Ask HN: What's it like to not own a smartphone?

[d-d]

I'm considering ditching my iPhone and deleting all major social media accounts cold turkey, but am wondering if this will have any unintended negative effects.

Anyone doing this already? What's it like?

[impendia]

I have never owned a smartphone. I don't really want one; the sight of people with their noses buried in their phones doesn't really tempt me to follow suit. I already get distracted easily enough.

That said, I am probably going to buy one soon anyway. More and more, it's becoming expected socially.

The funniest example: I was at a bar with a bunch of friends. One paid the whole tab and asked everyone to Venmo him their share. As a non-smartphone-user, I only have a vague idea of what Venmo is. So I reached into my wallet for some cash, and handed it to him.

He waved it off. "It's too complicated, don't worry about it."

[kylehotchkiss]

I deleted Facebook cold turkey. I don’t regret it at all. I still enjoy Instagram. I find the ads on Instagram very relevant and sometimes find cool new things there (I enjoy everyday carry/outdoorsy topics). I think I’ll probably delete Instagram in a year or two though, I don’t think Facebook will maintain it well.

Twitter would be the hardest for me to let go. I enjoy seeing posts from friends, developers, journalists, and comedians there. Using Jumbo app to prune any tweets older than a month helps me feel like it’s less a permanent record on myself.

And finally, the tech I’m most worried about keeping but can’t really let go of because of family and friends is WhatsApp. They’ll have to make money with it one day and all the pressure from other governments to decrypt seems like it might hit a breaking point for them.

[upofadown]

I have never had a smart phone. The flip phone is mostly for emergency or purely tactical communications.

It means I have two modes. When I am out and about I can fully experience my immediate surroundings. When I am at home I interact with the online world using full sized monitors and keyboards.

Smartphones strike me as technologically primitive. I carry a light laptop with me at all times so I always have access to comfortable and capable computing. I carry it in a narrow knapsack that stays out of my way.

This works quite well for me. Out is where there are new things to experience. In is where everything is the same so it is more worth the bother to get out in a virtual way.

[murm]

I haven't joined any social networks so I don't know how quitting those will work out for you. However, at some point I found that I was reflexively using my smartphone to read irrelevant stuff, watching dumb videos, checking whatsapp for new messages etc. just to kill boredom. I did not like how addicted I had become to that habit, so a couple of years ago I bought a simple Nokia phone without an internet and ditched the smartphone. There is a certain spartan feel to it, and to be honest at first it was kind of rough, but now I have adjusted. When boredom strikes, I just don't do anything. It doesn't bother me as much nowadays. By ditching the smartphone I also lost the ability to listen to music or podcasts when outside home, but surprisingly I haven't really missed those. Same thing for email, gps, google maps, looking up random facts etc. Somehow I have just managed without them? I'll call or text someone if I have something urgent to say, which is surprisingly seldom.

For me it has worked out well, but YMMV.

[yummypaint]

I only got a smartphone about 3 years ago. Prior to that it was plain sms and phone calls. The only lifestyle improvement the smartphone offers for me is being able to look things up at any time, and being able to provide internet to my laptop though tethering. It can be difficult to go without internet when navigating new places. Google used to let you send sms messages to get directions, but they killed that many years ago. Otherwise experience is mostly down to which apps are installed and their notification settings. When i first got the phone i tried social media apps, and my ability to concentrate noticeably worsened. Removing them and locking down notifications for other apps restored my overall quality of life to what it was pre-smartphone.

[philshem]

The first step is to delete the social media apps from your phone. The problem isn’t the phone but its usage.

Sent from my iPhone.

[ebcode]

It's amazing. It can be difficult at times, mostly due to peer pressure, but I think that part of what's great about it is that it flexes your resisting-peer-pressure muscles.

[oumua_don17]

For almost 2 years, my wife doesn't own a smartphone. She personally finds the change very refreshing and puts it in a summary as 'I am no longer distracted!'.

To be honest, I don't know how she makes it work but the only change I see is those who ask her contact number roll their eyes or worse case the eyes popping out when they realise she doesn't own a phone!!!

[crowdhailer]

I switched to a dumb phone last year. Nokia 105. I kept my smart phone but without a sim card in, so I could only use it on WiFi and kept it in a bag rather than in my pocket.

I really liked what happened. I still could message people or use the apps I liked but because my smart phone wasn't just to hand I only checked it say 10 times a week.

[jituc]

I got my first smart phone six months ago, Surprisingly it eats too much of time. For last 9 years I have been using nokia x201 qwerty phone, still it is my main phone. The main reason I use new smartphone is whatsapp, otherwise all other tasks can be performed on my dev machine.

[shahbaby]

I tried switching to a flip phone for a few months. It was an interesting experience but I wouldn't recommend it.

As another person mentioned, fix the problem with yourself, don't blame the technology.

Any benefits you gain from fewer distractions is outweighed by how much harder everyday life becomes.

[yesenadam]

Have never had a mobile phone. I rely on FB for chatting with friends around the world, so wouldn't want to lose that, although I quite often have breaks from there for months. I communicate with FB and email, and in person. Hard to say "what it's like"..

[d-d]

> Hard to say "what it's like"..

Are you ever excluded or written off as crazy for going phoneless?

[muzani]

I got 90% of work/opportunities from Facebook. Quitting FB for a month dropped leads from 2/month to once every 2 months.

Over 80% of your opportunities come from your network, but over 80% of your time needs to be spent on actual work. That said, social media isn't your only way to network, but it really helps if you're not somewhere full of talented people.

