
I run a SV startup but refuse to own a cellphone - crikli
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/11/steve-hilton-silicon-valley-no-cellphone-technology-apps-uber
======
bcg1
I haven't had a cell phone since 2004... I was deployed to Afghanistan that
year and we weren't allowed to bring phones with us, so I just shut it off and
left it at home. While there I noticed that people could be killed just based
on LLVI "intelligence" which I found somewhat scary, so I didn't turn my phone
back on when I returned.

I've missed basically the entire camera-phone age and certainly the entire
smartphone age, and I have to concur with the author that it is pretty
wonderful. Also he's correct in that when people find out you have no cell
phone, they tend to look at you like you have 3 heads.

I suspect that one day we will reach a point when some serious things are
impossible without owning a cell phone (like voting, transacting over the
Internet, etc) which in my view will be a serious loss of freedom for me... in
the meantime I'm very happy with my lifestyle and I plan to hold out as long
as I can.

------
746F7475
"Only needs phone ~5 times a moth" that is still 60 times in a year. For me
the whole "argument" (or whatever) fell apart there. I can accept the "one
ruined meeting in three years", but if you need something weekly (or more than
once a week) you are not "living without it".

He could easily achieve the same exact result by not installing social apps,
disabled browser and just having Uber and actual calling functionality and you
could still call forward every incoming call to landline so the mobile
wouldn't even ring.

~~~
dikdik
I had the same reaction, but then thought....there may be a small, but growing
niche of people that want a 24/7 connected device allowing some of the 21st
century apps without all the overbearing communication.

~~~
746F7475
Well, one easy way to achieve this is to turn off notifications from all the
apps. I'm constantly surprised how many people around me have their phone
ring/vibrate from every little thing. Even worse are the people with Apple
Watches with all notification from everywhere flooding into their wrists, it's
like they are constantly checking the time and making tiny adjustments.

But then again I don't quite understand social media. I just have small circle
of friends I'm in touch on daily bases and we are little old hat and just use
IRC like we've always done.

------
rckrd
This guy seems more focused on his lack of a cellphone rather than his
startup. Its amazing how successful people sometimes correlate their success
with some odd habit they have.

~~~
gk1
Where in the article does the author correlate his success with not having a
phone? And how do you know he is not focused on his startup?

~~~
fossuser
Doing a lengthy article in the guardian exclusively on that topic may be an
indication. Though mostly this just strikes me as a lame attempt to get
attention (maybe he's trying to get press?).

------
theklub
Funny that this is interesting to people. I have a cellphone but I refuse to
ever answer it. Leave a msg and maybe I'll call you back. It's the "I'm not
home right now" affect. Just for emergencies alone though I feel it's stupid
not to at least have one in your car or something.

------
tootie
I reached adulthood at the start of the cell phone age and was a relatively
late adopter of smart phones, so I know you obviously can live without them,
but why would you want to? I don't need a dishwasher if I can wash by hand,
but why? I can use the stairs instead of the elevator, but why? I can go live
in a Mennonite community instead of Brooklyn, but why?

~~~
ant6n
I'm not sure I get your point. All your rhetorical questions could be asked
the other way round.

~~~
noxToken
I read it as, "You have the ability to make certain aspects of your life
easier or more convenient. Is there a reason to decline (whether personal,
ethical, etc.) or are you just being obstinate?" The emphasis is on the
trailing question.

Do I need a smart phone? Not really, but the accessibility is nice. For
others, the answer could be that certain aspects become more convenient,
however, they find themselves glued to the phone for 75% of their waking
hours. The trade off would be to get a dumb phone (or dataless smart phone) to
maintain contact while cutting the screen time.

Do I need a dish washer? No. I _can_ do the dishes by hand. The dish washer
will likely use less water and better sanitize my dishes. It's not a
necessity, but it helps.

Anecdote: I have an acquaintance who believes that the golden age of gaming
started around the NES version of Mario and ended around DOOM. He keeps
abreast of current game trends, but he refuses to buy anything modern if it is
not a Mario title. He is certainly entitled to his opinion of what constitutes
a "golden age", but I, as well as many others, believes that he is missing out
on many titles that he would enjoy.

Is he wrong? Absolutely not; he can play or not play whatever he chooses. Does
it make sense? I don't think it does. He has firmly rooted himself into a
niche of a hobby such that he lets everything else fly by without
consideration. He's not wrong. He's just obstinate. For what gain?

