
Ask HN: Have you ever tried to live without a phone? - gavribirnbaum
I am considering ditching my smartphone and either going back to an old-school phone or not owning one at all. What are your thoughts? Any experience?
======
LUmBULtERA
Many of us were old enough to have lived during a time where smartphones did
not exist. My thoughts are... it is nice to have access to a great pocket-
sized camera and communication device, though it is also nice to turn it off
once in a while.

~~~
DamonHD
Exactly so. Though life was more annoying without a mobile phone for example
(failed rendezvouz?) it happened. It's not helpful to demonise the tech rather
than managing it and yourself candidly IMHO.

~~~
lapcatsoftware
> Though life was more annoying without a mobile phone

I disagree. My feeling is that life was much better, more "human" without
mobile phones. I hate how everyone walks around staring down at their phones
instead of looking at the world. It's like an addiction. It reminds me of the
ST:TNG episode "The Game". People don't even acknowledge each other's
existence anymore.

Face-to-face interactions (pre-pandemic) ceased to exist, attention spans
dropped precipitously, laziness increased (I can't be bothered to go out
anywhere when I can have it delivered to my door by a "gig worker".) It's
truly become a dystopia. If you weren't alive or an adult in the years before
smartphones, you may not realize what a dystopia this is in comparison. I'm
not even idolizing the past — there were certainly plenty of problems in the
past — but this is even worse, and none of the past problems were solved
either.

One of the unacknowledged advantages of desktops computers is that you _can
't_ take them everywhere. You have to leave desktop computers on the desktop.
You eventually have to get up, get away from the computer, and interact with
other humans in person. I also feel that mobile phones decrease personal
independence. The smartphone becomes a "crutch" that you don't know how to
live without. You can't even function adequately without a smartphone in your
hand or pocket.

~~~
shawnz
When you read and reply to people's comments on the internet, aren't you
acknowledging their existence? When you browse the work that they created
aren't you looking at the world?

~~~
lapcatsoftware
I'm afraid you're missing the point. When I say people don't acknowledge each
other's existence, I mean people literally within a few feet/meters of each
other, who could easily see and/or speak with each other if they made even the
bare minimum of effort.

When another person is in your physical presence, it's almost like you're
deliberately ignoring them when your eyes are glued down on the smartphone.
It's personal rudeness, a diss. "You're not even worth raising my head and
saying hi."

~~~
shawnz
The people on the phone are effectively only a few centimetres away, nevermind
feet. So shouldn't it be even more rude to ignore internet messages?

The internet isn't some kind of fake virtual reality... it is just a
communication tool. The draw to use it is created by real people sharing real
ideas. I think this idea that people who are physically closer to you deserve
more of your attention is misguided.

~~~
lapcatsoftware
> shouldn't it be even more rude to ignore internet messages?

Who says you have to ignore internet messages? It took you a half hour to
reply to my comment, and that's fine. That leaves plenty of time to
acknowledge a person IRL.

The internet will still be there when we get home from being outside. That's
one of the advantages of the internet.

~~~
shawnz
Unfortunately no notifications on here, and also I had to think about what I
was going to say :)

> The internet will still be there when we get home from being outside

And won't the physical space outside still be there after you decide you're
done talking on the internet?

------
unnouinceput
Never had one, never will. My wife has, my kids too, I don't. Clients get hold
of me via e-mail or IM, family through landline. If I am unavailable
immediately then tough luck, I love not be at anybody's finger tips if I go
for a stroll in a park, for example.

~~~
majkinetor
Its not like you are obligatory to answer.

~~~
unnouinceput
Problem is if you have one then at least one person becomes important enough
to "make you", the boss / a family member / a friend you feel you're in debt
etc. I see that plenty around me. Pretty sure if I'd have one that person
would become my wife for me. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife but I also
love the freedom of not being at her disposal 24/7.

------
elorant
I don't own a smartphone, and the main reason is that I don't want to spend
all my day staring at screens. Thus, I have resisted the idea of buying one
for more than a decade now. The thing is that I don't _really_ need it. If it
comes to maps, my car has an excellent GPS system. Music I don't need to
listen to outdoors. E-mails and such well I have my PC and if I'm not at work
what's the point of being bothered, it's not like I'm a medical doctor or
anything remotely essential.

I own a Kindle for books, which helped a lot with my Internet addiction and
the lack of focus, and for communication I have a dumb mobile phone with a
battery that lasts for weeks.

Realistically speaking the only reason I'd buy a smartphone these days is for
photos. Anything else is just fucking useless. I can't do work on a
smartphone, and I don't even want to. I enjoy having time off of any
electronic device because it helps my brain unwind and adds quality to my
life.

