4 reasons why and an easy way to create your own. — I’m definitely late to this trend. Whatever. As of iOS 14’s release last year in 2020, iPhone users are now able to change the app icons on their home screens—sort of. The reason I say “sort of” is that Apple doesn’t let you do this directly. Instead, using Apple’s Shortcuts…

Two Medium apps: one for readers, one for writers. — Currently, Medium has just one app. It’s a fine app—not perfect, but it gets the job done. However, as the title of this article suggests, I wish there were two apps. Why? Why In one of my first stories on Medium, “Turn Your iPhone into the Light Phone,” I wrote how…

What if it could choose its own name? — With some exceptions, like “computer” in Star Trek, much of science fiction personifies its digital voice assistants—Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jarvis in Iron Man, Samantha in Her. And there’s a good reason for this. …

A subscription model would come at a deeper cost. — Ads on social media are no fun. Every few swipes down, there’s a curated ad getting in the way of the content you really want to see. But, of course, ads are how social media companies make their money. On most platforms, advertisers bid against each other for prime slots…

A lesson from behavioral psychology. — I‘ve been off most social media for a couple years. There’s a number of reasons why I deleted Instagram, Twitter, and the like, but the main reason is I would spend far too much time passively scrolling through my feed and never actively posting any of my own content. So…

How to organize your student life digitally — If you clicked on this article, you’ve probably heard of the “all-in-one-workspace” called Notion. If not, it’s essentially an app that can be utilized to organize the various aspects of one’s life — from note-taking and project management to habit tracking and keeping lists. I use Notion for a lot…

Steps to cure your smartphone addiction — Yes, there’s a problem. No, you don’t need a Light Phone. How to remain connected yet not always distracted? How to reclaim your time and attention habitually spent scrolling to non-existent ends of social media feeds? These are the questions that the Light Phone II attempts to answer. In the wake of The Social Dilemma and increasing awareness of the reality…

Also, (but sort of unrelated) Apple’s iPhone SE v. Google’s Pixel 4a — Introduction Disclaimer: If you’re not much into phones or the Apple v. Google debate, I’d recommend skipping this introduction and picking up in the next section 🙂 In late Spring of this year, Apple and Google were each to release a “budget” smartphone — the iPhone SE (2nd generation) and the…