Which leads us back to the Palm phone. It’s not the first phone to try to suss out a happy medium between being hyper-connected and disconnected, but it may be the most promising. It’s not cutting you off from your digital self so much as it’s making it less alluring: apps run smaller and slower, it’s designed so notifications are easily muted, and it even lacks volume buttons. Using it isn’t seamless, but that’s the point.
The best feature of the Palm, though, might be turning the act of leaving the house with your phone into a decision. Do you need your main phone, with its huge screen and serious power, or would you rather take its mini-me, something that keeps you connected but doesn’t tempt you with digital delights. Just forcing you to think about it feels like progress.
Can tech save us from tech? I think it can. Because quitting anything cold turkey almost never works. Because I don’t see how you can look at how 2018 compares to 1918 and not think technology, for all its flaws, is a net benefit to society. And because smartphones — or whatever you want to call these little computers we carry around with us — isn’t something most of us can just divorce from. Ironically, being open to multiple partners might be the best way to save that relationship.
