Performative minimalism

Light Phones are the promise of "simple devices with quality tools, designed to be used as little as possible". Minimal invites me to "scroll less and live more". Mudita offers "a minimalist E Ink® phone for less screen time, and fewer distractions". Punkt believes I could do with a device "seamlessly blending simplicity and timeless design to help [me] stay focused on what truly matters."

I am basically their perfect target customer. I care about minimalism. I often fall back to Bauhaus' design principles in my professional and personal life, and genuinely believe Dieter Rams when he said good design is "as little design as possible." So for me, the match with this new breed of digital devices should be absolutely perfect. I should have one of these in my pocket right now.

Let me try to explain why I don't.

Is it... performative minimalism?

What these devices are doing feels like something I’d call "performative minimalism": something that looks minimal, but is in reality functionally worse. The companies behind them have put the aesthetics of minimalism (clean lines, sparse interfaces, grayscale everything) above preserving the core functions of a very well-thought experience.

Yes, they take away the doomscrolling, and the dependence to tech giants, to some extent. But they also introduce noticeable friction in other ways: lower quality camera, broken group chats, harder-to-read maps navigation, being unable to use some essential apps, having some features managed on a separate device, a slower typing experience... and they do it all in the form of a new device replacing one you own, and that probably works just fine.

So maybe that’s what really bothers me: the imbalance of the trade, and the label it comes under. I shouldn't have to give up everything useful about my smartphone just to solve my screen time problem, especially not in the name of "intentional living".

Why it matters

I could get rid of the sofa in my living room, and the space would instantly "look more minimal". But it would also stop being a place where I can sit and relax. Removing the sofa is performative minimalism: mistaking visual minimalism (the optics) for functional minimalism (the purpose).

If screen time and digital overwhelm are the real problems these companies want to address, their solutions feel like over-engineered and expensive corrections. Not just in price, but in everything else they ask you to give up along the way.

Or maybe I'm just too idealistic about minimalism. I see it as a principle you follow, not as something you can buy.