Mat Duggan’s essay traces a personal arc from early smartphone enthusiasm to present-day frustration with always-on connectivity. Once a tech believer who lined up for the first iPhone and engaged in passionate arguments about iOS versus Android, Duggan now cannot name a single reason to upgrade his phone except battery degradation.
The shift reflects a broader cultural exhaustion. Duggan notes that people’s relationship to their phones reveals their fatigue: those who love being connected keep devices constantly in hand, while others “set it down the way you drop a heavy backpack after a long day of walking.”
What changed, according to Duggan, is the nature of smartphone ownership. The device has become what he calls “a tax”—no longer a choice but mandatory compliance. In Denmark, he must carry multiple apps for schools, transit, government identity verification, and official messages. Airports, hotels, and gyms all require smartphone access. Though officially voluntary, opting out carries such friction that the choice becomes meaningless, “the way the wheelchair ramp exists at certain train stations: installed after the fact, satisfying a regulation, pitched at an angle no wheelchair on earth can climb.”
The experience of owning a smartphone has homogenized. When upgrading, the only meaningful decision is color. Everything else migrates automatically via backup, creating what Duggan describes as “a soul transfer, over Wi-Fi, in ninety seconds.” He reports feeling nothing for old devices despite years of daily use.
Frustration extends beyond the hardware to the ecosystem surrounding it. Apps install themselves without user control. Storage fills with compressed photos. Ads appear everywhere—in maps, podcasts, streaming services, and app stores. Even premium subscriptions offer limited relief. A podcast app advertises a show about digital detox; streaming services alternate between ads and missing content.
The content itself has become repetitive, Duggan argues. Online discourse follows “the same broken loop of the same ten phrases.” Streaming shows follow predictable plot beats. Social media offers either unvetted opinions, softcore content, or the “cyber-dystopian hellscape” of Twitch, where desperate streamers plead for audience engagement.
The internet has become self-referential: Netflix shows feature TikTok stars managing their empires; murder documentaries consist largely of social-media commentary about the crime itself. Duggan describes this as “a closed loop,” anticipating documentaries produced while original events still unfold.
Duggan’s solution has been to leave his phone by the front door, next to the garbage. Yet fatigue persists across devices—Steam Deck downloads constantly; streaming requires navigation between apps; web-connected devices generate perpetual notifications.
Key facts
- Mat Duggan was an early smartphone enthusiast who lined up for the first iPhone but now resents the device
- In Denmark, users must carry multiple government-mandated apps for transit, schools, identity verification, and official communications
- Smartphones have become mandatory for accessing everyday services like airports, hotels, and gyms, despite being framed as optional
- Modern smartphones offer only color as a meaningful upgrade choice; all other data migrates automatically from old devices
- Ads now appear in maps, podcasts, streaming services, and app stores, with limited relief even from premium subscriptions
- Online content has become repetitive and formulaic, with streaming shows following predictable patterns and social media dominated by unvetted opinions