Posted on 01/24/2022 1:06:47 PM PST by nickcarraway
In a world where many of us are glued to our smartphones, Dulcie Cowling is something of an anomaly - she has ditched hers.
The 36-year-old decided at the end of last year that getting rid of her handset would improve her mental health. So, over Christmas she told her family and friends that she was switching to an old Nokia phone that could only make and receive calls and text messages.
She recalls that one of the pivotal moments that led to her decision was a day at the park with her two boys, aged six and three: "I was on my mobile at a playground with the kids and I looked up and every single parent - there was up to 20 - were looking at their phones, just scrolling away," she says.
"I thought 'when did this happen?'. Everyone is missing out on real life. I don't think you get to your death bed and think you should have spent more time on Twitter, or reading articles online."
Ms Cowling, who is a creative director at London-based advertising agency Hell Yeah!, adds that the idea to abandon her smartphone had built up during the Covid lockdowns.
"I thought about how much of my life is spent looking at the phone and what else could I do. Being constantly connected to lots of services creates a lot of distractions, and is a lot for the brain to process."
She plans to use the time gained from quitting her smartphone to read and sleep more.
About nine out of 10 people in the UK now own a smartphone, a figure broadly replicated across the developed world. And we are glued to them - one recent study found that the average person spends 4.8 hours a day on their handset.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Phone is the one that sucks. I don’t appreciate voice communication.
i live a boring life- never go anywhere that i need directions for- for the weather, i don’t look ahead and just check the skies- if i get caught in the rain, oh well, that’s life- I hope i can get by without a phone- my being on computer a lot these days is bad enough-
Hey, I’m ahead of my time.
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I ditched my land line around ‘92-’94 and my cell in ‘18.
Heh, if rain is all we had to worry about, I wouldn’t bother either.
We apparently have a nor’easter coming this weekend that we NEED to know in advance about.
However, I don’t need a phone to check it.
Often in hotels too. I did the online thing, picking a route. I knew some of the way, but not all of the way.
I sometimes divert from path just because I somewhat enjoy getting lost - even though never really lost, eventually one comes to a familiar or known road or highway.
But to defend my original remark, it used to be a cinch to get to a map when in a strange place. Any gas station, map on the wall. A little harder now that the gas station map on the wall resource is not as common. Just a little harder is all.
I actually considered keeping my iPhone X from 2017 but I wanted full 5G access. Which is great because I’ve seen as high as 850 mbps download speeds on my iPhone 12 on the T-Mobile network.
Your download speed is excellent on the T-Mobile net.
“switching to an old Nokia phone that could only make and receive calls and text messages.”
I don’t think that will be possible once 5G kicks in, from what I’ve read. Aren’t the old phones 3G which will be deactivated soon?
The only new flip phone DH could find is Android based — nothing in the older platform. So ... smart phone that flips.
“No email or financial apps on the phone”
We’re firm on that, too. NOTHING that requires a password or involves money. People shop and do banking on their smart phones all the time; I can’t even imagine doing that.
Those Sunbeams look good. I did see they’re 3G. Will they work after February?
You use a smart phone exactly as I do.
Love it for GPS/directions, and to check weather. Of course, calling and texting. Other than that, it’s a PITA.
I miss my 2002 Motorola V60s. I actually still have it in a drawer, but doubt that it is compatible with anything now.
“Old timers like me just act dumb and pretend we don’t know how to use a cell phone.”
My vet wants me to load their app. My medical group wants me to load their app and fill out surveys on my cell phone. My piano tuner wants to communicate via his app. I tell everyone I just have a flip phone (I lie) and they (1) feel sorry for me, and (2) back off.
Yup—that is the trick—as long as they can feel smarter and superior to you they will take pity on you and back off....
We need to learn to be sneaky.
“I reverted to “old time” navigation methods”
A couple years ago we got a Garmin with lifetime updates of maps and traffic. I’ve been trying to use on that instead of Android/Google GPS. It’s pretty good.
My sister and I took it on a TN-to-NY road trip last year and used both it and smart phone GPS. One was more accurate in some instances, and the other was better at other times.
“RFK Jr mentioned all of this, in his speech, yesterday.”
Yes! I heard him mention the 5G issue and was surprised. But I’m glad he did.
“Verizon offers flip phones and you can get unlocked ones to run on the Verizon network.”
Hubby got one (there only were two available) form Verizon. Got it and found out it’s Android. So it flips, but it’s still smart-phone Android. He absolutely HATES it!
You can still get a Nokia flip phone for 40 bucks.
https://www.verizon.com/basic-phones/nokia-2720-v-flip/?sku=sku4520009&cmp=KNC-C-HQ-NON-R-AW-NONE-NONE-2K0VZ0-COE-ADM-7805&cid=e1643142352010200000&kpid=AdMarketplace_cmp-ADM_%20PLA_adg-PLA_kwd-pla_mt-Broad_id-1643142352010200000&CLID=1643142352010200000
>Those Sunbeams look good. I did see they’re 3G. Will they work after February?
Should, per their FAQ they use 4G and VoLTE.
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