Experimenting with Single-Purpose Devices to Reduce Smartphone Dependence

Lately, I've become nostalgic for the days before smartphones, when the internet was a place we went to deliberately, and not a place that lived on all of our devices, beckoning to us with a constant stream of notifications, and our own fears of missing out.

For me (and many people who grew up before the 2000s), the internet used to be a place only accessible via a CRT screen connected to a large box in my childhood bedroom. It required a ritual each time to get on, and getting offline was just as deliberate.

I've started experimenting with replacing my smartphone with single-purpose devices: a digital camera for photos, an e-reader for books, and a dedicated GPS device for navigation.

The most surprising benefit has been the mental space that opens up when you're not constantly checking for notifications or feeling the pull of infinite scrolling.