How a got rid of my smartphone over the course of 18 months

About a year and 1/2 ago I cancelled my cell service. 1/2 a year ago, I turned off my phone and put it in a drawer. Why did I spend a more than a year getting to this point? Because the average person can't make the kind of changes that make for the most popular posts ("I donated 99% of my stuff last night and survive with nothing but a pillow and toothbrush!"). That kind of change just isn't realistic. I'm willing to bet most of those posters aren't still living like that after a year. So here is the process I came up with, that made getting rid of my phone feel like a natural, relatively stress free transition.

 

1] Step Down - Taking too big a step at once is an easy way to get overwhelmed with changes. The reality is that some people actually do need a smartphone. Not need as in "in the grand scheme of things", but need as in "in 2017 a smartphone adds more value than it subtracts". For 99% of people though, there are 2 options for simplifying:

• Trade a cell number for a voip number and use your smartphone on wifi only

• Step down from a smartphone to a simple flip phone.

The latter option requires less problem solving up front, but the former is a little less jarring for people that use their smartphone as portable computer more than a phone.

 

2] Find Alternative Ways to Be Contacted - Cell phones make it easy to be contacted since you can simply give everyone a single number, but there is a solid alternative for almost every situation. It's actually pretty easy to spread out your contacts across a few methods, and once you're done, you'll realize you don't really have a use for a phone. Here are some options, keeping in mind that not all of them will work for everybody.

• Get a voip number There are a lot of different options for this one, so do your research and figure out what's best for you. I have a number that I can check through a web browser, which makes it perfect for services where I'm not concerned with missing a call (do you really need to know the moment your car is ready to be picked up from a service department?).

• Use email You'd be surprised how many places that ask for a phone number are willing to contact you via email if you ask.

• Use a work number You have to be careful with this one as you don't want to abuse a work phone, but giving out a work number to schools or other places that may need to contact you in an emergency is usually acceptable.

• Instant Messaging Almost everyone you know is subscribed to some sort of messaging service. And thankfully, most people in a single social circle will all use the same service. The big adjustment here is recognizing that people check there IMs less frequently than their texts, so people might not get back to as quickly, which usually isn't a big deal (let's be honest, we've all ignored a text or 2 that we didn't want to respond to any way. At worst, IM'ing feels like that).

• Get a home phone This doesn't have to be a landline. After I cancelled my service, we transferred my wife's number to simple flip phone. It stays at the house most of the time, but it also gives us the option to take it with us. This is perfect if you're concerned about being contacted when you're going to be away for a while.

• Tell people who you're going to be with This one isn't so much for leaving contact information (obviously you don't want a friends phone blowing up with calls for you), but if you tell some friends / family who you're going to be with, then in an emergency, mutual contacts can reach out to them to try and get a hold of you.

 

3] Replace the useful features a phone offers - Of all the things a phone can do, the 1 I found the most difficult to live without? The stupid flashlight! I never realized how often I relied on one. With a little Googling though, I found a great, cheap little keychain flashlight. Here are some other things to consider:

• Flashlight Keychain flashlights are good choice here. There are even credit card sized flashlights designed to fit in your wallet.

• Camera Obviously you don't want to carry a camera around all the time (that would kind of undermine the 'simple living' part), but there will be situations where you'll want to get some pictures. A simple point and shoot can be found for much less than the price of a phone. Plus, you could always keep your phone in a drawer and pull it out for just such occasions.

• Music Not everyone uses their phone for music, but if you do, it can be jarring to suddenly be without it. A simple mp3 player will do if you have a good library of music. There's also the radio and thrift store CDs for in your car. And if you're anywhere near a computer, most streaming services have a way to play music through any browser.

• Clock One word: Watch. It doesn't have to be expensive. It just has to tell time. If you really want to simplify, get a watch with an alarm, stop-watch and timer.

• Alarm Personally, I still keep a tablet for use around the house, but if you don't, there are still plenty of bedside clocks that you can get new for cheap. You can also get one from a thrift store for a dime a dozen (just make sure they work). Like with the camera, you can keep your smartphone and leave it plugged in by your bed. It can be easy to find yourself surfing the web at 2am when you keep a tablet or phone next to your bed though, so weigh that when deciding the method that's right for you.

• For everything else, get a notebook I was resistant to this at first since one of my goals in getting rid of my phone was to minimize the amount of things I have to carry around. I quickly discovered this was worth it. I bought a 3 pack of super thin, paperback notebooks and some pens. Meet someone new and want to contact them later? Write it down. See something while you're out and about that you want to look up later? Write it down. Pretty soon it'll be second nature.

