The People Deciding to Ditch Their Smartphones

BBC ^ | 1/23 | Suzanne Bearne

[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.

[WeaslesRippedMyFlesh]

I had the Motorola RAZR flip TRON looking thing when it came out ~2004.

Loved it until my wife washed it.

[Trump Girl Kit Cat]

It is not the systems they will install it is the STUPID, INCOMPETENT people running the systems they will install!! If the government TRIES to do anything you can bet it will be SCREWED UP!!!

[Trump Girl Kit Cat]

The fricking government agencies with TOP NOTCH systems can’t even track a terrorist HOW MANY now have attacked us ON OUR SOIL all the while being on the intel radar!! I honestly don’t worry about the IDIOT MORON government successfully tracking ANYTHING!!!

[Jane Long]

We can only pray.

[MotorCityBuck]

LOL! Your Right.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Can tell I hit the mark because the robots are all sending me FReepmail.

I guess their SmartWall told them to do so.

If only they were not so boring!

[AlaskaErik]

Too much of my life is on my iPhone. No way I could survive today without it.

[US_MilitaryRules]

I still have my Mitsubishi analog brick phone from the 80’s!
I’d love to turn that back on.
I hate the spy on ourselves devices we have to carry around now. Can’t believe how much privacy we have lost.

[cgbg]

“everyone will be required by law to have a cell phone on their persons at all times”

I am so sorry, Officer, but I have Alzheimers and keep forgetting stuff.

Who are you again?

;-)

[Myrddin]

I was working in San Diego between July 2009 and Sept 2014 with frequent trips home to Idaho. As the 4G towers were being turned up, the bandwidth from the 3G was being eliminated. At the time, I had a 3G phone. It was necessary to upgrade to a 4G capable to avoid being short-changed on network services that were being retired.

I'm running an S20+ now. Lots of 5G up in my area. There are a few places where I get a fallback to 4G service. The latest firmware update does a hard switch between my home WiFi and 5G. Early releases allowed both to work concurrently. It saves battery to be on the WiFi as I work in my basement office. The CDMA has to crank up the power to overcome my location.

[Big Red Badger]

1984,
Glass,Carbon and Plastic.
The Beast is in Our Hand as
Were tap out our existence.

[Big Red Badger]

Makes want to go
“Family Style?”

[Big Red Badger]

Drama Queen,
Yes
I like it!

[newfreep]

My Samsung 7Edge (4G) is still going strong after almost 4 years - excellent telephone audio quality and a very good screen resolution.

The rounded edge is still cool, too.

[MoochPooch]

I prefer my landline for long, intimate conversations. While my smartphone comes in handy, talking seems shallow.

[Viking2002]

'If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?'

Well........not again. (Old Smothers Brothers joke.)

[Captain Walker]

Although there remains the problem of texting while driving...

[T.B. Yoits]

Re: Verizon not supporting texting flip phone.

Verizon offers flip phones and you can get unlocked ones to run on the Verizon network. They're 4G instead of 2G or 3G.

They're not as good as the older LG, Samsung, or Motorola phones but they do the job. Sadly, because they're 4G, the prices are a noticeably higher than the old ones.

[T.B. Yoits]

I reverted to “old time” navigation methods, which is a little tougher now that gas stations don’t have maps.

Paper maps are available online and in book stores. I'd visit friends and with my $7 map I knew more about their town they they did despite living there for four years.

With GPS, people think Point A and Point B. With a map, they look at everything.

[T.B. Yoits]

I prefer my landline for long, intimate conversations. While my smartphone comes in handy, talking seems shallow.

I've found a headset works better for long conversations but you can find phone handsets that connects to smart phones.

https://www.amazon.com/VTech-LS916-Retro-Handset/dp/B00CGYCNYO/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1D71EKESFDXIX&keywords=smart+phone+handset&qid=1643078972&sprefix=smart+phone+handset%2Caps%2C67&sr=8-5