January 16, 2026
At the start of this year I bought a tiny Nokia running firmware last updated in 2022. Yikes.
Except - it doesn't have anything other than texting and phonecalls (and a VGA camera that may actually be made from potatoes). It technically has an Opera browser, but no modern websites work on it. Oh, it also has snake :) (My current high score is 197, by the way *dusts shoulders*).
But the goal is to break the dopamine cycle. Nearly all modern tech companies use this cycle of attention and reward to fire off small little dopamine hits in our brain, and, depending on your genetics, you are more or less likely to feel addictive tendencies. I have these genes, I am very bad at self regulating my social media and scrolling feeds. (PDF Warning) Some peer reviewed data.
It has only been a few weeks, but it's been an incredible success for me. I *feel* better, the weird energy in my body is gone, and I sleep better. Actually. A lot better. It's weird too, waking up in the morning, and just letting myself lie there for 5-10 minutes and "warm up", instead of instantly opening my phone, like I have for the past decade+.
Some challenges too, of course. I know the transit layout of Oslo well enough to get around, but I do show up at bus stops and just wait, no idea when it will come. Once, they cancelled a train and I had to take a bus replacement. No biggie, I asked a rail worker and she kindly pointed me to the loading zone. Occasionally I have to call a friend for directions. But we used to do that... remember? It's really not that bad. Plus then you get to talk to them!!
All of my close friends were happy to switch over to text. I keep signal running on my laptop. I bought a transit card and ordered a 2FA brick for the national ID system in Norway (BankID). I bought a planner, and use it daily. I thought it would be much, much more of a burden, but it's shocking me how easy and nice it has been. I read more books, I actually talk to my friends more, and make real world plans. I watch the orange winter sun filter through the train windows as I commute home.
For music I have a DAP (modern equivalent of a mp3 player) and curate my collection manually (and use beets for metadata management). It's very rewarding, and very freeing.
And I'm getting really good at snake.