Back to the dumb-phone

I have always resisted the cellphone. When it first appeared, I saw it as the ultimate intrusion into a person’s solitude. I held out as long as I could for many years, even while working on software that ended up in many cellphones.

I like the kind of diverse hardware that is packed into today’s smartphone. And I absolutely love that we can now write software for the phone in managed languages like C# or Java and share them with the world. It is this power to create something for an ubiquitous gadget that endears it to me. As a creator, I love the smartphone, but as a user, I loathe it. Time and attention are scarce in my everyday life and the smartphone is an absolute hog of both.

When my phone finally started to gasp for breath last week, after a good 5-year run, I knew my choice. I had been thinking for many years that I need to move back to a dumb-phone. If I really could, I would love to live without a cellphone. I think that would be the ultimate freedom in today’s world. Since that is not possible in my current condition, I chose the next best option: a phone that does calls and SMS, and nothing else. Life is now back on the slow lane and I’ve got to see how long this world will allow me to enjoy this ride.