Daily Mail: Americans are ditching smartphones for ‘dumb’ devices that only call and text to avoid ‘zombie mode’
Wed 10:41 am +00:00, 3 Jul 2024 1
Rob Waugh – Daily Mail.com July 2, 2024
A growing number of people are ditching their smartphones for ‘dumbphones’ that only call and text to avoid being in ‘zombie mode.’
The simple devices have skyrocketed in popularity, as 2.8 million were sold in the US last year with people proclaiming they feel calmer and more present in their ordinary lives.
A California woman told DailyMail.com that she made the switch after realizing she spent the entire summer on her smartphone, saying she barely remembered the time – she even forgot where she walked her dog.
Caroline Cadwell explained that switching to a dumbphone was impractical at first, but then became freeing.
‘Space and time, is how I’d describe it. It’s amazing how much your relationships can gain from giving it up,’ she said.
Companies such as Dumbwireless are selling the simple devices devices to addicted smartphone users, and a growing number of anti-smartphone organizations are trying to curb the use of the devices, particularly among children.
Activists point to statistics such as the fact that the arrival of smartphones seems to have coincided with a surge in rates of depression and anxiety – which rose by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2019.
Cadwell spent 15 years working in high-growth start-ups in Barcelona and San Francisco before she left a job due to burnout – and realized her smartphone was the problem.
‘I left a job because I was burned out, and spent almost three months in what I’d describe as zombie mode, she said.
‘It was summer, and I barely remember it–I did nothing. It was when I was nearly out of this time and feeling better that I started to reflect on what about my burnout was in my control, and the biggest contributing factor was a lack of boundaries with work.’
Previously she had felt the need to be available at all times, even for 11pm calls.
But Cadwell realized the depths of her addiction when she couldn’t remember where she had walked her dog because she was responding to Slack messages the whole time.
She said that switching to a dumbphone was impractical at first, but then became freeing.
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It would take a population that is already not noted for its high IQ, to notice something like that,