~~~
gavribirnbaum
Inspiring set up. This is basically what I am gravitating towards.

------
Funes-
>I am considering ditching my smartphone

Do it. Your health will thank you almost immediately for that.

>going back to an old-school phone or not owning one at all.

Personally, although I love the idea of going landline-only, I think a "dumb"
phone can serve one well in a certain number of circumstances, so that's what
I've been using for four years now. I use a Nokia 6250 at the present moment,
but I keep switching between old phones I like and have lying around--some of
them are brand new, never been out of the box.

I don't even text. I only make phone calls, and if someone doesn't pick up, I
leave a voicemail telling them when they can preferrably return the call.
That's it. I only use e-mail for more formal exchanges, but never to have
anything that resembles an informal conversation.

Mind you, if you are still relatively young, doing away with IM, texting, and
social media can be fairly alienating, as you will no doubt realize how
utterly addicted everyone else is to their smartphone, and how a great deal of
social activities and interactions that used to happen not that long ago don't
come about that often anymore. Many opportunities to think deeply, to reflect,
to have a conversation, to laugh, to question something, to go through your
own personal memories, to find new things to do, to _live_ , in sum, are now
wasted on a regular basis.

Good luck with it, and don't be afraid to be an outlier.

~~~
gavribirnbaum
Thanks! I am 23 and live abroad so I always told myself I owned a smartphone
to stay connected to family at home. But I just started to realize that it
owns me. Plus during COVID I don't go out anyway. So why not try...

~~~
Funes-
By all means, stay connected to your family--just try and do it through other
platforms. In similar circumstances to yours, I stayed in contact with my
family through Ring, Tox (toxic), and XMPP. I always preferred audio and video
calls over texting them, which I almost never did. Stay connected to those
that care about you the most, through healthy means. No need to own a
smartphone, you are right about that one, but do know that there are
meaningful connections worth maintaining.

------
smoe
Since the raise of smartphones I have not turned on or not taking with me my
phone for days or weeks at a time. Especially during traveling I find it a
nicer experience to have to interact more with locals, stroll around and
getting lost at times, instead of just ubering from one tripadviser location
to the next.

On a day to day what I think helped me most is:

\- Do not disturb mode on all the time.

\- Keep apps to a minimum that is actually useful. I think I never had more
than like 5 installed.

\- Turn off most if not all notifications.

\- If its a personal phone, do not set up all the work related stuff (email,
slack, calendar, etc.) on it, or make sure notifications are turned off.

\- And maybe most importantly, "train" your social or work circles, that not
immediately responding does not mean you are dead or hold a grudge on them and
if they want something from you they might have to think ahead.

With this I'm happy with having a device in the pocket or bag that does come
in handy often enough, but does not need to be the most recent expensive
flagship and is not a tamagotchi needing constant attention.

------
someotherkyle
I'm doing this currently. I had a job that had zero respect for my personal
time and any notification from my phone would chip away at my mood to some
degree. It got to the point that my phone made me miserable and I stopped
answering calls / texts even from the people I would otherwise want to hear
from. I've been separated from that job for years but the resentment of people
I don't know being able to 'sound an alarm' on my end (hyperbolic, I know)
lingered. Early this year, I canceled my phone contract and transferred my
existing number to Google Voice when my physical phone died. Using this for a
few days and borrowing my SO's phone to control media to the TV and I quite
liked being reachable on my terms. I have since gotten a WiFi only tablet that
I use for messaging / calls on the go and to deal with the TV. This works well
for me as I can easily contact people when needed with minimal prior planning.
I've even road tripped helping a friend move with maps.me downloading my route
to my device, stopping at a McDs parking lot for wifi to place a call letting
my ride know I needed pickup in ~ 20 mins, etc. It is very doable with the
availability of WiFi these days (at least in my area and even along my route
in rural US) and I have no plans of getting another phone any time soon. I
feel like its like when I was only accessible by land line. If I'm not home or
my voice app is closed, sorry -- I'll get back to you when I can.