------
codegeek
"What do you imagine your parents did? And parents for all of human history
before the last 20 years?”"

Many things were different 20 years ago. Today being a parent of 2 toddlers, I
cannot even imagine not having a phone with me when my kids are away at
school/daycare. No I am not paranoid. I trust the school/daycare. But that one
instance of time when my kids need me asap and the school could not get to me
quick enough, I will never forgive myself for that. Just for that kind of
emergency, I will have my cellphone.

When it comes to kids of your own, it changes a lot of things. I will never
take a chance with my kids.

~~~
BatFastard
What's different is the school EXPECTS you to have a cell phone, and come
running if they call. After raising two kids this immediacy is really not
necessary. I lot of it goes back to the craziness in the healthcare system. No
school wants to be sued, so they don't have a nurse. They can't take the kid
to the hospital themselves, since the hospital won't even see the kid unless
the have insurance info. And since it takes two working parents to be able to
afford to live in this country, one parent is no longer home. The madness ends
when we make other choices in our lives. Go Bernie!

~~~
codegeek
Good point. Sometimes I get calls from daycare that my kid fell on the ground
while playing and they just wanted to let me know as FYI. Of course kids fall
down when they are playing. I don't need to know that everytime it happens
unless a serious injury occurs. The fear of being sued and the culture of
lawsuits in this country is something that is creating this type of practice.

------
trymas
When I read this type of articles: with lengthy argumentation why someone does
something rather unusual or impractical. I always imagine, that these people
are just looking for acceptance and attention of what they are doing, nothing
more. Because it's just impractical.

Yeah, you can probably more relaxed, but I imagine his colleagues, wife,
relatives are going nuts, when they cannot reach him, when he is needed. So he
free rides on others' pocket when he needs a phone, and rides on others
stress, when he is needed for some situation.

~~~
gk1
To me, what's nuts is somegoing going nuts if they can't reach someone else
within a few hours.*

*The author said he's on his computer every day so he's accessible by email. When he's not at work, he's presumably by phone and therefore accessible by landline. I'd guess there are just a few hours each day when he's neither at work nor at home--commuting, playing with kids outside, at a bar, etc.

~~~
trymas
It's still inconvenience for your closest people. Is he accessible by land
phone? Which one? Maybe call his wife and ask if he's nearby? Write an email
and expect he will see it and will have time to respond to it?

It's just rather irrational, he uses most of the new technology and even
social networks[0]! But not use a cell phone. He just produced more
inconveniences for himself and his people around him, than solved. If there
would be a solid argument against using a cell phone, there would not be a
reason to write a 2000 word article about it.

[0] >You can reach me on Twitter @stevehiltonx

~~~
VLM
There are primate dominance rituals to be observed. One is power based. You
serve me, not the other way around. When I say jump you better reply how high
within 15 seconds, and you are not in a social position to ask me to jump. You
can also signal primate dominance WRT making sure everyone knows you're not
feeling the need to put on a show of being necessary because you're a hero,
because your position is otherwise so secure you don't need to pose to protect
your dominance.

Its possible to brag or enforce dominance about management skill. A skilled
manager can get hit by a truck and finely crafted systems and procedures will
work for days, weeks, months. An incompetent manager is perpetually running
around like a chicken with head cut off in continuous hero saves the day mode,
which looks impressive to people who don't understand it signals gross
incompetence. So you can stealthily brag about your management power level by
very loudly claiming you don't have to be a superhero because unlike the
chicken with their head cut off competitors, you actually know how to manage
and lead.

Another primate dominance interpretation is level based, not skill or power
based. Low level people have low level responsibilities, like instantaneously
responding to absolutely everyone. Higher level people respond to higher level
problems, which tend to both evolve and be fixed much more slowly. So a line
employee or team lead needs to be a whipped slave, but a CEO who needs to
micromanage is a failed CEO, that CEO should be thinking about next years
overall strategy, not ultra short term like how to do a customer service reps
job for them. A few days here or there don't matter for producing annual
strategic plan. A micromanaging CEO won't have a long term plan.

~~~
trymas
Well indeed, it's a greatly managed business/project if it does not go down
for a long time, even if manager is gone. Though, are you implying, that the
guy from an article have reached such godlike level, that he is the one to be
reached, and not the other way around.

By your definition, it means, that CEOs of big corporations, can just sit in
their office, without phones, etc., and just build plans for next few years.

