What benefits or compromises of not having a smartphone surprised you?
Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
1–10 of 48 posts
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#2I have a smartphone, but disabled everything except calling and messaging. And I always have it on vibrate. It's amusing to walk through a crowd of people and realize I'm the only one who isn't staring at something a foot in front of their face.
I also quit FB 1/1/19 and that was a huge bunch of time I got back to use for more interesting things.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#3Never had one. Phone carriers haven't invested to have cell coverage in my neighborhood, why should I invest $1000 to have a $100 a month bill?
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#4Never had one. Phone carriers haven't invested to have cell coverage in my neighborhood, why should I invest $1000 to have a $100 a month bill?
Can you describe how life is without a smartphone?
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#5It's liberating. Try, switch it off for few hours or even for whole weekend.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#6I recently spent a week without my phone and it was incredible. When I got my phone again, I had hundreds of missed alerts and I realized 99.99% of them were not worth having. I'm now leaving my phone in another room rather than carrying it around. I'm really enjoying not getting interrupted by alerts or being tempted to look at it every now and then.
I wish I could just get a dumb phone, but I at least need communication apps like WhatsApp on my phone.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#7Here 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.
- For loved ones, emergency access, most phones will allow you to define people that bypass this and will ring you.
That's it. Now you can still enjoy your awesome smartphone but on your own time, under your own intention, instead of someone else.
My phone only rings if my wife or family calls, and it only vibrates when I get an email. I keep it face down on another desk in my office, out of view, or sometimes in another room.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#8Never had one. Phone carriers haven't invested to have cell coverage in my neighborhood, why should I invest $1000 to have a $100 a month bill?
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.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#9I can't answer your question OP, but I'd really like to try going smartwatch-only some day.
The things I really need a phone for are directions, making calls, listening to music/podcasts, and occasionally replying to short messages. I should be able to do all of that from a smartwatch. Anything more in-depth can and should wait until I'm at a computer and ready to focus.
I would need the right product to come along, though, and that might never happen.
Re: Ask HN: How is life without a smartphone?
#10Here 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. -…
> - 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.
Do you ever find this sometimes makes things worse? I've tried it with specific apps, and I often find myself checking those apps more to make sure I haven't missed anything! With notifications, I feel comfortable that if I haven't been notified, there's nothing else to see.