Today, I’m embarking on a 30 day experiment to see if I can live (and do my job) in the modern world without a smartphone.
Why?
I’ve been a tech enthusiast all my life: always had to have the latest, greatest, newest, and shiniest gadget I could afford. Here lately, it feels like the tech is taking over and just making me miserable. “Always connected”, notification fatigue, endless doom scrolling, "download our app for [super basic thing that shouldn’t require an app], etc. I love my smartphone, but I feel like it’s a “ball and chain” that’s causing me unneeded stress.
I’ve been wanting to try this for some time, but the “killer app”, so to speak, on my smartphone is hospot mode. I use that heavily for both work and personal use, and I only recently realized that modern “dumb” phones could do that now. Suddenly this experiment became possible, so I bought a cheap dumb phone and decided to give it a try.
So, can I go 30 days without a smartphone, and will I see any quality of life improvements (or perhaps the opposite)? Only one way to find out.
Conditions of the experiment:
I bought a modern-era “dumb” flip phone and moved my SIM to it yesterday evening. It’s not a true “dumb” phone, though. It runs a stripped down version of Android, so I’m able to install a few “must have” apps that I need such as my MFA and credit union app. I made a concession with the banking app since the closest branch office is 45 minutes away (I don’t consider the MFA app to be a concession since some of the dumber dumb phones had support for at least TOTP generators).
That’s it for the apps. No email, IM/chat apps, web browser, etc (though I can run all of those it seems). The only “apps” will be the ones that would be standard for a dumb phone of the mid 2000s (calendar, camera, alarm, music player, etc). I’ve already connected it over USB and loaded up era-appropriate music from my local collection 😆
Rules:
- I’ll allow myself to carry my smartphone (w/o SIM card) in my bag, powered off, in case I do need it for something urgent, but I won’t carry it on my person or use it beyond immediate need. Will connect to my “dumb” phone via its hotspot for internet.
- If I do need to break out the old smart rectangle, I should look to see if there is a way to accomplish what I need without it.
- This experiment cannot interfere with my job duties.
- I’ve setup an SMS bridge on my server to forward certain critical alerts. I used to do this back when all phones were dumb phones, so I don’t feel it’s breaking the spirit of the experiment. These will only be “the datacenter is on fire” level alerts, so I don’t anticipate many (or any).
So, here goes. I’m not sure what to expect or how this will turn out and even less sure I’ll make it the full 30 days. Wish me luck.
I broke my phone on the first day of a music festival a few weeks ago (went without it for 6 days). The living without it part was easy - I was camping at a big multi-day event with friends, and random people were easy/nice to talk to. I made new friends that I otherwise wouldn’t have. Certainly being stimulated by the event made a difference, so I’d recommend finding new things to occupy yourself. But you might find it easier than you think.
The part I had the most trouble with was the banking, which isn’t an issue you’ll have under your conditions. I knew I had money in the bank, but I didn’t know how much was in my chequing account linked to my card. I was worried about health insurance premium etc. being taken out of my account and leaving me no money for food or party favours. The lines for food were long and while waiting I was half expecting to be declined at point of sale.
As such it seems a little bit of a cheat to have continuous access to your banking app, but I’m sure it’ll be a positive experience for you nonetheless and that concession should ensure your ability to practically function for work etc. Good luck!
Another part of this experience was driving through the Canadian Rockies and getting to really appreciate the environment. I think over time that road trip will be even more memorable just due to my attention not being diverted towards my phone. A beautiful place I look forward to visiting again!
I still carry the mental scars from when I was poor and still get anxious every time the card terminal takes too long (not that I’m rich now, lol, just a little above paycheck to paycheck).
But yeah, that’s basically the whole rationale for allowing that concession. The alternative would be calling the bank, but sometimes you have to sit on hold for 5-10 minutes, and I would be mortified to hold up a checkout line that long lol.