Why I Bought a Dumbphone

Before coming to the States, we contemplated unlocking our smartphones and locking them into an American network once we got here. This turned out to be an economically unsound plan. So, yesterday I bought new mobile phones for Amy and myself. When I say new, I mean it only in the sense that they are new devices in our lives. The phones we bought were dumbphones; that is the opposite of a smartphone. These phones are basic. You can call, text and play games. You can also browse the web, but the screens are so small and the resolution so terrible, you would never bother. This is a big change from the Samsung Galaxy Ace smartphones we had in Australia. Why the change? Well, for a start smartphone plans are much more expensive in the US compared to Australia. But more than that, it was a chance to overhaul the way we use our phones. Over the past year or so since I've had a smartphone, I've noticed myself becoming increasingly detached from the world and the people around me. I would be checking facebook and interacting with people digitally when there were people right there with me to whom I could be talking. I would be replying to emails instead of talking to Amy or playing with Micah. I pretty much became the guy in this cartoon (someone who is not me drew this cartoon).

This had to stop. And that's why I bought a dumbphone.