The July 14, 2026 edition of USA Today included an article by Rachel Hale titled “My month with a ‘dumb phone’ showed me there’s a lot to learn.” Ms. Hale is a youth mental health reporter who has spent the last year and a half tracking the low-tech movement. She realized in the process of her research, that she had become overly dependent on her smart phone and was spending up to 8 hours a day on that phone.
In the name of journalistic curiosity (and a bit of personal intervention) she voluntarily gave up her iPhone for a Light Phone II which she used for a month. What would life be like in New York City without her smartphone? She was limited to calls, texts (with poor spell-check), calendar, notes, music, calculator, alarm, timer, and directions – still quite a bit, if you think about it. (More than a flip-phone!)
Her limitations and experiences during that month caused me to ask some questions about what skills we may not be learning and what skills we may, or may not, be teaching our children.
• How’s your spelling? Have you become lazy and turned over your writing to spell-check and AI?
• Do you rely more on texts than phone calls or in-person conversations?
• Do you know how to read a map to get somewhere without being given directions?
• Do you effectively read signs on roads and in subway stations, train stations, and airports?
• Do you allow enough time to get places or do you rely on map apps to get your there just in time?
• Can you read an analog clock?
• Do you write when you add to your journal instead of typing or dictating?
• Do you have hands-on hobbies that give your hands something to do besides text and scroll?
• Do you have a camera other than the one on your phone?
• Do you read books and magazines or tweets, posts, and texts?
• Do you socialize in person with friends and neighbors?
• Is your life so fast and over-scheduled that only a smartphone will get you through it?
• Do you take time to practice mindfulness or to ponder?
• Do you consciously choose to be online or is it your fallback position when you are trying to figure out how to use your time?
Do you need to institute some personal intervention and relearn or learn a new skill? The more skills you have, the more self-reliant you can be.
