Less Online

A guide on getting space from your phone.

About

This guide is intended to simplify the process of changing your relationship with your phone. It covers minimalist phone configurations, behavioral systems, and apps to help you figure out what changes are most sustainable to integrate into your life.

No ads or affiliate links. We made this initially to share with friends and family.

The Paths

Path 01

A phone lying on a wooden table, its screen blank

Make Your Smartphone Minimalist

Tools for Headspace

Start here →

Path 02

Get a Minimalist Phone

For outings, or instead of your iPhone

Start here →

// Us

We're the creators behind Decaf →, a desktop app designed to create space from your texts. It relays time-sensitive iMessages to your minimal phone, and helps you manage your iMessage inbox with intention on your Mac.

The Why

Selected essays from people going less online — the philosophy, what's to gain, and how it's going.

The philosophy On The Death of Daydreaming Christine Rosen · After Babel Phones have eaten the in-between minutes where minds used to wander; she argues small doses of boredom are good for us and ends with a simple "just daydream" experiment. Read → The philosophy How Social Media Shortens Your Life Gurwinder · The Prism Feeds break time into unconnected fragments that memory can't turn into a story, so days blur and life feels shorter. Read → What's to gain Aren't You Lonely? Freya India · After Babel Asked whether quitting social media makes her lonely, she argues the apps turned friendship into upkeep and that logging out is how deep friendships come back. Read → What's to gain The epidemic of constant communication Amanda Brown · good riddance Being reachable has become an obligation, so love and friendship get measured in reply speed; she argues for trust that survives silence. Read → How it's going My first year without an iPhone Katie Lowe · RAYON A month-by-month account of moving her SIM to a $25 Nokia, leaving every group chat, keeping messages on her laptop, and what changed in her work and head over a year. Read → How it's going Why It's Basically Impossible to Not Have a Smartphone Tom Froese · Mr. Tom Froese An illustrator and dad explains why his basic-phone switch failed (group chats stopped reaching him), how he went back to a stripped-down iPhone, and 10 tips. Read → Further reading All 51 essays →