In November 2021, I finally gave up trying to control my compulsive habit of using my smartphone to view pornography. I replaced my Samsung S10 smartphone with a Jethro SC490 feature phone, a so-called “dumbphone” designed for seniors. The transition has been difficult, painful and inconvenient, but I have never been happier. Here’s why and how I made the move, and why I’m never going back.
Why I gave up my smartphone
I have been a Christian since the summer of 1991. I was converted at the age of 31. One of the defining moments of my conversion was the deliverance I received from my alcoholism. God took away my desire to drink, a Class A Miracle that I rank right up there with Moses parting the Red Sea. I have not touched a drop of alcohol since that day in June of 1991 when God saved me from the bottle without me even asking.
Today, I know that having alcohol in my home is a foolish idea. I know that carrying a hip flask of whisky around with me during the day is a crazy idea. A recovering alcoholic doesn’t go near alcohol. A recovering addict doesn’t carry heroin in his pocket. But there I was in November of 2021, still fighting my battle with porn while carrying porn in my pocket. I took my smartphone everywhere, even into the bathroom. And everywhere I took it, it tempted me to sin.
I couldn’t look at pornographic websites on my phone because they were blocked with Covenant Eyes, the app on my phone that denied access to porn sites and held me accountable for my smartphone use by sending to my accountability partner daily reports of places I visited online. But I am a creative person, and I used my creativity to find videos, images, sound files and words online that were not pornographic, exactly, but were still inappropriate. They caused me to lust, caused me to sin sexually, and so they were wrong.
I had installed Covenant Eyes on all my devices over a decade before, but I still found myself struggling with lust. And my smartphone gave me an easy, free and private way to indulge my sin. I found ways to get around the Covenant Eyes filters, but I still ended up feeling ashamed, deceitful and defeated after I fell into sin. I finally decided that for me to get victory in this area of my Christian walk, I had to get rid of the source of my temptation. Jesus tells me that if my right eye causes me to sin, I am to pluck it out and cast it from me. Well, my smartphone was causing me to sin, so I decided that it had to go.
How I gave up my smartphone
I didn’t have the courage to give up my smartphone at first. I was afraid of being perceived as a radical, a legalist, even a fanatic or crackpot. After all, who in their right mind wants to navigate through life in the 21st century without a smartphone? I didn’t, not initially, anyway. So, I went online and searched for articles about people who had ditched their smartphones. I found plenty. I even found profiles of CEOs of technology firms who used flip phones. They did so to regain focus, get back more of their time, and avoid distractions (not to quit porn), but they showed me that giving up a smartphone was possible.
I researched the market to discover the kind of phone I could carry around that would not give me access to porn. These phones are called feature phones or dumbphones. Some people refer to this category of phone as “flip phones.” The defining feature of these dumbphones is that they provide zero access to the internet, or only limited access.
I went with the Jethro SC490. It has no browser, no social media apps, and no way to connect to the internet over the cellular network or Wi-Fi. It has a calculator, alarm, calendar, stopwatch and other apps, but none of these apps have backdoors that allow a user to access the internet. The device lets me place and receive phone calls, send and receive texts, and use alarms to wake me in the morning and remind me of upcoming appointments. And it has a flashlight. Bonus. But that’s about it.
Life without a smartphone
I suspected that downgrading from a smartphone to a dumbphone would be inconvenient, even frustrating, and it has been. When I am out and about, I no longer have Google Maps in my pocket. I no longer have an internet browser on hand whenever and wherever I need it. I can’t receive and send emails, which is a pain, because I am self-employed, and I like to make myself available to my clients at all hours no matter where I am. I no longer have the news apps I liked to read throughout the day.
In short, downgrading to a feature phone has been inconvenient and painful. I miss the convenience of searching for nearby stores, gas stations and restaurants while travelling with my wife and kids. I am an amateur photographer, so I miss having a high-quality camera in my pocket, one that uploads my images directly to Google Photos in the cloud.
But I don’t miss the porn. I don’t miss the easy, 24/7 access to inappropriate websites, lewd images and other pornographic content. I don’t miss the shame of deleting my internet browsing history. I don’t miss the feeling of dread I carried about for days after viewing something inappropriate on my phone, fearful that my wife would discover it. Today, I have a clear conscience with God and with my wife. I don’t carry around the weight of guilt that I carried for every year that I carried that smartphone.
Now that I am no longer carrying an internet browser in my pocket, I suddenly find myself with hours to spare in my day. The time I used to spend online on my phone I now spend cycling, reading, teaching myself to fly (with Microsoft Flight Simulator, that is) and working on this blog.
Another major benefit of ditching my smartphone is that I am no longer living a lie. When I carried porn in my pocket, I showed a Christian persona to the world while indulging my sin in private. I appeared on the outside to be a godly man who walked with the Lord, but inwardly I was a man who committed adultery with his phone and who engaged in the very sexual immorality that God forbids and speaks against from Genesis to Revelation.
Conclusion
Downgrading from a smartphone to a dumbphone was humiliating. It humbled me because I finally had to admit that I lacked self-control where sexual temptation was concerned. For the longest time I was unwilling to pay the price required for my sexual purity. I thought I needed my smartphone for work. I thought getting rid of it would make my life impossibly difficult. But I eventually came to believe that Jesus was serious when he said I am to eliminate anything that’s valuable, convenient or helpful in my life if it causes me to sin sexually. That meant my smartphone had to go. My decision has come at a considerable cost. But I am happily paying it.
FAQs about ditching your smartphone as a Christian man
Q. Why should I ditch my smartphone as a Christian man?
A. If your phone causes you to sin, you must pluck it from your life and cast it away.
Q. But isn’t porn use primarily a heart issue, not a technology issue?
A. Yes, porn is a heart issue. But if technology causes you to sin sexually, get rid of it. Either that or be cast into hell.
Q. How do I find a suitable dumbphone?
A. Your dumbphone has to meet three criteria:
1. It works with your cellular carrier (this means any phone you buy online or through a retailer must be unlocked)
2. It must work for your region of the world (North America has a different standard than the rest of the world, for example)
3. It cannot offer any way to access the internet. Some feature phones don’t come with an internet browser but they have apps, such as social media and news apps, with internet browsers built in. These apps provide a backdoor to porn and other inappropriate online content
Q. Isn’t getting rid of my smartphone a radical step?
A. Yes, it is. Your colleagues, friends and family may think you have joined a cult. No matter. When your eternal destiny is at stake, no step you take to avoid sexual sin is too radical.
Q. I need my smartphone for work, so I can’t downgrade to a dumbphone. What can I do?
A. Install Covenant Eyes on your phone and make your supervisor the accountability partner who receives daily reports of the places you visit online. If you can’t do that, and if your smartphone keeps causing you to sin sexually, change jobs.
Q. How do I navigate without Google Maps on my phone?
A. Go old school and carry a map. Ask for directions.
Q. How do I do online banking without a banking app on my phone?
A. Do your online banking on a desktop, laptop or tablet.
Q. How do I pay for purchases without Apple Pay or Google Pay?
A. Use cash, credit card or debit card.
Q. How do I stay organized without a calendar on my phone?
A. Switch to a paper day planner, or carry a tablet that has your calendar on it.
Q. Without a smartphone, what do I do when I am standing in line?
A. Read the New Testament in paperback. Talk with someone else in the line. Think. Pray.
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