=======8/31
[I didn't want to reveal my name, but I am tall, hairy, and grunt frequently, so Sasquatch seemed apt.]
Dear Lord,
You know I've ordered a smartphone, which will put me back "on the grid" in some ways. I ditched my smartphone beginning sometime last last year (2023 and into early this year). My spiritual director (SDr) visibly reacted when I told her what I was doing, and very wisely recommended I think about that decision to make sure it was a good one.
Lord, I remember I wrote a fair amount about this, but I can't remember where, and I haven't been able to find my writings. I thought they were primarily in digital format, but they're nowhere on two different computers, or in backup directories online. They must be written in snippets in an old journal.
However, it may be worth it to creatively think through the process anyway.
Holy Spirit.........enlighten my mind and heart as I think through this problem.
Lord, a good place to start is to consider why I feel I need, or should do this in the first place. I think initially it's because I've been carrying two phones with me for a while for a couple of reasons. First, Cor (KofC program I'm running), is ratcheting up. There have been times recently I've needed to respond to emails in my position as the program director prior by the end of the business day, and I've been out and about. Right? Or am I making that up?
HS please come into that area. Illuminate for me what I've experienced recently which makes me feel this way. I can tell I'm a little resistant to letting you into this area, which means I definitely need to let you in. Lord, I surrender this to You, please receive it. Receive my thoughts and this situation and infuse it with Your love and wisdom. Did I make the right decision? Do I need, or can I greatly benefit from this phone w/o losing the benefits of not carrying a smartphone?
SDr said that, as an example, she's pretty disciplined about using hers. She turns all notifications off. Or a lot of notifications off. I haven't turned them all off, but I definitely turn many off. I don't want to turn off texts and call notifications to my personal line, because I want my family to be able to get a hold of me. But I do want to turn off all email notifications. If it's urgent, you shouldn't be emailing me.
I probably want to turn off all notifications for my Cor line. At least as many as I can.
So if I don't want people to reach me, at all, on my Cor line, then why do I need a Cor line at all? Or is that the right question?
I do want to have separate Cor and personal phone lines. I want to give people the option to get a hold of me via call and text, but I most definitely don't want to give out my personal number. As of now, when I get a call from a 406 (Montana) number I answer it, even if it's not stored. It's almost always family, friends, a doctor, service provider, child's school, or something I actually want to pickup. If it's not going to be for something personal like that, then I won't want to answer it. Especially during family time. I need to see that a call went to the Cor # so I can ignore it. When I get a call from a non-406 number which I don't have stored I never answer it, and I may not even feel too compelled to check the voicemail. But most calls and texts to the Cor line will be from 406 numbers. So I'll feel compelled to pick them up.
Also, on my personal line people are sending me emojis and pictures which I actually want to see., and often can't. Things which fall in-line with healthy use of electronics. And I can totally envision people sending me pictures or screenshots of things for Cor. Like pictures of pages where they've drawn a bracket or circle around something they want me to take a look at. I also know I sometimes want to do some Cor business while I'm out, and not necessarily wanting to, or needing to bust out a laptop.
I can still use GPS for road trips, or even around town to new places. But there are times when I'm on foot I just need to see where a store or restaurant is.
Something I don't have with my dumbphone is text voicemails. So I can't do a quick scan to see if it's something I may want to actually follow-up on. I have to actually dial-in to my voicemail and listen. I'd like to just be able to scan and delete, or scan and take action. That's not necessary, and not a good argument.
So I can have this in two separate phones right now, which is my current situation. However, perhaps the most irritating thing for me, is that I'm carrying two separate phones. I'm not carrying two separate phones for the connectivity with Cor as much as for books and podcasts. I don't even necessarily need the email for my personal stuff while I'm out and about.
Hmm....this is getting a bit overwhelming. Let me get back to what I want and/or need.
