Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Life without a cell phone

blog.nbrogi.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 53 posts

Re: Life without a cell phone

#11

Post by bkurtz13 »

nbrogi wrote: post #6
pinaceae wrote: post #2

? His troubles could be solved by not sharing his private number to people he does not want him calling. Like his professional contacts. Just switch numbers and don't share the new one. He mentions he can focus on a conversation rather than play on his cell - but owns an iPad. Not sure what his issue really is. Life without a cell phone is awesom until you need it. Like when you have an emergency and need to call for…

You're probably right. I looked into having a private number, but from other people's experience your number always gets shared. You might give it to 1 person for some reason and you end up with everyone knowing your number. Also, if someone asks for your number how can you say you don't want to give it to him?

You could try whitelisting only numbers that are in your contact list.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#12

Post by runjake »

Family and close friends get my cell number. Everyone else gets my Google Voice number.

If I don't want to be bothered by unimportant calls, I launch the Google Voice app and enable do not disturb.

If I permanently want certain numbers, or unknown numbers to go straight to voicemail permanently, I set it up. I don't hear a ring. I get a push notification if they leave a voicemail.

If Google Voice isn't your cup of tea and you have an iPhone, use iOS's Do Not Disturb feature. You can enable it either manually via a switch, or on a time period basis. You can set exceptions for no one, or for your favorites, or for specific contact groups.

The funny thing is, I willfully refrain from using my smartphone in public or when in groups of whenever possible. I'm commonly the only parent at a park that is playing with their kids and doesn't have their face buried in their smartphones doing god knows what. This is causing me to question whether a smartphone plan is worth it as I use so little data when out and about. So I'm pondering going with some cheapo prepaid options.

Edit: Check out the below reply from ericdykstra for a similar solution for Android.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#13

Post by nbrogi »

bkurtz13 wrote: post #11
nbrogi wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're probably right. I looked into having a private number, but from other people's experience your number always gets shared. You might give it to 1 person for some reason and you end up with everyone knowing your number. Also, if someone asks for your number how can you say you don't want to give it to him?

You could try whitelisting only numbers that are in your contact list.

Yep tried that, too :-)

I've long had this prob. with getting interrupted by calls.

Again, people would get mad that I ignored them, or that I wasn't available.

Somehow, since you don't have a cell phone they don't get offended or complain (I'm talking about clients in particular).

Re: Life without a cell phone

#14

Post by oftenwrong »

nbrogi wrote: post #5
dankoss wrote: post #3

Couldn't you solve this problem by simply turning off your cellphone? Or using Do Not Disturb or Airplane mode?

I tried :-) But then people started saying that I was either not reachable or I ignored them. I didn't get rid of my cell phone on purpose, just used the fact that it broke to not get another one, and it just works great for me.

Without a cell phone you are still unreachable, so how exactly is this solving that issue?

The real problem here is that the people contacting you do not respect your desire to not be on-call 24/7. In my opinion, this lack of respect is good enough reason to not feel bad about ignoring them. Put your phone on mute and stop letting inconsiderate people push you around. Or just continue not having a phone because that works too.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#15

Post by nbrogi »

grecy wrote: post #9

I'm a 31 y/o Software Engineer, and I have not had a cell phone since ~2004. It's improved my work/life balance immensely, as my work can't call/email me whenever they like. The only time it's annoying is (as the article says) when you're trying to meet up with friends and are not immediately and conveniently contactable. Being that most people spend ~$60/mo on a plan, I've saved right on $6000 - which certainly help…

All right... So I'm not 100% crazy! :-)

I forget to mention the money! My plan was about 50€, too...

After a year, I regularly talk to my wife and other people via email or Messages.

Both are a lot less invasive than your cell phone ringing.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#16

Post by nbrogi »

oftenwrong wrote: post #14
nbrogi wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried :-) But then people started saying that I was either not reachable or I ignored them. I didn't get rid of my cell phone on purpose, just used the fact that it broke to not get another one, and it just works great for me.

Without a cell phone you are still unreachable, so how exactly is this solving that issue? The real problem here is that the people contacting you do not respect your desire to not be on-call 24/7. In my opinion, this lack of respect is good enough reason to not feel bad about ignoring them. Put your phone on mute and stop letting inconsiderate people push you around. Or just continue not having a phone because that…

The problem is that clients would get mad saying I ignored them.

I probably didn't care about them, but I do care about keeping good work relationships.

I'm totally reachable. I have email, and Messages. The thing is just that I can decide when to check them, and they're less invasive.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#17

Post by 5555624 »

nbrogi wrote: post #7
hnriot wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, the whole post is pointless and borderline luddite. I don't get calls every ten minutes, and don't play Ruzzle at dinner. Getting rid of his cell phone sounds like a substitute for not having any common sense or self control.

Yeah, that's just my personal experience. Being a web developer, I used to get a lot of calls from clients, so much that it got to be hard to work for me.

That's the problem -- you use it for work. Get a phone and only give the number to close friends, if that. For clients, you coud use a Google Voice number which is not forwarded directly and just sends you e-mail alerts.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#18

Post by frossie »

nbrogi wrote: post #5
dankoss wrote: post #3

Couldn't you solve this problem by simply turning off your cellphone? Or using Do Not Disturb or Airplane mode?

I tried :-) But then people started saying that I was either not reachable or I ignored them. I didn't get rid of my cell phone on purpose, just used the fact that it broke to not get another one, and it just works great for me.

"My phone is turned off and I normally check voicemail once a day around 5pm. The best way to reach me is ..."

Works for me. I use the standard iOS features to make sure important callers (eg. the children's school) can get through.

The trick to getting this to work is to be consistent. Don't tell people you are not reachable and then pick up their calls.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#19

Post by so_says »

dankoss wrote: post #10
nbrogi wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried :-) But then people started saying that I was either not reachable or I ignored them. I didn't get rid of my cell phone on purpose, just used the fact that it broke to not get another one, and it just works great for me.

Hmm. I would think there's a way of setting reasonable expectations for return calls. I would think a client that requires a same-day response ought to be paying a lot of money for that privilege. Returning family calls, on the other hand...

I absolutely agree, setting expectations is key. But I can also see the point of needing the extra push to modify your own behavior. I don't have a TV. It died and I didn't get a new one. I have found new ways to watch TV, but now I cannot idle away hours in front of HGTV. It sounds ridiculous, but the few mouse clicks it takes to watch a program versus the single click of a button is all it took to create a difference between mindless and mindful behavior.

Re: Life without a cell phone

#20

Post by Jare »

nbrogi wrote: post #5
dankoss wrote: post #3

Couldn't you solve this problem by simply turning off your cellphone? Or using Do Not Disturb or Airplane mode?

I tried :-) But then people started saying that I was either not reachable or I ignored them. I didn't get rid of my cell phone on purpose, just used the fact that it broke to not get another one, and it just works great for me.

I'm surprised people (especially clients) react better to you not having a cell phone at all than to you not always answering.

I always make sure to disable the auto-away setting in all chat/IM programs so it always shows me as online, and then I explain to everyone that since the program is not smart enough to know for sure that I am available, I prefer to avoid the confusion.

With phones I follow a similar philosophy: I make sure to avoid answering it all the time, I let it run out of battery, or in Silent mode, or I leave it at home, etc. and I'm very vocal about having done so.

I don't know if this makes me antisocial, but it seems to work fairly well in removing other people's expectations (except with my dad heh).

Post reply on HN