Defining The Great Uncoupling™
Or working out what the hell this thing is even about.
This is part of a series about The Great Uncoupling™, a mission to remove my phone from the centre of my life. To read other pieces about this heroic question, pop on over here.
When I kicked off The Great Uncoupling™, I clearly laid out my goal: stopping my digital life revolving around my phone.
The issue is that’s easier said then done. Genuinely stopping my phone being the centre of my digital life is difficult. What do I have to do? How can I make this goal a reality?
I’ve tried a variety of techniques to avoid my phone in the past — including switching the displaying black-and-white, using Screen Time, and trying to not pick it up at certain times of the day — but none of them really stuck.
This requires a different shift to my relationship. Rather than trying to change how I use my phone, instead I’m trying to change how often I use it.
I don’t want to dispense of the device (it’s far too cool and useful for that), I simply want it to be less important. A relegation, if you will.
Then, comes the question of definition. What’s a guideline I can follow to help this transition?
After a spell of mental strain, I settled on an idea: if I lose or break my phone, I should be able to live without it almost indefinitely.
For The Great Uncoupling™ to work, I need devices that can take over many of the basic tasks I use my phone for. It may not be easy to live without a handset, but it should be possible.
Helpfully, that kernel of “basic tasks” pushed me towards a definition.
To find out what devices I need to decouple from my phone, I have to work out precisely what I require them to do. So, I came up with these broad elements:
Communication (calls and messages, not social media)
Music and podcasts
Payments
Navigation
Basic tools (i.e. calculator and translator)
Mobile banking
Loyalty cards (I refuse to miss out on a free pasty from Gregg’s)
Photography
This is the load I need my additional devices to carry.
While we’re on the topic, yes, I get that The Great Uncoupling™ may feel counter-intutuive at this point. Recluttering my life with more devices doesn’t seem particularly smooth, but it has to happen. Phones are simply too versatile. I love what they do, but I don’t like that I can’t look up directions without getting sucked into a social media void.
I want to diversify.
Following some careful thought, I settled on two devices to bear the brunt of my basic tasks:
An Apple Watch with cellular
A handset to do the things that can’t do
The key here is the Apple Watch. With a cellular connection, it can cover basic communication, audio, payments, navigation, simple tools, and loyalty cards. And that’s all without getting lost in scrolling.
No, it won’t do everything perfectly — I won’t be able to get a full music library on the watch for example — but it will do in most situations.
Thankfully (at least kinda), my Series 6 is on its last legs, with the battery barely lasting the daylight hours. The Great Uncoupling™, then, is a perfect opportunity to upgrade to the Apple Watch Ultra 2.
It’s for research, I swear.
Settling on an Apple Watch was the easy part. I already had a similar device and just needed it to do a bit more. The handset was an entirely different matter though.
The aim is a device that’s similar to a phone without all the bells and whistles. I want to be able to log into mobile banking, but not be sucked into social media. A dumbphone maybe? Something like the Nokia 2780 Flip? Possible, but it doesn’t feel right.
I’m not looking to replace my iPhone, just have something that can exist alongside it. That doesn’t describe a dumbphone, something that’s basically doing the same thing as my mobile.
In other words, that’s simply too much crossover. The Great Uncoupling™ isn’t about having two phones, it’s about being able to exist without one.
All this led me to a different sort of device: the Boox Palma 2, a handheld ereader.
Released at the end of 2024, this handset has developed a rabid fanbase in the alternative mobile communities. And it’s just what I’m looking for.
Basically, it’s a phone-sized Android device with an e-ink screen and Wi-Fi. I can read, check mobile banking, and even take a few photos, but the basic display and lack of a cellular connection will stop me scrolling endlessly and being sucked into attention-grabbing activities.
There we are. The Great Uncoupling™ has been defined. Another chapter, closed.
So what’s next? Well, that’ll be getting hold of both these devices and testing how they work within the parameters of my mission.
Stay tuned for that, you beauties.