Anyone here without a smartphone? How’s your life like?
When I came to upgrade back in February, I was this 👉🏼👈🏼 close to getting a dumb 4G Nokia because my addiction to my apps was killing me and I wanted an out. I already use a Kobo for reading, and have a couple of classic iPods for music, so I was kinda set.
But when it came down to it, I realised that I’d have been offloading an awful lot of tech admin to my wife, and that I’d have to start remembering to take my wallet everywhere, and to have cash for car parking and that. On top of that, my wife bought me an Apple Watch for Christmas, so I’d have needed to keep an iPhone around for syncing that anyway, and for using as a GPS when driving anywhere unfamiliar. I thought about getting an iPod touch instead, but ultimately that just seemed like it would be stupid.
So in the end I got an iPhone 13 mini, on the basis that the smaller screen might make me less inclined to spend hours scrolling. And that seems to have worked for me, somewhat. Also, the mini is a fucking beautiful little handset, with a lovely camera, and it only costs me £30 a month.
You can buy a phone and leave it in the car for navigation. You can download maps and use it offline.
The offline maps experience is generally worse though. The real solution here is to just not install apps that waste your time. Plus turning off notifications.
I’ve turned off so many notifications and restricted so many permissions that my smartphone can get a little buggy, but no notifications and Do Not Disturb mode can go a long way. Now I just need to break my social media addiction, and that has proven to be a long battle.
Depends on which app you’re using
I’ve never found an app that works as well as Google Maps. I’ve tried a bunch and none of them provide so much useful information during a drive. Like telling me what lane I need to be in for an upcoming direction, letting me know the speed limit and what speed I’m actually going (motorcycle speedo reads high). Giving me info on slowdowns ahead and letting me reroute if there is a faster route. Speed trap notifications.
OSMAnd has all of those features.
I tried that and the UI felt janky as fuck. Definitely not something I’d want to mess with during a ride.
That’s too bad. Works really well for me.
A ride? Like on a bike? If so I’d recommend a cycling to computer.
Smartphone? I don’t even have a cell phone. No signal out where I live, and Im not paying to take calls while Im at work.
I use VOIP for my phone at home.
I have been using a flip phone since 2017, but I’m considering switching to VOIP since I don’t use my phone much anyway.
I really like it. It’s dirt cheap compared to other phone plans, and you get a lot of really great features. The novelty of being able to upload any mp3 I want as my voicemail is worth it.
I bought one last year, but it’s a camera/music player and not something I use to talk to people nor browse the internet. I have times during the day in which I can be contacted, but otherwise I face minimal interruptions from what I’m doing at any given moment.
I don’t see the point. Sure, smartphones can be bad, but I have adhd and an addictive personality and I can limit myself if I set up boundaries. Remove apps that waste time, set app time limits, but still have a gps/camera/computer in my pocket if I need it.
I’m interested to see what responses you get though.
