion about switching to JPEG only...YES. Photographers get so hung up on shooting RAW only whilst also sitting on a massive backlog of photos because editing then is just too daunting / feels like work
“I now print my favorite photos with my little Polaroid Hi Print and Canon QX20 and paste them into pocket notebooks with handwritten notes.” While i understand the experience of this, how does this play or impact the environment as well?
It’s not great, but then again, the ever more consumptive energy need fueling an addicted digital life isn’t great for the environment either.
Yeah that is true!
I keep putting off designing and committing to a digital minimalist lifestyle because it feels like such a big undertaking. But at the same time, it feels so so necessary. This is inspiring though! I need to get the ball rolling.
Baby steps
Lovely image. I like the traffic light for balance!
🙏🏻
i tamed my phone use, but my laptop use increased rapdidly
I would say the same for me
I would love to know how the phone works out for you in the long run. I’m looking forward to updates on YT regarding it. I also really could have used your advice on purchases before I bought the OM System camera recently (though it may not have changed much)! This was a good read, thank you!
“The best purchase is often no purchase.” Oh boy, that rings true. Countless times, I’ve been on the verge of “buy now” for a piece of camera gear...I’ve learned to give it 24h waiting time, and that mostly does the trick. I don’t need any more stuff, that’s for sure. And the stuff I have works great. I know this, but still...
It’s a tough discipline.
You can also put an iPhone in BW mode and turn off notifications. Definitely not the same amount of friction as an e-ink phone. I am interested in how your journey goes. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely. It is a good solution and I myself do use A free app called dumb phone, which does a nice job of creating a minimal home screen and overall approach to disengagement from an iPhone. That said, I still like the idea of a dumber dumb phone but we’ll see how it goes.
Great post. I read Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism recently and it was a great book with good ideas, and your post aligns with aspects of it pretty well. I've been struggling with this as well (as I just got done browsing reddit for no reason).
I'm curious to know how you'll get on with the eink smartphone long term. I really love e-ink for reading (like, REALLY love it), but it can definitely get a bit tiring for other things. That can either be good, and the right amount of friction, or it might cause you to give up on it. I've thought about getting a Light Phone II / III for a similar experience, but ultimately giving up iMessage, Apple Pay and other needed apps didn't feel right.
I realized that in some ways the perfect "dumb phone" for an apple user is a cellular apple watch. It has almost everything you'd need an want without any of the stuff you don't. The small screen size adds friction, but you can call, text, get directions, write reminders and notes, listen to music, use apple pay etc. And then you have the iPhone plugged in at home when you need it.
Anyway, an alternative to think about if the eink phone doesn't work out, but I hope it does!
Well you definitely picked up on my Cal Newport obsession. I find his arguments very compelling and this undertaking is very much inspired by his approach and line of thinking. As for the e-ink phone, I am very hopeful that it can do just enough. Unlike the light and minimal phone, this one allows you to side load apps of all kinds so technically you can even watch YT but why would you on a b+w e-ink device? And it has NFC so you can do payment (though not Apple Pay). I am completely embedded in the Apple stack so it will be interesting to see if I can make this work but at minimum, I’d love to just have a phone that doesn’t encourage me to interact with it when I’m on my own time.