The DUMB Phone

So tomorrow will be 3 months since I started this Dumb Phone experiment. Sorry I haven't really updated much.  Let me catch you up! The first week was really really hard.  I found myself pulling the dumb phone out multiple times per day whenever I felt anxious or bored and looking at it and immediately remembering that it cannot entertain me!  This was a great way to remind myself to let go and to pray. I started this during the season of Lent and so every time I found myself wanting to be entertained or not feel bored or awkward I was reminded to pray. Also it made me grouchy (the lack of stimulation- not the prayer!)  It was a withdrawal process just like deciding not to eat sugar or caffeine or any other creature comfort.  John was his ever patient self and continued to encourage me and listen to my complaining about the inconvenience. And it was SO inconvenient!  Let me count the ways:

• First of all, since I had an iPhone for so many years, all my text messages were set to be imessages which means that my friends and family would send messages to me and I had no way to receive them.  I would get some on my Mac computer, but some not at all. Then I found out I needed to tell Apple that I no longer wish to use imessage and they have a form to do that.  After that all my messages for the most part came to my new phone. I still miss some though for unknown reasons.  
• I cannot receive group texts, I get texts that appear as if they are just to me, but really are a group text. I have no way to know who else is in the group. The messages also come out of context, I can't tell what order they are in, etc.
• When people text me pictures they are so tiny it's really hard to see them. Sometimes I ask them to email them instead.
• I cannot get Emoji's they all look like this: ⃞.  So that ends up with some confusing and even funny results. Especially since people now often just reply with emojis.  
• I can't use Google maps!  I am notorious for getting lost and so John received a LOT of phone calls! 

Every day I was realizing what I was missing and felt frustrated.  After about five days John was like "I need you to get a hold of yourself. You are choosing to do this and you have good reasons." And I realized WHY is it a big deal if something is inconvenient?  WHY do I need everything to be easy all the time?  This phone experiment had revealed another addiction that I hadn't even realized: addiction to ease. In fact, I think that this aspect of our culture has caused serious harm. We have forgotten that most things that are worthwhile are actually hard and inconvenient. I don't need to have everything be easy, being inconvenienced won't kill me.  I started to notice other areas where I was inconvenience adverse: waiting in traffic, at the doctors office, waiting for coffee to brew, waiting for our food in a restaurant. I realized I need to purposefully add things into my life that are not easy, so I began grinding my own coffee beans, I helped John with the gardens. I am cooking more. I am reading actual paper books more. I am trying to write some handwritten notes and cards and mailing them to people. Slower seems more meaningful more real.

After about a week I realized my mind felt clearer.  I don't have as much constant stimulation coming into my brain. Instead of going to read a text message and then seeing I had an email and then clicking a link and getting on Safari all in about two seconds, I could just read a text message. It felt so simple and refreshing. I had more attention to give to things and I communicated with John better. I think I am even getting better at finding my way around without GPS! All these benefits began to feel really good and worthwhile and the inconvenience seemed less important. So I've decided to keep the dumb phone for the foreseeable future.  I realize there may be life stages in the future that make having a smart phone a better option, but until then I am enjoying the simplicity of the dumb phone.  It's beautiful in the sense that it does exactly what I need it to do and nothing more.  Thanks for following this journey!

Below are a few things that helped me along the way that I highly recommend!
http://andsonsmagazine.com/podcast/57-stress-productivity-connection-media-rules-blaine
http://www.ransomedheart.com/podcast/world-part-1 

And on a purely practical level if you decide to attempt this yourself:
https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-releases-tool-for-deregistering-imessage-phone-numbers/