May was the first month I missed in 3 years of blogging. Enshitification was 1 of the reasons.
That couldn’t happen to me?
May was also the month I realized I was on windows 10, not 11. This realization was rather embarrassing as I consider myself tech literate. I am telling myself this was a case of; “that couldn’t happen to me”.
When the internet let up with word that Microsoft would stop supporting windows 10; I thought, I have a very capable machine, this will not effect me. I still hate Microsoft for this, but I’ll be fine.
I would not be fine.
Right to despair
Despite that it was not this that done me in. It was a slight distraction, but nothing substantial. Another item to add to my list of items to eventually deshitify. The delay came from a modern device built to fail and difficult to fix.
My phone battery had been swelling; a growth going unnoticed behind the bulk of a protective case and stick on wallet. When that wallet began to deteriorate I removed it. Which left a residue on the case. Which I then removed to clean. Revealing a very serious issue.
I frantically began the search for a new device. An unfortunate situation that promoted my phone as the next target for deshitification.
Flipping over batteries
I ordered a less-smart phone with hopes I would be able to side-load some apps. As you recall, I did not know which operating system my desktop was using. You can extrapolate how side loading went.
There were a few late nights figuring out how to make things work in a low app environment. In the end I’ll continue to use google keep for a shared grocery list.
I’m open to suggestions in the comments for a good web based to-do list. Preferably from a company who isn’t ratting Canadians out to ICE for being anti-ICE.
NoneDrive
Initially keep wasn’t displaying well on my small flip screen. I tried OneNote quickly out of desperation and while it didn’t work I decided it was a good time to remove my data from the MS cloud.
If you’ve ever de-sync your OneDrive back-up and can’t find your files, don’t panic. Your missing files are still on your PC. Thanks Microsoft for continuing to show users you hate them.
I was planning on replacing my phone with something with less spyware and cleaning up my Microsoft account at some point. Just not while we were making an offer on a new home (that we didn’t get).
But I was able to replace my phone before it exploded and I posted my blog post a month late and life went on.
Wrap up
If you’ve thought about de-smarting your phone, I suggest reflecting first on how you use your phone. Or whether two phones is something you want in your life.
I use a computer for a lot of tasks and use my phone to do phone things, play games, use social media and collaborate domestic work. My new phone lets me scroll mastodon, access the grocery list, has a calendar and access YouTube.
It does not force low urgency notifications on me to pump some apps engagements and ad revenue. It doesn’t put a distraction in front of an important text message or accessing my calendar. And after a month the urge to scroll in the morning is gone.
Between starting this post and making the final edits I got my smartphone fixed. It’s what I’m using to put the final edits on this post. I’ve been playing through Pokemon fire red on my lunch breaks and use it to quickly add to the grocery list.
It’s in airplane mode, has most social apps removed and notifications turned off. It’s battery is lasting 4-5 days. It’s not a distraction and I’m not reliant on it when it breaks again or becomes unsupported.
I’ve seen people criticize the analog trend as peak consumerism. I think this misses a point. Moving to a more durable, repairable, less addictive device gets you off the consumerism hamster wheel. I now have a reliable daily driver that has less failure point. My smartphone is living a second life and I’m more likely to have someone fix it again. I can give it to a tech and wait a month while my daily chugs on.
Then there’s the intention that goes into using my flip phone. There are button presses, a flip open and a flip closed. Texting and some other actions do take a little more focus. All this adds up to feeling like you did a thing (and it’s the thing you picked your phone up to do).
All the convenience, capability and connection of a smart phone has left us depressed, stressed and distracted. There’s a case for having more devices that do less; especially if they are reparable and last longer. But for the smartphone die-hards, at least you have to upgrade next year!
I hope you found a way to deshitificate your life recently, thanks for reading and take care.
ChunkShift.com 
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