Could You Live Without Your Smartphone? (theglobeandmail.com)

Three-quarters of Canadians own smartphones-- and 94% of 15- to 34-year-olds. But this week the Globe and Mail profiled "digital refuseniks" who are "deliberately logging off -- and they say it's done wonders for their imaginations and peace of mind." They are hidden among us, neither jobless nor friendless, and living quite happily. Cut off from Uber, yet somehow thriving. For example, Tony North does not live for his smartphone, because he's never had one. "I just didn't want to get into the habit of distraction," he says simply, in an interview conducted over landline from his home in Paris, Ontario. The high-school teacher spends about 20 minutes a day [on his laptop] on his one social-media platform, Facebook, which he uses to keep in touch with family back home in Australia. In fact, you could blame Australia for Mr. North's desire to be digitally unleashed: He remembers leaving home to travel overseas, and the wonderful feeling of being uncontactable that came with it. "It was such a feeling of freedom, and I guess I wanted to keep a bit of that."

As a teacher of English and drama, Mr. North, 53, is worried about the consequences of teenagers' near-constant devotion to their online lives (his own two children, 12 and 13 years old, do not have phones). In drama class, he makes his students put away their phones and engage in face-to-face exercises: "I'm basically forcing them to interact," he says. "When I ask for evaluations at the end of the semester, it's one of the things they most seem to appreciate...." Canadians between the ages of 18 and 34 spend nearly five hours a day online, according to a 2017 survey from Media Technology Monitor... "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?" the Atlantic magazine asked last year in a cover story designed to keep parents up at night, frozen in the blue light of further bad news.
North says in the extra time "he reads many novels and enjoys quiet moments of reflection and watching the world go by." And 18-year-old Bethany March is also severely limiting her phone use. ''I saw the way that people got so invested, not just in their phones, but in social media, and I didn't want to be that person," she says. "So many times people would be zeroed in on their phones. It was just rude, to be honest. I'd think, 'I'm here with you, talk to me.'"

71-year-old John Moir insists that living without a smartphone makes him really experience new locations, "rather than trying to be in two places at once," adding that "Whenever I tell people I don't have a phone, they say, 'Oh, that's so great. I wish I didn't have to have one.'" That's "one thing digital refuseniks never have to worry about," the article concludes: "Who is the servant in their digital relationship, and who is the master."

Comments

Yes.

[Anonymous Coward]

No problem, EVERYONE can live without their smartphone. Next question.

Re:Yes.

[phantomfive]

Some people won't be able to find their way home, won't know who to call, and won't have any money without their phone.

No

[JMJimmy]

I could live without "apps". I could live without social media. I could live without games. I could even live without a browser.

I cannot live without a map - I'd be forever lost or limited to what I could locate without getting lost.

Re: No

[Zero__Kelvin]

Someone should invent paper Maps!

Re:No

[TheGratefulNet]

yeah, I do love having gps maps, live.

I check personal email, but not work email (work email is not 'safe' since they insist on using exchange and that forces me to use a client that grants their admin WAY too much privs (full wipe ability!) on my *personal* phone.)

I rarely do anything web based. even with a rooted adblocked phone, the web sucks badly on phones, for many reasons. I can usually wait until I'm on my safe linux box to do web things.

sometimes I take photos, but for things that matter, I use a proper camera.

the installed apps I have are probably less than 5. I don't believe in how the apps ecosystem works; its too privacy invading for my taste, so sadly, I force myself to avoid almost all apps. I'm the opposite of the classic millennial, I gravitate away from apps, not toward them. knowing that each app is likely trying to fuck me over in some way, just ruins whatever fun the app might bring.

an unrooted un ad-blocked phone? never. if that was my only option, I'd probably not own one. its why I won't own an apple phone, very few true user options and I don't typically play by anyone's rules when it comes to computing; I insist on having the thing do my bidding, not yours.

I was recently in an eye dr's office and every single kid there was playing with his phone. I guess that's ok, they are not running around and bothering anyone ;) and most adults are glued to their phones, too. amazing. I was the only one who did not have that 'press on glass surface' gadget out. it really was not a problem to sit there and wait. the world did not come to and end by not having that glass thing to poke at and stare at.

the worst thing, though, is seeing people walking around (on streets, no less) with all attention to the phone and so little to what's going on around them.

overall, I do think we lost more than we gained with the current state of 'phones' and how they embedded themselves into our culture. and we won't really find out until this generation grows up and we see what they are like over their lifetimes. I don't think this attention-span limiter device is going to be a good thing in peoples' lives. long-term, I bet we will conclude this and future generations will not use the portable devices like we do.

Re:No

[Dutch Gun]

It's not even close. A smartphone has the advantage of being able to guide you from wherever you are to wherever you want to go, using spoken turn-by-turn directions for safe, hands-free navigation. If you miss a turn, no big deal, it re-routes you from there.

