By Cristin Marker
In June of 2023, I visited what I still think is one of the most beautiful places in the country: Buttersville, Michigan. My family stayed at a quiet, unassuming campground on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan — perfect weather, sandy beaches and picturesque views of the lake. Even with the frigid water temperature, Buttersville is a hidden gem.
The campground had a tiny office where you could buy firewood and other essentials. It was also the only place where you could get even a weak Wi-Fi signal; cellular service and internet were non-existent everywhere else. And yet, despite being in this beautiful place with the people most important to me, I found myself absentmindedly drifting towards this weak little signal. For what? I’m not entirely sure — Gmail, work email, Teams, Reddit, Googling whatever random question popped into my head and necessitated an immediate answer, or a mix of all of the above.
Around this same time, my sister and I had started the painful and disorienting process of trying to get a Dementia diagnosis for my mom. At the young age of 64 and on the brink of retirement, she began showing symptoms that we couldn’t ignore, but the path to diagnosing this cruel disease is long and confusing.
Nothing highlights your warped relationship with attention like choosing Wi-Fi over the beach and your family, while simultaneously Googling ‘early signs of dementia’ about your own mother. In the months prior, I had taken some steps to reduce my screentime, but in this moment I realized that all my half-hearted attempts to ‘use my phone less’ weren’t actually changing anything — my phone still held more of my presence than the people and moments that actually mattered.
When I got home, after far too much agonizing over whether I could survive without Google Maps and 24/7 access to Reddit, I ordered a Sunbeam F1 flip phone and officially decided to “go dumb.” I’ve since moved on to the Light Phone III, but in the almost three years since that first plunge, my “dumb” decision has been more impactful than I ever could have expected. So I’m thankful for this opportunity to share the struggles, the hacks, and the weird little wins for anyone out there feeling even remotely dumb-curious.
