Studies have strongly demonstrated that smartphones create lethargic thinking , with one even citing that these lazy brain habits spill over into decision making. The research from this study shows that people who go with their gut more in decision making often rely on smartphones more.
The analytical and intelligent brain will be more patient in judging and weighing options to reach a conclusion, and is more likely to not use their smartphone for immediate answers. Years in to smartphone use, it became obvious that my memory and focus were diminishing. I had no need to remember much information since I could google anything in seconds and summon accurate answers. It was Cillian Murphy all along!
I like him. As these instances occurred with increasing frequency, the time length of these instances would drastically increase too with smartphones encouraging tangents into other distractive thoughts or links.
The mobile Facebook or Instagram applications are a perfect example with hordes of information and influence dragging you deeper into the rabbit hole. There were obvious and glaring bad habits built from having infinite distractions in my hand:.
What used to be a 5 minute morning poop suddenly became 20—25 minutes of sitting on the toilet checking email, social media, and jumping right into brain stress my butt had to suffer through. This happened no matter where we were.
Having countless communication platforms among friends frustrated me too. Over-communicating much? Social interaction with others became less visceral and intimate. Train rides, dinners, and other classic opportunities for ripe human interaction evolved into awkward, diminutive words between phone sessions, barely a conversation.
My sleep and energy were getting affected by unintentionally staring into my phone for hours in the night instead of reading books or sleeping, which my brain and eyes would naturally prefer. The rapid fire, hyperlink highway of accessing and delivering information was overwhelming my brain and body without my awareness. The integration and reliance of this access felt inescapable too.
Life normally felt like going somewhere but frequently falling and landing hard, building the muscles to sustain greater falls. Smartphone life gave me an unlimited jetpack to get me places faster, but kept me from ever falling, allowing my legs to wither away from dwindling usage. The Great Downgrade. There were two major lines of thinking that led me to strongly want a major downgrade to a simple phone. The first was encompassed in all of the reasons above regarding my mood, energy, and general feeling that something was off and my phone perpetuated those issues.
This made me worry about my phone all the time since it was such an expensive, powerful device that I heavily relied upon while being extremely vulnerable. Inside of a week, I noticed drastic adjustments to previous habits. Once your device is in the bootloader mode, type flash-all to start the flashing process. Type the following commands into Windows PowerShell or Terminal hitting the Enter key between each step:.
Once this process is complete, your phone should restart. If the flashing process was successful, your device will now be running the downgraded firmware image. Thanks to the work of volunteer developers, third-party flashing tools are available. These manufacturer-specific firmware flashing tools offer you an alternative method to flashing your firmware without using the Fastboot method.
Samsung devices can make use of Odin to downgrade their phones. This is one of the best-known flashing tools outside of the official Fastboot method.
The Odin interface is not the most beginner-friendly, but it will allow you to flash onto some Samsung devices, including the latest unlocked Galaxy phones. Keep in mind that some cellular carriers lock down the bootloader on devices sold through its stores. These network operators can be reluctant to allow users to unlock their phones unless the handset is completely paid for. Additional tools are available for other manufacturers. Whether you use a third-party tool or the Fastboot method, the risk of bricking your device remains the same.
One thing that was particularly unsettling was no longer having access to my extensive music library. Instead, I had to buy CDs to play while on the road. The beeps and nostalgic Verizon ringtones draw a lot of attention. These small inconveniences were hard to adjust to, to say the least, but the hardest part was no longer being distracted. I use my phone only for its fundamental functions, texting and calling, and it is unsettlingly convenient.
When I told my friends about my decision to downgrade, I realized my screen time was incredibly, and problematically, average. I am not alone in wasting disturbing amounts of time on social media but addressing the reality of the situation is painful.
These apps are designed to be addictive and leaving them cold turkey means leaving a life with instantaneous gratification at all hours of the day. But in the meantime, I encourage you to consider using a flip phone. You will be amazed with how much free time you have and the opportunities you miss while looking at a screen.
0コメント