Downgrading Instead Of Replacing
Me, three weeks ago: “Time to replace my phone. The battery isn’t quite enough to get through a busy day without charging, and everything’s running slow.” I resented the expense, and the time required to switch everything over, but it felt like a necessary upgrade. Then I went through and cleaned off apps I didn’t want to transfer to a new phone. It cleared off half the screen. I followed it up by going minimalist on other apps as well. I went through them, one by one, and queried whether I was getting any value out of having them on my phone. The results were surprising: No more mail app (I don’t answer emails on the phone, only read and ignore them); No more IMDB (I only ever look things up on my couch, and the computer is right there); No more YouTube (often used for streaming music during the day, and easily replaced by less distracting alternatives) No more
