(Digital) Minimalism - A Year and a Half Later

Heyyy! So in trying to kinda explain why I disappeared for so long and and why I'm back and all my current thoughts about Neocities and stuff, I typed out some very chonky paragraphs. But after reading it back to myself a day later, I've now decided my ranting is probably safer kept between me and my journal rather than aired on the internet. I think I was onto something in amongst it all but its buried under a lot of complaining about non-issues which isn't helpful information for anyone. So instead I'm gonna move on to a different topic: MINIMALISM, A YEAR (and a half) LATER!!

I'll try and make sure in the move to this new website layout the old blogs are still up so if you haven't seen them I'd go give them a read first but as an overview I discovered the r/dumbphones subreddit in mid 2024, then I discovered the term digital minimalism in late 2024 then soon after and into mid 2025 I made the connection to minimalism more broadly and I wanna now give my early 2026 updates on it all!

Starting with the digital side of things

I am addicted to my phone. Well I guess by the definition I initially gave as it "not hurting anyone" which I still stand by, I'm not addicted, but after a year of using my dumbed down smart phone and making practically no progress with my goals its pretty hard to describe that as something other than addiction. All my efforts to dumb down my phone as of last update have not stopped me from wasting away hours on my phone which has been antithetical to my "the internet is a special treat for when I get home on my computer" mindset. Out and about waiting for something? Doom scroll. Sitting at home eating? Doom scroll. Spare time between tasks? Doom scroll. And honestly its been incredibly frustrating. So whats gone wrong?

As of my last update I said I was okay with my youtube and pinterest use. I'd ended up using them solely in my browser. I think the initial intention was that the browser versions are more 'janky' so as to discourage me from using them while not taking them fully off limits, and it had the added benefits of blocking ads and youtube shorts. However they clearly aren't 'janky' enough because now I simply prefer them over their respective apps. So although at the time it felt like I was making good progress by limiting my phone use to the websites I enjoy, it still left me feeling unsatisfied as far as my overall attitude to my phone. So what next?

Then I decided to part with youtube and pinterest on my phone and reserve that for only my computer, again in line with my "the internet is a special treat" mindset. But then everything fell apart. I'd block all these websites from my browser, reddit also managed to wiggle its way into this list so on the block list it would go. And I'd do okay for a while, but then I'd find some reason I'd need to look something up. A tutorial on youtube, a search in my browser I'd append "reddit" to just to get an actual answer, then I'd click the link. "oh yeah right, its blocked". But I think this is a fair reason to use it, so I'll just unblock it and when I'm done, enable the extension again. And still that would work fine... for a while. I don't often remember how or when but a couple months later and i'd realise I'm using my phone exactly as I used to. Wait when did I turn the extension off? Did I just forget to turn it back on one time? So eventually I'd think "no something needs to change" and I'd turn the extension back on. All good, I'm not expecting to get this right first try. More time passes and I realise, it's happened again. Maybe it was that time I felt I had nothing to do and no computer so "just for the day" I could binge some youtube, and then fell back into old habits after that. Okay, that's a pretty poor excuse, but whatever, lesson learnt. Then I discover a new interest, I want to sit up in bed and journal about it but I need to look up resources online. So then I fine tune the blocklist. All of reddit is blocked except for this specific handful of subreddits and maybe pinterest. That works fine for a bit, but then I'm out of the house and I'm sitting waiting to meet someone or for my order at the takeaway and I just get that itch to do something, so I reflexively pull out my phone, and what is the only thing I have to do? Those unblocked subreddits. Like okay it's probably one of the better things to be doom scrolling but this still isn't in line with my goals. And I have countless more examples of different ways in which I try to use my phone that isn't too restrictive but still lets me use my phone more purposefully, and every time I slack off and give in to it.

