Ask HN: Do you turn your phone off ever?

[ParameterOne]

Do you turn off your phone or do you just occasionally set it to silent?

[marenkay]

Always set to silent. Never turn it off but I tend to not even take it with me most of the time. Important stuff never happens via mobile phone or social media anyway.

[Aksan]

That's strange. Do you effectively just use your mobile as a landline then? I don't see the point in owning one if you don't take it with you.

[inetsee]

I recently went on a trip to Europe where I had to swap out my regular SIM card for a European SIM card, then swap back when I returned. Changing the SIM card on my phone requires removing the battery, so, yes, I powered my phone off to do this.

Otherwise, I almost never power off my phone. I do switch it to airplane mode when I fly, and set it to silent when appropriate.

[akulbe]

On silent by default. I have an iPhone and Watch. When the phone rings, it displays on the watch. I can answer if it's important enough.

I turn it off in flight, sometimes. Airplane mode otherwise.

Very rarely off completely.

[atsaloli]

Every night. I love not being oncall any more. I started out as a sysadmin, then Dir Ops, and now I'm a consultant/trainer. 15 years of on-call was enough.

[borplk]

What's "Dir Ops"?

[marssaxman]

I rarely turn it entirely off, since it takes an annoyingly long time to start back up again, but it stays in silent mode most of the time. I don't use email sync, either, and I leave location services disabled unless I'm about to launch an app for which I think location services would be useful. Basically I want the phone to sit there and do nothing until I decide I want something from it.

[mattbgates]

Airplane mode when I'm at work and at night when no one should be calling. So pretty much, my phone is only ever "on" for a few hours a day.

[aakriti1215]

Mine's on silent 24/7, no vibration, but never off. Also, being a millennial woman with small pockets that don't fit my phone, I almost always have it in my hand so I can see anything I've missed every 15-20 minutes at least. I have all of my notifications for social media turned off.

[Grangar]

In theaters, when I need to conserve battery and before passing airport security.

Also, an incidental reboot happens because the battery runs out.

[mod]

I turn mine off. I have an android smartphone.

It's not very important to me. I live in a rural area with bad coverage, but more importantly--I own a computer, and I spend most of my day on it. I can't see the use for my phone when I'm sitting at my computer.

[paulmatthijs]

Always to fully silent, vibration off too. Watch is set to silent and vibrate, and I take it off between 6-8PM for family time. Do Not Disturb on the Watch is switched on when I go to sleep, so I can still track my sleep.

[shakna]

I probably restart it every couple of weeks, and I switch it off at the movies, because the alarm can turn sound back on.

When I was on-call, and then got a weekend off, I turned it off. Someone always tried to call. But I'm not in that 24/6 space anymore.

[cafard]

It mostly stays in my pocket, and is often set on silent. It is never in a room where I'm sleeping unless I am using its alarm function. I rarely think to turn it off, unless for some reason I've let the battery run low.

[wingerlang]

If I have low battery while travelling and really need it when arriving I might do it.

[waterphone]

I don't turn it off, but I put it on airplane mode regularly when I'm going to be in a low signal area where it will rapidly drain the battery trying to connect to towers, e.g. while backpacking.

[nataz]

At the movies, while at work, international travel if going long periods w/o easy access to an outlet, and in some countries where I'm particularly worried about security concerns.

[mbrock]

Nope. It's a Nokia 130 or something with no internet stuff, and the only people who know the number are close friends who only call when it's really necessary.

[laurenproctor]

My phone is almost always on silent (no vibration or anything) but it is almost always on. I reboot it every couple of weeks though.

[makecheck]

In theaters. Partly because phones cannot be trusted to make zero noise otherwise (terrible OS design, in my opinion).

[akuji1993]

Mute them and put them in "Do not disturb" so they don't vibrate either? What other noise does your phone make?

[tuananh]

I don't but i keep my phone in another room while i'm at home / airplane mode when necessary.

[dpeck]

These responses seem completely alien to me.

Do those of you who turn your phones off or leave them places not have spouses/children to be responsible for, aging parents/grandparents to help out with, or in generally want to be available for friends when they need anything or just want to grab a beer and catch up?

[Kali909]

We somehow survived w/o back in the day, and that feeling of constantly being contactable, or feeling you need to be, is debilitating imo.

[bbcbasic]

That's why I like having a landline. Switch the mobile off at night but for life or death emergency important people have my home number.

Good point about children: I dare not be incommunicado during the day.