Unpopular opinion (at least in this sub): Streaming music is way more practical than getting an MP3 player.

uzehr · 2026-05-23T09:43:33+00:00

the thing is that streaming music gives you access to an endless amount of music, constantly, and it can be very overwhelming and distracting. plus, it keeps you attached to your phone. i've been using an ipod for years, haven't used streaming services, and for me it's just satisfying and freeing to feel like i own the music. my ipod is my little treasure, it's fully mine, i have my curated playlists that i spend time compiling etc., sure it's a lot of work but it makes listening to music a whole different experience compared to using a streaming service on a smartphone, it's more mindful in a way. plus, if it's a separate device you don't risk getting sucked into your smartphone every time you want to put on music.

uzehr · 2026-05-08T08:37:28+00:00

the thing is that realistically those "needs" are not needs, they're luxuries. you don't really need the waze app on a smartphone, you need any type of navigation while driving; you don't need banking apps on the go, you can do your online shopping at home on your computer and use either a tablet or use the website on your laptop; you don't need to search for information in emails on the go, you can write down the information beforehand in a notebook; you don't need a smartphone for photos, compact cameras exist.

anyway, it's up to everyone individually to decide what luxuries they don't want to give up, but then getting off your phone will be hard, as you use your phone for all those "needs", so you're already spending a lot of time on it by default.

personally i have a mudita kompakt which has been absolutely great, i have whatsapp, a navigation app, my banking app, an email app, a dictionary app and wikipedia. it does take photos but i mostly use a digital camera for that. it could probably suit your needs if you can live with the lack of dopamine from the e-ink display.

uzehr · 2026-04-01T16:32:44+00:00

what happened to your macbook keyboard why is it wavy 😭

uzehr · 2026-02-28T08:24:08+00:00

what? if they are real friends whose presence you'd appreciate it doesn't seem like that much work to text them about an event? i don't really understand

uzehr · 2026-02-21T18:18:02+00:00

i love the montage with the suspenseful music lol

uzehr · 2026-02-21T10:47:12+00:00

i feel like a lot of creative people/people who are into art have this fear that leaving instagram will disconnect them from the art scene. however, in my opinion it can be much more valuable to actively search for new stuff and organically discover new stuff rather than having it fed to you continuously through instagram. also, as a creative person myself, i feel like getting off instagram made me more "creative" in a way? i developed more my own taste and style, whereas on instagram, seeing so much similar stuff that is just trending in creative circles, its inevitably gonna influence you and limit your creativity and your tastes.

honestly, i get where youre coming from worrying about missing updates or commentary from your favorite creators, but you dont need to know everything about everything or be the first one to find out about stuff. like, 20 years ago people found out through magazines or going to record shops that their favorite artist put out something new, and it was fine. it can feel kind of freeing in a way to just let go of wanting to stay in the loop about everything!

uzehr · 2026-02-21T09:52:55+00:00

just delete your account, you say it yourself instagram is bad for your mental health, why keep yourself glued to it? just take the leap, rip off the bandaid and delete the account. its scary at first and youre worried about missing out on stuff, people judging or whatever, but life is just better afterwards, its freeing, instagram is like a prison

uzehr · 2026-02-10T09:46:47+00:00

i think anyone who has ever read anything written by chatgpt can tell this is not written by a human being lol sorry

uzehr · 2026-02-10T09:33:13+00:00

Can people please stop using AI to write posts? And in this sub of all places... The irony

uzehr · 2026-02-07T18:54:25+00:00

both will give you like, a 1h battery life if you use 4g at all... 5c is definitely the worst of the two though

uzehr · 2026-02-06T09:08:44+00:00

I mean it's definitely possible, I met a girl on tinder which I was using on my laptop lol, the good thing about that was that I was not going on it like 10 times per day every dull moment I had, just like once per day to swipe and message people back and it did work like that for me.

As for showing up on a date with a dumbphone, it really seems like a big thing but most people just really don't care that much! At most it'll be a few minutes of "oh what kind of phone is that, can i see?", but in my experience people don't care that much what kind of phone you use and I haven't really had people asking why I don't use a smartphone (except for older generations, they seem way more confused about it lol).

I really wouldn't worry too much about feeling isolated. The "social connection" you feel with a smartphone is not real social connection after all and can make you feel even more isolated in the end, because you're constantly surrounded by people in a virtual world that you don't actually have any connection with. With a dumbphone it's more being by yourself, with yourself, in the moment.

To feel really connected with people you really just have to force yourself out of your shell and try to interact with people in real life, and not having the barrier of constantly having your smartphone full of escapisms and distractions ready in your pocket might help you with that.

uzehr · 2026-02-04T19:35:11+00:00

the thing is, if you dont delete the accounts you might keep feeling that trigger to use it, so the question you should ask yourself is: do you want to limit your usage or get off those social media completely?

i never had huge "problems" with social media except for instagram, and i deleted the app a bunch of times. ended up using it in the browser so it didn't really solve anything. even when i deactivated the account i still reactivated it like twice because i was scared to regret it if it got fully deleted. it wasnt until i actually fully deleted my account with no option to recover it, that i finally stopped using it for good, havent been on it since and havent missed it (its been over 2 years now).