------
joveian
Not sure if you will still check this thread but in case you do:

I only have a voip.ms account at this point (I use linphone, that I'm not
entirely happy with but seems better than the alternatives I've been able to
find and is cross platform). I only connect to it when I need to make a call
and get voice messages sent to my email. While it might be different depending
on where you live (I'm in a large city in the US), there are a number of
places that expect you to have a phone and it will be more effort to be
completely without one, so I'd recommend some VOIP account if you are going
for the least annoyance non-smartphone option. Some companies require the
ability to send you a text message, including Google (I think, unless there is
some way to get around it) and Paypal. I was able to get SMS from Google on
voip.ms but not from Paypal (they say SMS from short codes usually doesn't
work and it they have no idea when they might be able to make it work). Paypal
still lets me use the account (and stopped the annoying messages on login
after I enabled TOTP) but I can't add any new info (update cards or bank info)
so it may eventually stop working. My bank also seems to require that I have a
phone but I can get the text via voice (but not just a message, you need to
type a number before it gives you the code), text, or authy. I should try to
see if they would give me a TOTP key if I contact them. You will need some
phone number to enter into a form much more often but for me I think those are
the only ones where I have actually needed to use the phone.

At least in the US, old cell phones can be used for emergency calls as long as
they can connect (even if they do not have active service).

------
raverbashing
Yes, by living in the 80s and 90s (and even in the 2000s where the phones were
"not smart")

It sucked.

Not being communicable where you were and having to depend on fixed places for
communication (phone booths, etc) sucked.

Not being able to access some information quickly (maps, etc) sucked. Ok maybe
sometimes it was fun, but it overall sucked.

So thanks but no thanks

You can always set your phone to "Do Not Disturb" or "Airplane Mode" if
needed. Or, you know, not look at it immediately after getting a notification

~~~
majkinetor
Totally this.

You are now given more options regarding daily activity + safety which aren't
obligatory.

I was recently thinking what was in my parents heads when I was lost in the
mountain storm during regular ski period in 90s.

------
leetrout
I went back to a dumb phone and a WiFi only iPad.

I downloaded maps for offline use but I hated it and really missed having
decent navigation at the push of a small button in my hand.

For music I used a 2008 iPod video. I actually still prefer it when riding my
motorcycle.

I was shocked at how much I still needed the iPad for MFA via google
authenticator / Microsoft auth / Authy because the Yubikey I bought didn’t
work with most sites. This was a couple years ago. YMMV.

I wish I’d blogged about it. I ended up going back to a cheap Android after a
couple months of missing a decent camera then go frustrated with the speed of
the phone and went to a pixel and then back to iPhone.

When I have been without a phone it’s demonstrated how much I really need one
for the simplest things like a calendar, a timer, a flashlight, a camera. A
lot of that a dumb phone can do. But navigation is the deal breaker.

That said I think $1000 phones is stupid. I am very happy with the new iPhone
SE

------
RedNifre
I can't, because I really need these apps:

\- Electric scooter unlocking (you scan a QR code on the scooter)

\- Car rental and unlocking

\- Maps and navigation

\- Grocery list (I uncheck items when I notice that I'm running out, so the
list is always up to date when I go to the mall)

\- Language learning app

\- Music streaming

\- Podcasts (includes news)

As for my experience, I tried a week without a phone and a year without social
media and my conclusion was that I absolutely need a smartphone and like
Twitter (after some cleanup and muting some topics). I also tried a Jelly
Phone (very tiny Android phone) for a while, which was fun, but a regular
sized smartphone just works best for me.

Ultimately, it's up to you, to pick the technology that best fits your life.
If you can live with an old-school phone or none at all, why not? The nice
thing of the "not owning one at all" option is that you can just try it
immediately.

------
pengo
I have a high spec phone running Sailfish OS, and I think I have the best of
both worlds. With all notifications and push updates turned off it's a useful
tool but no longer intrudes. I've set up periods of the day when even phone
calls don't trigger audible alerts, so I can work without interruption. But
when I need access to information, Slack conversations, files from our NAS or
even SSH access to servers themselves, I have that anywhere in the world.

A lot of the time it stays in my bag, and gets to the end of the day with 75%
charge left despite reading books on it over lunch, often watching an hour's
video on it in the evening, and listening to music via bluetooth at work if I
need to shut out distractions.

It's now a tool and no longer an intrusion.

------
jariel
I grew up without one, but came in fully to the working world of 'always on'.

It took me 6 months of 'non corporate work' to get used to the idea of not
receiving emails all the time.

It becomes part of your identity and you feel lost without it.

But then you regain something lost - peace of mind.

I can't even imagine what it means to grow up 'fully connected' \- sometimes I
think that young people must be excessively neurotic, and would be afraid of
'quiet' and think that what was normal for all of human history is now, in one
generation - 'bizarre'.

I recommend getting an Android and not using apps. Don't have notifications,
but if you want to check something you can.

And it will take 6 months to get used to, but afterwards, you might not be
able to fathom going back to the noise.

