A Weekend With the Nokia 1100

Words by Cassia Percival-Day (she/her)

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Hi I’m Cassia and I’m addicted to Instagram reels. Instead of trying more mild approaches like slowly reducing my screen time or deleting the app, I decided that I needed to go cold turkey. The next time I went to my parent’s house I dug through the dreaded junk drawer. Removing tangled charging cords for obsolete iPhones, half burnt birthday candles & cassette tapes. Shoved in a dark crevice at the back of the drawer I found exactly what I was looking for. The Nokia 1100.

I have been using a brick phone on and off for a couple of weeks now. But whenever Saturday rolls around I can’t seem to commit, I switch back to my iPhone and all that comes with it. 

I decided this weekend was different.

Saturday

The event of the evening was a friend’s 21st. One of those events where you only know the guest of honour. 

I have noticed as part of this little experiment that the moment people feel socially awkward or don’t want to engage in conversation the trusty iPhone comes out. But you can’t hide behind a brick phone. Pure socialising, no distractions—the way God intended. 

I walked into town with one of my friends, musing that my phone was the size of her vape. How technology has advanced.

I read the instructions for entering her fortress style apartment building on my laptop and committed it to memory. When I got lost inside her apartment building I realised in most cases with the brick phone it’s quicker to call than text.

My main concern on previous weekends was a lack of Uber (which sounds very frivolous having to write it out). Though Wellington claims to be a walkable city, at 2am coming home from a function it does not feel like it. Thankfully there are always a flurry of Ubers available to whisk you home at the touch of a finger. But not on the Nokia. Fortunately, on this particular weekend my solution was to meet my flatmate, who works nights, and walk home together.

Sunday 

On Sunday I woke up mildly hungover with a desperate itch to get out of the house. I couldn’t bear the thought of walking into town on this day without music to fuel my walk. But the Nokia 1100 does not have Spotify. Instead, I whipped out my iPod nano and got walking. The only songs I have on the iPod are from 2015, like a musical time capsule containing exclusively songs I loved in year seven.

The less time I had on my phone the more time I had to notice. There happened to be lots of odd things happening on a Sunday morning. A man was drinking milk straight from the carton as he walked home at 11am, another man walking in front of me had comically long socks on and airing out of a second floor window were a pair of shoes.

After not being able to track down a book I was looking for, I decided to get some kai. Upon attempting to order my food at a cafe the old fashioned way, I was faced with instructions to instead order for myself on a screen a few feet away. The cafe worker then followed me to the screen and monitored me as I ordered my food. I’m not sure if it was more prominent due to the phone situation, but I did not enjoy the involvement of a screen in that interaction.

The clock struck 3pm and I noticed the horrific sensation of being in town on a Sunday afternoon creep up. I didn’t feel like staying in town for a moment longer. Feeling slightly defeated, I decided to catch the bus home. Without any way of knowing when my next bus was, my only option was going to the bus stop and committing to the wait. Luckily, the 25 was only 12 mins away. At least I had Justin Bieber & Calvin Harris blasting out of my iPod to keep me company.