I wanted to try this for just two weeks — my Pixel phone's battery swelled up, and the new iPhone wasn't coming out for a couple of weeks; I told my wife I'd be fine without a phone and she quickly vetoed it.
I did my usual investigation of flip phones and dumb phones; couldn't find one that ran Android or basic apps like Spotify and podcasts that I use every day *and* worked on major US cell carriers. There's some cool E-Ink phones out of China, but AFAIK they don't have full compatibility on US cell networks.
I ended up with an iPhone and I just dumb it down. Black background, installed only like a dozen apps, removed a bunch of the preinstalled ones, aggressively culled notifications.
Actually I've been thinking of removing the web browser from my iPhone. Your post inspired me to do it. Settings --> Screen Time --> Content & Privacy --> Allowed Apps, disable Safari. Let's see how I manage!
I also looked at getting a flip phone but decided it wasn't really viable. Realistically you need to have an iOS or Android phone, because even if you don't need it /most/ of the time, you do need it sometimes.
The trick is to find ways to carry it with you less.
There are definitely lots of things you need a smartphone for today, but fortunately few enough that it's practical to not have a smartphone with you most of the time, even if you own one.
Hopefully if enough people go phoneless, society will adapt to require smartphones less often.
floundy|4 months ago
I did my usual investigation of flip phones and dumb phones; couldn't find one that ran Android or basic apps like Spotify and podcasts that I use every day *and* worked on major US cell carriers. There's some cool E-Ink phones out of China, but AFAIK they don't have full compatibility on US cell networks.
I ended up with an iPhone and I just dumb it down. Black background, installed only like a dozen apps, removed a bunch of the preinstalled ones, aggressively culled notifications.
Actually I've been thinking of removing the web browser from my iPhone. Your post inspired me to do it. Settings --> Screen Time --> Content & Privacy --> Allowed Apps, disable Safari. Let's see how I manage!
robotelvis|4 months ago
But I have buried it on the third page of a sub-folder, so I'm not tempted to randomly open it.
I think the most important thing is to just not /usually/ have the phone in your pocket, so you break the habit of reaching for it.
robotelvis|4 months ago
The trick is to find ways to carry it with you less.
The_MeatMaster|4 months ago
Also, I hate how smartphones are a necessity in todays world, you usually need them for verification, paying bills, etc.
robotelvis|4 months ago
There are definitely lots of things you need a smartphone for today, but fortunately few enough that it's practical to not have a smartphone with you most of the time, even if you own one.
Hopefully if enough people go phoneless, society will adapt to require smartphones less often.