~~~
BlueTemplar
Not using apps is way more radical than blocking almost all notifications.

~~~
jariel
I see what you are saying, but the notification is actually a big deal. The
notification is the 'trigger' to set us off to 'read the thing' which gives us
our little dopamine hit. It's hard to resist, and it takes up a lot of mental
noise.

Even the _possibility_ of getting notifications is stressfull.

The difference between having a phone on, where people can contact you - vs -
phone dead or 'no phone' is definitely noticeable. 'Knowing you don't have to
check' is an extra level of peace.

~~~
rolph
notifications reallly piss me off.

it seems that if i shut my mouth its all fine but as soon as its time for a
conversation there is constant disruption and derailment from the continuity
of a conversation, effect is a shallow conversation or series of mini
conversations made of half phra [BRRING!! BRINNG!!] hey someone just liked a
post from yesterday, what was that we were talking about.

------
tjalfi
I lived without a cell phone until I was in my late 30s (2016). It made going
out, meeting friends, navigation, taking photos, and dating much more
difficult. Other people will expect you to have one and not having one makes
you harder to communicate with; think about how many people you regularly text
instead of call. My current relationship relies heavily on a cellphone; we use
our phones to identify restaurants, get directions, and have brief text
conversations. There are many things I dislike about cellphones but I would
never go back.

------
0xcoffee
My life improved measurably once I got a phone. Many events happen more or
less spontaneously and people will message me in the moment if I want to join
something. Since joining facebook and whatsapp I have become a much more
social person (in real life).

I don't use facebook for posting, just for messaging. I don't install works
apps (teams) on my phone, so if I get a notification, it's usually
positive/meaningful one. I mute all group chats.

This is how I keep my phone a positive object in my life.

------
ornornor
I can relate to not wanting to be on a leash.

What I did is disable all notifications and ringtones. Calls go to voicemail
and if people leave a message I’ll call back on my own time, otherwise I
won’t. Only my SO has audible ringtones and notifications so I know that if
the phone rings it’s worth answering.

I don’t install apps if I can help it, I havE gotten rid of Facebook twitter
etc a long time ago and will use the browser for the rest. If they go out of
their way to make the browser experience shitty on mobile (Reddit, linked in),
well, more power to them I’ll only use my computer with ad blocking instead.

And of course I’ll never install my works chat app on my phone, nor will they
ever get my phone number.

