2026/09/20

A blog post of appreciation for the tech that I've been using that has decreased my smartphone usage to 2-3 hours per day.

I got my 3DS XL in 2012 as a Xmas gift from my family. 13 years later, it still works perfectly! Granted, I did leave it unused for a few years, which probably added to the longevity of the battery. Anyhow, ever since I modded it I've been using it a lot. The modding community is extremely kind and helpful! My current most played games are Animal Crossing: New Leaf (my village is 12 years old; I'm playing this one on an actual cartridge), Tomodachi Life, and Style Savvy: Fashion Forward. I recently got 2 StreetPasses IRL, which was a treat. :-)

I bought my Sharp Aquos Keitai 4 A205SH in September 2025 (second-hand!), which means that I've used it for about a year now. I LOVE IT - I've become absolutely sick of the boring designs of modern smartphones and how they suck the time and life out of people. I deleted Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok off my phone, leaving only YouTube which I mainly use to watch longform videos, especially in the mornings when I get ready for work.

My Shorts algorithm is complete crap, which is great, because that means I don't get stuck scrolling. I only check Instagram on my PC, and I have TikTok on my PC but never check it anymore. Snapchat has pissed me off for a long time so I've pretty much stopped using that, too, except for a monthly check because some of my closest friends still occasionally send snaps.

I use WhatsApp on my flip phone. Calling and texting also works. I still bring my smartphone with me most of the time, because of Google Maps, Messenger (unfortunately unreliable on the flip phone), transport, and Find My. Dreaming of one day replacing my smartphone with something like the Commodore Callback 8020. It's almost as cute as my Sharp Aquos.

Got an Innioasis Y1. Cancelled my Spotify subscription shortly after. Love it, I'm enjoying music even more than I used to. Appreciating the songs that I've intentionally selected for my collection. I also got a CD player and have been more actively thrifting CDs to add to my original collection of a bunch of Arashi CDs, some MCR, and Mitski. I got so sick of algorithms, even the one on Spotify.

Last but not least, my little digital camera, the Casio Exilim EX-X8 with a whopping 8.1 mega pixels. :-) I bought it second-hand and refurbished in January 2025. I've since brought it on a bunch of trips and printed out lots of pictures. What's the point of taking hundreds or thousands of high definition pictures on our smartphones just to never look at them again? Unless yet another algorithm reminds us to take a look at An Old Memory From Three Years Ago, and we become reliant on that feature, instead of actively making the choice to consistently revisit those moments.

At the risk of sounding like A Hater Doomer (which I am sometimes), I also want to mention that I do think modern technology is incredible, lots of useful inventions have been made, being able to videocall my elderly parents and them easily being able to use their smartphones is fantastic, my partner knowing that I'm safe thanks to Find My is invaluable. I'm just hating on the features that rob me and others of our agency, attention spans, and precious time. Good thing there are ways to circumvent this. Yay! >:-)

(I also thrifted a Casio Watch. It's most likely from the 80s, it looks great and still works. No need to rely on my smartphone or even my flip phone to check the time and risk tapping on a bunch of apps that I didn't want to check to begin with.)