One of my personal goals this year is to be more present. So, I asked myself, “How can I be more present?”
Pick up your smartphone, or swipe up if you’re reading this on your mobile device, and take a few moments to look over your screentime for the past couple days, weeks, months… you get the picture. Go on, take a look!
Now be honest… what are your numbers looking like? Feel free to share them in the comments below.
On average, phone screen time for adults, according to a Fortune article published in July 2023 by L’Oreal Thompson Payton, is 4 hours and 25 minutes per day. This comes out to over 30 hours of phone screen time per week… almost a full-time job.
My own screen time wasn’t far off from those numbers, and I decided that one way to be more present is by reducing phone screen time. Not saying that all phone screen time is bad, but there were definitely some areas I could cut back on (i.e., Reddit, Facebook Marketplace, Instagram).
I began where a lot of us might think to start: deleting all social media apps on my phone. On the first day of no social medial apps, I hopped into bed, anxiously check my screentime, and was shocked at the results. What!? 3 hours!? How could this be?
I decided it was time for a new device. Sure, my old iPhone X isn’t as new and shiny as however many years ago, but it’s just too easy for me to lose track of time while on it.
The question became, what dumbphone is smart enough to offer the conveniences of GPS, Uber, and Spotify but would be absolutely terrible for web browsing and pretty much anything else aside from calls and texts.
Introducing the Cat S22 Flip:

Never in my life did I think I’d be excited about going back to a flip phone, but here we are – just like life was like in 1996 – the same year the very first flip phone was released. Well… obviously things have changed a bit since the 90’s. The modern take on this flip phone for example makes it more of a… dumbed down phone, and it’s built like a tank: waterproof to depths of 5 feed and for up to 35 minutes of submersion, sand and dust resistant, and meets some fancy milspec ratings that… sound pretty cool.
And yes, it has Spotify, Google Maps, Uber, and of course, the Starbucks app (because what could be more essential that an Iced Doppio with Sweet Cream Cold Foam?).
My screen time is easily down to under an hour now and most of that is spent struggling with T9 texting (there is a touch keyboard option, but I figured making texting more torturous with T9 would further reduce phone usage).
Oh, and the social media apps? I’ve deleted them completely. I’m doing more reading and writing (like this blog) on my free time. I’m sure my kids appreciate me being fully engaged at all times as well.
I feel like I’ve reached the point of no return, and if anything, my phones will get even more dumbed down from here. And with that, it’s time to ditch my smartphone phone plan. Check out my experience with Mint Mobile and how you can test their network for free here.