Today, I’m embarking on a 30 day experiment to see if I can live (and do my job) in the modern world without a smartphone.

Why?

I’ve been a tech enthusiast all my life: always had to have the latest, greatest, newest, and shiniest gadget I could afford. Here lately, it feels like the tech is taking over and just making me miserable. “Always connected”, notification fatigue, endless doom scrolling, "download our app for [super basic thing that shouldn’t require an app], etc. I love my smartphone, but I feel like it’s a “ball and chain” that’s causing me unneeded stress.

I’ve been wanting to try this for some time, but the “killer app”, so to speak, on my smartphone is hospot mode. I use that heavily for both work and personal use, and I only recently realized that modern “dumb” phones could do that now. Suddenly this experiment became possible, so I bought a cheap dumb phone and decided to give it a try.

So, can I go 30 days without a smartphone, and will I see any quality of life improvements (or perhaps the opposite)? Only one way to find out.

Conditions of the experiment:

I bought a modern-era “dumb” flip phone and moved my SIM to it yesterday evening. It’s not a true “dumb” phone, though. It runs a stripped down version of Android, so I’m able to install a few “must have” apps that I need such as my MFA and credit union app. I made a concession with the banking app since the closest branch office is 45 minutes away (I don’t consider the MFA app to be a concession since some of the dumber dumb phones had support for at least TOTP generators).

That’s it for the apps. No email, IM/chat apps, web browser, etc (though I can run all of those it seems). The only “apps” will be the ones that would be standard for a dumb phone of the mid 2000s (calendar, camera, alarm, music player, etc). I’ve already connected it over USB and loaded up era-appropriate music from my local collection 😆

Rules:

  1. I’ll allow myself to carry my smartphone (w/o SIM card) in my bag, powered off, in case I do need it for something urgent, but I won’t carry it on my person or use it beyond immediate need. Will connect to my “dumb” phone via its hotspot for internet.
  2. If I do need to break out the old smart rectangle, I should look to see if there is a way to accomplish what I need without it.
  3. This experiment cannot interfere with my job duties.
  4. I’ve setup an SMS bridge on my server to forward certain critical alerts. I used to do this back when all phones were dumb phones, so I don’t feel it’s breaking the spirit of the experiment. These will only be “the datacenter is on fire” level alerts, so I don’t anticipate many (or any).

So, here goes. I’m not sure what to expect or how this will turn out and even less sure I’ll make it the full 30 days. Wish me luck.

  • hendrikEnglish
    3•3 months ago

    Good luck. That’s probably going to be healthy and provide some insight. I think it’s a bit lame to ultimately still carry a smartphone. I had mine break a few years ago and went like 3 days entirely without a phone in my pocket… That’s quite an experience. And my friends didn’t really sign up for that experiment. They expected to meet up with me somewhere and tell me when they’re there. Or that they’ve missed the bus. And forgot that wasn’t an option after I left the house… And of course I couldn’t book anything, scan barcodes, use 2 factor authentication etc…

    But sure. No one can quit their job or not get their daily tasks done because of something like that. I think it’s going to be what people call “digital detox” for you. Being expected to be available 24/7 and getting notifications all day is part of the issue with modern life. But the real problem is doomscrolling and doing too much social media all day and alike.

    So, keep us posted! My question is: What exactly made you do this? What do you do with your phone that makes you unhappy and start that experiment?

    • Admiral PatrickOPEnglish
      3•3 months ago

      Thanks!

      I think it’s going to be what people call “digital detox” for you. Being expected to be available 24/7 and getting notifications all day is part of the issue with modern life. But the real problem is doomscrolling and doing too much social media all day and alike.

      Yep, I’m absolutely looking at it like kicking an addiction. If it’s like when I quit smoking, the first 4 days are gonna be rough. Luckily I’m not giving up all the doomscrolling and social media entirely, just removing them from easy, instant, always-on access in my pocket. So I’ll still get my “fix”, it will just be in more measured doses when I can sit down with my laptop. Same for after-hours work emails and such, too.

      What exactly made you do this? What do you do with your phone that makes you unhappy and start that experiment?

      Mostly the culmination of years upon years of notification fatigue, spending way too much time doom scrolling and reacting to various alert noises, and wanting to break out of the cycle. Like I said in the post, I’ve been wanting to try this for a good while now (probably 1-2 years) but didn’t realize until recently that I could get a “dumb” phone that could do hotspot (didn’t want to carry a dedicated hotspot and pay for a second data plan).