When mobile phones first hit the mainstream in the mid-1990s, they all had one thing in common: buttons. There were buttons to help you ploddingly compose a text, buttons to help you navigate menus, and buttons to direct a hungry snake around your screen. 

Fast-forward a decade, and these pushable interfaces all but disappeared, swept aside by the rise of touchscreens. However, for one ethical smartphone company, buttons are making a comeback, as part of an effort to help users intentionally switch off. 

The newly released Fairphone (Gen. 6) doesn’t have many buttons, but it wants to make the ones it does have count. Like the fluorescent lime-coloured switch on the right-hand side, which flicks it into Fairphone Moments, a mindful mode that cuts out notifications and allows just five essential apps.

For Miquel Ballester, co-founder and head of product at Fairphone, a button was an intentional choice. “We wanted the moment of ‘unplugging’ to feel intentional and easy to use,” he explains. “So, there’s a real, tactile lime switch on the side of the phone. It’s both a function control and a little reminder that you’re choosing calm over constant notifications.”

An ever-growing sea of alerts is flooding our devices, and it’s a growing problem for our mental health. Studies have found that these constant pings can trigger neurological changes that impact productivity, concentration and levels of distraction. You don’t even need to interact with your phone for the effects to happen.

“Each and every single notification you get triggers a mini stress response,” says Kamalyn Kaur, a psychotherapist and anxiety expert. “On a physiological level, this is going to result in a spike of cortisol and adrenaline in your body. As your brain registers this chemical reaction, it actually feels the need to respond to something.

“Over time, the more notifications you get, the more you’re constantly switched on and on edge. This ends up leading to mental fatigue and emotional dysregulation, and you’re never truly able to switch off,” explains Kaur. 

“Even if you’re on a task, you still naturally glance at your phone screen to see what’s going on. Our brain isn’t wired to handle that constant influx of input. We have to make almost a micro-choice in that moment. Do I respond now or later? The more decisions you make, the more depleted you start to feel.”

While there isn’t an easy solution for ‘alert fatigue’ in our busy lives, for Kaur, the key is being more intentional with our devices. “I think we have to be practical about this. In all of our jobs, leaving your phone is just not a possible option.” 

Instead, she suggests setting up mindful modes that only allow truly urgent notifications through, enforcing “connection curfews” to turn off devices at night, and what she calls “digital doorways”, where you only check your phone at specific times, with pre-set conditions on how long for and what apps you’ll look at.

Chloë Webster, a meditation teacher and slow living advocate from North Wales, takes a similar approach. At 9pm every Friday, she begins a digital detox, powered by both her own willpower and her phone’s notification and screentime settings. She doesn’t switch back on until 9am on Monday morning.

“I just imagine that social media turns off,” she explains. “I wanted to really be present on my weekend. I actually look forward to it because I feel that I haven’t got that kind of inner pull of anxiety to check my phone constantly. Two days almost resets your brain. I feel that it’s long enough that you move past that impulse to constantly check your phone.”

For the team at Fairphone, it’s exactly this kind of scenario the team hopes to help realise: balancing high-end specs with the ability to switch off at the touch of a button. Ballester describes its aims as getting “both power and peace in a single device”. 

Ethics and sustainability are also integral parts of the mission: the Fairphone (Gen. 6) is guaranteed at least eight years of software updates and is supported by a five year warranty. To address obsolescence, it features a unique modular design, where key parts, including batteries, screens and cameras, are user-replaceable at home. Supply chains are traced and published, from raw materials to final assembly. Fairphone also has a commitment to fair pay and the lowest possible environmental impact.

This was particularly important for Stewart Newman, head of utilities at The Midcounties Co-operative, which oversees Your Co-op Mobile. It’s currently the only UK retailer to sell the Fairphone (Gen. 6) with a SIM. “Your Co-op Mobile and Fairphone have a deep-rooted connection based on shared ethical principles, including sustainability, fairness and social responsibility. So, when Fairphone began in 2013, supporting its mission to create fairer tech that had the planet and people in mind was a natural fit. Fast-forward to today and we’re its longest-standing UK partner.”

Ultimately, for both Webster and Kaur, making positive changes to our digital diet comes back to being intentional. “Do I want to stay the same this time next year? Do I still want to be scrolling on my phone? It’s about taking the reins a little bit and setting a boundary.”

It could even start with pressing a button.

Switch to a phone that’s fairer for people and planet. Visit: https://broadband.yourcoop.coop/fairphone-UK/

Main image: shironosov