Today’s Big Story

Dumb Phones to the Rescue

Can using minimalist and analog gadgets cure our collective “brain rot”?

Are you reading this on your smartphone? The possibility is high, since the vast majority of Americans (91% to be exact) use a smartphone daily, up from just 35%, since the Pew Research Center’s first survey of smartphone ownership conducted in 2011. And if you have a smartphone, chances are you’re on it … a lot. Because we can do so much on them. I can work, edit pics, text friends, watch videos, read my favorite newsletters and play Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket. And it seems like whenever I’m not staring at that little screen, I get a ping with an alert or reminder making me flick my screen awake once again.

This feedback loop is what’s stressing people out. So much so, that they’re willing to switch to so-called “dumb phones” at an impressive rate. These streamlined phones offer minimal functions—a respite of sorts from the pandora’s box awaiting you with a smartphone. Of course, for many millennials, boomers and beyond, a dumb phone is familiar. For teenagers and young adults, cellphones using T9 word and lacking bells and whistles (minus Snake, of course) are legitimate relics.

But they come with a promise: the limited-friction phones offer a world free from distractions. Can they really help us focus and retrain our minds, alleviating the modern ailment known as “brain rot”? Brian X. Chen, the New York Times’s lead consumer technology writer, tested the theory while trying out the new Light Phone III from popular Brooklyn start-up Light.

The newest version, which began shipping last month and is set for a broader release in July, can place calls, send texts, take photos, show map directions, play music and podcasts … but not much else. There is no web browser. There is also no app store, meaning there’s no Uber to hail a ride, no Slack and no social media. There isn’t even email. “I was curious to see if the Light Phone could cure me of brain rot, so I used it as my primary phone for a week. There were moments I enjoyed it. While waiting for a train, resting at the gym or eating alone, I was not tempted to stare at the phone screen, and I felt more mindful of my surroundings. Phone calls sounded nice and clear. The maps app did a fine job navigating me around town,” writes Chen. “It reminded me of simpler times when we used phones primarily to converse before putting them away to focus on other tasks.”

Of course, some are going even more old school: Caitlin Begg, a sociologist and founder at Authentic Social, tells Yahoo Life that she is a part of the “digital minimalism” movement herself. She’s a New York City-based researcher and podcaster, but relies heavily on a landline she bought off eBay for communication. Cal Newport, a computer scientist and author who writes about the intersection of technology and productivity, is largely credited with the concept after releasing the book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. He previously blogged about his criticism of “our culture’s increasingly Orwellian allegiance to social media.” He acknowledged that there should be a solution other than turning off notifications or ridding yourself of these technologies altogether. It’s good for some, but I’m afraid my Instagram addiction rivals that of nicotine at the moment.

Trump Defends Tariffs As Markets Plunge

The president isn’t backing down on tariffs, says ‘you have to take medicine’

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he won’t back down on his sweeping tariffs on imports from most of the world unless countries even out their trade with the U.S.—digging in on his plans to implement the taxes that have sent financial markets reeling, raised fears of a recession and upended the global trading system.

Speaking with reporters on Air Force One as he returned from his weekend in Florida, Trump said he did not “want anything to go down,” but “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.” The comments came as U.S. stock futures dropped on Sunday evening (indicating more selling is likely to hit today). At the start of trading in Asia and Europe this morning, financial markets were hit hard by another wave of selling as investors and economists grapple with rising odds of a severe economic downturn. The price of Bitcoin has plunged 10% since the tariffs were announced, dropping below $78,000 last night, and U.S. oil prices fell by 15%.

The higher tariffs are set to be collected beginning Wednesday, ushering in a new era of economic uncertainty with no clear end in sight. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said unfair trade practices are not “the kind of thing you can negotiate away in days or weeks.” The United States, he said, must see “what the countries offer and whether it’s believable.” He added that more than 50 nations had started negotiations with the U.S. since last Wednesday’s announcement.

Third Child Dies Amid Measles Outbreaks

RFK now says MMR vaccine is the "most effective way" to prevent spread

A second school-age child who was hospitalized with measles is the third measles-related death in the U.S. since the virus started ripping through Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio and Oklahoma in late January. The multi-state outbreak confirms health experts’ fears that the virus will take hold in other U.S. communities with low vaccination rates and that the spread could stretch on for a year. The World Health Organization said last week that cases in Mexico are linked to the Texas outbreak.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who has a long record of sowing skepticism about vaccines—advocated for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine during a visit to West Texas on Sunday to comfort two families whose children died of the disease. He said he was also there to learn how the Department of Health and Human Services can help control the outbreak.

Hours after his pro-vaccine post, Kennedy followed up with photos of his visit to Texas, including with two doctors he described as “extraordinary healers” who used the steroids and an antibiotic that infectious diseases specialists say are not recommended measles treatments. Other health experts have expressed concern that Kennedy has not addressed the outbreak with what they consider to be sound guidance. Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana—a medical doctor who voted to confirm Kennedy to lead HHS but who has asked him to stop linking vaccines to autism—called Sunday for more overt support for measles vaccinations. “Everyone should be vaccinated!” Cassidy wrote on X. “There is no treatment for measles. No benefit to getting measles. Top health officials should say so unequivocally [before] another child dies.”

Ovechkin Breaks 25-Year NHL Record

The Washington Capitals forward eclipsed Wayne Gretzky career goals on Sunday

Alex Ovechkin scored career goal No. 895 on Sunday as his Washington Capitals faced the New York Islanders. The score broke one of sports' all-time great records and eclipsed the mark legend Wayne Gretzky set more than 25 years ago.

As the slapshot rocketed the puck past Ilya Sorokin—the 183rd goaltender Ovechkin has scored on—at 7:26, the anticipation turned into an explosion. Sports writer Bailey Johnson says the enduring image of the feat will no doubt be his “full-extension belly slide across the ice, which featured the jubilant exuberance of a child despite his 39 years of life.”

And as NBC Sports points out, Ovechkin broke Gretzky’s record despite multiple obstacles that deflated whatever his final goal count ends up being. The 2004-05 NHL season, which would have been his first, was canceled because of a lockout. The 2012-13 season was shortened because of another lockout, and both the 2020 and 2021 seasons were shortened because of the pandemic.

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