Digital detoxes are all the rage these days, but did you know that unplugging from your smartphone suddenly can have severe, occasionally nauseating, side-effects? Within minutes of deciding to disconnect from the modern world to live a purer, more analogue life, some people have reported overwhelming feelings of smug superiority. Many of them appear to transform into modern messiahs, eager to preach the virtues of a smartphone-free life to anyone who will listen.
A case in point is Simon Cowell who, apparently, has not touched his smartphone for 10 months. Cowell imparted this news to the Mail on Sunday, which, in an uncharacteristic display of hyperbole, labelled it “an astonishing confession”. The entertainment mogul said that abstaining from his mobile has helped his mental health; it has made him happier and more aware of the people around him. It has also made him more focused, he said. “The thing I get irritated with is when you have a meeting [and] everyone’s on their phone ... You can’t concentrate.”
All of that is great for Cowell. But far from being an astonishing confession, I would call his statements astonishingly condescending. Most people don’t have the luxury of abstaining from their smartphones. Many people rely on them to be able to take part in the gig economy. Ever heard an Uber driver talk about giving up their phone? Or a Deliveroo rider? No, because without their phones they would not be able to do their jobs.
Just a few years ago, smartphones were a status symbol; today they are the status quo. In our always-on world, it is choosing not to use your phone that is the ultimate show of affluence; you could call this sans phone lifestyle luxury luddism. After all, the easiest way to make a living in the modern economy without a smartphone is to pay an army of assistants with phones to do things for you. I am sure Cowell did not arrange his interview with the Mail on Sunday by carrier pigeon.
Cowell is not the only high-profile businessperson to opt out of modern mobile technology; Warren Buffett still uses a flip phone. This is despite his company, Berkshire Hathaway, having bought “more Apple than anything else” in recent years, according to an interview the billionaire did in 2017. In the words of Buffet, Apple is a strong investment because “you are very, very, very locked in, at least psychologically and mentally, to the product you are using. [The iPhone] is a very sticky product.” That is the other thing about smartphones, of course. They are engineered to be addictive. The people making mounds of money off them know better than to get high on their own supply. A lot of tech executives are careful to limit their children’s screen time.
As smartphones have become ingrained in our lives, tech executives have claimed more concern about the ways in which they have hooked people to their wares. On Monday, Apple unveiled tools to help combat tech addiction at its Worldwide Developers Conference. These include Screen Time, which will let iOS users set daily time limits for apps. But while apps like these may be well meaning, they do little to solve the bigger issue – that, to opt out of the on-demand economy the tech titans helped create, you need to be immensely privileged.
