Help me go more analogue

[Telephonelightflashing]

I've recently found myself in a hotel with no WiFi. After my initial disappointment at not watching netflix on my iPad- I spent mu time watching silly low stakes telly (come dine with me) reading and having a long bath in quiet and miraculously my brain felt calm for the first time in a few years.
This has really made me think about going more analogue at home. If you live a more analogue life at home do you recommend? I know there will be loads of snarky ones on here who will attempt to make this seem silly or obvious so what I'm really asking is if you have made the switch, how did you do it and did it help?
My current ideas are

1. Keep my phone in a basket by the door like an old landline would have been to stop it being In my hand constantly
2. Switch from Spotify and you tube to having the radio on live play (I was thinking of trying radio 4)

3 reach for a book or magazine instead of my phone

Have you done this and what do you lot recommend?

Pick up an activity that occupies your hands. I knit, crochet, embroider and currently trying my hand at sewing a Victorian lampshade. Then I don't have spare hands to reach for my phone. I have an audiobook on at the same time playing through my speaker so while i do have to use my phone to set it up, I don't have it near enough to mindlessly grab it.

This is a great tip and I love crafting so I could do this.

I often eat lunch while reading, and sewing/cleaning is done with a podcast on - it's on my phone but my phone isn't necessarily near me, so no scrolling.

I second the analogue hobbies. I do still tend to listen to an audiobook or something 'talky' on YouTube while drawing, painting, or whatever else I'm doing that day, but it feels the same as watching/listening to the TV to me.

I have found that book reading dosent interest me much now .

This is another one of my reasons for wanting to tackle as I used to LOVE reading my my attention span is shot! I want to build it back up

You may need to actively work to increase attention span back to pre-smartphone levels.
Read up on 'friction-maxxing'.

Read paper books.
Watch regular TV.
Buy DVDs and CDs.
Unsubscribe from streaming.
Phone instead of messaging.
Play cards or boardgames.
Look out of the window on a bus.
Crafting, cooking, gardening instead of scrolling.

Turn any push notifications on your phone off, so you don’t constantly get distracted by checking them. Crafting is a great idea. You could also take up baking or gardening (though maybe wait until the spring for that one!)

Some people have an ‘analogue bag’ ready with things they could reach for instead of a phone.

Agree.

I have 4 unfinished unread good books that I started about 3 years ago 🫣. As a 50 something year old, who was the last to go online and get a smartphone, this is deeply troubling 😩.
I'm genuinely concerned for young people who have never known life without analogue.

*without smartphones**

For those who mentioned regular TV, it is still digitial. Analogue signal in the UK was turned off in 2012.

CDs and DVDs are also digital. Analogue would be cassette tape and VHS.

I don't have a smartphone (husband does) and have kept our landline.
Everything 'online' is sorted on an ageing iPad and I try to use actual websites. I will never use an app unless forced into it.
And I've always kept some physical media - mostly dvds of ancient and comforting films which just aren't broadcast anymore.
Shelves full of books.
Sitting on lonely beaches admiring the distance.
Boardgames for if and when the power goes - and mechanical alarm clocks.
I can't imagine gazing into a screen for hours on end.

Start with what you’re interested in and, if you’re lucky enough to have had a life pre smart phones, think back to what you did with your time before them and try to replicate that. I used to read a lot more so have made a big effort to do this. I keep a reading diary with start and end dates so I can see how long it’s taking me to read a book.

Jigsaw puzzles.

I was just going to say the same! I love a jigsaw puzzle. Also crosswords.

I really enjoy colouring . It is so relaxing. My daughter has some amazing paint by numbers on her sitting room wall that she has done in the evenings when the children are in bed .

Same here, will follow the thread.

I think I need to do this too.
I’d definitely recommend Radio 4. That or Classic FM is constantly on in my house. Partly for my dog and I love the burble of it in the background. I also make hot drinks the long way round so a stovetop moka pot for a coffee. My concentration span is also shot, especially with regard to watching something on TV. I too have loads of craft things to complete so I’m going to dig one out later today and have a go.
Id love to know how you get on @Telephonelightflashing

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jan/14/switching-smartphone-for-dumbphone-guide

just remembered this guardian article that has lots of tips

Yes, obviously - but if you just watch what is programmed rather than streaming/scheduling/pausing etc. the life impact is equivalent.

I've stopped wearing my smart watch as ive found that the notifications from my phone made me pick up my phone even when doing other things Irealise I could turn off the notifications but the watch is very old and as im considering buying a new one i thought I would find out if I would miss it.

I think the op means physical, tangible, not reliant on WiFi. OP i made a conscious effort a few years back to get back k to reading, crafts, puzzles. Radio 4 is excellent as are a lot of history podcasts. I teach teens and there is an actual, measurable de line in their cognitive ability to focus, absorb and read anything longer than a paragraph now.

Radio 4 is great.

I listen to all sorts of things that I wouldn't actively go looking for / choose which turn out to be interesting. Currently I've been randomly catching a series on Jonathan Swift & Gulliver's Travels.

I've been listening to the sherlock and co series. A modern take on sherlock. really enjoyed it