There are plenty of worthless or "minor convenience" apps out there, but navigation apps are one of the absolutely killer features of smartphones. I've used plenty of paper maps over the first half of my life to know that they don't even come close to the utility of an app. A paper map is cumbersome enough that you either need to stop periodically, or have a navigator sitting next to you.

As you alluded to, though, one advantage paper maps have is for longer trip planning, as it's nice to spread the map out on a table and figure out where you want to go. A smaller screen just doesn't work as well for the "bird's-eye" view. Of course, these days, you can do that almost as easily on your PC monitor.

Social Media is the celeb magazines of the 80's

[known_coward_69]

In the 80's we had lots of celeb and other magazines along with shows like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. In the 90's we had America's Funniest Home videos.

All this blended into social media and Youtube

Even then the whole point of magazines was to put advertising in front of your eyes. The content was secondary. And the subscription prices never covered the costs of running the magazine.

Depends on your age

[nehumanuscrede]

Those who have been alive longer than smartphones, cellphones or pagers will have an easier time going without such things as they have done it before.

Those who have never known a life without them, not so much.

It would be akin to denying a heroin addict their daily fix I think.

Re:Depends on your age

[Misagon]

You're likening smartphone users to heroin addicts.
I see that likeness too, and it is one reason why I don't have one.
The drug/the phone, comes first before anything else.

The singular event for me why I don't have a smartphone was maybe a decade ago, before iPhone and Android -- but when texting had already commonplace. I saw a woman immersed in her phone walking slowly out onto railroad tracks on a railroad crossing right as there was an oncoming train. I saved her from danger but not once did she look up from her fucking phone! It was not the danger that scared me as much as her behaviour. After that, I swore to myself that I was not going to become like that.
In recent years, I get reinforced in my belief several times each day in encounters with smartphone zombies in streets, shops and public transport. What would have been considered rude, antisocial behaviour twenty years ago has been the norm for many years now.

First world problems

[alvinrod]

We must be doing reasonably well that not being able to live has come to mean suffering minor discomforts.

I hate my smartphone.

[BrendaEM]

I hate the whole Ap software culture, where what a web browser can do has been split into 1,000 diferent programs. I hate the Android every permission culture. I hate the Apple no-strange-flash-card-before me thing. I hate curve screens that cannot be protected. I hate facial scanning. I hate the lack of smartphone keyboards. And at least if you could get cellphone enabled tablets here in the U.S., then it would be more useful, where allowed.

Re:I hate my smartphone.

[TheGratefulNet]

yup, same feelings here.

we control so little on the phone (the os, the hardware, the radio).

they track us, they spy on us, we can't even know if the mic and camera(s) are live. truly, we cannot know, and that's something that should scare everyone. yet, we ignore it completely.

apps are 'free' since they fucking SPY on you. you can't trust them.

the whole system is fucked up beyond fixing. needs a whole new re-do. new business model, new freedom policy, new encryption-by-design policy, new user-has-full-control policy. we NEED this. but I doubt we'll ever get it. the current broken model is too embedded in the culture. its quite sad what it could have been, but its now a spy, advertising and tracking tool for THEM.

I gave up on phones years ago. I use only the very bare minimum and even then, I feel unclean using one, knowing that each layer of hardware and software is actively working for SOMEONE ELSE, not me. bugs the crap out of me.

Well that was easy

[Solandri]

Three-quarters of Canadians own smartphones

That means 25% of Canadians are living without a smartphone. Meaning that yes, you could in fact live without a smartphone.

Next question please?

Re:It's just a tool!

[JaredOfEuropa]

Exactly. There's a negative view of using smartphones regardless of how you are using them. If you are sitting quietly reading a paper book or newspaper, people think you're spending quality time. However if you are sitting quietly reading a book or newspaper on your smartphone, they think: "Oh great, he's glued to that thing again". Same if you have a few minutes at the bus stop or on the train. Use your cell phone, and older folks will shake their heads in disapproval. Whip out a book and they'll smile in approval.

Easily

[MpVpRb]

I live my digital life on my desktop computer with a 30" screen
My smartphone sits unused on the desk unless I'm on the road
I'm rarely on the road

Honestly!

[DaMattster]

I am strongly considering giving it a try because I've had it with technology! I mean I've absolutely had my fill of it. Technology has created a dystopia that it was meant to stave off. I want to be more present in my own life. Reading this article makes me think of how much joy that my smartphone has stolen from my life. I can no longer just sit down and watch TV without reaching for my smart phone. It's even become a distraction from reading. I used to lie down and read myself to sleep. Now I just "fuck around" on my smart phone and I don't really get super sleepy. I am sure it's negatively impacting my sleep biorhythms. I think my new year's resolution this year is to ditch the smart phone. I'll buy a printer so the few times that the few times I need directions, I can just print them out. Hells, maybe I'll just buy a used hardware GPS.