My life without a smartphone
About a year ago, my pocket was picked. Although the thieves didn’t manage to snatch my wallet, they did take my phone.
My first thought was to replace it right away. But I asked myself a simple question: Does owning a smartphone make my life better? Most people take it for granted that smartphones make life better, but the research says otherwise. Addictive apps are rewiring our brains, wasting our time and making it harder to focus. Social media make us more anxious and depressed. The light from our screens reduces melatonin and disrupts sleep. Distracted driving leads to collisions and fatalities.
Worst of all, smartphones are making us forget how to have a conversation or sit and think without distraction. Go to any restaurant and you’ll observe entire families staring at devices rather than talking to each other, or parents shoving screens in front of their kids’ faces rather than teaching them that life isn’t always entertaining. I decided to try living for a time without a smartphone. I was willing to give it a shot, so I bought an old $30 flip phone at a pawn shop and began my postsmartphone life.
The benefits of this decision became apparent about a week after I made the switch. My wife, stepdaughter and I were on a day trip. For the first time in seven years, I didn’t have internet access all day.
By midafternoon, I started experiencing withdrawal symptoms and, like a true addict, I used my wife’s smartphone to check Gmail. The initial rush of seeing so many unread emails was spoiled by a work-related message.
For the next half-hour or so, I walked around thinking about that message instead of being present. I was physically there, but my mind was focused on work that didn’t deserve my attention on a weekend.
The most immediate advantage of not owning a smartphone, I quickly learned, is the ability to immerse yourself in social situations.
Without a smartphone to look at, you have to be present, and other people can’t insert themselves as easily into your life at inopportune times.
Even when we resist our smartphones in social situations, they’re always there in our pockets buzzing with notifications, begging us to check them. Just by virtue of being there, smartphones occupy a large space in our minds.
So I made my short-term experiment permanent. And that decision is paying dividends.
I credit finally finishing my first book, in part, to not having a smartphone. Another benefit is sleep. There’s no longer a little supercomputer sitting on my nightstand daring me to check it at 3am.
I no longer stare at sleepdisrupting blue light in the moments before bed, reading outrage-inducing clickbait or emails that can wait until morning.
Do I miss Google Maps? Kind of, but I’ve also discovered that not having it makes driving safer. I now check a map before I leave the house and write down basic directions, just like I did pre-2007. This keeps me focused on the road .
Do I miss not having a camera? Sometimes. But there’s actually something liberating about not having the ability to memorialise every moment.
And on the subject of money: My phone bill is now down. I have no data plan, no expensive phone to make payments on, no phone insurance, no apps to buy. The thieves who stole my iPhone saved me about $1000 last year. Who knew getting your pocket picked could be so lucrative?
A lot of people are excited about new smartphones – and I can see why. But after more than 400 days’ smartphone-free, I simply can’t imagine owning one. The benefits of not having a smartphone – to my relationships, mental health, sleep, productivity, savings and privacy – are just too enticing. - TNS