February 3, 2026
Screens vs Scenes
Decentralizing My Smartphone with Single Purpose Devices
Retro rebellion: swapping apps for cameras, CDs, and peace of mind
TLDR: A blogger is replacing smartphone duties with old-school gadgets to reclaim attention. The crowd split between “go retro and detox” and “keep the phone, kill the doomscroll,” with generational vibes and calculator jokes—proof that how we manage screens matters as much as the tech we carry.
One blogger is breaking up with their smartphone and going old-school: a DVD player, Fujifilm camera, Walkman, an iPod from the flip‑phone era, a typewriter, and even a standalone calculator. The goal? A digital detox from the constant pings and FOMO of the always‑online life. Cue the comment fireworks. Team Unplug cheered, with kamranjon swearing a dumb phone plus pen-and-paper turned them into a book‑devouring machine. crims0n escalated it to a culture war: Gen X and Millennials are dialing back, Gen Z is revolting, and the vibe is “bring back buttons.” The photo alone sparked nostalgic swoons—and jokes about “charging eleven gadgets to find peace.”
Then Team Optimize clapped back. duskdozer argued you don’t need a museum bag—just nuke notifications and keep quick notes synced across devices. Apreche, who once camped out for the iPhone 3G, said carrying a phone, iPod, camera, and more is a hard no: “Delete the doomscrolling apps and move on.” runjake landed in the middle: an iPhone stripped of “brainrot” apps, no buzz except essentials—and yes, they still carry a calculator, which became the thread’s running meme. The spicy takeaway: is freedom found in fewer screens… or in better habits? The comments turned minimalism into a retro vs modern cage match.
Key Points
- •The author describes a shift from constant smartphone connectivity to using single‑purpose devices.
- •Smartphones are acknowledged as convenient but seen as sources of distraction and pressure to be always available.
- •The author frames the change as a form of digital detox to reclaim time and attention, not a rejection of technology.
- •A list of specific single‑purpose devices adopted includes products from Magnavox, Fujifilm, Sony, Apple (iPod), AlphaSmart, and Nintendo.
- •The author plans to publish more detailed posts about each device and how it supports decentralizing smartphone use.