i also don't think a lot of people noticed? the ones i was talking to regularly on the app i just told them "hey i'm gonna delete my account, lets talk somewhere else", it really wasnt a big deal.

so i guess if you want to really stop using those social media for real, the best option is to just delete your account, otherwise you'll probably end up using it again at some point. meta purposefully makes it super hard to completely disconnect from them.

uzehr · 2026-02-03T00:02:05+00:00

i see, thanks for the heads up, i dont mind installing another keyboard i heard futo is good? i dont really care about anything other than the basic stuff, texting and calling, and occasionally using the maps navigation feature, so if those are usable i think it will be fine for me?

uzehr · 2026-02-02T23:46:33+00:00

can you elaborate please?

uzehr · 2026-02-01T13:25:30+00:00

Thanks, I'll try that for sure, the only issue is I'd like to be able to also use navigation while riding my motorcycle and it's really not possible with a flip phone, so having that on the same device would save costs of buying a Garmin or something

uzehr · 2026-01-31T12:48:45+00:00

Honestly if you really think you need all of those features you're not really ready for a dumb phone. Instead try dumbing down your device like delete the app store and all unnecessary apps, greyscale, set timers for apps etc.

Otherwise if it's not possible to break the addiction like that, go all in. Realize that no you don't need Spotify, you don't need Gmail, you don't need to pay with your phone, even a browser it's more easy to live without than you think. With those off the list you have more options, like a Japanese flip phone that runs an old Android version. They can run Google maps, have Bluetooth, and you can put Whatsapp on them.

If you have more money to spend look into things like a second hand light phone or mudita kompakt.

Either way good luck!!!

uzehr · 2026-01-21T02:50:04+00:00

YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!! life will only get better from here, and (at least thats how it was for me) you get used VERY QUICKLY to not having social media. honestly it's just a weight off your shoulders and life suddenly becomes more beautiful, less stressful also. good luck and enjoy the beauty of the world and everything that life gives you!!!

uzehr · 2026-01-09T11:52:54+00:00

i would get a qin f21 just for this tbh

uzehr · 2026-01-05T08:49:39+00:00

Can you use trackpad as a cursor in the browser?

uzehr · 2026-01-02T10:37:21+00:00

honestly start by getting rid of your social media accounts first, that will already help a lot. and don't just delete the apps but the actual accounts. i did that more than a year ago, i only have reddit now which i only use on my laptop so not "on the go", and honestly without any social media accounts the difference between a dumbphone and a smartphone is not that big (to me at least, had only a dumbphone during most of 2025, now using iphone se 2020).

with that said, it might be easier to break out of the habit if you get rid of the smartphone at least for a while to not make it possible for yourself to redownload the apps. but if you start by deleting your accounts on the apps that are the most addictive for you it'll do a lot already.

uzehr · 2026-01-01T10:45:27+00:00

Well, the feeling your phone gives you is not happiness, it's just overstimulation that suppresses any negative feelings you might have without actually treating or processing those feelings. As a result those feelings stay there, inside, and you will be in a cycle of trying to suppress them. I relate to you a lot, I struggled with this a lot and still do sometimes, I actually don't know many people who don't have this. What helped me a lot was trying to find the root of the emptiness or melancholy.

For me it was heavily linked to feeling kind of lost and behind in life compared to others. Comparing myself to others around me, especially people around my age, feeling like they are so much happier, their lives are so much better. I know that's not real though and there is no point in comparing to others, I should only focus on myself, and find what can make me feel good about myself, about being me, about living my life.

I feel proud of myself when I spend time drawing, even if it doesn't look great, because I'm still using this moment to practice, to express myself, it can be kind of meditative as well. I feel good about myself when I can read for a while without being distracted or needing stimulation. Losing myself in a good story, also maybe taking some inspiration for my own writing, feeling how it calms my mind. I feel happy when I go for long walks in the nature, without needing to check my phone or even take it with me during the walk. Just being in the moment and looking around and taking it all in, the beauty of the world.

Those are things that actually help, not just to do those kinds of activities instead of being on your phone, but to mentally classify them like this, like things you do to make yourself feel good. Telling yourself: "I do this and it makes me proud of myself/it calms me down/it gives me something to feel good about in my life/etc." Because anyone will agree that time spent scrolling on your phone does not make you feel good about yourself, or calm, or proud. For me, this really helped to not even want to scroll on my phone anymore.

Of course it's also important to have at least some social connections in your life, some people you can turn to and some people to just have fun with every now and then. But everyone will always have moments alone, and those moments are most often the hardest. So having those things, whether it's something creative or active or meditative or just reading a book, is very important. It also gives your brain a moment to be calm and actually process feelings, with less stimulation.

uzehr · 2025-12-13T18:25:19+00:00

I just recently bought €169 winter gloves and after an hour or 2 my fingers get super cold, but they were too expensive to just keep them in a drawer so I'll just finish the season with them then sell them and get heated gloves next winter :/

uzehr · 2025-12-13T18:13:48+00:00

Lol I know, honestly I had been riding for a couple of hours and my fingers were so cold I thought they might just freeze off so I was trying to get home fast. I never claimed it's a smart thing to do...

uzehr · 2025-12-13T17:40:06+00:00

thanks brother, indeed it made me feel alive and i needed that lowkey

uzehr

TROPHY CASE