It’s those damn phones, is something I often heard jokes about parents saying, and my parents and grandparents would say things with a similar message.

Like many in my generation I would shrug it off, however as I have gotten older I have come to notice that many behavioural patterns of mine are so deeply ingrained in me, that I cannot help but use my mobile phone at the earliest (in)convenience.

That is not necessarily my fault, a (modern) mobile phone is practically a requirement for every day use, I use it to check my banking, pay my bills, check my groceries, hell– even pay for my groceries. If I need to call someone, or if I do not know something- if I need to remember something or plan something my phone is there, and it practically has become an extension of my brain.

Now obviously, I do not think that most of these things are bad, many of these things in fact are quite harmless, however here comes the burden of having an “everything device”; distractions immediately appear, advertisements for services, foods, goods and other things you did not know you needed (or so it feels).

It is quite innocent to open up your phone and decide that now is the perfect time to watch just a few reels, ofcourse they are entertaining and fun to watch, but you can get stuck in a vicious cycle of going to reel to reel, and every platform seems to have them now.

A neoclassical remedy

I, as quite the “techy” guy myself, still want to tinker with my devices, be it to install custom firmware, make it do little tricks for me, or anything else that tickles my needs just right.

So my search began, I was interested in potentially getting my hands on an eReader, however most eReaders have proprietary hardware and software that do not allow me to make the changes I wanted, until I stumbled upon the Xteink X4 Pro.

A couple points sold me immediately, one was that it almost seemed the default for people to install their own firmware on this device, but also that the price point was hard to argue against, so I bit the bullet.

I ordered it, and I was pleasantly surprised at the build quality, the screen was nice, the device felt solid, and the buttons were good.

I flashed CrossPoint Reader (alt) to it, and got a couple free books on there to start.

It will take a few weeks to change my habits, but I intend to replace my spontaneous grabbing of my phone in small moments of boredom, to instead grab my eReader and read here and there.