------
nathan_f77
I had recent experience of life without a cellphone. My wife and I were on a
vacation in Cambodia, and before we went up to the rooftop restaurant I
suggested that we should leave our phones in the room, since they can be
distracting.

* I missed out on taking a photo of the amazing view

* We were talking about the different standards of living around the world, and I mentioned that Norway was the best country in the world, and also that they have a ton of money. That's all I could remember about the money, without access to Google and Wikipedia.

* I counted at least 2 other times where I instinctively went to pull out my phone to Google something or reference an article that I had read.

* I wanted to know what song was playing on the speakers so I could listen to the album later. No Soundhound or Shazam.

* My wife missed 3 Skype calls from her family, who ended up sending very worried messages hoping that she was ok

~~~
bpchaps
* I missed out on taking a photo of the amazing view

-Bring a camera.

* We were talking about the different standards of living around the world, and I mentioned that Norway was the best country in the world, and also that they have a ton of money. That's all I could remember about the money, without access to Google and Wikipedia.

-Enjoy where you're at and your company. If you spend five minutes looking for this sort of thing, you're diverting your attention elsewhere.

* I counted at least 2 other times where I instinctively went to pull out my phone to Google something or reference an article that I had read.

-That's a bad thing? It's fine to be ignorant on something. You're at a restaurant on a roof in Cambodia, ffs! Enjoy yourself in the moment!!

* I wanted to know what song was playing on the speakers so I could listen to the album later. No Soundhound or Shazam.

-Holy sheesh....

* My wife missed 3 Skype calls from her family, who ended up sending very worried messages hoping that she was ok

-Why didn't you call them beforehand? What kind of situation did you put yourself in that required that sort of worry? So many questions...

------
Spooky23
In certain situations it's to your advantage to be hard to reach.

When I had an admin, very few calls made it through because 95% were either
un-necessary escalations or things that should have been IMs/emails. The admin
either answered the question or directed the caller or the person actually
doing whatever they asked for. Some people saw that as "what a dick", but my
goal is to get my job done in as close to 8 hours as possible. Yacking on the
phone, mostly for bullshit reasons, for 3 hours a day means I don't get to eat
dinner with my family or I'm up until midnight and don't work out in the
morning. That's my priority.

The problem with the smartphone is that it's too easy to let it transition
your life to an interruption based nightmare.

------
meirelles
I share the same feeling about smartphones. I still own a very old one (nokia
e71), mostly to use as banking token or during travels. 99% of time is off on
the shelf.

I think some heavy smartphones users tend a develop some kind of
dependency/anxiety (I was one of them).

------
holdenc
I don't own a phone is the new I don't own a tv

~~~
jordigh
It's a bit more than that. TVs are or were at least one per household, but
every individual over a certain age is expected to carry a "phone" at all
times.

I too don't own a pocket computer, mobile phone, nor even a landline, and I
get the weirdest looks from people. It's like saying I refuse to wear shoes.
Carrying a tracking device on us has become as socially expected as wearing
undergarments. It's a truly unique thing in history.

~~~
toomanybeersies
I think it's more just that people want a real-time way of communicating with
you.

And Skype doesn't count because not everybody can skype on their phones. What
happens if someone needs to contact you to tell you that they're running late?

~~~
jordigh
> What happens if someone needs to contact you to tell you that they're
> running late?

That's actually one of the greatest benefits of not owning a pocket computer:
people feel a lot more pressure to be on time. Old-fashioned: you set an
appointment ahead of time and you keep it.

