adored this, Mel 💓 (also reminded me of those lipgloss palettes designed to look like flip phones from the early 2000s - not sure if that’s a shared experience or if it’s super niche, but I coveted those so much!!!)
honestly, just get an android. my google pixel literally cured me. a point you made in this essay is that the solutions to the attention crisis always seem ti be just more things you have to pay for, but i wouldnt consider an android an additional cost, moreso just putting money you might put towards an iphone to a different phone. pixels and most androids give you so much control over the backend of your phone that you can just choose whatever free app of your liking to block social media apps and websites, and there is literally NO getting around it. my screen time went from 11 to about 2 hours a day. i go on instagram once a week to respond to my friends reels and when i feel myself getting sucked in, i block it again. i use my phone to read affirmations, research, read, learn new words, listen to podcasts and now read substack posts. social media addiction is honestly really easy to cure w the right tools
So good! I have been flirting with the idea of a dumb phone for over a year, but I still feel like the antidote to phone addiction doesn’t lie entirely in self-discipline, nor does it lie in solutions by people who created the problems in the first place.
I’m daydreaming of a future where we pull elements from lo-fi tech and new tech to create healthy personal device relationships😌📱🔮
I finally got around to reading this essay (been putting it off lol). Amazing as always. I love seeing using retro technology more and more. I love using my MP3 as it really allows me to think of what I exactly I want to listen to without the overwhelming nature of having to choose which playlist feels best for the moment.
I love this and there's so much I could say in response. I fondly remember whiling away hours flipping through huge catalogues and watching my brother play on his little PSP (similar to Nintendo). I longed for a pink phone with a keychain dangling off it, and Tamagotchi's were tantalisingly tempting... but I spent most of my childhood playing with physical toys. Like you I was into Barbie, so much so that when my family moved to Australia I brought a small suitcase of them... oh the nostalgia for simpler times!!
This is so interesting! I definitely agree that if we let Corporations cater to our yearning for "The Good Old Days" then we end up right back where we started. I also feel like, not only does something like a "dumb phone" treat the symptom, not the problem -- its effectiveness kinda relies on a shift in cultural norms that as of now doesn't exist. As in, a phone that can only text and call is an interesting choice in an era where people schedule phone calls and when its setup for texting makes the act a lot more difficult. I think a person would already have to have conditioned themselves into relying less on technological convenience (down to never needing a map to get around, for example) to really make it work. I don't know if giving up socials entirely has to be the way, either--definitely agree on that. But I know so many people relate to wanting to get out of the echo chamber of having our interests and aesthetics fed & dictated to us.
exactly that!! it's a cultural shift that's non existent for now, and I doubt it'll ever be as long as Attention remains the highest currency. thank u for your thoughtful comment, really appreciate it 🫶💜
Everything we want is commodified by corporations. They’d rather us buy brand new flip phones and digital cams rather than using ones that we’ve found somewhere in our parent’s basement or at a charity shop. They usually still work just as good and have that authentic nostalgia feel…
But anyways I relate to this so much I remember bedazzling my first white flip phone it was my mom’s old one and I loved it. I think a part of pop culture will always be hyper personalization and outward identity play. It makes it fun!! But with social media and attention economy at play as you say it’s easier for companies to prey on what we like (hence why we may feel entitled to claim everything we think is cool is getting bought out or overplayed). The marketing n product teams at companies are also chronically online so we’re all just commodifying n selling to ourselves atp, which explains why there’s like 3 café/art gallery/second hand boutique or venue on every block in a big city. I love it!! But will we get tired of it? Yes maybe it’s just another fad we’ll forget like froyo 😔… Authenticity is being put up for sale 🫣😭🫶🫶🫶 thank you for writing Mel‼️
Thank u queen for reading and taking the time to give your thoughts you're the best 😩🫶💜 we should bedazzle our smartphones when I'm back, in a monochrome coffee shop.. let's RECLAIM
this was so good!!! exactly, everything’s trying to recreate a moment that was only so captivating (and beautiful in retrospect) because it was organic
love this piece!! really interesting observation about essentially “manufactured” nostalgia, or contemporary products whose only intrinsic value is to mimic. also appreciated all the photo relics in this 💖
adored this, Mel 💓 (also reminded me of those lipgloss palettes designed to look like flip phones from the early 2000s - not sure if that’s a shared experience or if it’s super niche, but I coveted those so much!!!)
