TLDR: The start of my baby steps with digital minimalism

I have a severe addiction to my phone. I spend close to 3-4 hours per day just doomscrolling on my phone, mostly on Instagram and YouTube. I would not say this severely interferes with my life, but it does take up valuable time and energy. Moreover, I notice it is having a negative impact on my life – mostly on my mood and my sleep. More worringly was that when I tried to stop, I couldn’t. I would get anxious, restless, and sooner or later I would find myself back on the phone without fully knowing when exactly I had made the conscious decision to use it.

This prompted me to look for a solution. My first instinct was behavioral (uninstall Youtube and Instagram), but I ended up using the phones’ browser to access these services anyway. My next step was to use a variety of apps designed to limit my smartphone usage. This included apps and settings to set daily caps on app usage, as well as launchers that changed the layout of the screen in order to make it less colorful and the apps less accessible (e.g., OLauncher and minimalist phone).

However, these did not work, for a very simple reason: these obstacles could be overriden, and override them I did. Thus, it maybe took me three extra gestures to get to Youtube, but I would do it. Or if I hit my daily time quota, I would dismiss the warning, increase the time, and keep doomscrolling. My addiction needed more than a small inconvenience to be kept in check.

My second approach was to search for a dumbphone – i.e., a phone with no apps or ability to run apps, just send messages, make calls, and little else. This would have made it impossible for me to doomscroll. The problem with a dumbphone is that as much as I hate smartphones, they are useful and necessary for life. Most of my online communications happen through Whatsapp and Signal. I still need to use Google Maps (or a map equivalent) to move around. I use an online bank that requires you to use their app to login and confirm purchases. And some online services require an app. Getting a dumbphone would require me to overhaul my life in a way that I was not prepared to do.

Thus, I was stuck. I needed something that both allowed me to run a good deal of android apps (most importantly: Whatsapp, Signal, Google Maps or an equivalent, and a banking app), as well as a device that physically prevented me from doomscrolling.

Enter: The Mudita Kompakt

I stumbled upon the Mudita Kompakt by chance at the IFA Berlin Expo, and immediately fell in love with it (also helped by an amazing salespitch by the person running the booth). It boasts of the following features:

• It has an e-ink display. This meant that it was literally impossible to scroll through instagram and youtube. Ok, you technically can, but it is such a painful experience that I wouldn’t do it.
• It runs a custom version of Android called Mudita OS that allows you sideload apps. The person at the Mudita booth showed me her phone where she had Signal and Whatsapp installed. It has its own custom version of a Maps app, and even Uber.

This seemed like the perfect fit. It also boasted other advantages:

• 6 day battery life
• It doesn’t run google services, so more privacy.
• It’s commitment to privacy was so strong they have a dedicated offline switch that physically disconnects all sensors (e.g., camera, microphone) so that they do not work.
• It has a microsd card slot (yay) and a 3.5mm audio jack (double yay!)

I was still worried about purchasing the Mudita Kompakt. There might be some apps that might not load, and it could represent a big change if there was an app I suddenly needed that I could no longer run. Thankfully, I was in a very priviledged position in that my employer provides me with a work phone. Thus, I felt confident trying out the Mudita Kompakt, knowing I had my work phone to fall back on in case there was an essential app I needed to use or a specific instance where I needed a modern up-to-date smartphone.

Thus, I went ahead and made a purchase!

Creating a blog series

I was quite excited about this new phone in my life, and started blabbing to everyone I could find about it. One interesting thing is that the more I talked to people in my life about it, the more curious and excited people were and wanted to learn about my experience.

Thus, I have created this blog series to be exactly that. I will daily drive the mudita kompakt and document my experiences: what works, what doesn’t, how I use it, and so on. There is a big push towards digital detoxing, degoogling, and more. While some people successfully manage to use dumbphones, the move might be intimating or impractical for many (I know it was for me!) The Mudita Kompakt represents potential sweet spot where it balances the parts of a smartphone you actually need and are useful whilst not letting you get to the addictive, dopamine-producing parts.

My plan is to report back semi-regularly how this experiment is going. My current plan is to report back after 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year of use. If there are particular questions you want me to answer, feel free to comment below or reach out to me via email.

See you at the other side!