Ditching Smartphones

[Luke]

Thinking of ditching my smartphone and just getting a retro ‘dumbphone’ instead. Just too addictive and spiritually distracting. What think ye?

[drtanner]

It is better to avoid than resist

Much easier to get rid of the treats in the house if your trying to stay true to a diet.

[oneClimbs]

Thinking of ditching my smartphone and just getting a retro ‘dumbphone’ instead. Just too addictive and spiritually distracting. What think ye?

The technology is not a distraction. The question is, what feelings are you using the technology to escape from? When you figure that out, the phone will be less of a problem, otherwise, you will just find something new to use as an escape.

[Luke]

Thinking of ditching my smartphone and just getting a retro ‘dumbphone’ instead. Just too addictive and spiritually distracting. What think ye?

The technology is not a distraction. The question is, what feelings are you using the technology to escape from? When you figure that out, the phone will be less of a problem, otherwise, you will just find something new to use as an escape.

It’s just addictive in general TBH, and I think most people can vouch for me on that one. I think it would be best for everyone to ditch their smartphones, but each to his own of course.

[PressingForward]

My phone, and access to email, timesheets and other tools require me to be wired in.....

[MMbelieve]

Thinking of ditching my smartphone and just getting a retro ‘dumbphone’ instead. Just too addictive and spiritually distracting. What think ye?

You should do it!

[Michelle]

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[Robin Hood]

I have resisted having a smartphone for years. All I had was a dumbphone.
A couple of months ago I decided to join the 21st century and get a smartphone. I like it, but I'm not addicted. I often leave it at home when I go out, much to the dismay of my adult children who appear to be welded to theirs.

[Matchmaker]

I only use my smart phone to talk and text. I know. It is a waste of good technology. However, I would be more inclined to one day dump my laptop. I spend way too much time surfing the net and watching you-tube videos.

[Yahtzee]

My smart phone makes me lazy. Society would say "productive". With 4 littles to homeschool and take to various activities it's easier for me to stay on top of things by using my phone. I can always "look stuff up" if I forget something or use gps on my way somewhere. That is all things I had to plan for at home before I got this tiny computer. That doesn't mean I was always good at it though. So it's nice paying a bill before it's late while at the park, but it hasn't helped my self discipline. I think I'd be more productive overall planning my time out instead of doing things as I remember. But will I? Hard to say. So I keep this wretched thing.

[ParticleMan]

Even if your phone is neither "addictive" nor "spiritually distracting" to you, there are plenty of other reasons that one might ditch one's so-called smart phone.

Smart phones are privacy invaders and security risks. And smart as well as "dumb" phones are tracking devices and health hazards, as are Wi-Fi and other sources of EMF health hazards.

By using such a device, as well as various sites and apps, which include many wolves in sheep's HTML, if you will, know what you're exposing yourself and your data to. And even if you take steps to mitigate these risks as best as you can, one compromises for convenience.

What's the trade-off for doing what's most important to you? O, be wise.

[oneClimbs]

Before everyone goes and ditches their devices, I'd encourage you to listen to this podcast from an author who wrote a book called "Indistractable" and he gets to the root of why many people struggle and what the root cause is. It's very good and I can tell you that simply ditching the smartphone is treating a symptom instead of fixing what is causing your problem to begin with. Give it a listen, I'd be interested to hear some of your thoughts.

https://beyondthetodolist.com/290

[captainfearnot]

I did and it was a great choice.

I use Ting so I bought a dumbphone from them for like $30/40.

We only pay for what we use (1 smart, 4 dumb) and our bill comes in about $80 a month for all 5 of us. Steal of a deal!

Fellow Tinger checking in. Same here, we have six smartphones on the plan and it's like $80.

Seriously considering switching to a dumbphone though. Especially after reading this.

I'm a big fan of dedicated devices. A camera that's just a camera, for instance. But the one smartphone app that keeps me hooked is the GPS. There's not a standalone device that comes close to Google Maps or Waze on a smartphone. I figure I've saved hundreds of hours commuting since I started using that thing.

If Garmin could come up with something with real-time traffic data as good as Google maps I think I would ditch the smartphone. I don't see it happening though. I think Google maps is as good as it is for all the reasons that make me wary of it.

I was hanging on to my landline, too, because I liked the idea of a phone that would work even when the power is out or cell service is down. Then I learned that my landline was actually VoIP, and not the old copper line that would work during an outage. And that old tech isn't even available in my area anymore. So much for that.

[Luke]

Even if your phone is neither "addictive" nor "spiritually distracting" to you, there are plenty of other reasons that one might ditch one's so-called smart phone.

Smart phones are privacy invaders and security risks. And smart as well as "dumb" phones are tracking devices and health hazards, as are Wi-Fi and other sources of EMF health hazards.

By using such a device, as well as various sites and apps, which include many wolves in sheep's HTML, if you will, know what you're exposing yourself and your data to. And even if you take steps to mitigate these risks as best as you can, one compromises for convenience.

What's the trade-off for doing what's most important to you? O, be wise.

Very true, I should have mentioned those reasons when I first made the post since I have some concerns about the effects on health, but oh well. Conspiracy since the days of Cain indeed.

[Michelle]

.

[captainfearnot]

Maybe GPS is like any other tool. It's useful to a good navigator, but it's not going to make someone a good navigator.

I keep gloves in my glove box and a map in my map pocket, mostly just to be literal. But there have been times when I have been glad to have both.

[Thinker]

Thinking of ditching my smartphone and just getting a retro ‘dumbphone’ instead. Just too addictive and spiritually distracting. What think ye?

Good comments about considering the cause of the distraction. After witnessing and trying to help all kinds of extreme poverty and sickness, Mother Teresa said, “Loneliness is the worst kind of poverty.” My guess is that is at least partly why many come here. For me it is.

I take breaks from what has the tendency to be addicting (forums for me). But even in my breaks, I still use my phone for morning and evening meditations, music (for exercise and background), camera/taking pictures, notes, phone/texting, gps & occasionally calculator etc.