• Reclaiming control: How a Nokia phone changed everything
• Rediscovering focus, productivity, and peace of mind.
After months of grappling with my career aspirations while working as a security guard, I found myself trapped in a cycle of stagnation. Despite my efforts to break into various fields, I struggled to maintain the discipline needed for success. This realization left me feeling hopeless, unable to understand why I couldn’t make progress.
My first attempt was trying to break into the realm of web development and IT, but even just learning had become a difficulty. I struggled to read a single book about something I was passionate about without losing focus and zoning out. For weeks I focused on trying to process and finish a single book that was just over a mere 200 pages, but I could not even get through half without having to revise everything I read out of forgetfulness. The reality is that this situation that once plagued me was not something unique, nor was it something new. I thought it would have been impossible for me to break free and thus found it impossible to visualise the me in which I had done so. Yet, it was the memories of my early youth, in which the era of smartphones had not yet fully come into play, that helped me make a decision that I would not forget.
Ever since I was in my early teens, I would always read books, achieve high grades, and be known for my social cohesion. I remember running around in a class of PE (physical education) in an athletics stadium with a book in my hand, eager to finish off what remained in the mysteries at the fore. I did not understand why now, after all these years, I was not able to do what I was once easily capable of. Why I was incapable of not just doing the tasks at hand but also why I no longer had the confidence that once drove me. A moment of clarity struck during a visit to Bosnia, where I confronted the brutal realities of genocide. Forced into introspection, I recognized that my greatest obstacle was overthinking. My mind wandered incessantly, making it nearly impossible to focus on any one task. This revelation followed me home, where I realized that my smartphone had become an enabler of my distractions. After I returned to the UK from Bosnia, I saw myself slowly becoming occupied by my smartphone once again and realised that, no matter how much I try, a decades-long habit cannot be broken unless more extreme measures are taken. It was in that moment that I brought an early generation Nokia phone, one without a touch screen that was so primitive in nature that it had no capability of using social media apps whatsoever.
The Nokia 105 does not have any social media apps and is solely for calls and SMS messages.
The results of leaving a smartphone and its alternatives
After making the transition away from the smartphone, I became far less distracted. After getting through the first few days of withdrawal effects, it became clear that by avoiding the plethora of distracting apps and notifications, it had become far easier to focus on my tasks at hand and engage fully in face-to-face interactions. It felt as if my mind was free, and I would value the interactions I would have with people around me far more than fulfil my social interactions behind a screen. Visiting family became more of a norm, where I would request to ask to visit family rather than speak to them behind a screen, to fulfil the natural eagerness to socialise. Before I left my smartphone, it felt as if time would pass quickly and visiting people or doing things in the right frame would be difficult and stressful. However, now it is quite the contrary. It has become easier to stick to timetables, easier to avoid procrastination, and easier to not stress at the slightest of things. Nowadays, a lot of people put on a persona in front of others and cannot engage in face-to-face interactions naturally for too long without feeling a sense of anxiety or getting too carried away in finding out a way to carry on the conversation. After I made my switch, I naturally acquired communication skills that don’t put me in a state of panic each time I’m faced with a new question or a new topic in a conversation. I can now engage in a conversation with full control with strangers and family alike. When it comes to having debates about heavy topics such as the genocide in Gaza, I am able to both make and word my arguments with ease, far better than I would have been able to do when my mind was consumed by my smartphone. This is likely because of the improvement in my cognitive capacity. One well-known study in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research found that cognitive capacity is significantly reduced whenever a smartphone is within reach, even when the phone is off. For me, I have neither a smartphone near me nor one within reach, so the process of feeling a sense of FOMO, or fear of missing out, no longer exists. My attention span has also increased, with me now being able to read hundreds of pages of a book in a day while processing it at the same time. A recent meta-analysis has shown that the presence of a smartphone has been associated with a decrease in memory. The memory weakness that I lived with that held me back from finishing just one book in a given time frame seems to have been eradicated after this transition, with me now being able to finish a 600-page book in just over a week. There are many who struggle to sit still for a mere 20 minutes without pulling out their smartphones; a form of digital detox anxiety plagues them in their phone usage absence, affecting their work ethic, relationships, and most of all, their connection with reality. The time taken out of a person’s day using a smartphone can lead to demotivation when people realise their workload is large because of the little time they have left to complete it. This can lead to stress and anxiety for those who do not have a good work ethic. Added to the fact that focus is also affected by FOMO, a person could feel hopelessness and depression as a result of thinking they cannot progress or improve the situation they are in within their workplace or educational institution.
