My life was saved by a Nokia 2660
My life was saved by a Nokia 2660
Writer: Marie Tjelta
Illustrator: Linnea Santi Moe
“My life is saved by a Nokia 105, I will never waste my life on the phone again”. That’s the lyrics from a song by the band TØFL, that I’ve been listening to for a few years now. The message was always clear: Pry your eyes away from the phone and live in the moment – get an old Nokia! At the same time, I’ve always thought: “yeah, I could never do that”. Life has become too dependent on a smartphone, a Nokia is too impractical, and I like using my phone – right? At this point I did not yet know that this song brought a thought to life that would slowly but surely make me change my life drastically.
The art of boredom
The smartphone and its digital world have taken over most aspects of our lives. From sharing moments in pictures to paying, signing things and writing for us. The creation of the digital world has made our lives better in many ways. But it has cost something. The silence. Being able to sit with a piping hot cup of coffee in the morning and just exist, look at the sunrise, alone with your thoughts. Without picking up your phone, checking the news, checking what your friends posted yesterday, or watch a YouTube video about some influencer drama. Being able to just exist without the weight of the world on your shoulders.
The constant entertainment that stimulates us and magically chases boredom away has made silence into something that is best avoided. Have you ever had to sit alone and wait, maybe in a waiting room, on a bus or during a walk home – and tried not to pick up your phone? It’s difficult. And not only that, what if negative, uncomfortable thoughts creep in? Something bad that happened, or something you need to get done? That can make your hand automatically search for your phone to distract you from this discomfort. But if we don’t process our feelings and dare to sit in silence, we risk more than we might think.
The key to creativity
Silence is important because it fosters creativity and the making of things. A lot of people think that they were more creative as children than they are as adults, and that that’s just how it is. At the same time our generation grew up alongside an iPhone that filled more and more of these boring moments as we grew older. Can you remember how boring life was as a child – life before social media? You had to walk the long way home from primary school without scrolling TikTok or listening to music on Spotify. You walked those 20 minutes in silence. Your senses were turned on. Maybe you felt the wind in your hair, or smelled the freshly cut grass? You felt the seasons moving towards autumn or spring. Saw some cool leaves you picked up and studied. Wondered if elves might live in that tree? That’s how we entertained ourselves, learned and got ideas by being present in our surroundings. Today, we’ve lost this. Not just because we’ve lost our childhood, but because society as a whole lost the silence in the increasing noise from social media.
Multiple hours a day
Personally, I got tired of the noise of media, and I missed the silence and simply existing. The solution? I got a Nokia 2660 Flip. I hoped this would lead to some changes in my life, but I did not know how drastic these changes would be. When I came home with the new phone, I panicked, and I tried to figure out if I could return it. Was I stupid? Of course, I couldn’t have a Nokia – society isn’t made for that anymore. Almost everything is based around apps: what about Vy, Vipps and BankID? But when I unlocked the flip-phone and heard the nostalgic Nokia-jingle I slowly warmed up to it. It didn’t take long before I loved it.
I could make phone calls with it, that was the most important thing, I actually didn’t need anything else. The first thing I noticed the following weeks was how many more hours I had in my day. Suddenly, I had time. Time for reading, crocheting, walks, cleaning, doing schoolwork – all without it feeling hectic. I realised how many hours I waste on social media. Most of it was pure procrastination. You scroll, know you need to do something, but can’t pry your eyes away from the screen. I didn’t scroll because I enjoyed it. I scrolled because it distracted me from the everyday hassle. The hassle that, ironically, the phone created.
Getting a more primitive phone has given me several aspects of my life back. I have regained the silence, and it feels fantastic.