Now I can maybe see some people thinking "why are you even so obsessed with this? You're only using your phone to keep yourself occupied while nothing else is happening, there's no harm in that!" and in the grand scheme of things yeah, I've come a long way. And I'm glad that at least I can put my phone down when my attention is needed elsewhere (98% of the time), which is more than what some other people can say about their phone use (maybe that's a bit of a harsh dig but I've seen it with my own eyes, like, to say I'm over exaggerating with that statement would be a lie). But fundamentally using our phones as a quick little distraction is not something we've ever needed, its a habit that has appeared in not even the last 20 years. The fact that a habit so inconsequential and quick to adapt is so painfully hard to quit is what I have a gripe with. When I say "I want to use my phone this way" such a small change to my everyday, and after a year I'm still instinctively reaching for my phone out of, not even boredom??? just habit?!?? it really really REALLY bugs me. This shouldn't be hard, but it is, and that just convinces me further that this runs deeper that just a harmless little habit, and it fuels me further to keep trying and keep aiming higher with my goals, because it makes me deeply uncomfortable with the fact that I cant simply choose to stop using my phone this way. And even if this was about boredom, I still give myself ample opportunity to keep myself entertained another way. From carrying my DS with me everywhere, puzzle books, my journals, notebooks, sketchbooks, a damn rubiks cube, fidget toys, you name it, I've brought it with me, just as easy to access as my phone, and can you guess what I always reach for? Honestly maybe I sound crazy, I'm fine with that. Sometimes I hear 'dumbphone users' share sentiments that sound like they border on conspiracy theory, so I totally get that I sound like I'm overreacting. But really, truly, it just bugs me and I want to move past it, but this past year has felt like I've hit a brick wall and I'm running out of solutions to get around it.

Where to go from here?

I really, really, really would like to try a dumb phone as my main phone. I still have reasons to use a smartphone but by limiting the situations where I need to carry it with me I think would be a big help. For instance I frequently stay overnight with family, and I take allll my entertainment stuff with me as mentioned above. I don't really need my smartphone but I take it with me because, well, it's my phone, and I want others to be able to reach me while I'm away from home. But that's really it. So if I could leave my smartphone home and take only a dumb phone with me I would literally not be able to do anything else. I also have a (kinda bad) habit of having people ring me a bit before they come visit if they're visiting in the morning to make sure I'm awake to see them. I know this is about to sound stupid but I don't like to wake up to alarms. If I need to be somewhere early, I'm usually pretty good at just, waking up earlier, so they're not something I need. But if someone is visiting me, the phone ringing sorta doubles as an alarm. Look all I'm saying is it makes sense in my head and this setup has worked for me for years now. BUT it also means I like to leave my phone in my room overnight to charge, often out of reach so I have to get up to get it, but once I do its pretty easy to get back into bed and doom scroll. So if I have a dumb phone to ring in my room and then leave my smartphone out in another room to charge overnight, BAM, problem solved right? And generally just being able to leave it out of my room even during the day time would probably be a good idea, but lets be honest, considering it takes willpower to not just carry it back to my room, which I apparently don't have, that probably wont last long. So yeah, considering I've put off buying one for a year now just waiting for "the right phone" to be invented and be up for sale, or for "the right time" where I have the money to spend, I'm really actually considering it now.

A more positive note

Okay so I think that's enough ranting about my phone, but digital minimalism wasn't my only minimalism goal. How clean is my room now? Well actually I think its a lot cleaner! We've finally taken the op-shop mountain to the op-shop (slowly and bit by bit of course). My cupboard now has space to put stuff away, not that I have much to put away because I've gotten rid of so much junk and put the rest of it away in better places. I even have a whole shelf in my cupboard that's basically purely decorative! I must admit though I had a box of stuff that used to sit on my floor all the time that I didn't know what to do with that I've now just moved out of my room, but its much emptier now at least! I still have a few bits and bobs scattered here and there around my room, and some other junk spread out of my room but I'd say I feel a lot closer to "accomplished" than to where I started, so I'm over 50% done at least, dare I say over 75%?? I actually think right now the biggest issue I have is my clothes. I like owning lots of clothes, they don't bother me as far as "mental burden clutter", but I physically do not have room for all my clothes, and I don't wear half of my wardrobe anyway. I don't remember if I talked about it in a previous blog but I did cut back on my wardrobe by a fairly hefty amount a while ago, but even that wasn't enough and I have accumulated even more clothes since then because everyone we know knows we take hand me downs, and I just cant help myself but go through it all TwT

Damn this was a very disproportionate blog about two things that barely feel related anymore. But they're both in service of me becoming a more cool, epic person and overall I think I've made some progress so yay! Would love to hear other peoples thoughts as always! Will hopefully have more to rant about soon, thank you for reading! :3