The average Brit spends 4 hours per day on their phone, including 1 hour and 49 minutes on social media. Unfortunately, the periods during which one uses their smartphone are not concentrated in one portion of the day but rather spread across different parts of the awake hours. Even those who spend less on their smartphones, the mere taking out of a phone every 20 minutes to look at can affect their memory and cognitive functions as a result of FOMO. No matter how little a smartphone is used, its effects are still felt. Sleep experts warn that the type of light emitted from your mobile device’s screen may well be messing up your sleep cycle, even after you turn off your device. My sleep was also very rough during my decade long smartphone use, but after the transition, it became far easier to sleep with less on my mind at bed, decreasing the physiological feeling I need to sleep more to make up for the loss in sleep.
When my parents immigrated to this country, their command of English was limited, and even now, they struggle with the language. This language barrier not only hindered their communication but also impacted the depth of our relationship. It’s a common hurdle faced by first-generation children, one that can lead to profound challenges. Some children, feeling unloved or misunderstood, may turn to destructive behaviours like substance abuse or self-harm to fill the emotional void. While it may seem that subsequent generations would have it easier without this language barrier, smartphones have emerged as a new obstacle. Constant checking and scrolling through phones can create a sense of disconnection between parents and children. Spending hours on social media further exacerbates this divide, drawing individuals into a digital world that fosters isolation and social awkwardness. As younger generations inherit these habits, the cycle perpetuates, potentially straining familial bonds and hindering healthy communication.
Smartphone alternative
Although a Nokia is good to take outside and keep on you, it does not do some of the necessary functions in today’s age of technological upheaval. Checking bank accounts, checking important messaging apps, and checking emails are all impossible under a Nokia 105. There is, however, an alternative. After I made my transition to a Nokia phone, I ensured I used WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, and email on a laptop. I avoided downloading Instagram, TikTok, and other apps that are not necessary. The key difference between using my laptop and a smartphone is that with a laptop, the process by which I switch it on and boot it up ensures I have a plan before I use it. With a smartphone, I would always pull it out, seeking a dose of dopamine. With a laptop, there is a level of having a clearer idea of how to approach it and what to use it for before switching it on. The level of discipline needed for a laptop is far less than the level of discipline needed to minimise your use of a smartphone. A laptop is designed for work, not social media, and therefore there is a natural inclination to use the laptop for a useful objective rather than to waste time. Scrolling is far more difficult on a laptop, and messaging on social media apps like WhatsApp seems more formal and less erratic. The control one can wield on a laptop is far greater than on a smartphone.
One of the big questions I asked myself before leaving my smartphone was: What will I do when I’m bored and have nothing to do? In truth, there are far more things to do than we can count, and if we learn to think about the things that matter, we can take better care of ourselves and the people around us. Reading books, visiting family, doing household work, or even just taking walks. These things may seem trivial in this modern age, but the benefits are more fulfilling on the long-term horizon of things than to miss them out. If you make the same transition, you will learn to enjoy the things that are of actual benefit to you, both physically and mentally. You will be more ready to put your hands in dirty situations and will be more in touch with reality in this ever-fake world we live in.
Embracing a life with purpose
Instead of becoming demotivated by looking at what others have, you can truly work on yourself and rid yourself of hopelessness and stagnation by making this transition. As time passes quickly, years go by without true progress, only leading to negative emotions under the facade of their limitations. This does not have to be the case with you; you can reach and aim for your dreams by carving out more time in your day and taking your mind back into your control. By exploring the liberating simplicity of a Nokia phone, you will be free from the constraints that have been set for you by the social norm. You will understand yourself better and will know what’s good for you and what’s not. You will rediscover focus, productivity, and peace of mind and will naturally learn to progress in areas you thought were impossible. All in all, you will have indeed reclaimed your life.
