How switching from a smart to a flip phone saved me

I was addicted to my smartphone. At first, I was not even that interested in getting one but because everyone around me was using them, I felt I had no choice. I was 19 at the time.

Gradually, I became more and more dependent on my phone. I would look at it whenever I could, checking social media constantly, worrying that I had missed something important posted on my feeds. I hated having even the slightest bit of free time, so whenever I had nothing to do, I would browse absentmindedly, endlessly scrolling, whether I was on the train, in the bath, or on the toilet. Even during class. But that was normal, everyone was doing it.

However, my mental health was starting to deteriorate. I felt restless and irritated, struggled to enjoy offline pleasures and, even when I was tired and did not want to look at my phone, I could not stop myself.

So I went to a psychiatrist and tried different things to detox, such as deleting apps, turning my phone off at night, locking it in a box — even using images of insects and ghosts as the screen wallpaper to stop myself from wanting to unlock the device. But no matter what I tried, I kept turning the phone back on and redownloading the apps.

That is why, in 2017, when I was 23, I started using a flip phone (remember those?). I was hesitant at first as I was afraid of how I would be judged by my peers, but I thought that if I continued using smartphones the way that I was, I would be ruined.

Smartphones are certainly convenient but, in my experience, they can also be detrimental to one's well-being. I dread to imagine what would have happened if I had continued using mine.

Switching to a “dumbphone” cured my addiction and I have felt so much happier since. I have regained the mental space to enjoy my free time, as well as my ability to concentrate. Of course, it is time-consuming to have to use a computer or tablet when I need the internet, but I don’t mind. I have learned to value my time more.

So much so that I decided to write a book (in Japanese) about my experience. However, smartphone addiction is not taken seriously in Japan, as it is not necessarily seen as a real dependency: We live in a society where it is acceptable, even encouraged, to be forced to use our mobile devices all the time.

I have found it difficult to spread the message about smartphone addiction. Many people think that I am a weirdo for questioning things and for using a flip phone, and sometimes I get made fun of, which is unfortunate.

Yet the issue of smartphone addiction remains. In Japan, 40% of males in their teens and 20s and over half of females in the same age group reported using their smartphones at least four hours a day per weekday, according to a survey by mobile phone operator NTT Docomo.

And over half of parents said they had given their children a smartphone while still in elementary school, according to a 2022 survey — up more than 10% from a previous poll three years earlier.

For example, a friend of mine has a child who is still in kindergarten, but who is already addicted to her smartphone — her mum is looking for a specialized clinic to help treat her. This may seem like an extreme case, but according to data cited by NTT Docomo, 47% of smartphone users surveyed said they felt uncomfortable when they could not use their devices as often as usual. But this compulsion is so commonplace and normalized that many people do not realize they are affected by it, so they do not think they need to change anything.

On the other hand, I have heard of some millennials and Gen Zers overseas, for example in the United States, using flip phones to break their dependence on smartphones and better protect their privacy.

Though this has not yet caught on in Japan, if flip phones become popular overseas and the importance of digital detox becomes more prominent, the trend might come here too.

I struggled with smartphone addiction, so I want to help others who are dealing with the same problem and prevent yet others from suffering. I think breaking free from compulsion can help people. “There are consistent associations between smartphone addiction and physical and mental health, especially mental health,” says a 2021 review of 27 scientific papers on the subject.

However, I do not consider smartphones to be the enemy. Of course, they are useful, and can help people be more productive at work and in many other aspects of their lives. I understand that. That is why I do not necessarily want smartphones to be abolished. What I want to convey is the importance of diversity.

Because of the rapid pace of technological development, whenever a new product or service becomes widely available (and this extends to beyond just phones), it tends to become the majority. Meanwhile, everything that came before is relegated to the minority and, in some cases, even looked down upon — as in the case of smartphones over dumbphones.

But that does not mean that older products are inferior. Both types of phones have their strengths. What I want is for the majority and minority to coexist without one being considered better than the other or for the other to be dismissed.

If you are 80 years old and want the latest smartphone, you should be able to have it, and if you are 17 and prefer an old-school flip phone, that is also fine. The important thing is to acknowledge and respect each other’s choices.

I think this does not apply only to phones, but to all other issues that center around accepting diversity, whether it be differences in sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, nationality, and so on.

There is so much we can learn when we switch off our phones.