Never owned a SIM card, so don’t have to deal with phone calls when I am out and about. Use Skype and TeleGuard to make voip calls. Have WiFi at home and work, so people can easily get hold of me when I am working. Can usually find free WiFi if I need to get hold of someone when I am out and about. Have an old iPhone 7, so can still use the apps I like. Love that there is no constant notifications, calls or emails. Things like banking can be annoying though as they like mobile numbers. Had a Skype number for a few years, so might have to go down that road again sometime unless I look for another solution. Happy to have a camera, podcasts and toy in my pocket, but not to be working 24/7.
Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
41–48 of 48 posts
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#42I don't use a smartphone in exception of receiving SMS for auth for banks and stuff.
My smartphone is always off, almost no one can join me on it and almost no one can call me unless I specifically tell them I will be reachable at a certain time.
The benefits:
- No stress of having to respond to a call in the middle of nowhere, or to have to compromise my time for non urgent conversation.
- No wasting mental energy in having to wait for a response or a call from someone.
- No stupid apps to siphon my time
- Bed time and outdoor time is not hijacked
- Way less exposure to EMFs
- More time thinking, meditating, better mental health overall
- More present in life and for people around
- More peaceful life
Cons:
- You are difficult to reach, and people will have hard time reaching you when on need
- Your social life may suffer as people consider to be reachable something essential
- Modern life is more and more centered around smartphones and this can make interaction with society unoptimized if you don't use it
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#43I'm not sure of the benefits of using a dumb phone for productivity reasons today. In the past I was fine with just text messaging and calls, but today I do most of my calls and texting through apps like WhatsApp and Signal so I need a smart phone for basic communication. It's also not possible to pull up an eTicket or pay via contactless which happens quite a lot these days and is really useful. I do however try to limit what apps I use on my smart phone -- specifically the social media apps. These days Twitter is the only social network I use and I've recently cut use of that to once a day on weekends which I feel as been good for my emotional stability.
This year I've actually been trying to go without a personal computer which has been far more interesting as I felt I personally had more of an internet addiction than a smart phone one. I'm writing this on my work laptop, but on the weekends and evenings I don't have access to a computer which means less gaming and less mindless web-browsing. I think that's allowed me to be more present in the evenings which my girlfriend appreciates and I've been doing other things like cooking and DIY.
I will need to start using a personal computer again at some point because I have some personal projects I want to work on, but I want to keep use to a minimum and ideally just use it for personal projects. I suspect people on HN may be more like me and have addictions to their computers rather than smart phones so it could be worth limiting your computer use to a certain time window rather than getting rid of your smart phone.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#44Here is how you can have a smartphone and enjoy it: - Disable notifications from all applications that are not vital to your life. I enjoy instagram, but notifications are hard-off for me. I check it on my time. - Turn off all sounds, period, only do vibrations - Shift from being pushed information to pulling it. Only check apps, SMS, etc... when you want to check them, not when your phone buzzes or blinks at you. -…
Oh my god that’s exactly what I do. Additionally: turn all iCloud syncing off, turn off Siri and the Siri settings for each app.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#45Here is how you can have a smartphone and enjoy it: - Disable notifications from all applications that are not vital to your life. I enjoy instagram, but notifications are hard-off for me. I check it on my time. - Turn off all sounds, period, only do vibrations - Shift from being pushed information to pulling it. Only check apps, SMS, etc... when you want to check them, not when your phone buzzes or blinks at you. -…
> Turn off all sounds, period, only do vibrations
I hate vibrations. I used to get PVS[0] a lot when I was naive and had all the default options turned on.
I still get it, just not as bad. Like, the smallest little rumble on my thigh and I think I've received a message/notification.
I agree with you on disabling notifications though. It's something many people don't consider. Notifications are more consistent with a 'nag' than a notification.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_vibration_syndrome
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I will say that when I wrote that, I was largely thinking of Slack in particular due to a recent experience. I started graduate school this fall, and went down to part-time at my job. I'd originally planned to keep Slack notifications turned off on days I was focused on school. Everyone was aware I wasn't working on those days, and the rest of the team is perfectly competent and able to handle themselves. In the even…
Worried about missing something important that your competent coworkers could have told you about through a number of different avenues? Definitely sounds more like (no offense intended) a rat frantically pressing a lever, waiting for one of the presses to yield a piece of cheese.
Dopamine then
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can set an app to only notify you silently. This means it won't buzz or beep, but when you pick up your phone it will be on the lock screen. Android has similar (and more) customizability options.
Notifications are still cognitive asteroids. I use my phone predominantly as a clock so a clean lock screen means nothing to worry about.
There is also the option to bypass the lock screen and only go to the Notification Center. On iOS this is called "deliver quietly".
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
My bill is generally less than half of $100/mo and my phone was significantly less than $1,000. I also use Wi-Fi the majority of the time and still find my phone generally useful in areas where I don't service. Although admittedly, loss of service is a rarity for me.
Spending $500 to get a $50 a month bill doesn’t sound that much better to me.
Of course when you word it that way :) I don't spend money on a phone for the purpose of paying a bill. I spend money on a phone and pay my monthly phone bill because I think it adds enough value to my life to make it worthwhile. Others may make a different decision on the tradeoffs and decide it's not worth it. I was just pointing out that the numbers used in your previous comment seemed very high to me.