Is there anyone here who has given up their smartphone and has any advice on how you did it, and how you are now? Is it even possible to do so working in a tech field?
Now get used to putting your phone down and forgetting about it. My phone exists on demand for me, not the other way 'round. So it might sit on my desk or on my coffee table but it's almost always on silent/do-not-disturb (with the except of a few key contacts like my wife who are allowed to bug me).
A smartphone is an incredible tool. Having access to the internet wherever you are has immense value. Being able to communicate with folks on-demand is very useful. But it shouldn't control your life. So learn to use the tool as just that, a tool, rather than a tether. It can be done!
That's more than social media use....
The reality is, the smartphone is just another in a very very long line of ways to gather information about folks.
Before the phone, there was credit rating agencies, who have access to your entire financial history, including credit card purchases, bill payments, bank loans, etc (for decades, now, Experian, Acxiom, etc, have known more about you could possibly imagine). Then we got the loyalty/reward cards, where people traded their purchase history for low low prices. Then we saw the rise of the internet and cloud services of all kinds (Google and Facebook).
Frankly, I wouldn't even put the phone at the top of my list of concerns, as at least my phone is on my person, and I have some level of control over it...
> Frankly, I wouldn't even put the phone at the top of my list of concerns, as at least my phone is on my person, and I have some level of control over it...
Well, up to a point. A lot of info is leaking through apps, which can be hard to control. http://jots.pub/a/2015103001/
Also, you have to remember to turn off Wi-Fi or companies will use that to track you. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/datablog/2014/jan/10/h...
Obviously you can still be tracked via cell towers, but it's not much of a phone if you turn that off as well ;-)
One day, my tablet and my phone were both getting kind of slow after an Android update. I wiped them both back to factory settings, and when I was about to re-install all my apps, I paused for a minute and thought "fuck it, let's not". No more twitter, no more Chrome, no more Slack, no more anything on my phone. And seriously, I don't miss it. For a while I still had the reflex of pulling out my phone, realized that I didn't have twitter installed, and put it back in my pocket. Now, I don't even think about it, and sometimes even forget it at home.
Another thing I do, I sometimes deliberately not plug it, it dies during the night and I can't use it for a while.
Sorry, I don't think there is a magic recipe here.
fwiw, this is basically the same feeling that alcoholics and other drugs addicts feel when considering giving up alcohol/drugs. "how will i ever cope? i'll be missing out on so much. i won't be able to socialize." like literally, the same sequence of thoughts. the. exact. same.
the 'craving' is the same also. for those of you who don't have addictive personalities, just imagine the feeling when you get up in the middle of the night, thirsty. that feeling of desperately wanting water is what you are fighting with addiction. it's the same mechanism, hijacked by a substance/activity and sent into overdrive. that helpless compulsive feeling that only has one resolution... yeah. same shit different day.
addiction is some pretty fascinating stuff. i always get a kick out of the people who say it's easy to stop whatever you're addicted to. lucky bastards, and they don't even know it.
I feel like, in general, something like facebook just makes my thoughts MORE negative in general.
For instance, I'm a member of some groups for different hobbies, and I've adopted a "one strike and you're out" policy with regard to what people post to the group. If I find a post to be irrelevant to the topic at hand or in any way annoying -- boom, "Ignore all posts from [user]".
I'm saying to myself, "Hey stranger, you tried getting involved in the discussion by posting this, but it didn't live up to my standards, and therefore I never want to see anything you say ever again."
While it's relegated to facebook, I feel like having that kind of attitude in my life can't be healthy.
I've taken the same kind of attitude (towards vitriolic and stupid posts), because when I looked at my reactions to all sorts of those posts, it's inevitably not the way I want to be spending my time. I don't get on Facebook to fulfill my "balanced world view" quota ;) ! Realize that we now have more exposure to other people's opinions than we've really ever had before... IMO it's a healthy way to cope.
Basically, it's setting expectations that a dumb-phone text or phone call is how to get you if it's urgent, otherwise you'll follow up sometime in the next 24 hours.
If I use a smartphone again, it's going to be exactly for Uber, Facebook Messenger (basically texting for people I don't want to give my phone number to), and Spotify.
As far as how to wean yourself from your smartphone, I suggest blocking out some time and putting your phone on airplane mode or powered off entirely.
My line of reasoning went in that I'm buying a general-purpose computing device that has been deliberately constrained to make it as undesirable as possible to actually use like a general-purpose computing device. Why would I want it, when I have a perfectly good IBM PC-compatible/Wintel box at home? For telephony purposes, I've always used dumb cells running some Java ME bare-bones interface or similar. And so I continue to do. It's not like I get cravings to check my feeds if I'm away for a few hours.
On the other hand, the fact that I also feel no need to use any applications associated with the "sharing economy" probably helps, too.
Is it even possible to do so working in a tech field?
Absolutely.
When I re-integrated into professional life, I got a pay-per-minute burner smartphone to cover me for the infrequent cases when I need to make a call or get directions, and I don't have wifi.
Wifi is so ubiquitous for me now (at work, at home, at restaurants/bars/etc) that adding a cell phone does nothing more but give me opportunity to be distracted when I out in the world, living life.
When I had a smartphone that was always connected, I would turn to it for novelty at the faintest hint of boredom. Not having it available has unconditioned that behavior.
So yes, while I still maintain a smart device that has my music and that I can do things with through wifi, eliminating my constant connection to the digital world has been a net positive for me.
I use social media very little, and only Twitter for sports and other news. I read a lot on my phone (Pocket, HN, Feedly), and I use it as my sole GPS, my sole camera, and my only physical phone.
I hate that I tend to use every idle minute reading or fiddling with it, and it's something I try often to be cognizant of. But, admittedly, I don't do well with it. I'm fairly addicted to using it to stave off boredom.
I would be curious to know if those who have succeeded in giving up their smartphone for a long period of time just replaced their idle time with something else - iPad, laptop, video games, etc. or did they genuinely reduce their "connected" time?
Introducing some challenge is a good way to figure out what is really important to you. If you are willing to charge through obstacles to have something, then it probably does actually off value to your life (barring addiction, etc). Then later, take the obstacles out of the way of the good, and stop doing the bad.
Learning there actually are a bunch of people living without smartphones (or leaving them in their pockets) was interesting to see. I didn't really notice there were as many people connecting with each other when I was looking at my screen. Breaking completely from smartphone use for an extended period was necessary for me to start experiencing the value of looking around instead of taking every moment of free time to find some "interesting" new piece of information. However, having the dumb phone was really annoying when it came to texting (T9!), managing contacts, saving messages, viewing voicemail, and obviously no apps. There is a reason basically anyone who has the means wants a smartphone. From my experience, the only benefit of a dumb phone is more time to do what is important to you.
I live in the bay area and work in tech, so it is definitely possible. Now I have a smartphone again, but like other posters, I barely have any apps compared to standard user, and turn almost all notifications off. At the time, I got a "feature" phone for $20 and a $6 per month no contract plan. It is a very cheap experiment to run if you want to try! Just leave your smartphone at home for a week...
I guess it should really be a matter of discipline, since I have a "free" (work provided) phone anyway.