------
dmalvarado
I like to keep in touch with my wife during the day. Everyone else could wait
till the evening, but that alone is reason enough for me.

~~~
moron4hire
Exactly. Life is objectively better with this technology. It only hurts us if
we let it.

------
thomnottom
If people are so stressed by a cellphone, maybe they should look at how they
prioritize their lives. I'm not saying people HAVE to have cellphones, just
that it's very easy to have something like that and not make it the center of
your world. I tend to check my phone a lot - when I'm not busy. When busy, it
often gets left at my desk or in my bedroom while other things are
accomplished.

I'm all for getting rid of unnecessary things that clutter up your life, but
it kind of sounds like he actually does need one. And he'd be better off
learning that he can use it better.

------
cjbprime
> This is where my wife, if she were co-author of this piece, would chime in:
> “You see, he’s a hypocrite! He doesn’t have a phone but he relies on other
> people having a phone. And this whole ‘not having a phone thing’ isn’t some
> cool rejection of tech addiction. It’s the ultimate selfishness. It means
> the whole world has to revolve around him. If you make a plan to meet, you
> can’t change it because you can’t let him know. It drives me completely mad
> …” etc, etc.

Nailed it.

------
MichaelBurge
I spend $12/month on two phones(Skype and a cell phone).

I had a landline during college that came with the internet connection. I
think I paid $10 for the phone.

When I got out of college, I needed a phone to schedule interviews for a job.
So I bought a Skype phone number and used that. I think it costs $6/month, and
I've had it for 5 years.

I bought a cell phone last year when I needed to work during the day, but also
wanted to be accessible in case a tenant on a rental property needed some
emergency repairs or something. I think I paid $50 for a cheaper Android and
paid $20 every 3 months to keep it on and for 200 minutes/megabytes/texts. It
was kind of nice to not have to worry about getting lost.

I might cancel the subscription on that cell phone soon, since I rarely use
it. I don't know though: I can see wanting to develop a mobile app soon, and
when I meet up with someone once or twice a year it'd be nice to have the
flexibility to call to reschedule. Last year I met up with a real estate
agent, and they were annoyed when they were 20 minutes late("stuck in
traffic") and I was already gone after assuming they wouldn't show; the good
news is they weren't late on any subsequent meetups.

It's not really about the money so much as being another thing to keep track
of. It's a bad idea to lose track of the number of $x/month payments you're
making, even if $x is small.

------
iraldir
I've done it for 3 month in the uk and it just prove impractical. I mean, not
being able to be called or get messages from friends is one thing, and not a
real problem. From coworkers as well. But services, it's a hell. You can't
order a pizza on the internet cause you don't have a phone number, or packages
delivery in general won't like you, appointment with the dentist and stuff
will also be a pain, cause they won't like/allow you not to have a phone.
Quite a mess.

------
moron4hire
Mindfulness is a choice completely separate from owning a cellphone. Most
people first journeying into mindfulness conflate the two choices. But really,
if you can't manage the distractions of a cellphone, there are bigger problems
in your life than just cellphones.

Managing distractions is the same regardless of whether it's cellphones or
desktop emails or cars on the road. You have to learn how to differentiate
between the signal and the noise at a glance, and waste no time on the noise.

~~~
hollerith
It is not clear to me exactly what you mean by "managing distractions".

I disabled Notification Center on my Mac because I couldn't find a less
drastic way to stop Apple from popping up notifications irrelevant to me
(e.g., a new version of iTunes is ready to be installed).

Does that qualify in your eyes as "managing distractions" correctly or not?

Would it in your opinion have been better for me to learn not to be bothered
or distracted by notifications -- to change myself instead of changing the
Mac, in other words?

ADDED. Even though I never use iTunes, I have not been able to figure out a
way to stop my Mac from trying to upgrade iTunes.

~~~
moron4hire
iTunes update notifications? Dude...

Even if you couldn't make the mental leap to just stop worrying about the
updates and to rationally understand they aren't literally constant, there are
other media players or other operating systems that are far, far less
annoying. OS X, iOS, Windows, and Android are _literally_ designed to be
annoying, to keep reminding you thry exist, to keep them in your mind, so you
expect them to be an ever present part of your experience. Because they are
all in service to something other than your needs for an operating system.
This is exactly the sort of thing for which the Free Software Foundation
exists.

But ultimately, the problem is not the notification, or the media player, or
the operating system. They are 100% incapable of causing you any harm on their
own. You have to choose to allow it to harm you.

By manage distractions, I mean do whatever it takes to stop harming yourself.
To me, the lowest friction way of doing that is letting iTunes update so it
will be quiet for another month, and then forgetting about it.

------
mentos
Does this guy still print out 12-13 pages of MapQuest directions before
driving somewhere too?

~~~
arca_vorago
It's called having paper maps for the states and cities you are in... I grew
up in the forest where no cellphone works and GPS topo data was sparse, but
the local forest service topo maps were second to none.

Some people need gps directions to go to the corner store, some people just
need a paper map to traverse the world. I'd rather be the latter and use the
former when needed/wanted than the former with the inability to to the latter.

As for the article, I generally agree with the author, as I have done the same
thing (ditched a cell phone for about a year and a half). It was wonderful,
but my current job description requires me to be on call, so I have made a
temporary compromise, but I fully intend to return to no cell phone
eventually.

