my digital minimalism journey
The main question of this big picture is one: Is it possible to live without a smartphone in the modern era? The short answer doesn't exist, because the right balance lies in the middle. That's it, maybe a setup that works for me doesn't fit someone else and vice versa.
Introduction
Maybe it's better to take a step back and talk about why should i choose to get rid of my smartphone. It wasn't a spontaneous process to realize the situation and find my new conscious balance. It started slowly, at the university, in my computer science course i used to study with two awesome guys who introduced me in the privacy-focused branch of technology, from there it's one of the biggest rabbit holes of my life as you can find security breaches in the majority of the devices we use daily. I later got into cybersecurity and become a member of the university ctf team. There i started to declutter my daily carry and the devices pool i use, for my computers I use Linux or where it's needed I install a debloated Windows version. But the security and privacy reason was only a reinforcement for my decision to cut social medias and only later the smartphone. The primary reason is the addiction to the whole system.
The Instagram Chapter
I used to post a lot on Instagram stories craving likes and approval and spent hours scrolling memes in the Reels section. Sometimes i found myself lying in bed with the phone close to the face for hours doomscrolling on brain-rotten content, I remember waking up from this hypnotic state, as if from a light sleep, suddenly becoming aware of where I was and what I was doing. My eyes were burning and I felt exhausted. Something had to change. I've red about the user data business on many blogs and posts on the internet, the book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism explained very well and in detail how it works and it's disgusting and scary.
Now, more than a year later it's normal for me to have no Instagram accounts, but when i decided to get rid of it I felt like i was trying to live without a leg, near impossible, what would others have thought about me? Others opinion was the biggest problem for me, i had a real fear of being cut out. It was my second time trying to delete my Instagram account, the first account i had was from 2014 to 2019 then i had a two years break and after that i re-installed it in 2021 because i wanted to share memes with my friends, it was the boom years of TikTok and the Reels system and i got totally absorbed by that. I thought the problem with Instagram was looking at others lives and a sense of inferiority to fight, but the Reels and the quick video format is a way worse plague as it drags you down in a black bubble where you are chained to the smartphone and wired to the internet.
So Instagram was the first thing i cut, not because it is the only bad social media, but because I never used other platforms like that. After Instagram i wanted to clean my study and working setup, so i also tried a lot of operating systems for my pc, a lot of linux distributions and ended up using Tiny10 because for my actual job i need Windows, but this story is for another post.
In the modern era having a smartphone is considered essential. The comparison with the smoking addiction in my opinion is very appropriate, a smoker tries to satisfy his addiction to nicotine every so often, in the same way someone who is addicted to the smartphone has the automatic gesture of taking it out of his pocket and checking if there are new notifications. As also explained in the documentary "The Social Dilemma" produced by Netflix, the smartphone is designed like a slot machine, until you unlock it, turn it or tap on the screen you are always in doubt as to whether there is a reward waiting for you.
The Search
Ok, but how can i get rid of all these garbage? One of the first posts that i've found was this. It's the experience of a guy who achieved the goal of being totally offline relying on few pieces of technology but, as i said at the beginning, this setup fits for him while mine is different. He got rid of Whatsapp Messenger, while i decided for now to keep it, he also does not carry a smartphone at all, while my choice is a bit different he also has a very expensive GoPro and a very expensive watch too. Before showing my setup i would like to talk about a YouTube channel who inspired me a lot: James Scholz, he made some videos about his setup evolving through years. As digital minimalist, he shows tons of devices that he uses daily and it's very interesting how he divides various tasks and needs on the devices, but like Alvarez's setup also this one can't fit my needs for two reasons: also if the tools he shows are usually outdated or task specific they are usually very expensive, at least here in Europe, second, i want to keep it much more simple, he has multiple computers, tablets, music readers and other stuff.
My Setup
This is my actual daily carry.
The Phone
The phone is a Nokia 6300 4G, it's a feature phone and when i bought it also Whatsapp were supported, now i debloated it using adb to remove all the preinstalled apps and games that were annoying and a security issue. The feature i use other than the ones of a normal phone is the hotspot mode for the second device i carry
The Smart One
The e-ink device you can see in the center of the picture is a Boox Palma that i found discounted for 199€, basically is a fully functional android tablet, and I debloated also this one, in fact it has only few applications and most of them are open source.
It was a lot of time that i wanted a e-ink device, i also tried to hack an old Kindle to achieve this but the Palma is the perfect size for a daily carry, especially when you don't have a backpack with you. I use it to replace those moments where usually I don't have nothing to do but wait for something, and i can take it out and read a book instead of scrolling on social medias or browsing random stuff. I found it very useful also for reading before sleeping, because it's very unconfortable to use books while laying on the bed, they are heavy and tend to fall or close.
The grayscale screen, low refresh rate, and not-so-fast wifi connection make the Palma uncomfortable to a fault. If I don't really need to look for something, there's nothing to attract me to pick it up. If i need to use Whatsapp or any internet app, i need to turn on the hotspot mode in my Nokia, then i have to turn on the not-so-fast wifi on the Palma, and only after those steps i can do what i need. At least it has a nice lockscreen.
The Watch
The watch is a Coros Pace 3, which i bought for 250€ and i think it's worth the price. I use it mainly for running and cycling and i bought it for sport purposes. I can load on it music and maps, I tried to stream music with bluetooth headphones and it works very well, for the moment i still use Spotify but i plan to organize my albums and use them instead, the maps are a bit tricky specially if you plan to use them without the smartphone app.
All this devices needs to be recharged once every 3-7 days, so i can last a week without a charger. Having to recharge your cell phone every day is a curse for me, it's not immediately obvious but it's alienating to depend on a battery every day, especially when you spend hours in front of your smartphone and you have to recharge it several times a day.
The Notebook
The small notebook is a Moleskine sold in packs of three, i use it to dump my thoughts and ideas, it's useful to lighten my mind and it's useful for fixing thoughts that I otherwise tend to forget. I have always admired who tracks habits daily on a notebook, but i noticed that for the moment i have less friction by not tracking habits and keeping only few of them until they are solid and automated.
Conclusions
I am not 100% satisfied with my actual setup, because it relies on Android and the services that i use are not all open source or free software. On the other hand I am totally independent from technology and from being constantly connected to the internet.
I advise anyone to experiment, even just for a fixed period, the total independence and detachment from the internet and technology. Read books, stay with people, have moments and touch grass.
Read the second chapter here --->