04 Oct 2025
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 Unpopular opinion: Dumbphones

 Finally got back from another business trip.

 Brought the new Purism Librem 5 with me, and similar to any other trips I had,
 it hadn't been switched on for the whole trip...In the end, using personal PC
 in business trip seems to be just a dream, or that means I have to find a job
 that I don't need to be hands-on.

 Before the trip, I managed to put the Raspberry Pi Pico SDK into the phone. I
 think I am happy enough with it, though Zephyr RTOS is the all-rounder that
 can bring instant gratification. I planned to play with the LED on my newly
 bought Pico 2, but instead spent my days like a beast of work.

 But a random thought did come into my mind when I was feeling quite sad about
 not having chance to play -  the "digital detox" thingy, the "smartphone
 addiction" thingy, on the dumhphone sub-reddit.

 It is sometimes quite interesting to look at that sub-reddit. To be honest, I
 don't get most of the EDC or digital addiction kind of things that always get
 shared on that board. I simply followed the saying, "If you can't think of
 anything nice to say, say nothing". Very helpful in stopping me from suddently
 creating a Reddit account for the sake of picking fights.

 These definitely are unpopular opinions: I don't believe that it is that easy
 for people to be "addicted to social media and smartphones".

 That said, I myself don't find the "social media" to be interesting enough for
 me to create a new account, so probably not the best counter-example. However,
 I do aware that when not procrastinating or going out with my family, I seldom
 pull my phone out. The phone could stay in my pocket for a whole day until the
 little one went to bed.

 And that's the thing. I believe when someone is very focused on some habit or
 job, they have no time for the phone or social media. When I am being lazy, I
 stay on SDF a whole day, reading old phlogs and bboard.

 On the sub-reddit, there are always people saying that switching to a earlier
 phone is the only way out, because "people who don't understand addiction"
 simply can't understand how tempting smartphones are and how easy an addicted
 will lose the fight returning to doom-scrolling.

 I did come across one comment that I felt so true. The commenter said that one
 friend of theirs decided to quit smoking. What the guy did was buying a new
 pack of cigarettes, put it into his shirt's pocket. A few years gone by, the
 pack was still unopened. The commenter wanted to point out that this is real
 quitting - If you are quitting doing something, you don't think about it even
 the thing is always within your reach.

 I think that's actually the reason of some posts that mentioned being very
 hard during the first few days of switching to a dumbphone. Some explained to
 them that they lose the source of Dopamine that was used to be provided by the
 smartphones. I think it is just a proof that they have no hobbies...I believe
 that people will find a way to fill their idle time, be it drawing, writing,
 sleeping, whatever that has a sense of "not sitting still looking into the
 blank". Without a real hobby, reading/watching something that doesn't spend a
 lot of brain power will likely be the outcome. Social media is just an easy
 way to get news that don't need the brain to work very hard.

 Addiction is a very different thing, in my opinion. Addiction is something you
 can't resist from doing even though you are not in a state or situation that
 is suitable. Like if I were a drug-addict, I would be taking something even if
 it was duing the playtime with my son. Most of the "digital-addicts" to me are
 simply people having nothing else better to do...

 Smartphone is simply a handy pocket computer. If I think about the Librem 5,
 it is a smartphone yet it doesn't have any addictive factors. It is addictive
 in terms of being a Linux computer. I think may be it is a perfect phone for
 the digital detox people - it can install some very useful apps with Waydroid,
 but if a normal user goes out of their way to install more things onto the
 phone, they risk breaking the system and having to reflash a stock image so
 they will have to reconfigure everything. A user can have someone changing the
 hosts table in their phone so that every social network website is blocked and
 the only way to unblock is to reflash the image or learn about some really
 technical stuffs. When a normal user learns about the really technical stuffs
 to help them get back onto social networks, they are addicted to the range of
 knowledge in managing Linux systems, basic programming, etc. They can obtain a
 hobby so that they don't need to doom-scroll.

 I just think that if the root cause is not resolving, one would simply go back
 to their previous self quite easily. And if that root cause is lack of hobby,
 the "addiction" just won't be cured without finding a real hobby.