But I do find having a smartphone is convenient. Maps at the tips of your
fingers when you’re lost, calling places when you’re on the go and need to ask
or change something, gps for the bicycle, transit pass for public
transportation and trains, music on the go... it feels like by disabling all
notifications, no social networks presence, and no native apps if I can help
it, then I have the best of both worlds. Oh and nextdns.io for ad blocking on
the iPhone, it works everywhere except in the YouTube app and for websites
that inject google ads after the page has loaded (only a couple of websites as
far as I’m concerned)

~~~
gavribirnbaum
Maybe the rule should be: no phone while at home? Lock it on arrival or
something. All the practical/non-attention-sucking benefits of phones happen
outdoors I reckon

------
Balgair
I've gone back and forth between smartphones and dumbphones a few times now.
Each model and OS have a big impact on how dumb or smart a phone can be.

Smartphone Pluses: It's nice to have a camera and a flashlight in my pocket
all the time. Having the internet nearby is also nice for when I need to look
things up. GPS is really nice.

Smartphone Minuses: It's distracting, but you can and should customize your
app preferences, notifications, etc. to your liking. The battery sucks.

Dumbphone Pluses: Not very distracting. Forces you to be thoughtful in text
messages, as they are laborious to write on a numpad. Good battery life and
they are mostly replaceable. Though you should buy a few replacements and
store them in your fridge as battery models are dropped from manufacture.

Dumphone Minuses: Generally, not a good camera or screen to read/view from.
Same with flashlight, but you can get a small one for your keychain anyways.
Lack of apps and internet. Sometimes you really do want to have a stargazing
app or know that one recipe. You can call 411 and ask them those questions as
well, but it does cost money. No GPS. No real social media support, though you
can send out updates to most social media sites, but getting back info is done
through text message and that can be a hassle. Overall, you can do work-
arounds, but they take time, knowhow, money, and are overall less optimal.

Overall, I have a pretty locked down smartphone right now and it works ok. I'd
like to have a better battery though. I don't think I'll be going back to a
dumbphone as the 'social inertia' of smartphone usage is pretty high.

------
Yetanfou
Yes, of course, I only got one of the things when I got a girlfriend - who is
now my wife - in another country. Before that time I was employed as a service
developer and -architect at a big telco while at the same time (well, at night
mostly) working on a number of free software projects. I did standby duty
during the Y2K moment supreme (nothing happened and I could party along at the
hostel close to the office). When I needed to be reachable I had a pager on
me, otherwise I was either close to something with a network connection or in
disconnected bliss out in the woods.

The same works just as well now with the exception of the pager which needs to
be replaced with a phone. Wear it when you need to be reachable, otherwise
leave it at home. I still do this with my phones in a way in that I don't use
data and leave my main device at home when I'm out in the woods. The secondary
phones - I have a number of them - are all older Android devices which I use
as audio players and cameras which happen to make it possible for people to
reach me.

Just get a cheap phone or leave your current one at home for a while to see
how it goes.

------
ivanonchi
My phone melted down last week and spent a long weekend without it. It was
very refreshing, and tempted to stay phone-less, so kind of regret that I used
the warranty and received a new one. What a coincidence that I just wrote
about the brief experience a few hours ago:
[https://ivanluque.com/unphoned/](https://ivanluque.com/unphoned/)

------
wheels
I've considered doing the same. Also, before I ran my own company, I used to
never take a phone or laptop with me on vacation.

Here are some things I've done as a half measure to make phones more
tolerable:

\- Turn off notifications for almost everything. I don't let any of the
current crop of messengers send audible (or vibration) notifications. I only
see them if I look at my phone. I don't allow notifications from any social
app, or really anything else.

\- Set up "favorites" on Android, and leave my phone to only allow those
through a large chunk of the time. This means the only people that I'll hear
ring if they call are basically: my wife, kid's daycare and server downtime
notifications.

For me that gets it into the range of tollerability most of the time. It helps
that I've always been more of a laptop / desktop person than phone user for
browsing. I don't tend to pick up my phone super often. Friends do complain
that I'm hard to reach though.

------
raicem
I did live without a smartphone for 20 days during my military service. I had
no other choice as only "dumb" phones were allowed.

I would suggest it as a one-month experiment to anyone reading this. I had so
much time to think, reflect and... get bored. It was a sort of detox. It was
great to __not __know where you are on the map. It was great to __not __have
something to listen to. It was great to __not __catch-up.

Since I was off the hook of my smartphone, I tended not to bail out on
conversations with others and go back to my digital reality. I talked to
people (maybe other people not having smartphones also helped with this).

I kept my "dumb" phone for a couple of months after that but I don't think I
can manage to live without a smartphone full time. However, it's a great
exercise to reduce addiction. I definitely started use my smart phone less.

------
ryandrake
If your goal is to take back your attention and stop being a slave to messages
and notifications, you can always turn them off and uninstall just those apps.
I've been running in 24/7 "do not disturb" mode for the last few years, and
it's been a game changer. I use my device on _my_ terms when _I_ want to, not
when other people or apps want my attention. All notifications are silent and
do not light up my lock screen. All calls go directly to voicemail with no
ring. My ring tone and message tones are set to silent audio files, in case I
missed something. Any app that I find myself compulsively going into gets
uninstalled.

Also, leaving Facebook about ten years ago and never picking up any of the
alternatives was a critical step toward taking back my attention.

------
tumblerz
On and off, over the years, due to remote locations. So, not exactly what you
are asking for.

Longest period was about 3 months, during which time I was able to voice chat
via sat a few times a week. On many other occasions I've been off the phone
grid for a few days to a couple weeks.

Message apps are a big one for me because I am rarely near people with whom I
have close relationships. Months without that were quite lonely.

On the other hand, I (almost) never use maps, never use social media, and do
not use my phone for watching videos. All of that by early choice. I survive
fine that way.

Ive found that without my phone the first couple days have lots of frustrated
moments of "oh...I cannot look up the thing I do not know," but after that I
adapt.

------
xwdv
I find that if I didn’t have a phone, my time would probably just be spent
staring at a computer instead. Before smart phones I would sit for hours
browsing the internet on my computer.

Now I still spend hours browsing the internet each day, but usually I’m also
out and about because I’m doing it on my phone.

However, I’m thinking of getting a smart watch and completely leaving my phone
at home. If I really need to communicate someone I find an Apple Watch is good
enough, and it eliminates the other distracting apps that eat up my time.
Probably the way to go tbh, and if I had kids it’d probably be the first
communication device I give them instead of a phone.

------
fl0tingh0st
I want to try this once. But I'm so much into WhatsApp, Instagram. It will be
kind of digital detox. I had deleted twitter and Facebook 6yrs back that was
once of the best decision I had made. Now I'm kind of addicted to that Insta
feed and Youtube feed. I will be deleting Insta account. But hope will come
over the need of WhatsApp and other cool apps and ditch phone completely.

But if you suddenly need a document and you have been out for some work, and
you don't have mobile to receive it ? This is the only thing I'm not able to
cover it up. Rest if I ditch I can come over it.

