The New Luddites have discovered a new frontier: Digital Minimalism. The term is actually very specific for the new Luddites. It means replacing their smartphones with a “feature phone”—a phone that does little more than make and take phone calls and maybe texts.
Over at Every there’s an article about this Quest for a Dumber Phone. Some of these people are obvious poseurs: they give up their smart phones for a while and then write books or even make YouTube videos about their experience. Others pretty clearly have addiction issues that go much deeper than their phones.
A close reading of the article makes it pretty clear that the real problem these folks are experiencing isn’t addiction to a smartphone but an inability to stop spending their lives on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Rather than abandon their smartphones, they could simply delete these three apps from their phones. Even the digital minimalists admit it’s hard to get by without things like GPS to help them find their way around, Uber to order up a ride, and lots of other useful apps that no one wastes time on but that makes our lives easier.
The real reveal is at the end of the article where they admit the whole concept of Internet/smartphone addiction is controversial and without a substantive scientific foundation. A lot of it is the usual New Luddite nonsense. You could make the exact same arguments for doing away with electricity or any other modern convenience. I can, in fact, remember those same arguments being wielded against TV, rock and roll, and calculators.
I’m happy for these people leave the modern world behind and do without smartphones or anything else. I just wish they’d do it quietly and leave the rest of us alone.