I've been spending a lot of time on airplanes recently so I killed the time by hacking together a little comment section for my blog. I wrote my own CAPTCHA from scratch, we'll see how much of a mistake that was.

The coolest part of it for me is it's completely JavaScript-free, in fact this whole website is (with the exception of some Twitter embeds). I'm rejecting modernity over here.

For now I'm keeping it very simple but maybe one day I will add more features like image uploads and mentioning previous peoples' comment IDs in your comment. The way I'm imagining it is loosely inspired by 4chan.

Try it out by leaving a comment on this post!

A few months ago I was looking at old cars on Autotrader when I caught my first ever glimpse of a 1984 Nissan 300ZX, for sale with 31k miles on it. I immediately stopped browsing and became obsessed with it, keeping the tab open for days and glancing back at it constantly.

The low-poly geometry of the car, combined with its 80s "Tron" instrument panel, was too much for me to resist. I impulsively made an offer on it a few days later and ended up selling a Bitcoin to pay for it in cash. It's an investment I can drive!

Soon after committing to buy it, I realized the Autotrader listing was incorrect in saying it had an automatic transmission; it was actually a manual. In hindsight this car would not have been nearly as cool with an automatic, but at the time I had no idea how to drive manual.

It would have been embarrassing to back out of the purchase so I took it as a sign that I was supposed to learn, and quickly booked a lesson at Stick Shift Driving Academy (I highly recommend!)

The first few hours of driving manual were stressful and amusing. There's no feeling like stalling in traffic. I remember when I'd park and get out of my Z, my hands would be shaking. The task saturation of driving manual before it became muscle memory was intense.

I have felt for a long time too stuck in the digital world, devoting too much of my time and energy to it. I've been imbalanced. Learning a new physical skill like this has proven to be a very satisfying endeavor.

I was lucky to have ongoing advice and driving lessons from a friend who is an OG crypto trader. I won't identify him because he doesn't want to location dox. I got up at 4am one morning to meet him at the top of Squaw Pass in time for a sunrise photoshoot:

This Z is particularly special because it's a 50th anniversary edition Turbo, and it's in amazing condition. There are very few blemishes on the paint and the interior is practically mint. It's obviously been garaged and well looked after for its entire life.

I love driving it because it feels like I'm time traveling. I was born in the 90s; this car was made well before I was born. There are not many of them on the roads these days, so I've already gotten numerous people honking and giving me thumbs up in traffic, or coming up to talk to me in the parking lot. It seems to brighten peoples' day to see a machine from such a unique era (the 80s) casually driving around. I think the clean condition it's in creates an interesting disconnect from reality; the car doesn't look like it's almost 40 years old.

The older I get, the more interested I am in history. This car is a work of art, and I am now its conservator.

When I was growing up, "being online" was a black & white concept. I would sit down at the computer and be online, then I would walk away and be offline. They were two different worlds.

My iPhone has blurred that boundary into nonexistence. The healthy separation is gone; I am never truly offline anymore. It's exhausting.

I am not a luddite; I love computers and build software for a living. But phones have gotten too good. They are taking over our lives.

I feel powerless over mine. I am picking it up constantly for no good reason. I can't resist its Siren's Song. Self-control has not been a viable solution.

Not long after I confronted this, I saw Casey Neistat saying the same thing:

deleting apps, limiting usage, self-control. None of that works, it’s just too easy to turn it back on. my ego demands it and my monkey brain succumbs. I need something more prohibitive

— Casey Neistat (@Casey) December 8, 2021

My "screen time" is not as bad as his, but seeing him publicly say this validated to me that my problem is real ¹. My iPhone is making me dumber.

Why it's a problem

Having a smartphone with you means you always have a zero-friction portal into the internet. It means you're never offline.

This is a problem because the internet is distracting. It's alluring. It's addictive.

I can't stop picking up my phone. I'm bored. I wonder if I have any new emails? Anyone liked my tweet? I wonder what's happening. This is purely a dopamine addiction. My brain is looking for a hit.

As a result I am not mentally present, ignoring what is going on around me when I should be cherishing things like playing with my kids.

I have also been noticing that my ability to concentrate for long stretches of time is deteriorating. I can't go long without seeking an interruption. This trend is particularly horrifying.

My relationship with my phone is just not a healthy one. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Twitter about a dozen times. That's called app relapse. I know others who do this as well. I've also tried using "screen time" to block apps after some time, but always end up overriding it.

Being bored is healthy, it means your brain is hungry. Suppressing that hunger with a phone is like eating empty carbs.

Yes, the internet is useful. Smartphones can be useful. But they are useful when used with clear intent.

I don't want to always be online. Living this way is not making me happy. It's time to figure something else out.

What is a phone?

The question is: "what bad things would happen if I just threw my phone off a bridge?" So I enumerated the things I use it for, and categorized them. ²

It turns out the only reason to carry a phone around 24/7 is so a few important people can reach me. It's also exceptionally good as a camera, map, and music player, but I don't need any of these with me everywhere I go.

It turns out, at its core a phone is still just a phone.

The two-device approach

So what to do with this? The popular pattern I've found in my casual research ³ is a two-device solution: you carry a basic phone that's always available for receiving calls/SMS, and leave other less critical functions to an iPod touch, a tablet, laptop, etc. The idea is you can always leave the second device at home, or hide it in a drawer, thereby physically separating yourself from it.

In my digging, I found there's two categories of basic phones. First, there are plenty of phones that are just cheap, like flip phones and Nokia bricks. These generally cost less than $100.

There is also a growing category of higher-end "minimalist phones" which are limited in functionality not by their price, but by their designers' philosophy. The most notable ones I've found are the Light Phone, the Punkt MP02, and the Mudita Pure.

