Why I Ordered the Callback 8020 Even Though I’m Not a Fan of Perifractic

Hey All,

I put in an order for the Commodore Callback 8020 this week.

Yeah, even though I’m not a fan of Perifractic or the choice of Commodore to do a phone as a product. But after this weekend’s news adding tio the increasing technology changes— YouTube rules and restrictions and possible Government censoring, and Sony announcing they’re ending physical disc production for new PlayStation games starting January 2028 — something in my old Gen X brain clicked. The relentless push toward total digital dependency, no real ownership, everything locked behind corporate servers and algorithms… it’s accelerating. The idea and concept of limited technology isn’t just nostalgic anymore. It feels necessary.

I actually like my iPhone and I respect the real advancements in camera and video quality over the years  — those are impressive. But those enhancements come with a heavy price in other aspects of life. Technology has become so tiring and uniform. Every laptop looks the same, every phone looks the same. A new device or software update used to be fun and exciting — discovering new form factors, capabilities, and experiences with each generation. Now it’s mostly the same monotonous grind. The last truly exciting iPhone I got was the iPhone 4. I’m on the 17 now, and it has basically the identical form factor and design language as the 4. I’ve had every model since the first one, but it feels more like a yearly ritual than genuine excitement over something new and different.

The constant connectivity, notifications, and endless features end up eating so much time and attention that I don’t even have time left to properly enjoy and use the good things that advancing technology is supposed to deliver. I’m not getting rid of my iPhone or my Mac — they’re staying — but I am reevaluating how I use them so they serve me instead of the other way around.

Modern technology is deliberately designed to consume every spare second — notifications, infinite scrolls, algorithmic recommendations, constant “engagement.” It doesn’t respect your time because your attention is the product. Sony taking away physical discs is the same mindset: you won’t own your media anymore, you’ll just rent access that can be revoked whenever they decide. YouTube’s endless rule changes and limitations on what creators and users can actually do freely? Same thing. More control, less freedom, more dependency.

That’s why I’m doubling down on limited, intentional technology instead of fighting a losing battle with willpower alone.....and there is the point of this post. I'm not necessarily in agreement with the phone and Commodore. But I am in agreement with an overall concept of les technology but meaningful technology is the way to go. The phone does represent that. Also, it may fund the ability of Commodore to purchase Amiga. 

The Atari 2600 revival scene makes sense to me — finite games with clear starts and ends, no microtransactions, no FOMO, no “live service” nonsense. BBS systems where you connect on purpose, read at your own pace, and the community isn’t shaped by surveillance algorithms trying to keep you scrolling. My Ultimate 64 setups, managed CMD HD partitions, physical media (or at least deliberate digital media), and yes, even dot matrix printing — these things force you to slow down and make real choices. They have natural limits built in. They don’t pretend to be infinite — and that’s exactly what makes them exciting again.

The Callback 8020, for all my reservations about where it’s coming from, actually seems to understand this philosophy. A flip phone you can physically close when you’re done. T9 texting that makes you think before you type. No built-in social media doomscrolling or browser rabbit holes by design. It introduces deliberate friction instead of removing every last bit of it. In a world that’s trying to make everything frictionless and addictive, that feels like a sane counter-move — a tool to complement, not replace, my existing setup. Surprisingly almost 10,000 pre-orders means there is a demographic for this phone concept at this price point; like it or not.

I’m 59. I don’t have unlimited time left to waste on systems that treat human attention as an infinite resource to be mined. Now is the time to rethink how I use technology — and how much of my life technology has been using. The retro computing world, physical media where it still exists, self-hosted tools, BBS culture, and yes, even a deliberately limited phone like this one… they’re all pieces of the same resistance for me. Not because I hate progress (I love technology always have), but because unlimited, always-on, corporate-controlled tech has become its own kind of trap.

Anyone else feeling this? What limited or “old school” setups are you building or reviving to take back some control of your time and attention? I’d genuinely like to hear how other people are approaching it.

— Sutehk