Oh the flashback, forgot about those, such sweet things - thanks for reading eleanor <3
honestly, just get an android. my google pixel literally cured me. a point you made in this essay is that the solutions to the attention crisis always seem ti be just more things you have to pay for, but i wouldnt consider an android an additional cost, moreso just putting money you might put towards an iphone to a different phone. pixels and most androids give you so much control over the backend of your phone that you can just choose whatever free app of your liking to block social media apps and websites, and there is literally NO getting around it. my screen time went from 11 to about 2 hours a day. i go on instagram once a week to respond to my friends reels and when i feel myself getting sucked in, i block it again. i use my phone to read affirmations, research, read, learn new words, listen to podcasts and now read substack posts. social media addiction is honestly really easy to cure w the right tools
So good! I have been flirting with the idea of a dumb phone for over a year, but I still feel like the antidote to phone addiction doesn’t lie entirely in self-discipline, nor does it lie in solutions by people who created the problems in the first place.
I’m daydreaming of a future where we pull elements from lo-fi tech and new tech to create healthy personal device relationships😌📱🔮
thank u for reading!! and oh wow that's a great idea.. maybe that's something we should create..
I finally got around to reading this essay (been putting it off lol). Amazing as always. I love seeing using retro technology more and more. I love using my MP3 as it really allows me to think of what I exactly I want to listen to without the overwhelming nature of having to choose which playlist feels best for the moment.
Thank u so much George <3
I couldn’t pin point why the Charlie xcx bday pics looked too manufactured but now it makes total sense
I love this and there's so much I could say in response. I fondly remember whiling away hours flipping through huge catalogues and watching my brother play on his little PSP (similar to Nintendo). I longed for a pink phone with a keychain dangling off it, and Tamagotchi's were tantalisingly tempting... but I spent most of my childhood playing with physical toys. Like you I was into Barbie, so much so that when my family moved to Australia I brought a small suitcase of them... oh the nostalgia for simpler times!!
NOT BEING FORCE FED SABRINA CARPENTER girl me too im being mentally programmed into liking "taste"
This is so interesting! I definitely agree that if we let Corporations cater to our yearning for "The Good Old Days" then we end up right back where we started. I also feel like, not only does something like a "dumb phone" treat the symptom, not the problem -- its effectiveness kinda relies on a shift in cultural norms that as of now doesn't exist. As in, a phone that can only text and call is an interesting choice in an era where people schedule phone calls and when its setup for texting makes the act a lot more difficult. I think a person would already have to have conditioned themselves into relying less on technological convenience (down to never needing a map to get around, for example) to really make it work. I don't know if giving up socials entirely has to be the way, either--definitely agree on that. But I know so many people relate to wanting to get out of the echo chamber of having our interests and aesthetics fed & dictated to us.
exactly that!! it's a cultural shift that's non existent for now, and I doubt it'll ever be as long as Attention remains the highest currency. thank u for your thoughtful comment, really appreciate it 🫶💜
This this this!!! I love this!!!
Everything we want is commodified by corporations. They’d rather us buy brand new flip phones and digital cams rather than using ones that we’ve found somewhere in our parent’s basement or at a charity shop. They usually still work just as good and have that authentic nostalgia feel…
But anyways I relate to this so much I remember bedazzling my first white flip phone it was my mom’s old one and I loved it. I think a part of pop culture will always be hyper personalization and outward identity play. It makes it fun!! But with social media and attention economy at play as you say it’s easier for companies to prey on what we like (hence why we may feel entitled to claim everything we think is cool is getting bought out or overplayed). The marketing n product teams at companies are also chronically online so we’re all just commodifying n selling to ourselves atp, which explains why there’s like 3 café/art gallery/second hand boutique or venue on every block in a big city. I love it!! But will we get tired of it? Yes maybe it’s just another fad we’ll forget like froyo 😔… Authenticity is being put up for sale 🫣😭🫶🫶🫶 thank you for writing Mel‼️
Thank u queen for reading and taking the time to give your thoughts you're the best 😩🫶💜 we should bedazzle our smartphones when I'm back, in a monochrome coffee shop.. let's RECLAIM
this was so good!!! exactly, everything’s trying to recreate a moment that was only so captivating (and beautiful in retrospect) because it was organic
yes exactly!! thanks for reading eve <3
love this piece!! really interesting observation about essentially “manufactured” nostalgia, or contemporary products whose only intrinsic value is to mimic. also appreciated all the photo relics in this 💖
appreciate you for reading Lennie <3 happy you liked the photo relics haha, took me back to memory lane