Recently some tweets from an artist and writer named August Lamm came across my Twitter feed. She writes about smart phones, social media, and “downgrading”. Her posts caught my eye because for the past 4 years I’ve been interested in how to have a healthier relationship with the technology in our lives.
The content August has been producing lately is attempting to persuade people to ditch their smartphones completely. She even published a limited edition risograph-printed pamphlet that acts as a manifesto and introductory guide for people who might be interested in following her lead. The 36-page zine is titled “You Don’t Need a Smartphone: A Practical Guide to Downgrading & Reclaiming Your Life”. I got my hands on a copy and read it while on a picnic in the park with my dog. After digesting it for a few weeks, I have some thoughts.
As a summary, August Lamm believes our lives would be better if we all “downgraded” to dumb phones. Within only several dozen pages she provides her reasoning along with an actionable playbook. I greatly appreciate her ability to communicate effectively and with such brevity; far too many authors have written lengthy books on this exact subject and ended up wasting peoples’ precious time… especially because the people who need the assistance the most are likely not to have the attention span for such verbose treatises in the first place.
Unfortunately I believe August Lamm is, for the most part, incorrect in her assessment and guidance. While some of the advice she offers could certainly benefit some people, I don’t believe it’s what the vast majority of people need to hear. I’d like to attempt to explain why and offer some different paths forward.
A case of projection
The core issue with August’s message is that it lacks vital context and targeting. It’s a drastic one-size-fits-all approach that is rooted in her highly specific personal experience, an experience that is mostly omitted from the publication in which it is so importantly needed.
While there is a short section within the zine where August tells (some of) the story that led her to downgrade, I don’t believe she did her journey proper justice. She talks to her reader as if she also is merely a normal smartphone user with an average social media diet, but this simply isn’t the case. A fuller picture of the situation can be found in an online article that Lamm wrote for the Cluny Journal.
…by my early twenties I was an art influencer with nearly two hundred thousand Instagram followers
I spent all day with my phone, partly out of professional duty—I needed not only validation, but income—and partly out of compulsion. I had to check.
A few more years and my mind wasn’t suited for much else. I was anorexic and had no friends; I was absolutely killing it online. I had developed all these health issues and begun posting hospital selfies, crying selfies, depressive bathtub selfies. I was sick and sad. I’m fangirling, a girl said when she recognized me on the subway. I’m spiraling, I thought.
Most people have never and will never get to the place she got to. To be a brand/personality this large on the internet will have a profound psychological and mental impact on a human, but the strategies for deprogramming or making lifestyle adjustments at that level are likely to be different than a normal user.
It’s important to highlight this experiential gap because her background colors everything she has to say on the subject of smartphones and social media. Which brings me to my next point…
Smartphones aren’t really the problem
While her experience is completely valid and worth talking about, I think August’s status as a large social media influencer naturally led her to unconsciously merge the concept of “smartphone” and “social media” into one thing. In reality, these are two separate (though usually connected) things that are worth decoupling to some degree.
If you truly are “addicted” to social media (a pathology that is still hotly contested), then it is going to be extremely difficult to have a smartphone and simply resist the urge to access Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. Trying to differentiate the smartphone from the apps likely won’t be an effective strategy for people that are truly addicted. But therein lies the problem… there doesn’t seem to be any clear evidence that most people are addicted in the first place. In fact, I feel confident in saying that most people aren’t addicted. A significant number of people likely have strong compulsions (not addictions), but those with true addictions are a small fraction of the total population.
For most people, it is possible to decouple social media from the smartphone either completely or to a reasonable degree that best suits their needs. This is important because smartphones are so powerful (and required) in modern society. It makes a lot of sense to find a way to incorporate them into your life, and the hassle you’d need to employ in order to forgo using a smart phone is annoyingly tremendous (August admits as much).
Even if you succeed with downgrading, your life becomes frustrating in lots of ways as a result.
There are better paths forward
I believe it’s possible for almost anyone to create a healthy relationship with the technology in their lives. Achieving such a state doesn’t happen by accident though; it will require effort and practice due to the fact that a lot of technology is not built with our health in mind. Still, I think it’s a worthwhile pursuit because, as I already mentioned, the alternative is not ultimately attractive.
So, what is the better path forward then?
Well, to begin with, there isn’t just one path… there are many paths. You can adopt a methodology that someone else sketches out for you or make one of your own. What works best for August Lamm or myself might not work best for you. The Buddha explained that there are over 80,000 doors that lead to enlightenment, and I think a similar principle applies here.
Learn from what others are doing, take what you need from them, and discard the rest.
My (current) path
As for me, I’ve distilled my personal ethos around my relationship with technology (specifically smartphones) into an axiom of sorts. It goes like this…
There are two ways to overcome smartphone dependency: 1) get rid of the phone, or 2) master the phone.
Option 1 is hard and has significant downsides.
Option 2 is even harder, but it delivers the greatest power/reward with few (if any) downsides.
I’m aiming for Option 2 because while we technically don’t need a smartphone, life is greatly improved by one when it is used in a healthy manner.