One thing in particular I learned from my time without one is that I was much
more observant and interactive with my surroundings. I would have
conversations or see things I would have never if my eyes were glued to a
screen. It also strengthened my conversation skills as a result.

~~~
nathan_f77
Offline maps are way better than paper maps, though. I go hiking and use
maps.me. I just download and import hiking trails as KMZ files. And you can
also download the offline mapping and routing data for any country in the
world, just like a TomTom GPS.

Paper maps are fine, and I can still read those. But they really pale in
comparison to a map with GPS and automatic routing. Also a built-in compass.
And a camera. And everything else that a modern smart-phone can do.

~~~
bpchaps
Best experience I've ever had was when I woke up at a hotel in Muir Woods and
just started.. walking. I didn't have a car, a map or a phone intentionally.
There was a trail, I had enough food, and there were enough every ten minutes
or so to ask questions if needed.

Thirteen miles later, I ended up at the ocean for the first time, when I
didn't even know which way was west. It was mindblowingly refreshing. Sure, it
could have gone completely differently, but is that the point? I was content
where I was by just hiking with my own thoughts and awareness of my immediate
surroundings. Having a phone or GPS would have completely stripped that
feeling away.

There's something to be said to just living in the moment when the risk is
low-medium.

------
randomname2
Very tempting to not to own a cellphone but I would really miss Google Maps
and Uber.

~~~
andersonmvd
I think the same, but if your usage is more limited to such apps, maybe a
smart watch can get the job done. Using it less instead of getting rid of it
sounds good as well.

~~~
adrianN
Aren't current smart watches mostly tiny displays for the phone in your pocket
though?

~~~
lmm
Mostly, but I think Samsung now has one that has its own cellular connectivity
(with its own SIM).

------
eng_monkey
> The handsets kept breaking and the whole thing cost a fortune.

You can buy basic mobile phones for $10. How many of those you have to break
to cost you a fortune?

~~~
eric_h
> with a pay-as-you-go plan from a UK provider

not sure why you would use a PAYG plan from a UK provider in the US, but I'm
sure it would be quite a bit more expensive than a PAYG plan from a US
provider

------
myztic
I understand where he is coming from, but I think that there always is a
healthy balance. Either you use something or you completely avoid it, that's
not a reasonable choice.

For me that actually is a symptom of having some sort of problem. He actually
somewhat admits that.

If someone says: "I hadn't had a drink for months and I feel great, I will
never drink again." Good for you, honestly, but you know the opposite of total
abstinence does not have to be to get drunk until you blackout two times a
week. What's wrong with having one beer at a party, a glass of wine to dinner?
If you have to drink 10 beers because you can't control yourself, then it
seems like you have a problem, though whatever works for you. If the only
solution is abstinence, then by all means, do it.

He has a problem in finding a reasonable balance. I am also glad he readily
admits that a phone is a symbol of his own stressful life he once had, so he
rejects it for that reason mostly.

Now I won't deny that I am in a somewhat different position, since my schedule
is not nearly as busy as his, and the metaphor does only work to a certain
extent, but I for one tend to not use my mobile phone that often. People know
they can reach me if something happens, at least in theory, since they know I
don't check it that often.

It's on mute most of the time, and if I don't want to take a call, guess what,
I don't. And I mostly communicate with E-Mail too, but I can do that from my
phone.

I call people back when I have the time, I also always have it with me, I can
enjoy the comfort of any application I want to, but it certainly does not
control my life. And with a modern phone you actually can streamline your
experience a lot (give your contacts various priorities, some can reach you,
some can only during a given time frame and lots of other things you can do).
I guess on an old Nokia, you can't do a lot in that area.

You don't need to take a phone call when you don't want to. You will have to
deal with people saying "Did you not have your phone with you?" and if the
answer is "Well actually, I did" they might get a little bit angry at first,
but being available is not something you have to be at all times. People in my
circle all know how I stand on this, and I read Telegram Messages and
sometimes reply days later, if it's not crucially important. They are used to
it, and it's not an issue these days.

So while I sympathize, it's not "being enslaved" versus "being free", there is
a healthy middle ground we should aim for. It takes work, adjustment, is not
maybe as easy as just throwing your phone away, but it's worth it.

