How to Dumb-ify Your Phone and Get Your Life Back - 4 Months Later

[@diggingthegreats]

Go to surfshark.com/diggingthegreats for 4 extra months of Surfshark

[@runrin_]

for a few years i switched to a flip phone. no maps. no email. no calendar. no notes. just texts (you can barely reply) and calls. you get over the map thing pretty quickly by just buying a good quality paper map of your city. you can call information for addresses. its easy and free. its pretty refreshing to plan a route before you leave, or get lost, pull over and find your way. i learned to trust myself and i could find my way around without any issues after a few months. i actually bothered to learn instead of using a crutch. your wife wants to add something to the grocery list? have her call and tell you. write it down in a small notebook. its not hard. people managed to pick up groceries on the way home from work before cell phones.

[@coughingbabie]

recently deleted instagram, tiktok, and twitter, really only use spotify, youtube, goodreads, and pinterest/tumblr. Started reading and drawing more again, but i found even youtube can be a time waster. Props to you for going all in, motivates me to wanna cut it all out

[@macallan3933]

Yeah I've still got KZbin and it's Definitely my biggest time waster

[@samantha0123]

I agree. Currently watching this at 1am when I should be sleeping.

[@Awesomepedia]

"The solution to a technology addiction is never going to be more technology" - a great point and I think it works just as well if you insert "consumerism" in place of technology. After all, the reason we hate our phones is not because of technology, but rather because of the consumerist forces that turn phones into machines that exploit our attention for the gain of others. When I see people trying to fix their phone problem by buying a new fancy dumb phone, I think they might be missing the point - they're still buying a hyped up product that promises to fix their behaviour, instead of distancing themselves from the consumerist mindset. Of course, if people instead buy second hand vintage tech that otherwise would have gone to waste, that's a different story. I like your approach, and your videos in this series.

[@chaosGooseDE]

no way!! i literally finished watching this series 3 hours ago, and was hoping for an update! the production quality of these videos is amazing, you have definitely gained a new follower!:)

[@Dmbldr98]

Me ABSOLUTELY too! I love his iPod series.

[@jonlarmee7485]

I teach high school students. Last year, I got into a discussion about how phones are designed to pull attention and asked all my classes to check their average daily screen time. One was around 15 hours, some were as low as 4.5; but most were about 6.5 or 7. I had several discussions about ways to cut down or what else they could do, but the fact remained that it was hard for them to fathom not having their phone at all times. This year, our school has started a strict phone-free policy using Yondr pouches. It makes a marginal difference, but there's still a lot of staring into space rather than fully engaging with the people around them. The culture has shifted in a massive way generationally. For any parents reading this: don't let it be your kids' normal.

[@Mangolover300]

I never thought I would be here for this content. I myself stopped using instagram and Snapchat last week, even stopped listening to music. Everytime I do this I feel more present and my mind unwinds the whole day cause it’s not focused on music or whatever else. It’s so much easier to sleep cause I let my mind wander the whole day

[@EnzoMiori]

I did the same to my phone some weeks ago, before watching your videos, and I reached to the same conclusions! Life is much better without the continuos distractions of silly apps. In my case, the main thing I've achieved since then is that I started to read again! This is truly lifechanging!

[@lxtsang]

Another cool function that iPhones have is called assistive access and its built into the iPhone for anyone who doesnt want to pay for Blank Spaces. . Assistive access changes the whole UI of the iPhone. Great video ! I love how we're trying to take our lives back

[@Emike2000]

I literally came back to respond to this comment… just tried it and I spent up to 30minutes to figure out how to make my phone normal again… it’s amazing!!… thank you so much for this suggestion, God bless you ❤.

[@Sephigruen]

I came to this series (yay) via the algorithm (nay) because I watched someone else use an iPod (Gen 7, the metal case, opening it up to upgrade it the way you did was a real struggle for the poor guy) instead of streaming. I was never big into streaming music apart from giving new artists and albums a listen before I buy the CD. I listen to music on my phone via the default music player app. My music collection, which I share with my dad, means so much to us. He was sad when his new car didn't have a CD radio, so I got him a USB drive and put most of it on there. I'm his favourite child. And his only. Anyway, I also watched a few videos of Gen Z kids who downgraded to flip phones as a challenge, but your approach is better. But it was funny to see them struggle with the numpad. How did we even do back then before actual keyboards? Most of what you and they describe is me on my phone without mobile data. There's barely any wifi coverage in public here in Germany, so no maps, no streaming, no internet for me out in the streets and I don't mind most of the time. But I feel this need for new content all the time and it sucks. And I find myself sitting in front of two screens because I'm scrolling on Reddit on my phone while watching videos on my laptop. And I hate this. But hey, I'm below two hours a day.

