I'll never understand the hold whatsapp has on people

The only American software I run is FOSS. I've got no problems with FOSS devs of any country. American corporations are the swollen sore on your lip you keep biting. Get rid of them and the world's your oyster.

I kinda feel like all dumb phones have to do is ship with an Signal client, the lack of WhatsApp was apparently the driving reason why the reporter went back and I think its more reasonable to expect friends to move to Signal than to SMS. (Its also really unsecure)
There are a couple of community made clients I wonder how hard it is to implement the signal protocol.

I am confused as to why they went with a dumb phone. Why not go with a non american degoogled android phone? Or to even go a step further, get a sailfish OS powered phone.

So much to unpack.

Trying to live without U.S. tech, I would find out, essentially amounts to trying to live without tech at all.

No. It's just different tech. I for one live with a lot of tech, but no US tech at all.

You know, it's possible to research products before choosing it. It's not necessary to live in a cave just to avoid US tech.

This sentence makes it sound like an impossible that should not even be started, which it isn't.

The so-called dumbphone is the type of device now enjoying a second life among people detoxing from screen time and is also a favorite of drug dealers seeking to avoid getting busted by any tracking and data collection.

This fails to mention that dump phones still lead to metadata collection nerwork-side, using it for drug dealing is just dumb. Drug dealers that are a bit more smart would use Signal and perhaps a Google-free Android ROM.

I did notice that I was pacing up and down my flat because my usually overstimulated brain apparently couldn’t handle focusing on a voice-only call.

Doesn't mean it's hard to live without the US tech, it means US tech is making live harder.

Swearing off Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and YouTube was also part of the deal — already eliminating a sizable chunk of my leisure time.

Perhaps the author should look for a hobby?

Also, I see two critical areas where things need to change:

• communication: Just use XMPP. Find a provider in the EU. Fascists can do a lot of damage when they control your communication.
• money: blocking flows of money can hurt us pretty bad and just the US knowing those flows is already bad