PS: I don't like touch either, my mobile phone has a physical keyboard and I
am happy with it.

~~~
manibatra
Exactly. "If you devote your whole life to completely avoiding something you
like, then that thing still controls your life and, ‘n you’ve never learned
any discipline at all." \- Stan Marsh, South Park

------
unknownzero
I can't decipher from this article why he doesn't just have a phone and not
check it all the time. I carry a shiny new iPhone all the time and I rarely
pull it out of my pocket. Maybe once or twice a day to check new messages
(which he's already doing with the damn laptop) and then occasionally for the
stuff he borrows other people's phones for, Uber, quick messages, calls.

Perhaps he should be lamenting his own lack of self control instead of cell
phones. If everyone walked around needing one but not carrying one there'd be
nobody to borrow from and we'd be back to pay phones. Nonsense.

------
aaroninsf
Absolutely astonishing.

It takes a unique background and rare talent to see deep and clearly and act
decisively against all consensus wisdom.

To do so in the prime of life, against the murmured criticism of one's peers,
requires absolute faith in self which could only be a huge advantage in nearly
_all_ endeavors, personal as well as public.

Call it revolutionary, call it visionary, the ripples rebound and echo far
beyond the action in both space and time.

My hat is truly off.

Sigh but enough about David Bowie! :./

------
strictnein
Always excited to hear about people and CEOs with assistants and underlings
not having cell phones.

His lack of a phone most likely results in someone fielding calls for him.

------
ck2
You can most certainly still buy (indestructible) Nokia phone-only handsets.

This article reminds me of people who espouse "minimalism" and talk about few
things they own, yet they ignore their massive consumerism caused by that
lifestyle, spending a fortune on eat-out food instead of cooking at home, etc.

------
pdkl95
Programs like COTRAVELER should be common knowledge here on HN. Therefor,
every HN who chooses to carry their tracking device must believe that such a
program (and the surveillance state in general) is not a credible risk.

Is this certainty due to the current state of privilege enjoyed by the average
Silicon Valley tech employee? Is this a consequence of the notoriously bad
human capability for risk assessment?

I suspect that the risks of allowing both business and government to generate
realtime location maps and infer relationship information are overlooked
because it is easy to be distracted by shiny baubles and clever gadgets while
ignoring the tracking device those baubles and gadgets are tied to.

So go ahead, be happy with all of the cool toys you get to use with your
phone. I hope you're also happy with the surveillance state you're helping to
create. If you're lucky, nobody will use those records of your associations in
the future for some ugly purpose.

~~~
avoutthere
Do you drive a car? License plate readers and associated location tracking
software are becoming increasingly commonplace. Are you also "helping to
create" "the surveillance state"?

~~~
pdkl95
Yes, I have a car[1]. There is little comparison between license plates and
cell phones. If you think they are remotely comparable, you don't understand
how COTRAVELER works. Maybe I should revise my assumption that it was common
knowledge on HN.

License plates do not give away your location every few minutes. License
plates only show a _car 's_ location, which may map to one or more _people_.
License plates do not follow you into buildings, across different cars or
other forms of transportation.

More importantly, it is difficult to participate in modern society without a
form of transportation, which is usually a car. The cell phone is absolutely
_not_ a requirement, even though a lot of addicted people like to claim
otherwise. A landline has none of these tracking issues, and suffices
perfectly well for most _needs_ (which are different from _wants_ aka
_luxuries_ ).

So yes, unlike with a car, if you choose to carry a cell phone, you are
absolutely contributing to the surveillance state, and pretending otherwise
doesn't make your culpability in it go away.

[1] It doesn't see much use these days due to an unfortunate medical
situation, but I would be driving that car if it was safe.

------
Estragon
The narcissism and attention whoring in this article are reminiscent of an
Onion editorial.

~~~
kelvin0
I still don't get how HN works, I'm pretty sure if I would have written that
purely vitriolic comment I would have been downvoted to oblivion. Genuinely
curious about it ... obviously this interrogation of mine WILL be downvoted.

~~~
Infinitesimus
If the content is in line with the prevailing opinion of the crowd, it will be
more likely to get a pass. It's just how us humans work in social situations.

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jkot
I had a few friends like that. Their friends were their phone replacement:
Could I make a quick call? Do you know where X is? Would you mind to tell
him...

It is like to be proud not to have a car, but to constantly ask others to
drive you around.

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qihqi
You can own a phone and not check all the time-wasting stuff too. Just don't
install those apps.

You need to look at fb occationally use the browser. Fb has a decent mobile
optimized site.

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manibatra
If a person has to write an article about "not owning a cellphone" isn't that
person still a slave to the cellphone?

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crorella
welcome to the club, Steve.

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taytus
Why would anyone click in a link with such title? I'm like "Who cares?!" I'm
seeing stuff like this showing up more often here on HN. Am I alone on this?

