I'm doing this currently. I had a job that had zero respect for my personal time and any notification from my phone would chip away at my mood to some degree. It got to the point that my phone made me miserable and I stopped answering calls / texts even from the people I would otherwise want to hear from. I've been separated from that job for years but the resentment of people I don't know being able to 'sound an alarm' on my end (hyperbolic, I know) lingered. Early this year, I canceled my phone contract and transferred my existing number to Google Voice when my physical phone died. Using this for a few days and borrowing my SO's phone to control media to the TV and I quite liked being reachable on my terms. I have since gotten a WiFi only tablet that I use for messaging / calls on the go and to deal with the TV. This works well for me as I can easily contact people when needed with minimal prior planning. I've even road tripped helping a friend move with maps.me downloading my route to my device, stopping at a McDs parking lot for wifi to place a call letting my ride know I needed pickup in ~ 20 mins, etc. It is very doable with the availability of WiFi these days (at least in my area and even along my route in rural US) and I have no plans of getting another phone any time soon. I feel like its like when I was only accessible by land line. If I'm not home or my voice app is closed, sorry -- I'll get back to you when I can.
Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone?
51–60 of 89 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone?
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly so. Though life was more annoying without a mobile phone for example (failed rendezvouz?) it happened. It's not helpful to demonise the tech rather than managing it and yourself candidly IMHO.
> Though life was more annoying without a mobile phone I disagree. My feeling is that life was much better, more "human" without mobile phones. I hate how everyone walks around staring down at their phones instead of looking at the world. It's like an addiction. It reminds me of the ST:TNG episode "The Game". People don't even acknowledge each other's existence anymore. Face-to-face interactions (pre-pandemic) ceased…
When you read and reply to people's comments on the internet, aren't you acknowledging their existence? When you browse the work that they created aren't you looking at the world?
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone?
#53Many of us were old enough to have lived during a time where smartphones did not exist. My thoughts are... it is nice to have access to a great pocket-sized camera and communication device, though it is also nice to turn it off once in a while.
Not just a camera and communication device, but also a GPS receiver. It's impossible to overstate how useful GPS is. That said, one could always get a dedicated GPS device instead of using a phone.
> It's impossible to overstate how useful GPS is.
Maps are useful (and I think they're more useful in paper or schematic form optimized to particular use case), but GPS is really just a nice to have.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone?
#54I want to try this once. But I'm so much into WhatsApp, Instagram. It will be kind of digital detox. I had deleted twitter and Facebook 6yrs back that was once of the best decision I had made. Now I'm kind of addicted to that Insta feed and Youtube feed. I will be deleting Insta account. But hope will come over the need of WhatsApp and other cool apps and ditch phone completely. But if you suddenly need a document an…
> But if you suddenly need a document and you have been out for some work, and you don't have mobile to receive it ?
That’s an easy one: my personal phone = no work use whatsoever. And if they offer to pay for it (they won’t), then I’ll decline so it stays my phone rather than my work’s whistle.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone?
#55It’s almost a requirement of modern city living To have one.
Paying parking meters, not having to deal with rolls of quarters.
Also 2 factor logins at work from home require a smart phone.
Filling out forms for pandemic related info to get into Work requires a app. (For those that work in labs and not from Home)
I don’t love being plugged in all the time, but having lived my life without one (cell phones weren’t around in early 90s College) I’m not going back. Dumb phones were a pain to type on.
Apart from being always connected there is anxiety about my phone breaking which is another downside.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone?
#56Since the raise of smartphones I have not turned on or not taking with me my phone for days or weeks at a time. Especially during traveling I find it a nicer experience to have to interact more with locals, stroll around and getting lost at times, instead of just ubering from one tripadviser location to the next.
On a day to day what I think helped me most is:
- Do not disturb mode on all the time.
- Keep apps to a minimum that is actually useful. I think I never had more than like 5 installed.
- Turn off most if not all notifications.
- If its a personal phone, do not set up all the work related stuff (email, slack, calendar, etc.) on it, or make sure notifications are turned off.
- And maybe most importantly, "train" your social or work circles, that not immediately responding does not mean you are dead or hold a grudge on them and if they want something from you they might have to think ahead.
With this I'm happy with having a device in the pocket or bag that does come in handy often enough, but does not need to be the most recent expensive flagship and is not a tamagotchi needing constant attention.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone?
#57On and off, over the years, due to remote locations. So, not exactly what you are asking for.
Longest period was about 3 months, during which time I was able to voice chat via sat a few times a week. On many other occasions I've been off the phone grid for a few days to a couple weeks.
Message apps are a big one for me because I am rarely near people with whom I have close relationships. Months without that were quite lonely.
On the other hand, I (almost) never use maps, never use social media, and do not use my phone for watching videos. All of that by early choice. I survive fine that way.
Ive found that without my phone the first couple days have lots of frustrated moments of "oh...I cannot look up the thing I do not know," but after that I adapt.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone?
#58Many of us were old enough to have lived during a time where smartphones did not exist. My thoughts are... it is nice to have access to a great pocket-sized camera and communication device, though it is also nice to turn it off once in a while.
Exactly so. Though life was more annoying without a mobile phone for example (failed rendezvouz?) it happened. It's not helpful to demonise the tech rather than managing it and yourself candidly IMHO.
I mean, you can still have an old phone that you can use for rendezvous - it is mostly an attention issue.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone?
#59I can relate to not wanting to be on a leash. What I did is disable all notifications and ringtones. Calls go to voicemail and if people leave a message I’ll call back on my own time, otherwise I won’t. Only my SO has audible ringtones and notifications so I know that if the phone rings it’s worth answering. I don’t install apps if I can help it, I havE gotten rid of Facebook twitter etc a long time ago and will use…
Maybe the rule should be: no phone while at home? Lock it on arrival or something. All the practical/non-attention-sucking benefits of phones happen outdoors I reckon
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone?
#60I don't own a smartphone, and the main reason is that I don't want to spend all my day staring at screens. Thus, I have resisted the idea of buying one for more than a decade now. The thing is that I don't really need it. If it comes to maps, my car has an excellent GPS system. Music I don't need to listen to outdoors. E-mails and such well I have my PC and if I'm not at work what's the point of being bothered, it's…
Inspiring set up. This is basically what I am gravitating towards.