analogueing vs consumerism
how does one offload online tasks to analogue media without becoming hoarder of gadgets??
is a question i've been asking myself since december. i don't believe anyone in 2026 can be immune to consumerism and i'm certainly no exception. from the beginning of this year, i've been working on reducing my dependence on smartphones and social media; i sold my smartphone for a slightly older and smaller model with less features, gave away my smartwatch, deleted my social accounts and non essential apps from my phone, and in general have been putting more thought and skepticism into why and how i use tech.
in the time i've been weaning myself off social media and decreasing utilisation of my phone for all my tasks and entertainment, i've ended up accumulating a number of gadgets to replace all the functions i no longer use my phone for. i've talked about some of these in my everyday carry post a few months ago; i got a waterproof camera so i don't have to risk damaging my slightly better point and shoot carrying it everywhere, i got an alarm clock that also doubles as a speaker and ipod dock, wired earbuds, an mp3 player (or rather players: i'm happy owner of both an ipod mini and walkman nwa55). i also accumulated a number of non electronic tech (writing is also a technology!!): a paper calendar, a bunch of small notebooks and quite an excess of colored gel pens, although that last one has been an issue since my middle school days. and then i started more regularly using some gadgets that i already owned such as my ereader and analogue watches. and in my hopes of being able to use a phone solely for texting and calling, i also got an older button phone that i used for a bit but now sits in my drawer in its box.
i was replacing my phone with a ton of separate devices, and although my usual eyestrain from looking at screens for several hours a day was gone, my quality of sleep improved, my racing thoughts quieted, my focus and attention span improved, and my ability to sit with my thoughts or do nothing for long periods of time returned, i kept having a nagging unease about the amount of stuff i was buying to maintain all this. i became known amongst my friends for being the guy who has a gadget for everything and this led up to an embarrassing and almost comical moment when i shifted apartments: unpacking the box containing my electronics, more and more cables and devices kept appearing. i had somehow become owner of multiple point and shoot cameras, cable adaptors, more chargers than i ever used or needed, an alarm clock, a photo printer, three mp3 players, an etch a sketch animator, three wired earbuds, headphones, two speakers, and then my laptop and phone. none of my "newer" gadgets were actually bought new; i don't feel good about buying brand new tech knowing the inhumane manufacturing practices that go into the sourcing of raw materials for electronics so all of this was bought secondhand. that being said, things are still things and i had too many things for my liking.
what i didn't realize about my phone usage back when i did everything on it was just how many utilities it actually served as, and so replacing one devices with several was partly inevitable. since unpacking, i've been downsizing my electronics collection by asking myself the same question i asked when i downgraded my actual phone: what is my use-case? a use-case is how much i actually use a device or application, and what kinds of usage i need it for. in terms of my smartphone, i determined my use-case as being:
necessary features - wifi, 4g or 5g, texting (specifically, i need sms, rcs, signal, and whatsapp), audio calling, maps, a rideshare app, calculator, authenticator app for work. for local storage, i usually need 32-64gb.
necessary but less important - web browser, camera
features i use but can live without - email app, venmo
looking at this list, i can rule out a flip phone as a viable device for me, as most of them will not be able to run an authenticator app or whatsapp. i can also determine that i do not need the newest model of smartphone because i do not have a use for any of their newer features.
so what's my use-case for the rest of my gadgets? do i really need several wired earbuds? i use one pair of earbuds daily and only pull out my big headphones in the winter when my ears get cold, so no. do i use two digital cameras? i do use both for different things. do i use three mp3 players? i certainly don't *need* that many, but i actually do use all three very frequently. i really want a cd or dvd player, but would i actually get a use out of them? would i want to accumulate cds and dvds along with it? is my life more difficult at the moment because i don't have one? the answer to all of those right now is no.
defining my use-case has been very helpful for me to figure out what i actually need instead of just replacing all my phone utilities with a separate device. while i haven't been on tiktok since 2021, i recently came across a youtube video by levi hildebrand breaking down a phenomenon that seems to be going on currently on tiktok where influencers buy a bunch of analogue gadgets seemingly just to have them, and it got me thinking about which of my gadgets i actually use and need. a big reason i downgraded my phone and decentered it is because i realized i either don't need, or don't want to need many of the features on it, and i don't want to end up relying on the same features again, just in different form.
another reason downsizing my tech helped me gain back my attention span is because diversifying my devices allows me to pick and choose what i need for the day, and not go through everyday with the option to entertain and distract myself in innumerable ways sitting in my pocket with no barrier to access. for example, i've recently started leaving my mp3 player and earbuds at home, giving me no choice but to take my daily commute without access to music. i thought i would hate it, but to my surprise, it seems i've built up the patience to sit for 45 minutes to an hour straight and just exist in my surroundings without needing entertainment. i would never have had this experience if i simply replaced my phone with an mp3 player and a book and a paper crossword; i'd still be constantly distracting and stimulating myself, just in a different way.
reminding myself of why i made the decision to downsize and diversify my tech has helped me organize my physical media clutter; i did this because i want to make a lifestyle change, not because i want a bunch of gadgets to show off. it is really fun to show up to the function with a bright orange walkman, but owning more and more devices will really not help me rewire my brain, only actively changing my relationship to my tech and my connection to the real world around me can do that.
