We’ve had them for a few months now (here’s Light Phone Post no. 1) and now that we’ve had them for 2 months I’ll share some pros and cons.

PRO

My screen time is WAY down. Like averaging 20 minutes a day (on my iPhone). Some days it’s next to zero minutes, other days it is longer, especially if I am working away from home.

I’ve spent less on impulse purchases. Easier to do when ads aren’t in my face via social media. I do have a lot of tabs open on my browser with shopping carts full but placing an order through my computer feels more serious than through my phone.

I’m planning ahead. Like looking up restaurant locations ahead of time and writing down directions. Or checking hours of operation before I leave the house. Or knowing that I can’t order an Uber or Lyft as easily so I need to be prepared to walk home in the event of rain or snow. (Also, looking up a cab company’s number to store in my phone like I did in college).

Danny and I talk more when we go out, especially for date nights.

I’m reading a lot more. Like a lot.

I find myself snapping at the kids less. I realized that I was so engrossed in what Instagram was feeding me I was annoyed with their interruptions. Some of the interruptions still bother me. Partly because my desk is in the middle of the main floor so there’s no hiding me when I need to focus on work and they’re home but my response is on average calmer than it had been. (Although I will say that I do snap at them when they interrupt me when a romance novel is heating up. But that’s my fault not theirs – don’t read Bridgerton when kids could interrupt you.)

CONS (With Silver Linings because that’s who I am at my core)

Not being able to order an uber or lyft at the drop of a hat. (Silver lining? We have gotten more steps on date night than we used to.)

QR Codes at restaurants to see the menu. (Silver lining? Striking up a conversation with the people at the next table to see the menu!)

Not having a camera isn’t a big of a problem as I thought initially but we are sharing less pictures with our family and friends. (Silver lining? We’re helping the cloud environment. Did you know that 90% percent of the world’s data was created in the last two years. And every two years, the volume of data across the world doubles in size. That’s a lot of data to manage.)

Internet Radio. The Light Phone has storage for music files but you don’t stream them. So you need to actually have the file. As a person who grew up on Napster and LimeWire 1.0 this didn’t strike me as an issue until I realized that I don’t actually buy music anymore. So I’m revisiting songs of the early 2000s that have stayed in my iTunes libraries for the last 20 years. I use my iPhone to stream music to our Sonos speakers at home but music on the go is trickier. The I Am Sam soundtrack is the current music I’ve loaded on my Light Phone and I am having a lot of fun with it actually.

My gif game is slipping. (Silver lining? I added gifs to my Friday Beautycounter email newsletters.)

I have felt lonely. The silver lining on that one is trickier to identify. I have been more intentional about reaching out to my closest friends and I have had some really fantastic phone conversations. Conversations that would have happened via text before.

I haven’t shared my Light Phone number with a lot of people. When I get back from Italy I will make more of an effort to switch to it. Right now it’s like 20% of my texts and calls are on my Light Phone number and 80% are on my iPhone. After Italy and our school’s spring break I will start to reply to texts that I receive on my iPhone from my Light Phone. Hashtag New phone. Who dis?

Texting on the Light Phone is cumbersome but that is kind of the point. If I have to type more than 30 characters I’m more likely to call the person. I’ve been emailing people more when I have something longer to communicate. I also miss emoji and have texted the words “thumbs up” a lot.

Phone conversations are amazing but sometimes auditory learning isn’t best for me. Especially if it’s something like directions or a specific game plan. My brain says “listen to this, focus, it’s important” and then somehow it goes in one ear and out the other. Unless it’s a song lyric then I’ll know it forever. This is where the Light Phone isn’t always the best solution because I’m forced to talk and listen instead of putting things in writing via texts. With practice I hope this gets better. Getting back on my supplement routine which includes magnesium, vitamin B, vitamin D and L-theanine will help with brain fog and memory too.

(Yes, I take Gingko Biloba too but the science doesn’t for sure confirm that it helps with memory. Studies have shown that ginkgo improves blood circulation and it is an antioxidant so all good things even if it doesn’t really improve memory.)

So, two months in I’m still into the Light Phone but I feel like I haven’t really given myself over to it fully. I’m not making big changes in the next two weeks but in April I plan to. Untethering myself from technology is important to me as an overall lifestyle and the light phones are a step in that direction.

(Isn’t it ironic… I use my iPhone to take the picture of the Light Phone to put up on this post. I’m fully aware.)