[@benmitchinson9831]

3 min in and I love the honesty on how to dumbify your phone, while not pissing other people off. Realistic approach, thanks for sharing !!

[@jureliusjames]

Real talk, the transition from smart to dumbified is rough. I did it for Uni (5 years ago) which was easier. Now a days, things need apps or a damn QR code. It's doable for me. Def not impossible. Thanks for your updated video. I was wondering what app you used for being minimal. It's clean af.

[@BenHulscher]

The original series made me read Digital Minimalism and do my own digital detox which really helped! Glad to see it is still working for you. It really is all about trying to find balance.

[@SpiderDan2099]

It really is a blessing to have a washer and dryer in house (with no coins or apps necessary) 😅 Congratulations on the move brother!

[@YOEL_44]

I did not do all of this, but I did put all the shopping apps and all my app stores in separate folders, instead of spread all over my app drawer, and that alone has significantly reduced how much time I waste in them. I'm now also rocking an almost black and white theme (inspired in the first Watch_Dogs' game ctOS) and that also helped, making it all much less attractive, so yeah, I'm on it.

[@simonboerner1683]

There's actually a way to set it so that the color manually turns back on when you open maps, and changes back to black and white when you close it. It uses Iphone shortcuts, and I'd be happy to detail the process in the comments for you or for whoever else would like to know how. It's super helpful, it allows me to see when there's traffic since that information is color coded

[@diggingthegreats]

Great to know! I'd love to hear it

[@FreshFindsPod]

10:08 I've gone on this rant so many times! If I'm using AI to write you an email, and you're using it to summarize my email and then write one back to me, we're not communicating. The robots are just talking to each other.

[@thefrogger6507]

I don't think I'll ever dumbify my phone to this level but it got me thinking. I uninstalled a good couple apps just during this video

[@rzyrandol5848]

try staing without them

[@davidoreilly7328]

I tried doing all this myself a few months back, but gradually got sucked back into the apps. The thing I had to remind myself of was, this takes time. None of us are going to be able to go from addicted to our phones to not interested at all over night. It’s a process that takes time and patience

[@diggingthegreats]

Agreed! It’s a continual process of figuring out what works and what doesn’t

[@dvdcreep9889]

I worked for QA for a company and access to loads of data and prints. That sent me down the iPod route about 5 years ago, because there was strict rules on no cameras in the work place. It’s a bit of headache to get iTunes to connect sometimes, now that the software is old and basically abandon, but it is still worth it today as I work from home. I am tempted to put games on it, since the have been cracked recently, but I don’t want another distraction. I do have some cartoons and movies on it from things like waiting rooms and for the kitchen TV when I am making breakfast for the kid, but that’s it. Would be awesome to see Video Podcast make a comeback for the iPod so I could sync this channels episodes to it easily.

[@romashev]

i recently saw your series with the ipod - it was interesting. i have been using my ipod nano 6 to listen to music for a long time. i like to download it myself, put it on my ipod and listen to it. its especially nice when you find out that a song you liked was released on the same album as another song that you didnt know about, but you really liked it after listening to it! and in fact i have been using my phone dumbbified for about a year now, but setting the phone to black and white mode really helped! the time spent on the phone has become much less, and now I only use it when i really need it all i have to do is get rid of - the habit of playing online games... they take up too much time

[@bananenbieger21]

love the direction of the videos

[@clementinelives]

Definitely taking note of some of the things presented here

[@missv7689]

Wellllll the fact you got to move and now have a washer n dryer that means your KZbin is doing VERY WELL so congrats to that!!!

[@BNWilliamGaming]

Your iPod series was amazing!

[@morganhanzimanolis]

Starting doing this to my iphone last month. It changed my life. I'm happy that I found someone else who can relate to this!

[@harshit9905]

This guy loves drawing

[@macallan3933]

Congrats mate of getting your solution racked in, i feel for the many (humans) now the less you see a screen the better you will be and the less you can be taken advantage of by major corporations selling information wanting more money

[@ets160]

Your videos convinced me to get an iPod classic and oh boy has it been a game changer. I’ve discovered new tastes and really love building my library.

[@jamesdean5095]

Buying a washing machine is not the twist I expected in this video 👏(especially coming from a place where it's unusual not to have your own washing machine)

[@diggingthegreats]

I’M MAKING MOVES 🔥🔥😆

[@Antwon22]

AI text overview? we are already communicating through black mirrors, we dont need to disconnect ourselves even further by replacing written word with artificially generated descriptions of what a computer thinks we are saying.

[@morreddie717]

Too bad everybody else does. Even if they think don't want it, corporate's gonna convince people otherwise.

[@PaladioBlaze]

So if you're on Android you can customize notifications. I'm not sure if you can on iPhone.