Obviously, I need a personal phone which I can use to call and text. I really should have a totally separate line which I can not be bothered by most of the day for Cor and (eventually) the Knights.
I currently already have this.^^
It is common practice for people to send emojis and pictures of things via text, and expect you to be able to zoom in and read those pictures.
I only have this one one line.^^
There are times when I genuinely need to access email while out. to sign some document, to review something quickly. But that seems pretty rare. Like...pretty darn rare. As in, maybe when I'm buying a house is the only time I need that. I can think of nothing else. So in reality, not installing email apps at all, so I don't get sucked into checking them, and uninstalling all browsers I can uninstall, and disabling any browsers I can't uninstall. Having an extremely stripped down experience with my phone, so it's affectively a dumbphone is probably suficient.
* ApprBlock: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.mobilesoft.appblock&hl=en_US
* Turn phone to grayscale
* Remove all but essential....or all apps from homescreen
* Hmmmm it looks like there are a lot of options for turning a smartphone into a dumbphone:
* https://www.techlockdown.com/guides/dumb-phone
* https://www.techlockdown.com/guides/dumb-phone-android#users-can-install-unapproved-apps
Need:
* Calls
* Texting
* Visual text
Non-distracting nice-to-haves:
* Weather
* Maps
Do not need/questionable:
* Group text (e.g. text, Signal)
* Books
* Podcasts
Should not have:
* Email (for the most part)
* Internet browsing
* Search capability (e.g. Google)
I remember thinking early on how it was kind of a good thing that I didn't have books and podcasts.
=======9/5
Dear Lord,
As I begin this new prayer by resuming this existing topic, please be with me. Please inhabit my whole being, and direct it as You will. I willingly hold it up to you, Lord. Please receive it.
Lord, I received my new phone in the mail yesterday, and I've yet to open it. I think I haven't yet examined the idea of what it means to bring a smartphone back into my life.
I remember there were unforeseen benefits. For instance, I really enjoyed not being able to Google everything, and not being able to check my email. And not being able to do a lot of things. The benefit was the same, regardless of what I was unable to do, and that was my phone was unattractive, and stayed out of my way. It didn't enter into conversations or meals w/ family and friends. It entered my mind as a nervous reflex for a little while, and then I was free after several days. My mind just stopped reaching for it. It was indeed liberating.
However, Lord, recently I've been reaching for it again. My old smartphone that is. I kept it around initially in case the dumbphone was untenable. Then I realized there were things it was truly good for, like listening to podcasts and audiobooks around the house, or even while driving. And also ordering an Uber while traveling. Taxi cabs are still a thing, but I need receipts and to be able to pay by card, and you can't confirm a given cab driver does that until they arrive b/c sometimes you can't talk to a human while calling a cab.
That being said, the reason I originally ordered this new smartphone was two fold. First, I got tired of carrying two devices (a valid reason), but also I had this unexamined anxiety telling me I needed to be able to respond to things for Cor. I'm not sure that's a valid reason. I'm not sure I need that ability. That ability might be nice to have sometimes. Like if I'm in Bozeman between appointments and have time to actually sit down at a cafe and do some admin. But that doesn't happen often. And my time would probably be better spent reading, writing, or praying anyway.
As I'm typing the Pros list is definitely longer than the Cons list, and it looks like the Cons list can be managed in a number of ways. At least one of those ways is to use a remote device manager so I can't bypass things in moments of weakness while I'm out. Like re-enabling or downloading and installing apps on the fly.
Pros:
Cons:
Okay.........so it looks to me like the pros outweight the cons, but only if it doesn't take me a whole weekend to lock down a phone. Or if I can at least start locking down a phone gradually, and get there within a couple of weeks (spanning three weekends). There are MDMs, and there's adb shell. MDM seems more complete, but complex. adb shell could be sufficient. It could be the initial stop for things, and I can see how or if that gets the job done. If not, move onto an actual MDM. ManageEngine seems to be the most robust free MDM.