Can Using a Dumber Phone Cure 'Brain Rot'? (seattletimes.com)
- Reference: 0176950375
- News link: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/25/04/07/0552241/can-using-a-dumber-phone-cure-brain-rot
- Source link: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/can-using-a-dumber-phone-cure-brain-rot/
[2]Alternate URL here .] He's suffering from it too — "These days, it's tough to even finish a book."
But is the answer just avoiding distractions with a stripped-down $600 phone "that barely does anything"? For a week he tested the Light Phone III...
> The newest version, which began shipping in March and is set for a broader release in July, can place calls, send texts, take photos, show map directions, play music and podcasts and not do much else. There is no web browser. There is also no app store, meaning there's no Uber to hail a ride, no Slack and no social media. There isn't even email... There were moments I enjoyed it. While waiting for a train, resting at the gym or eating alone, I was not tempted to stare at the phone screen, and I felt more mindful of my surroundings. Phone calls sounded nice and clear. The maps app did a fine job navigating me around town.
>
> It reminded me of simpler times when we used phones primarily to converse before putting them away to focus on other tasks. But over the week, the downsides of a dumber phone chipped away at my enjoyment, and overall I felt more stressed and less capable. I suddenly found myself unable to get into a train station, look up the name of a new restaurant or control my garage door. Some of that has less to do with the Light Phone itself, which is a so-so product, and more to do with how society as a whole has become dependent on advanced smartphone features.
For example, his old smartphone supported virtual phone-based passes for mass transit and speedy access to his gym. (And his friends made phone of the Light Phone's photos.) But at least never felt tempted to check his email when out to dinner.
"While I admire the goal of the Light Phone, my experience demonstrates there's nothing we can realistically do or buy to bring us back to simpler times. So many aspects of our lives, including getting around town, working, paying for things and controlling home appliances, revolve around our highly capable smartphones.
"This Light Phone experiment reminded me of glamping: paying a lot to have an artificially crummier experience."
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/technology/personaltech/light-phone-iii-brain-rot.html
[2] https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/can-using-a-dumber-phone-cure-brain-rot/
Life is what you make of it (Score:2)
There is nobody and nothing going to save you from putting in hard work and learning restraint if you want to have a good life.
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While true, I've found that my kids seem to be less slavish to their phones once I removed social media apps and games. They can still call/txt and use a web browser.
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About the same as saying "Why are you depressed? Just think positively!"
Addiction to social media is called an addiction because it affects the brain's chemistry and, to make matters worse, it has a social component where if you don't participate, you will ostracize yourself from your social peers who do.
Us adults can resist the siren call relatively well because we remember a world without it. For today's children, it IS their world.
That was a phone story to read (Score:1)
âoehis friends made phone of the Light Phone's photosâ. I frequently do that too, make phone of phones.
$800? For what? (Score:2)
I mean, really. I still use a flip phone - sort of. Mind you, flip phones that are 4-compatible come with some of that named junk. It has an app store, though using KaiOS. Not having an ASCII keyboard nor a touchscreen (and having a tiny screen to begin with) the apps are limited. Yes, it claims to have a web browser, though I really haven't been tempted to see how compatible it is. It does offer a media player, it even has a few games of sorts. Never looked for social media. Mind you, maps doesn't sound us
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I never used a flip phone, and I don't know of anyone ever used one with the exception of the Nokia Communicator. I only saw them in large numbers when travelling to the U.S.. To me, flip phones are essentially an American thing.
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Your UID belies it, but your comment makes it seem like you are young. Flip phones were huge in Japan - and much more popular there than in the US - long before smartphones were a thing.
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_mobile_phone_culture
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Exactly, why so expensive? If you want a simple phone, search for a feature phone. E.g. the Nokia 105 costs £13.50 here. I also found it for $26.
Short answer: YES (Score:3)
Long answer: Hell Yes
Doesn't even have to be a dumb phone. I just keep no contacts in my smartphone, as it forces me to dial phone numbers which means that I remember them.
Also to write things down. Not that paper is inherently superior, just that the act of writing is proven to cause the brain to retain data that simply looking at does not.
Humans still have the ability to recall data, we just have to use that ability regularly.
I'm all for... (Score:2)
Dumb people should be using dumb phones. I know I'm going to get down voted to hell on this, but if you "have no clue what half of your phone does, or what you could possible use 1tb of storage or 64GB of RAM on a phone" then you REALLY don't need it. If you don't use a "smart device" to make you smarter, what are you doing period, besides rotting your brain anyways?
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And junk people should be eating junk food?
There is no way for everyone to know enough about all the stuff to know what it does to them.
A phone is a necessary tool in today's society, and became a status/wealth symbol, same as cars.
Any evidence most people EVER think? (Score:2)
On the whole the evidence is against it...
' "Thinking doesn't pay. Just makes you discontented with what you see around you."
Robert A. Heinlein
$0 NO MORE DISTRACTIONS (Score:1)
PUT THE PHONE DOWN and for $0 NO MORE DISTRACTIONS. Can't put it down? Get help.
Brain rot is not a thing. It's not ADHD either. It's allowing constant disruptive stimulus.
It's like going to a WWE match and expecting to type your Ph.D. thesis on your smartphone while watching the "wrestlers" do their thing.
It's just not an environment conducive to creation. This is also why library patrons shush those who play videos (ugh!) or have phone calls (ugh!)
and don't respect the quiet environment that is conduc
Something seems off here (Score:2)
$600 for a phone that "hardly does anything"? You can readily buy a refurbished smartphone for that much.
A real "dumb" phone that hardly does anything should be well under $100.
Still saving up for a house. (Score:2)
That thing is expensive. Particularly with our dollar just crashed, that's a grand in $AU.
Get an HMD KaiOS feature phone for a fifth of the price.
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It's a classic pitch to the middle classes. Get them worried about something and they'll gladly buy the expensive solution. In UK you can get a dumb phone for £13.50 (18usd). [1]https://www.argos.co.uk/produc... [argos.co.uk]
[1] https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3100660?istCompanyId=a74d8886-5df9-4baa-b776-166b3bf9111c&istFeedId=30f62ea9-9626-4cac-97c8-9ff3921f8558&istItemId=ltqxpqltp&istBid=t&utm_custom6=LIA&utm_source=google&utm_medium=free_listing&utm_campaign=merchant_center&gStoreCode=2189