The summer is half over, and I’ve begun to look back on what I’ve done so far. For me, it’s been a struggle to find places that are hiring for only three months, so between being paid to do odd jobs, I have had all the freedom in the world. Which is great, right?
As it turns out, it’s too much freedom. I’ve discovered that when I have limited time to do something, I end up doing more in the one hour than a full twenty-four. Instead, I tend to scroll on my phone. And not to sound like my parents and grandparents and everyone else who said, “It’s the damn phones,” but I think it might just be the damn phones.
Lately, there’s been a trend of wanting a “Flip Phone Summer,” which ironically enough, I found out about through my non-flip phone. It’s the idea that we should take time to disconnect from social media. You can use your phone to call and text people, but not to doom scroll for a fickle dopamine fix. That way, you use your phone a reasonable amount, and when people ask you what you did over the summer, you aren’t drawing an awkward blank.
Though I’m not sure I’m ready for a “Flip Phone Summer” (I’m this close), I have been looking into ways to reduce my screen time. Besides the guilt, my phone also has a terrible battery life, so I make it my goal not to have to recharge it before nighttime. That got me thinking, why not go back to using technology I wasn’t addicted to?
Last year, I thrifted an old Wii for twenty bucks, and over the summer, I decided to mod it. It took a long time, but after I finished, I discovered a lot more about computers, the history of games, and how satisfying it was to complete a project like that. In my freshman year of university, I brought it with me, and it helped me make many, many friends since I tend to gravitate towards playing games that I can invite friends over to join me with, like Wii Sports and Mario Kart.
This summer, my new project is to revamp my old iPod. I have an iPod Nano (3rd Generation), which, for those of you who don’t know, is a shorter, rectangular MP3 player that has a screen. This iPod was my first ever piece of technology that was mine. My parents were always strict with screen time, and after hearing this, my elementary school best friend gifted me her dad’s iPod.
Since it was her’s, and I didn’t have a Mac at the time, I couldn’t download new music. But now that I’m older… and I have a Macbook, I can download whatever I want! But, more importantly, if I need to listen to music on the go, I can grab my iPod and not have to get distracted by my phone. I’ll likely be doing this a lot when I go to the libraries to work on homework, or when I want dedicated time away from my phone but still want to listen to music. I also know it will be nice for when I work out since I hate to have to hold my phone when I go on runs. I also know that this is another way to get me to listen to music by album since I’ve been trying to get into that, but I can’t afford to buy everything I want on CD/cassette/vinyl nor do I have enough space on my phone.
Oftentimes, if we go back to using older technology it can feel rather new and revolutionary. There’s something nice about the simplicity of early 2000s’ (and before’s) tech. Besides, you’re also helping to save the environment by not throwing out older devices. And if you don’t want to use your old iPods or game systems, chances are, you might know someone who wants it. Perhaps we don’t just need a “Flip Phone Summer,” we need a resurgence of all sorts of old technology. From camcorders to game systems to CD players. It’s worth buying into your old nostalgia by not buying at all and dusting off your old electronics.