| I spent two years (2014 - 2016) living in a foreign country without a phone, they were some of the best years of my life. I moved to a new country and there were a couple of barriers that prevented me from getting a phone right away. I decided to forgo the opportunity when it finally arose. I kept a kindle fire, a notebook and pen, and a cheap digital camera on me at almost all times. I can't recommend it enough. When going new places I studied the location on google maps before leaving home. Instead of getting out my phone to find a place I had to ask for directions. Instead of googling for new places to try out I just walked around and discovered things for myself. Fortunately this was very walkable city. Keeping track of my surroundings mentally was stimulating, and I developed a great sense of direction. I challenged myself to keep track of North at all times (surprisingly easy in a city with streets laid out on a grid). The language barrier was crazy, but without the ever present distraction of a phone I was able to learn so much. There was no "let me get out my phone and translate this" option, I was forced to learn. I did have a kindle fire that had wifi capabilities, which I used occasionally to send emails in a pinch, but this was few and far between. I kept Anki SRS on it and in those moments that fall in the cracks of life I was studying language flash cards or reading a grammar guide. When I made plans with friends we had to arrange details ahead of time, usually via email or any one of the messenger apps you can use on a PC. This may have seemed like an inconvenience but it inadvertently introduced more structure to my life. I can remember only twice that my lack of phone made meeting up really difficult, but both times we eventually found each other. I read so many books in those two years. The order imposed on my life by having to plan ahead, along with removing the distraction of a phone, supercharged my reading time. There were Friday nights where my friends had beer without me because they couldn't get a hold of me, but if I really wanted to I could have reached out. Anything that I really needed to remember, I just wrote in a notebook. I didn't keep an app for my budget or diet, I just wrote everything down. The act of writing these things down made more mindful about how I spent money and ate food, I didn't need analytics from an app to help make decisions any more. It seems like you lose a lot of convenience, but what you gain back is so much more valuable. My mind felt clear, when I look back on those years I don't remember all those things I wished I could have googled on the spot. I remember being completely engaged by my surroundings. I understand that living in a foreign country is the thing I look back on so fondly, but the no-phone situation was the music the play was set to. I can't recommend it enough. |