 

4] GPS Of all things, this is the one people couldn't understand how I do without. To be honest, it was the thing I was most worried about going without too. So much so that it became a step in it's own right. What I discovered though, is that it's not nearly as scary as it seams, it just takes some getting used to. For 1, Google maps will let you download local areas so you can use them offline. You can even search for businesses and address and get directions from any address you want. The only thing you lose is turn by turn. I've found that anytime someone else is in the car with me, it's not a big deal to ask them to navigate per the turn by turn directions. When I'm driving solo, I try to look up the directions ahead of time and jot them down (over time I've come up with my own shorthand for directions that makes it easy to check as I go). Lastly, I got local map that I keep in my glove box for emergencies Worst case scenario, if you absolutely must have GPS,you can get a standalone unit that stays in your car. Before you do though, here are somethings I've noticed about life without one:

• Most of time, I'm driving to places where I know how to get there.
  
• Not having a GPS has made me much better navigating by orientation and feel (yes, it's actually possible & no, I didn't believe it either).
  
• I've only gotten lost a few times (this is including the 4k mile road trip my wife and I took with nothing but an atlas). When I did though, no one was angry with me for being late, I didn't die, it was easy to get myself back on the route, and I actually discovered some of my area's hidden gems in the process.
  

 

5] Meeting up with people - After GPS, this was the second most difficult problem to solve. People have become so accustomed to finding out where everyone is once they get there, they can't imagine how to do it any other way. Like everything else though, there are some simple solutions that just take a little foresight and getting used to:

• Tell people you won't have a phone It seems simple, but 9/10 times I've said "I'll meet you here at this time. I won't have a phone though, so if something changes, can someone hangout until I get there?" they had no objection to it. It may seem like you're inconveniencing people, but as long as you ask politely, any one who calls themselves your friend will usually be happy to oblige.

• Don't be afraid to wander Like life without a GPS, I've found that the rare instances where people weren't where I was expecting them to be, or they couldn't commit to being at a certain place at a certain time wasn't the end of my life. Most of the time it only takes a little while of wondering to happen across the group. The one time I couldn't find a group of friends at the park, I just changed my plans. I spent a couple hours relaxing under a tree sketching in my notebook. Despite missing out on the original plans, my impromptu plans ended up being just as good.

• Get there early Like most people, in social settings I was never concerned with being a little late. I discovered pretty quickly though, that if you're one of the first people there, the odds of plans changing without your knowledge drops to 0, since you're already there when the plans change!

 

6] Make the leap (which is actually just a small step) - If you followed the steps above, you probably have 0 actual use for your phone aside from curing boredom. So why is it so hard to take the final step? Well, that gets to the heart of why I wanted to get rid of my phone to begin with. Every time I thought about I immediately came up with a list of reasons to keep it. At the end of the day tough, they all boiled down to 3 categories:

• What if I end up in a situation where I don't have anything to do?

• What if something happens and I don't immediately know about?

• What if I end up in a situation I'm not prepared for?

At this point, my response to the first category is... good! Boredom isn't bad. I find myself engaging with strangers more often because I don't have a phone to fill time voids. I find myself taking notice of the world around me and being more introspective. I started off hating that feeling, but after a while, I've started to savor those moments.

My answers to the other 2 questions are the same, so what? The world doesn't actually change so fast that you need to stay on top of it 24/7. The majority of "news" articles are just gossip / op-ed pieces chatting about the few major developments of the week. Check the news once a day and you won't miss much. The same thing is true with your family and friends. My sister got engaged in the morning recently and I didn't know about it until I was checking Facebook later that night. Do you know what happened? Nothing! I congratulated her that night and because the rest of the world had already done so, she actually had time to talk to me about it for a little while. We ended up having a longer conversation then we would have if my congratulations had just been lumped in with everyone else's.

And so what if you end up in a situation you're not prepared for? Those experiences are never the end of the world (though it might feel like). The example people always bring up to me is "what if my car breaks down?". I usually respond with 3 questions:

• How often does your car breakdown?
• How often are you more than a mile or two from a gas station or grocery store or some other business that's open 24 hours? People aren't cruel. Explain the situation and any decent person will be happy to help.
• How much do you know about car repair? Can you change your own tire? Do you have an empty gas can or jumper cables in the trunk? An emergency kit? A few items in your trunk will cover almost any bad situation you could end up in.
  

The most frustrating side effect I've noticed about cell phones is that people have stopped planning ahead, and have no incentive to be self reliant. I used to let my "low tire pressure" light stay on forever before finally doing something about it. Now? I check my pressure the day it comes on. Not that exact moment, but I don't ignore it. I make sure to get routine maintenance done. Basically, I take better care of my car so that my car will take better care of me.

The same is true of pretty much any situation you might encounter. They happen way less than people act like they do. There's always a way to deal with it, even if it's a little more inconvenient than if you had a phone. And a little preparation mitigates 99% of the risk.

 

I'll wrap this up by saying that getting rid of a cell phone in 2017 is a big move. The key thing to remember is that it's not a move you have to make all at once. If you take a regular look at how you use your phone and ask, "how can I rely on it a little less", before you know it, you'll be leaving the house without that moment of panic you feel when you realize your pocket is lighter than normal.

Submitted October 28, 2017 at 03:16PM by JoshuaTLand http://ift.tt/2gRtdzH