If you're planning on going more into work, keep in mind that mentoring also comes from your network, and that also includes book recommendations.

But personally I'm stopping with Facebook and most social media, because it is taking up more than 20% of my focus.

Use the best tool. Phones and social media are the most popular but may not be best.

[doctorshady]

I ditched my cell phone a while ago. Your mileage may vary, but if your friends/employer are prepared to communicate with you without the use of any sort of mobile device, it's really nice.

[smarri]

I deleted social media and don't miss it at all. I started removing it from my phone and therefore only checking it at nights on my laptop. Before long I wasnt even doing that. Make sure to download your content before deleting (if you want your pictures for example). It would be harder for me to give up certain messaging apps, ride share apps, maps and travel apps. Only unintended negative consequence were some people thought I blocked them rather than deleted my social accounts.

[psv1]

You can try this for yourself with zero downsides - leave it at home for a day and see how it goes. If it's not that bad, leave it at home the next day too and then don't use in the evenings. Or try to delete some apps and keep the phone with you.

You don't need a drastic "I'm deleting all my accounts and ditching my phone" intervention. And in my experience, in the long run big sweeping changes are far less effective than incremental changes to your habits.

[tdsamardzhiev]

It has the negative effect that your means of communication with other people (especially “normies”) are severely limited.

Also, many services I’m used to turned to depend on them - taxi, payments, organization for all kinds of events with friends and colleagues, etc.

In the end, it turned out I’m just blaming social media for flaws in my own character. Once I pointed these out and started working on them, I started having a significantly more beneficial relationship with social media.

[kxspxr]

Ditched my smartphone 2 years ago, have no social media accounts - and no interest in whatever either is offering. If I don't code, which I do 12+ hours a day, min. 5 days a week, then I'm doing another activity which requires solitude and long, undisturbed sessions. Everything I need done, I can do from a normal phone or my computer.

[haecceity]

I don't have any friends and all I do is program so it's pretty good.

[runjake]

Step 1 in the process is to just start leaving your phone at home when you go out.

Note and address your concerns and behaviors.

Do this for 30 days and re-address your questions and where you’ll go from there.

[Ice_cream_suit]

I have never had a mobile phone.

No issues.

I do have a Samsung Galaxy tablet that I use for reading.

[sharma_pradeep]

tl;dr; Just do it, it's an amazing hack for increased focus, productivity and peace of mind. I recommend

Personal phone -> A feature phone Business phone -> Smartphone if you're in primarily customer-facing role(e.g. sales, customer support)

My Story:

3 years back, I gave away my smartphone and switched to a simple feature phone. I had to get a smartphone for a duration of 6 months in between this period(when a lot of my day job couldn't be finished without accessing whatsapp groups/messages and travelling)

For my job as a programmer/founder, I prefer no smartphone at all and use following formula

1. For Personal Use: phone on feature phone 2. For Business Use: iPad with only business whatsapp, toto app, book reading app(and that too only when I am not able to lure any other team member to handle it for me)

Location services, cabs, all these things can be handled without smartphone. Although, it takes little longer and inconvenience but also gives an opportunity to live in the moment, ask people for help.

[oneearedrabbit]

While there is a correlation between smartphones use and social networks, fundamentally I consider them as two separate topics. I am not a heavy social network user, therefore I’ll comment only on the first part.

I downgraded to a flip phone about a year ago. It’s a mostly positive experience for me. Although, it’s important to say that other people you care about are going to be to a certain extent affected as well.

I’d like to highlight a few nuances:

- No ad-hoc access to online Maps means I need to plan my trips including back up routes and memorize city by heart. I cannot get off a subway, open a smartphone and figure out how to get to a point B. This is a two-edged sword and while I can experience surroundings and explore cities, sometimes I need to ask people for directions.

- My flip phone’s battery lasts for about a week. It’s generally great, but sometimes I forget to charge it. It’s not a big deal for me as a flip phone is already an emergency phone but I communicated to my close friends and family that if they cannot reach out to me this very moment, I’m still safe and no one needs to panic.

- I hate writing text messages on a flip-phone, it’s slow and painful. As a result I send less messages to people I love. It had a minor impact on how they feel, but they got used to my downshifting choice in about a month.

- I used to heavily use Notes app to write down my thoughts. Now, I always carry a small notebook and a pen as a replacement. Whether I read something in a book, hear a funny story, make a grocery list, it always goes to a paper form.

- I cannot do quick fact-checking and look up something using online sources anymore, there is no ad hoc internet option. Whenever there is something worth checking, I make a note in a notebook and get back to this item when I’m in front of a laptop to do more thoughtful analysis.

- I cannot make dumb photos. Again, if I see something worth remembering, it goes to a notebook. It’s not perfect, e.g. when I am at a museum then a visual media is a much better option, receipts cannot be digitized instantaneously, which is especially handy at business trips, etc. On the positive side I got rid of my Dropbox subscription since I don’t have a continuous photo stream anymore.

- In a moment of boredom, I cannot skim through messages, news, or articles. Now I carry Kindle in my backpack; this year I managed to read two to three times more books than the last year.

- I cannot use QR codes, e-tickets to check-in. Everything is either paper-based or I forward them to my wife who uses a smartphone.

- I don’t listen to music as much as used to during commute time.

- This could be specific to my flip phone, but sometimes it cannot properly render text messages from iPhone users. It shows them up as blank.

- I still keep my smartphone at home and use it as a Google Authenticator device.

Ultimately, the whole experience is not about the technology, but about changing addictive unintentional habits.

[zzo38computer]

I have not had a problem.