Been considering not having a smart phone

I live work and deal with technology for my career, businesses and communications with my family and friends. But lately I’ve felt a true revulsion for my smartphone and all that it does.

I’ve investigated a “dumb” phone and a limited phone (the light phone) but I’ve been thinking and feeling like I should go completely without a phone. There are many reasons for this:

1) I really dislike people being able to get ahold of me at their convenience. It sounds like a requirement for work but I’m tired of it. I dislike the anger and frustration people have when I’m running or exercising or something else and someone can’t get me to “jump on a call” or “answer a customer’s question” or “respond to this regulatory inquiry”. This almost always has an effect where the person who wants my attention uses every technology available including teams, email to multiple email addresses, calls, texts, WhatsApp and using other people to try and get my attention. There is never a consideration that “he might not have his phone with him”. This also results in me wanting to consider not being alive to see what they would do if I didn’t exist. The boundaries don’t exist for these people if there is some opportunity. Without a phone it would be known that I will respknd when I am available and ready and the rest of the time they must wait.

2) I don’t really like being tracked. I don’t mean the various Illuminati government over watch organizations tracking me. I mean the level of tracking to grab my attention attention for advertising. I hate it, the algorithms are always wrong and the goal seems to be to get my attention rathe than to sell me something. I don’t want to engage with a brand. I don’t want to be helped and don’t want to enter my email. I hate that my experience in most thjngs is so overwhelmingly interrupted by engagement ads that desperately want me to spend time with their products online. I want it to be very difficult to know my preferences and understamd
What I shop for.

3) I’m tired of multi factor identification. I don’t want to have a smart phone to verify who I am. If I need to get to my bank I want the problem to be theirs that I need their services but don’t have a phone. I don’t want to respond to a text for login every time I need to use Netflix or log into my bank account. I want that option to disappear and to be a legitimate answer “I don’t have a phone” when they ask for a number to verify

there are more but these things are exhausting. I dislike them so much and I just don’t want them in my life anymore.

I’ve been giving it a ton of consideration over the last few months.

I just have a little flip phone and am quite happy with it.

I hate smart phones. I hate almost everything about them, but they've become a necessity when traveling.

I also hate the way one is simply expected to have one.

I fully support you in the goal of liberating yourself from the borg.

I agree with you on all counts, Jsinjin. If I could do away with my smart phone, I would, and I don't even use it for much. But I am forced to use it for 2-factor ID, and also for work. What irks me is that work requires me to have one but won't pay for it. They expect to be able to use mine.

I think we are entering the age of over communication. I have a simple flip phone and it is good for me.

I think I’m in a pretty good place with my own phone use. I no longer use it for games, watching videos, or social media. I still use it for texts, and for listening to music, podcasts, and audiobooks.

That said, I definitely worry about where society in general is heading when it comes to technology—including our growing dependency on phones.

AI (artificial intelligence) makes me nervous. It will be useful in some areas, but I don't really want to rely on some damn computer telling me how to live my life. What next; let them rule the world.

But what do you do about 2-factor identification? I need it for everything nowadays.

I feel the same way. I was planning to get a "dumbphone"--that's what they call them now--this summer, but so much of my life depends on having a smartphone.

That is what I have always used. I just want a simple phone. I have no desire to do anything else with one especially since the small screen is about useless to me. I have enough problems reading on a 24" monitor at work. And, I do agree about the complaints with non stop authenticating. All I want to do is be able to make calls.

I dont like Ai as well

Me too. Make calls, send emails or texts, that's really all I want in a phone. The other features, I could buy another device. For music, I could just buy an MP3 player, etc etc. Decentralize my life a little. Life revolves around the smartphone too much. Life should never have to depend on one single thing so much.