Adventures with My New Dumb Phone annahavron.com

My smart phone is now a mini-tablet.

annahavron.micro.blog

@annahavron This was interesting to read. Great point on making things inconvenient/unfun to do less of them, can apply that in a lot of ways. Also, lol: "I had to explain to my mother that even though I can’t send emojis in response to her emoji-laden texts, I still love her very much."

@annahavron This is brilliant. That dumb phone, used to be so prestigious. I remember when my Motorola V3 was stolen from my in Rome...I was gutted. Thanks for sharing.

@Annie I have to rearrange my environment, because I have so little willpower with some things. btw I've been following your posts on running. Inspiring! I don't run, but your post did motivate me to get out on a brisk walk, on a recent dreary day.

@Munish oh, I can imagine that would have been stressful!

@annahavron I enjoyed this, and the fame that comes with being mentioned in your blog. If I had to do it over, I would have sprung (like you) for a slightly more upscale wise phone, as I'm now calling my flip phone. I just got the flimsy one that Verizon offers. It hasn't fallen apart yet; it's presumably waiting for the warranty to expire.

@annahavron You're welcome?

@JMaxB @annahavron Wise phone is a great name. I heard @terrygrier use that in his interview with Page Weber.

@SimonWoods Sometimes I think we need a low-tech micro.blog subgroup.

@JMaxB Maybe @jean can make us a little Monday group thing like she does with pens etc. @warner could lead us all in a detox month ..

@terrygrier @JMaxb @warner @annahavron Deal. I’ll queue that up for Monday. “Low tech enthusiasts”? Something better?

@jean Cool.

@annahavron "Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior. We tend to believe our habits are a product of our motivation, talent, and effort. Certainly, these qualities matter. But the surprising thing is, especially over a long time period, your personal characteristics tend to get overpowered by your environment." ⮕ from James Clear's book Atomic Habits. That concept has stuck with me (though I'm not always great at applying it, ha.) Glad you like the running posts!

@jean I'm in, as well! I'm not quite sure how to participate in a subgroup thing, though? Does it just pop up in "Discover" on Mondays?

@channah Yes, I’ll just post a “roll call” on Monday and folks can comment. You can view previous roll calls and still participate in those threads.

It started out very informally. I need to figure out a way to put them on an official Micro.blog account.

@jean got it! Thank you :)

@Annie He is so right.

@jean very cool!

@SimonWoods @terrygrier Wise phone. I like that.

@jean (s)low tech enthusiasts

@jean low tech enthusiasts! Waves 👋🏻 hello. I’m sitting here making notes on an old fashioned to do list with my fountain pen. @annahavron @JMaxB @terrygrier @warner

@annahavron @terrygrier Much better than the popular term. (although isn't that often the way?)

@jean @channah it also helps for you to follow some people that you might not know you wanted to follow.

@annahavron Impressed you made the jump. Lots of good detail. Texting using t9 is still the biggest obstacle I can see for people - we write email lengthy texts all the time - and have exchanges that would be better via email - In my opinion. Having voice to txt really helps. Sucks that we have to use Google or MS etc to get that done.

I untangled myself from Google many years ago. I hate their design. Everything looks like pre-school.

Looking forward to more updates once you settle in and a couple of months.

Of course - you and I could do a video chat - and you could express even more insights!

@annahavron Completely agree that almost all notifications can be safely set to "off". I'm still OK with my smart phone, because it's easier to carry than the book I always used to carry and the camera I would carry if it weren't so annoying. And it lets me leave my real nemesis, the laptop, at home or work.

@cstrauber re notifications I remember reading about a mid-20th c author (can't remember who...) who would just let his mail pile up for a year or so and then decide that he might as well just throw it all out. Or maybe I made that up, because I find the concept so liberating... re smart phone, for sure, it's much less to juggle than book plus camera plus basic phone!

@terrygrier Oh yeah, the texting is a pain. I do try to keep in mind a communication principle, which is unless the communication is very straightforward and emotionally neutral, you want to make the response increasingly richer -- e.g. if someone texts or emails about something complex or contentious, you go to a phone call; if it's a phone call, you try to meet in person. There is so much that we communicate that gets lost in written language.

@meandering I love it!

@annahavron Still getting the hang of how mentions work on here. I have resembled that author a time or two over lockdown. You'd be surprised how long it takes before anyone notices....