Are Dumbphones Minimalist?

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Lately, I've been spending some time on the dumbphone sub-reddit and have noticed something rather amusing. It isn't uncommon for users to post pictures of their everyday carry (EDC), showing of their dumbphone. This also exposes, in an amusing fashion, a bit of a paradox with dumbphone users. "They" like to talk about minimalism, but their EDCs are anything but!

I am about to intentionally misrepresent the context of "minimalism" for dramatic effect. I'll circle back around to what I think is actually meant by minimalism in this context shortly, so put away your pitchforks for now, please.

A modern smartphone is the digital equivalent of a multi-tool. It's a single, small device that combines the functionality of many discrete objects. As a result, removing a smartphone while preserving all of the functionality that it provides requires using a bunch of different devices. For example, a modern smartphone can "technically" replace all of the following devices, depending on the use case,

and a lot more! As a result, dropping a smartphone will require carrying a lot more stuff in order to get the same functionality. So while your exposure to social media is certainly minimized, your EDC is most certainly not!

For example, here is my EDC, Picture of my EDC, as described in the upcoming list.

Ignoring the fact that I really do need a laptop for programming, only the pocket knife and ring can't be replaced by a smartphone. Originally I listed the wallet there too, but I think even payment is being taken over by apps now.

I suppose, with that in mind, my EDC could be as simple as this, My phone, engineering ring, and a pocket knife. and accomplish more or less the same thing.

That isn't an entirely fair assessment, though, because I think that most people using the word "minimal" to describe a dumbphone actually mean something different. They are referring to the fact that the dumbphone itself is minimal: it doesn't do much more than be a phone. Additionally, dumbphones can help to achieve something called digital minimalism, an idea proposed by Cal Newport in his book, Digital Minimalism, about making intentional use of technology to avoid destructive habits. This is, confusingly, a third somewhat distinct and yet related use of the word minimal.

This raises an interesting paradox. A "minimalist" device seems to be at odds with a "minimalist" lifestyle. Using single purpose devices means that you need more stuff to accomplish the same set of tasks as you could do with a multi-purpose one. In that sense, one could argue that a smartphone facilitates minimalism much more than a dumbphone.

So is a dumbphone "minimal"? Well, yes; but also no. This seems to be one of those annoying cases where the same word is used to refer to slightly different things. On the whole, it probably doesn't matter too much; nobody, other than the occasional jokester, seems to be meaningfully confused by all of these intersecting yet different definitions. But it is worth sometimes pausing to consider if everybody is actually on the same page with respect to definitions like this, or if they only think they are.