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Title: Can Using a Dumber Phone Cure 'Brain Rot'?

Link: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/25/04/07/05...

Brain rot - the inability to think deeply after too much scrolling on a phone
- afflicts "plenty of people," writes the New York Times' lead consumer
technology writer. [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."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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