Welcome to a new week, readers. Writing to you from New York, I’m Avery Hartmans.
When was the last time you used a flip phone? For a lot of us, it’s probably been years, maybe even more than a decade. But for the teenage members of the Luddite Club, flip phones have become the norm. They’re giving up social media and relying on face-to-face conversations in an effort to free themselves from the attention-hogging tyranny of smartphones.
Personally, I’m not ready to give up my iPhone just yet, but I think they’re onto something.
We’re exploring that and more — including a new phenomenon called the “toggling tax” — below. Let’s dive in.
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Hand throwing social media icons into a trashcan with cracked iPhones 4×3
Rachel Mendelson/Insider
1. How one smartphone-addicted teen learned to become a Luddite. High schooler Lola Shub was a self-described “screenager,” snapping selfies and mindlessly scrolling through social media. When a friend ditched her smartphone for good, it inspired Shub to swap her iPhone for a flip phone.
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Shub is now part of the Luddite Club, a group of New York City teens who meet at their local library. The club has only one rule: no smartphones here.
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Since giving up her smartphone, Shub says she has more space to think creatively, more time to read, and better concentration. She and many of her friends have given up Instagram and they prefer phone calls over texting.
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“If I have one overarching message for my fellow teenagers, it’s this: Spend time getting to know yourself and exploring the world around you,” Shub writes. “It’s so much more fulfilling — and so much more real — than the one inside your expensive little box.”
Here’s how this teen put down her smartphone and learned live in the moment.
In other news:
Aerial view of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China
VCG/VCG via Getty Images
2. The fate of the world economy may depend on a company many Americans have never heard of. Taiwan-based TSMC is the world’s biggest chipmaker — its chips power everything from cars to washing machines to iPhones. But as tensions escalate with China, the fate of Taiwan hangs in the balance. Here’s why trillions of dollars could be at stake.
3. Twitter insiders brace for Elon Musk-induced “chaos.” Musk appears to be days away from owning Twitter, but so far, he’s done little to no work to transition the company under his control, insiders say. In the meantime, staffers are bracing for huge job cuts and an overhaul that would turn Twitter into a “super app.” Everything we know so far.
4. It’s time to make Facebook Facebook again. As Mark Zuckerberg focuses on his metaverse passion project — and spends $15 billion in the process — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are being neglected, Insider’s Travis Clark writes. Here’s why it’s time for Zuck to refocus …….