[@SpiderDan2099]

Wow has it been 4 months already?! It was such a cool ride! I had learned a bunch (boo laundry!!) and thanks for this update I had been wondering how it's been. 😊

[@SpiderDan2099]

Also while watching this video an ad for AI came up to help "make my life easier" or something. 😂

[@SpiderDan2099]

It really is a blessing to have a washer and dryer in house (with no coins or apps necessary) 😅 Congratulations on the move brother!

[@icephoenixt2]

amazing as always. doing a similiar experiment with a Cat S22 Flip for a month and seeing what happens to me and how I can change to be a better person.

[@jack79]

This video should have been titled: “The revolution begins by making your bed in the morning, and washing your own clothes”. :)

[@Bob_Smith19]

Turn off notifications, problem solved. Outside of a phone call, texts and work email I don’t have notifications enabled. I travel for work 50 weeks a year and I don’t need notifications enabled. Three hours a day is insane, let alone seven. I don’t know what y’all are doing on your phones. I don’t hit three a day even when working.

[@diggingthegreats]

Looking at my screentime, it's primarily texting, then smaller things like maps, wikipedia, safari, etc. The lowest I got it was 2 hours, and even then everything I was doing was necessary stuff - it all just adds up.

[@gcopeland442]

Here’s to washer-dryers in the house and NOT having to use an app to operate it. WTF?! Also, I love this and will be dumbing down my phone. I miss the 3310 days (if you know, you know😂)

[@tecpaocelotl]

If there was a way to make it dumb during work hours and become normal afterward. Lol. Most notifications are turned off on my phone. As firvmusic, I got samsung galaxy s20 since its the last phone with an SD card so I put all my music on there.

[@etherealdread]

yeah, with focus modes and shortcuts (on iOS)

[@braydenwilliams4478]

You have a separate studio for recording? It looks the same and I know you said the fam moved

[@nicolesherman8974]

Digging the greats Friday 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@missv7689]

I was sooo excited to see u back with this topic

[@43herm]

I'd never dumbify my phone, but for safety reasons I did simplify a lot. All my banking and shopping apps are in a phone I keep at home, and I got a much smaller one to carry around and the screen size actually keeps me away a bit. There are still social apps but I check them out much less this way.

[@pickinstone]

@diggingthegreats I commented on an older video on your technology series. I was disappointed with the iPod upgrade. Replacing the battery and allowing the hardware to run with more universal software is a great idea, but you took away the limitations of the iPod by adding all that memory. I know that you remember a time of CDs and cassettes--and vinyl has had a quiet resurgence. All of that physical media comes with limitation--and that limitation changes the way we listen music. Note that I didn't say "consume"--I think that form of the verb really works with digital media. Unfortunately, I think the same could be said for KZbin... Even though I am horribly addicted to video essays like yours, watching is passive. I never got a Smartphone because I knew that owning such a device would only exacerbate my addiction to KZbin and the internet at large. I bought a refurbished iPod years ago, I use a flip phone, and I've barely survived on the antiquated hardware known as GARMIN. I think that the battle to be present is ever challenging...as I write another essay on KZbin ;(

[@mahaalbeladi1485]

This will be one of my new year's resolutions for 2025.

[@publicjeremynumberone]

I have 3 phones. One phone with all the apps on it. I don’t pick it up or bring it with me unless absolutely necessary. My main phone is super scaled down/no notifications. And a flip phone. I use it for a week here or there. Texting is so painful that I end up calling everyone. And that conversation usually is pretty rewarding

[@konkilla666]

wait a minute ... if you moved to another place, but your video background stayed the same ... where are you recording these videos 🤔🧐😆

[@bridesofyeshua]

13:56 WOOP WOOP

[@SmallBlogV8]

The point around AI and how technology is supposed to better enable us and NOT to replace or exploit us is such a critically important point in all of this, and much of where things seem to be heading in today's world. I feel like it's increasingly being deployed to switch our brains off and box us in, which is harmful on so many levels. Right-on for showing people how to right-size the role technology plays in our lives.

[@ViktorMiranda1]

Looking forward to that other you hinted on in regards to the ipod. Very curious about the videos topic. I did this to my phone earlier this year and it has been great. Still contemplating i should delete youtube since I use it to listen to videos/podcast when I drive.

[@missv7689]

Because of you I got a flip phone. Doing it for a yr

[@ThereMayBeLions]

I loved doing this, but it's on a last gen iPod Touch and the battery sucks SO badly. I am tempted to buy a dedicated iPhone SE for just such a purpose, though - so I might revisit it later on.

[@mikefishmusic]

Heyo! What up man? I love the show. Keep up the good work.

