Conversations around Digital Downgrading

The phenomenon of abandoning the mobile phone as the only device needed in one's life has become more prevalent in recent years. This is not because modern smartphones lack technological or social features, but because they provide in excess. 

Smartphones function as tools for communication and entertainment all in one. The rise in mobile gaming from the early 2010s onwards has contributed to the decline of dedicated handheld consoles. The reduction of clutter and space taken up by the additional hardware, as well as the availability of online digital-only games, has increased the general accessibility of entertainment on the go. Gaming devices such as Nintendo’s 3DS introduced features like Miiverse, a social online platform for image- and text-sharing, to capitalise on the already dominant mobile phone market. These efforts were unsuccessful with the 3DS and Nintendo’s home console, the Wii U (which featured additional Wi-Fi video chat capabilities). The Nintendo Switch, both the home console and handheld successor, lacked any social systems in its marketing and launch. In spite of this, the Switch has been Nintendo’s best-selling system https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckglk543x3go, proving that the commitment of resources to purely gaming that cannot be delivered on smartphones has been more financially popular amongst the general public. For similar reasons, the decline of dedicated music streaming devices like MP3 players has been consistent with users shifting to streaming apps on smartphones. Streamlining and accessibility within an app-oriented ecosystem. All modern smartphones released on 5G networks follow a homogeneous physical design: a rectangle with as few buttons or ports as possible. Most, if not all, of the downsides of modern-day phone ownership have also stemmed from some of these accessibilities. One is the pressure from work applications to be available at all times. Systems designed to keep you notified of communications related to your professional life whilst you aren’t physically at work. This relatively new problem, alongside predatory algorithms on Instagram, creates stress as they are designed to draw and maintain your attention through endless scrolling (Plant, 1996). The endless dopamine from reels has replaced the entertainment factor, as accessibility has become whatever is easiest and fastest to consume. A solution proposed by companies, individuals, and movements alike has been digital detoxing. Something that Collee explains as consisting of the mantra: “(screen time is passive and introverted; offline time is active and social)”. How stress and addiction are reduced here strictly adheres to the practice of detox and retreat. On various levels, like simply putting your phone away or booking days or weekends away to somewhere off-grid, surrounded by nature. Collee addresses the issue of the latter's inaccessibility as “essentially anyone who does not have a stable, well-paid job that allows them to put on an out-of-office, with zero caveats, for days at a time” (https://reallifemag.com/the-great-offline/), and is locked out of the ability to relax and recover from their smartphones. Given that most people can only afford to put their phones away or lock certain functionalities, the issue of effective detox is also a consideration, and existing methods are not enough. What is not enough comes down to, like with any addiction, compartmentalising and progressively withdrawing addictive factors (https://reallifemag.com/pay-to-play/). One way of reducing addiction has been through the adoption of older electronics, usually those no longer in production, like Blackberry Phones, which offer keyboards and smaller screens, and Keitai/Sharp phones, which have reduced regional functionality and are referred to as Dumbphones. Alongside this, switching to older MP3 players and gaming consoles. Whilst addressing many issues of recycling electronics and breathing new life into old tech, recurring problems have arisen in line with Collee’s observations on off-grid digital detox. Nostalgia plays a big part in the switch to these consoles, such as the PSP, Game Boy, or Nintendo DS. Osipov mentions the appeal behind being able to “hold my sleeping infant in one hand and play through a classic from my childhood with the other.” https://rosipov.com/blog/retro-gaming-minimalism-and-digital-snacking/ with the Anberic RG 35XX Pro at “a relatively low investment of around $70.” A device manufactured for accessible nostalgic-off grid gaming making entertainment addictive, admitting that “the right thing would be to just put down my device and think, clear my head, or maybe even meditate.” The consumption of cheap electronics dedicated to detoxing ultimately funds those same sources of addiction whilst making actual retro tech more expensive driving up demand. This demand mirrors the inaccessibility of expensive forms of detox and is another example of the systems of addiction offering up solutions that continue to feed into a cycle.