At the beginning of the year, I bought a Hobonichi Techo 2026 Cousin planner. I use it to track my annual goals, shorter-term goals, weekly targets, and daily actions. I also use it to track how my diet and physical activities affect my knee pain.
I couldn’t imagine going back to being my former chump self using only Google Calendar. I love doing more of my thinking, planning, and scheduling offline.
I’m considering making an even bolder — and weirder — step. (My wife just accepts my eccentricities now.)
I just received a dumb phone.
The black hole we keep in our pockets and on our desks
We can use the internet to be productive, but it’s also a black hole of distraction.
Using the internet for productivity is like going to a casino to use the bathroom. You might get done what you need to, but you’ll likely be poorer — in wealth, time, or both — by the time you’re finished.
Though we forget, all of the historical figures, political leaders, and entrepreneurs we admire from before the last 30 years made their impact without the internet, Google Calendar, or smartphones.
You don’t need a smartphone?
I recently read an article about, then bought an $8 PDF from, then bought a physical book by the “anti-tech activist” (her label) August Lamm.
In her book, You Don’t Need a Smartphone, Lamm shares how to live in the modern world without a smartphone. She was an artist and social media influencer with 200,000 followers. Then, because of a login issue, she lost access to her Instagram account for months. Lamm said:
“I turned my attention toward building a career unconstrained by any single platform, website, or device. I worked hard. I reintegrated into my surroundings. I went out and met people. Both my art and my well-being benefited.”
Seeing the psychological damage caused to herself and others from social media and smartphones, she started leaving her phone at home more often. Then she bought a dumb phone.
“Getting rid of my smartphone was the single most life-altering decision I have ever made.”
Last week, I ordered the Sunbeam F1 Pro Birch (rolls off the tongue, right? Take that “iPhone”). This is the second time I’ve purchased a dumb phone. The first time, I bought a Light Phone II. It was so painful to type and text on that I quit using it after a couple of weeks.
To prepare for my dumb phone, I started treating my iPhone more like one. I removed apps. I moved two-factor authentication to a different device. I began keeping my phone at home when Callie and I go out to lunch. I’ve tried to use it only for calling and texting.
I barely use social media. My greatest temptation with my smartphone is the web browser. I fill dull moments by “learning” something. I check the Wall Street Journal or for new posts from writers I admire. Usually, I look up something I don’t need to know and soon forget it.
With every flick of my thumb across the glass screen, my mind turns to mush.
I want to retain my ability to think, to be present, to do nothing.
We’re meant to exist in the real world, not the screen world. To interact with real people, face-to-face. To experience the physical environment with all our senses.
I realize the irony as I write this to you on a laptop, and that this newsletter will be distributed from my screen to yours over the internet.
But just because technology has value doesn’t mean we have to let it consume our lives.
A cookie is a nice treat; a bag of cookies in your pocket 24/7 is a guaranteed muffin top.
With every step we take to reclaim our attention and minds from technology, we become a little better, clearer, more present. We don’t have to become full-on offline luddites living in the woods. But we also don’t need to live fake internet lives separate from the real world.
—Matt
P.S. As I unboxed the Sunbeam F1 Pro, I felt a bit of dread. Switching to this clunky, ugly phone means I have to go to T-Mobile and get a physical SIM card. I won’t have any mapping software or the ability to call an Uber. I also know I’ll look like a total weirdo busting out a flip phone in public. As I write this, it’s staring at me, judging me, asking if I’m strong enough to use it. We’ll see…