[@DojoOfCool]

I'm pretty close to your dumbified iPhone I'm too lazy to do all the stuff you did. I worked they last half of my work life in computers as a SysAdmin and dealt with computer security all the time. Smartphones have more holes than swiss cheese so I already limited putting apps on and what I do with my phone. So that cut down on notification. I do use the music app because new cars don't have CD players anymore. I main use messages since my doctors and others I need to stay in touch with use it. I only read email on my phone and rarely do that. I have zero social media apps. I have maps, a guitar tuner, occasionally take a photo, and that's it. My phone is basically just a phone with a few modern conveniences like messaging, music, camera. Tne one thing I do love about my iPhone is when I have to call a business and know I would be on hold or a long call I pop in my earbuds and don't have to hold my phone. So my hands are free and can walk around that I really like. As for AI I hope there is an Off switch I don't want it.

[@AtelierDope]

😂 AI expanding the writing for the sender and then summarising for the recipient made me laugh. Someone smarter than me will calculate the energy cost of that zero benefit process at some point 🤔

[@nickfanning]

I can’t believe it’s been 4 months already

[@scalzmoney]

I tried the blank space app after the first video. Guess what? I fiddled with the app and the settings and which apps to include and what to name them soooo much that I feel like I was paying MORE attention to the phone after trying to switch. And ultimately I couldn't justify paying for something that I should be able to do myself. Now I have dropped the app and I just have the icons for the few apps I use on the home screen instead. It works exactly the same way. And it makes me more disciplined. The hardest part is the unavoidable ios app library which sits just one screen away. There's no way NOT to see it. If anybody has advice on that one please reply.

[@salvatoreocello]

It’s been 4 months already

[@zachdavis7988]

That’s what I said

[@wallyfrogmore]

I realised ive unintentionally done some of this on my phone already.

[@jacobheintzelman2755]

Me watching this video while I’m supposed to be working….

[@zachdscott]

I really hope AI as an OS for Samsung/IOS is a phase. People are already addicted enough.

[@diggingthegreats]

SAME - seems like a solution in search of a problem

[@theonlycaamz]

common digging the greats w

[@Positive_Tea]

Big time inspiration

[@TheRealAmyas]

Definitely gonna try this out! Another great vid

[@sourhop]

had to pause watching this halfway through bc I deleted youtube off my phone lol

[@rzyrandol5848]

hi, watched all of your ipod videos, where can I get one in Europe?

[@GrannyGarrett]

How much control do you have over app specific notifications on iOS? In Android, most apps allow you to turn off the suggestive marketing notifications, and any other notification categories that you don't want. I feel like there's gotta be a way to do that iOS.

[@alexandranoi]

It depends on the app. Some have granular notification settings, others are all or nothing.

[@drunkenbuddha4361]

“Imagine if your iPhone disappeared, that would be weird Could you function in a world without technology or would you be scared? What would you do, how far would you go?” Ill Bill

[@RemotHuman]

On android you can turn off just the unhelpful notifications

[@SamPeterson-g4s]

Just changed my phone to b and w

[@missv7689]

I mean I got a gps a garmin one and a flip phone. I do have WhatsApp on my phone but that’s it.

[@dsinned9992]

Dum-i-fied phone... Can't watch Digging The Greats now 😣

[@SpiderDan2099]

Ha!

[@-_Nuke_-]

That is amazing. But I wonder why you even have an iphone... Isnt Android more suitable for this?

[@diggingthegreats]

I'm in the apple ecosystem, and honestly - giving up imessage would be a huge shift - that's my primary form of communication with most people

[@-_Nuke_-]

@@diggingthegreats I mean... You are not anymore! :P Android is just more versatile... But I guess you found your ways! :)

[@artisans8521]

I do that a wee bit simpler and way more cost effective. I don't own a smartphone. Actually I do own a small old Ericsson. But that has a prepaid sim in it. I always forget to use it so it changes phone number all the time. But it has a car kit so finally I found a use of the sigarette lighter in my now classic car (forgot to order a new one for more then 25 years).

[@rzyrandol5848]

I hate that I have so much bloatware that I cannot uninstall (example SAMSUNG HEALTH, this shit is uselless

[@Bob_Smith19]

Turn off notifications, problem solved. Outside of a phone call, texts and work email I don’t have notifications enabled. I travel for work 50 weeks a year and I don’t need notifications enabled.

[@diggingthegreats]

After taking a couple trips - I realized how necessary and convenient a smartphone is for sure. And yes, notifications is HUGE. I also fight the near constant impulse to pick it up when I have a free moment to myself. I envy people who don't have that, but for me, I need guardrails in place

[@tjnathan]

Damn I'm early. Know it's gonna be a banger tho.

[@Moth-ManRemasters]

Just develop some discipline and reduce you daily screen time on your phone slowly. Going cold turkey doesn't work for this.

[@Bob_Smith19]

Everyone is different. Most people have no self discipline.

[@skythundersky1544]

Early on this one