One hot summer day, August Lamm stood cheerily behind a booth in Tompkins Square Park, offering a stack of pamphlets titled “You Don’t Need a Smartphone.” The cover featured a retro photograph of a woman laying on the floor and talking on a landline. Lamm had come to the park, in part, to invite participants to a “downgrading” event that evening, in which she would lead phone addicts toward less-connected devices. The crowd floated silently past, their ears stuffed with Air Pods and eyes on their phones.
Lamm, who is 31, was like them once. Four years ago, she was an art influencer with 200,000 social media followers. Then she traded in her smartphone for a 2002-era Nokia cellphone. Now she’s working to divest herself from email and has become an advocate for disengaging from technology. At the park, she wore a thrifted black top with a paper clip in place of a missing button, appearing somewhat out of time.
Soon Louis Toledo, 73, sidled up to the booth. He told Lamm about his divorce, his service in the Air Force, and his suspicion that 5G can “kill your sperms.” When she asked if he would get rid of his smartphone, he said no. “That’s a dealbreaker for me,” she said. Over the past few years, the smartphone resistance has grown, with groups like Phone Free Adelphi and the Luddite Club.
Lamm has emerged as a bard of this scene. She’s selling a book: after moving 20,000 copies of her self-published $10 zine, Vintage published an updated paperback titled “You Don’t Need a Smartphone.” It’s a practical guide to a post-smartphone life, advising carrying a compact mirror and deck of cards, and checking email once a week at the public library.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing