(WARNING : Many grammar mistakes and nonsense)
CHAPTER 1 : Dumphones
When i first got into the dumbphones community i used to think that the main thing of using a dumbphone was “owning a device only to call and send SMS” but after a while i changed my mind on it, i personally think that it’s okay to own social media on it BUT it depends of the device where you consult it. The most important thing for me to consider when you own a dumbphone is to reduce friction ; When you check Instagram on your smartphone it’s so convenient that you don’t even realise what you are doing on this app, you open it to answer message and two hours later you find yourself scrolling on cat vids. In opposite on a dumphone that is a flip phone for example, you can still check Instagram (on android powered devices at least) but try scrolling on reels for example. I tried and it’s IMPOSSIBLE trust me, even answering a DM here is a mess so when i was talking about friction i was talking about this, if you have more steps to achieve to do something you’ll be less convinced to do it.
It depends from person to person, but I do think that it’s better to learn social literacy and learn how to use it properly instead of completely stopping it.
CHAPTER 2 : Social media
My personal motto is “Use social media like you parents/grandparents would use it”
It means : Follow only your friends/family, a small amount of celebrity/brands etc you REALLY love and that’s it ! You don’t need to follow accounts just because you liked one post but you will never check this person's account again.
When I am talking about following a small number of celebrities/brands accounts I always ask myself one question : Would I care if they post something or would I just scroll without even reading it ?
I mean, for me I mostly follow bands i’m really INTO and not bands where i only like one song and that’s it, i follow them because i still want to know when they will be on tour, new albums/songs or other stuff about their activities. I know that if they are my TOP 3 fav bands I will always be interested in them but if they are in my top 30 I don't really care about their daily activities (sorry).
Having the control on which accounts you follow can avoid an “overconsumption” of content. I don’t know how to properly qualify it but we're always surrounded by new content 24/7 that we don’t even check so I do think that it’s important to slow down sometimes.
CHAPTER 3 : Indie Web
While talking about it it leads to another point : How to use social media that is TRULY designed for you ? My answer is : create your own page from A to Z.
When I was a child I used to spend hours on the family computer where I would jump from page to page and I remember that EVERY page had its own identity and was totally different from the previous one. Why were personal webpages so different back then ? Because it didn’t depend on ONE BIG corporation algorithm !!!
You want your page to have cat pics everywhere ?
A big neon green background ?
Music playing automatically ?
A page about your bag collection ?
A compilation of every burger you ate ?
YOU CAN !!!
And that’s what I love about the indie web !! On the indie web you control what content you create and consume all by yourself and not with some shitty algorithm that promotes AI or far-right propaganda.
Why would I want ads about things I disagree with on MY computer ??? That’s crazy ???
I used to be on Twitter for a loooong time and left it recently just because it made me tired to see random people I don't even follow arguing on MY phone ? Like do I care ???? No ??? I created an account to keep up with my friends. Why do I see this type of content ???
In opposition with the indie web, I see ONLY content I like and choose who I want to discover or not.
Another thing I really love is the customization part of the indie web, on classic social media everyone’s page follows a template and you can only customize your banner and profile picture ? What if I want to discover more about one’s identity and aesthetic ? I can’t ????
On indie web, i open a page just look 5 seconds at the page and i already have an idea of what is the vibe of the user, what they like etc ! It’s awesome and it’s so inspiring to see some customization that I didn't think of !!!
CONCLUSION OF THIS CHAOTIC POST
This blog post is a bit chaotic since i just let my thoughts flow on my keyboard so consider this entry as a big rant without a common theme LOL.
I talked about dumphones but I also really wanted to talk about other single purpose devices and how I use them daily as alternatives of my smartphone but it will make this blog post even more messy haha !! This will be my next blog post I think !
I stayed till the end of this nonsense entry. I really appreciate it and I hope that you’ll have a wonderful day/evening ! Take care !!