~~~
ornornor
> But if you suddenly need a document and you have been out for some work, and
> you don't have mobile to receive it ?

That’s an easy one: my personal phone = no work use whatsoever. And if they
offer to pay for it (they won’t), then I’ll decline so it stays my phone
rather than my work’s whistle.

------
mauvehaus
I just gave in and made the switch to a smartphone. It's getting tough to find
dumbphones that aren't limited to 3g, which Verizon (my carrier) is turning
off that _also_ have a QWERTY keyboard. If you can live with T9, you have a
lot more options.

Last time I got a new phone (2015 or 2016), most of the QWERTY phones were
just crappy or outdated smartphones. I found a slider with QWERTY that is
apparently 3g only. Everybody hated the voice quality.

This time around, I gave in and got an iPhone SE. I hate the distraction, but
I wasn't willing to live with T9 for texting.

Good luck!

------
lostsoul8282
I have black out periods. A few hours a day that I’m not accessible. Turn
phone off, disable all messages in laptop , etc.

It’s really helped with mental health to the point where I take a few days off
a month and completely disconnect from “networked” tech. No phones or
internet. I walk, I write, I watch movies I took the time to buy instead of
taking what Netflix pushes on me.

I can’t say how I’d be without it but I do think it’s improved my life by
making me appreciate slowing down more and deeper involvement in anything I’m
currently doing.

------
acomjean
It’s almost a requirement of modern city living To have one.

Paying parking meters, not having to deal with rolls of quarters.

Also 2 factor logins at work from home require a smart phone.

Filling out forms for pandemic related info to get into Work requires a app.
(For those that work in labs and not from Home)

I don’t love being plugged in all the time, but having lived my life without
one (cell phones weren’t around in early 90s College) I’m not going back. Dumb
phones were a pain to type on.

Apart from being always connected there is anxiety about my phone breaking
which is another downside.

------
darrmit
I did it for about a month a few years ago and it was really refreshing. I’ve
been trending back in that direction. I got an iPhone SE and uninstalled most
apps.

I still really enjoy having a few things: maps, camera, and messaging. I don’t
do much of the social thing so that’s not a problem.

