No Smartphone, No Problem
You can live life without being connected round the clock
My grandfather was the first person I knew with a cellphone. He would tell anyone who would listen that owning a cellphone would one day save their life. North Dakota winters are known to be brutally cold and terribly windy. If you ever got stuck on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, you could call for help with a cellphone.
My family owned one cellphone until I was 18. Whoever was going out was the person with the cell. There wasn’t much reception where we lived. We were still using a regular telephone and dial-up internet.
When I moved to a major city, I bought a cellphone and asked about different plans. At that time, the store I went to was promoting “kosher” plans and “non-kosher” plans. What was the difference? The “non-kosher” plans had SMS enabled on the phones.
“What’s SMS?” I asked. The clerk suggested I take the “kosher” plan. I still have a “kosher” plan almost 20 years later. “SMS” is another way of saying “text,” which I didn’t know at the time.
My phone just makes calls and saves numbers. The fancier phones I’ve had included a calculator. I stopped saving numbers because switching the digital phonebook between phones is annoying. No one leaves me messages anymore, so I’m thinking about canceling voicemail.
If you want to send me a text message, you can send me an email. If you really need to get a hold of me, just call me.
I love using my dumb phone. There are no distractions on it: no games, no apps, no music, no internet — no nothing.
Having a smartphone does come in handy sometimes, though. When you want to pay for a parking space, going through the phone prompts of the parking service is a real pain. When I see something interesting, I don’t have a camera conveniently in my pocket to take a picture. I don’t hear community news when it happens because I don’t have Whatsapp.
Every time I think I want a smartphone, I look around me. The main thing I notice is people are always connected to a device. The folks I know with smartphones are so distracted by all the bings and pings from different apps. They never know when a notification is truly urgent. Some folks play games while trying to have a conversation with someone. They’re not with you, but they’re not with the game either. How rude!
I’m not missing out because I own a simple phone. I enjoy not always being instantly available. My eyes don’t burn from staring at a screen all day. I fall asleep quickly because I’m not reading on a screen. I spend enough time in front of a screen that when work time is over — that’s it.
I know that if I had a smartphone, I’d have trouble not checking for notifications all the time. Just like the folks around me, I would find it difficult to disconnect. Honestly, I have trouble sometimes with just having a computer!
Key Message: Smartphones and other devices are handy to have around. When you notice that your life revolves around them, it’s time to take a break.
I challenge you to mute your notifications for two hours every day for the next full week. Let me know you accepted the challenge in the comments. Don’t forget to update me when your week is finished. I’m really curious to know how it went!
