Digital version here

NOTE: U.S. orders only. This pamphlet is inkjet printed. The original run (now sold out) was risograph. Inside pages are black and white.

SPECS: 32 pages, 5.5 × 8.5 in, staple-bound, color cover, b/w inside

I first conceived of this pamphlet two years ago, when I myself was in the process of downgrading. Like many longterm smartphone users, I had reached the point where I felt overwhelmingly bad about my phone: I felt bad right before I used it, I felt bad when I used it, and I felt bad after I set it down, regretting the time I’d wasted. I was caught in a cycle of resistance leading to surrender leading to shame. The shame, like all difficult emotions I experienced at the time, always led back to the phone. I could suppress anything with digital stimulation.

Do I need to explain how it feels to be addicted a smartphone? I doubt it. The experience is nearly universal. It is also intentional: the hardware and software was designed to make you feel largely bad but intermittently good, a balance calibrated such that you will always come back. This means that every time you pick up your phone, you are doing exactly what tech companies want you to do. Good job.

We cannot effect radical institutional change overnight—these corporations are too powerful, too enmeshed for that. But we can effect personal change today. We can radically reclaim our lives in a matter of hours. This 32-page pamphlet covers a variety of topics involved in downgrading to a dumbphone, including communication, navigation, banking, travel, dating, two-factor authentication, and more.