I’ve been checking out the Lightphone II. It’s definitely intriguing with the
support for a hotspot and podcasts, music, and eventually maps. But I also
don’t know that I want to spend that much.

------
Raed667
My work requires a smartphone for multi-factor authentication and to unlock
the office door (if we ever go back to the office)

~~~
daniellarusso
For multi-factor, could you use an Android emulator running on your PC?

Obviously, that does not work for the doorlock.

~~~
icebraining
Running it on the same machine would defeat much of the purpose.

A better idea is to just turn it on for 2FA, then turn it off again.

~~~
daniellarusso
That was my point. Using a mobile phone as a second factor seems more like an
inconvenience.

Other sibling mentioned IMEI pinning, but I assume the emulator can spoof
IMEI.

I am all for a separate physical device, just not a phone.

~~~
icebraining
A phone is just a computer, just like any other device. What do you have
specifically against it? You can just keep it turned off except when you need
to use it for 2FA.

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WealthVsSurvive
I am about to do exactly the same after I move: get a landline and ditch my
smartphone. I think of what it costs in time, money, resources, and freedom,
and I've come to the conclusion that I'd be a more satisfied human being
without a smartphone. I'm not interested in buying what it's selling.

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tmpfs
I did this intentionally for a few years about five years ago and thoroughly
enjoyed the experience. The only reason i ended up getting a phone afterwards
was to develop mobile software.

As i notice myself get too attached to my device i miss those peaceful years.
At the very least leave it behind when you go on holiday if possible.

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GaryNumanVevo
I've been thinking about doing a multiple-profile setup on Android. One with
just the SMS / Phone / Camera apps, and the other with email or slack for when
I'm on call. Anyone have experience with the profile system on Android?

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mkamat
Smartphones are not a status symbol anymore so it’s now much easier to have a
lower-end device that meets basic needs (phone, email, messaging) while
limiting how distracting it can get (games, AR/VR)

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daniellarusso
I let my phone’s battery ‘die’ and may not recharge for several hours to a
day.

I have thought about porting my number to Twilio or similar, and having a
stationary phonebooth that can send and receive mms messages, as well.

~~~
shawnz
It's very bad for the lifetime of a lithium battery to let it drop all the way
to 0% charge

~~~
dwighttk
Do most devices wait until 0% to turn off?

~~~
shawnz
No, but the higher the depth of discharge, the worse the degradation will be.

See:
[https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to...](https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries)

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have_faith
Or just turn it onto airplane mode for most of the time. You get the benefit
of having something with you to take notes, photos, videos, etc but none of
the constant connection and availability anxiety.

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arcontethegreat
I had thoughts about this but eventually decided to just turn off the color on
my smartphone. Now I just use it when it's absolutely necessary because it
looks so drab.

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kasperni
Depends on your lifecycle. I honestly couldn't imagine living in a big city
without map/taxi/metro apps. I love getting lost, but not on a daily basis.

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megous
It's not possible to use internet banking here without being able to receive
SMS, so that would be tough. Dumb phone is enough for that, though.

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Lesabotsy
Don't have one, don't feel the need for one.

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jjgreen
Never had one, never really caused a problem. Mutli-auth with a yubikey, land-
line if I need to make a call, old ipod for music ... do it.

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rekado
I don't have a phone, not even landline. It's fine. People adjust to the fact
that I'll reply to emails when I have time.

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Putintseva
When I have broked my last hpone, I spend several days without anything. It
was hard but in some case greate. I had digital detox)

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ulisesrmzroche
Is this bout “distractions are the devil”? My life in plain text kinda thing?

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BlueTemplar
We had a landline even when I was a kid... on vacations ?

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peignoir
The all first part of my life :)

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tehabe
Why should I do that? I remember the time w/o cell phones and it was horrible.
I never want to go back.

~~~
projektfu
And now there aren’t hardly any payphones.

~~~
rudiv
How come they don't sell batteries on the train no more? I guess it's cause
the iPod came out.

~~~
tehabe
They sold batteries on trains? I remember there used to be a pay phones on
some German trains but they were using the analogue C network, which shut down
in 2000.

~~~
projektfu
People sold them on the NY subway at least.

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bullno1
I have for 4 years.

Not going back.

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sheinsheish
never say never