All of these generally cost several times a basic flip phone, but ironically they actually do less. They are aggressively minimalistic. None of these three have a camera, for example.

Punkt MP02

The Punkt MP02 (New generation, late 2021)

I chose to go with a Punkt MP02. I like its design, and the philosophy behind it:

"If anyone wants to talk to me, they can give me a call. Other forms of communication, for example email or social media, are available when I choose to use them – and via a linked device that allows me to use them more effectively."

"Focus is at a premium in the digital age. The MP02 4G mobile phone makes it easier to be where you are, whether that’s a family weekend away or an important business meeting. It gives you freedom from a constant onslaught of designed-for-addiction notifications and other distractions. It puts you in charge."

The idea behind the MP02 is it's just a phone + SMS, but can offer its 4G connection to other devices via Wifi tethering:

"When it’s time to get online, the MP02’s 4G LTE connection can be shared with a tablet/laptop – which means easier typing in comparison with a smartphone, and a bigger screen. This two-device approach means that the Internet is something you dip into, rather than the other way round."

"When it's time to get online"... there's that black and white boundary! These people get it!

I was excited to find a company that is so perfectly aligned with how I was deconstructing this problem. This is a modern 4G compatible phone which has only the core function of always being reachable by calls/SMS, and allows for tethering via a second, less addictive device like a laptop (or a SIM-less iPhone).

Now when I take my kids to a playground or go hang out at a cafe, I can safely bring just my basic phone and choose to leave more distracting devices at home. I feel so free!

The MP02 is much smaller and lighter than the smallest iPhone (iPhone SE)

At $380 the MP02 costs almost as much as an iPhone SE. It has very nice build quality with satisfying tactile buttons. It's small, light, feels good in your hand, and IMO looks cool. I really like how small it is. The battery seems to last about 2 days.

It's also very minimal. In addition to basic calls and SMS, it notably has a Signal client called Pigeon. There's no email, no camera, not even physical volume buttons. You can receive MMS pictures but you can barely see them. It has no games. It's truly less "feature complete" than your average flip phone.

Here's a full list of apps/functions that it offers:

• A very basic calendar, with no support for events
• Clock: alarm clock, world clock, stopwatch, timer
• Notes (but it's a T9 keyboard, so...)
• Calculator
• Pigeon (a Signal client)
• 4G tethering

That's it. There's no other software for it, no app store. It has 16GB of storage.

The MP02 has a white-on-black, text-only interface. There is a terminal-like quality to it.

The point is, there's no wiggle room for this thing to start getting bloated. It's a simple tool and it does its job well ⁴. It will probably improve in minor ways, but its feature set seems relatively fixed. There is nothing here for me to get addicted to. So far I'm pretty happy with it. ⁵

Ironically, this phone resembles the exact "problem" that Steve Jobs outlined when he revealed the iPhone:

"...[Blackberries] all have these control buttons that are fixed in plastic and are the same for every application. Well, every application wants a slightly different user interface, a slightly optimized set of buttons, just for it. And what happens if you think of a great idea six months from now? You can’t run around and add a button to these things. They’re already shipped."

Even more ironically, I remember we used to call those things "crackberries". And now here I am reminiscing.

Steve was brilliant, and so was the iPhone, but it has simply gotten to be too much for me. I'd rather have it the old way.

---

Notes

¹ My high school friend Mike Beswetherick was on this train long before anyone else I know, ditching his iPhone for a cheap flip phone many years ago. He also once made the memorable comparison that checking Facebook is like taking a drag of a cigarette. I haven't had a Facebook for 10 years, but my iPhone is no doubt my cigarette.

² Here is the full list:

• Absolutely necessary wherever I go
• Useful & phone does it exceptionally well
• Useful, but don't need a phone to do it
• Unnecessary but can be fun

Use case	Importance
Being reachable by important people like wife/kid's school/certain coworkers	#1 Most Important
Calling other people/businesses/911	Also Important
Camera	Useful, nice to have
Maps, directions	Useful and second to none, but I rely on it too much
Music / Podcasts	Useful and second to none
Flashlight	I can just use actual flashlights
Calculator	Laptop can do it
Setting timers/alarms	There are other solutions
Paying for shit with Apple Wallet	Can use physical cards
One-time passwords (TOTP)	Yubikeys can store TOTPs
Video calls (Facetime)	Laptop can do it
Chatting with people on Telegram	Laptop can do it; not critical to respond immediately
Browsing web, reading propagandanews & Twitter	Laptop can do it
Checking the weather	Laptop can do it
Checking crypto prices	Laptop can do it
Checking email	Laptop can do it
Banking/Stocks	Laptop can do it
Ordering takeout	Laptop can do it
YouTube	Laptop can do it better
Instagram	Can access on secondary iDevice on occassion
Games like 2048	I can't beat my wife's high score!

A smartphone is too many things at once. The amount of time I spend on my phone (𝘛 ) is an exponential function of how many things it can do (𝓃):

𝘛 = (𝓃 reasons to pick it up) * (𝓃 things that can steal my attention)

This is less of a problem with a laptop, which is large and not convenient to casually start using for a few seconds. This is also why a basic phone is awesome.

³ YouTube is full of videos of people talking about their "dumbphone lifestyle" There are also many blog posts about this. Please email me others you know of and I'll add them here.

⁴ I has a few nice features that are unique to its form factor. For example, it brings back speed dial; you can set up shortcuts for each key. I can call my wife without looking at the phone, by simply holding down the "5" button. You can't do that with a touch screen. The shortcuts also go beyond simply placing calls: I set up another button to toggle the 4G tethering on and off.

⁵ That said, the MP02 is not perfect. Its biggest drawback is it can't handle group SMS. I will probably post a follow-up, more in-depth review of it in the future.