I use a flip phone. Well, use is an exaggeration. I bought it for emergencies. I keep it mostly for that.
When smartphones arrived, I was excited by the advantages but appalled at the disadvantages. Did I really want to be connected that much? No. Could I get along without it? Yes. Was I losing out on things? Yes, but not that much. I’m still online far too often and reachable.
I was intrigued when Ottawa-based productivity consultant Chris Bailey recently experimented for a month with a flip phone. Then Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for U.S. President Barack Obama and now a podcaster focused on the impact of technology on our lives, and Max Fisher, a former New York Times reporter and author of The Chaos Machine, both tried going with a flip phone and other impediments to being always on.
Like the proverbial stopped clock, has my moment come?
Not really. They all saw merits in not always being on, but were aggrieved by what was sacrificed. For most people, after being weaned on mobiles and having others expecting them to be always available, a flip phone is not the answer. Your work situation may simply not allow it. It would frustrate colleagues, including the boss, and send signals you are not serious and fully engaged with your work and perhaps even that you are a poor performer. But reductions in mobile use may be beneficial. After all, being available to your colleagues instantaneously does not mean you have to be able to check Facebook constantly.
It leads to perversions in your life. “When alone, it is just all-phone-all-the-time,” Mr. Favreau reflected about his life, wishing he could learn to be alone with his thoughts. “Remember books?” added Mr. Fisher. Neither are reading much.
Preparing for their flip-phone challenge, Mr. Fisher checked his iPhone settings to find he was picking up his mobile 108 times a day – more than 10 times per waking hour. That astonished and appalled them until Mr. Favreau checked his own phone and found he was averaging 284 pick-ups a day. On one of those pick-ups, while jogging, he tripped over a sidewalk and broke his shoulder.
They couldn’t completely abandon their smartphones even for a week because it serves like an electric switch, allowing Mr. Fisher to open his car doors and Mr. Favreau to turn on the home security system and also monitor his infant’s room. Through chat, it also serves a social function. Three weeks into Mr. Bailey’s experiment, a family member got sick and he missed all the family interaction. Around this same time, he learned friends who were frustrated at not being able to reach him were texting his wife.
It seems essential for getting work done. Yet Mr. Favreau found himself going home earlier as without so many of those wasteful pick-ups leading to being sucked into the social media quicksand and novelty, he was finishing work faster. Addicted to Twitter, before it was renamed X, Mr. Favreau has taken it off his phone, to reduce that immediate impulse to check so often. It’s still on his laptop and that is often with him. But he has created some friction to using Twitter-X so frequently.
All feel that smartphones overstimulate us and life can be richer in many ways without it. “Just because something stimulates your mind doesn’t mean it makes you happy. Often the exact opposite is the case,” Mr. Bailey observes in a blog post. The more screen time you get, the worse your mental health.
He found that communication could be richer without the smartphone – but getting there can be difficult. “As the month progressed, I started craving connection with others in a way that I haven’t in a while. I also quickly began to carve out far more time for the people in my life – in person. It was oddly refreshing not to have any technology mixed up with how I communicated with friends,” he writes.
If you are uneasy about your mobile’s impact on your life, he urges you to reflect on exactly what you’re unhappy with. “You’re probably not unhappy with every single thing about the device. Find precisely what’s bothering you about the device: it might be easier to fix than you think,” he says. Mr. Fisher urges switching to a flip phone for four days, to understand your situation better – and repeating the process every so often.
“Having a flip phone in 2023 is unfortunately not that realistic,” says Mr. Bailey.
I’d agree. But it is doable, for some people. More to the point: Being realistic about your mobile phone – maximizing the benefits and minimizing the disadvantages – is essential.
Quick hits
- Ninety-five per cent of work is noise – the customer won’t benefit and it brings about no change, says consultant Mike Shipulski. When the work is noise, he suggests not doing it. If you must, do it poorly; maybe next time they’ll ask somebody else. That will free up your time to say yes to things that are real.
- When you burn a bridge through an emotional outburst, a heated argument, or a poorly thought-out decision, consultant Skip Prichard recommends taking ownership rather than making excuses or passing the buck. “Remember that rebuilding a burned bridge isn’t just about repairing a relationship – it’s about personal growth, learning from past mistakes and becoming a better person. It’s about mastering the art of humility, apology and empathy,” he adds.
- Salespeople must see prospects as allies, not adversaries, says Ottawa-based sales consultant Colleen Francis. Stop clinging to sales scripts when prospects or clients ask questions or go in an unexpected direction; instead, work with them.
- Most of the time you don’t need more information but just more courage, argues author James Clear.
Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn’t Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.
Harvey Schachter