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I've failed the no-smartphone life (forum.uncomfortable.business)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

34 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So, after like 8 months of dumbphone only, I've given up.

It wasn't one majorly annoying thing, but just a non-stop death by a thousand cuts. Modern life really requires at least possession of one of these stupid little rectangles, and if you don't have one, you get slowly nibbled to death by the ducks of modernity.

So, rather than redouble my efforts to bend the world to dealing with me wanting to be a bit of a luddite weirdo, I've given up and just..... bought an iPhone SE and paired it with an Apple Watch 8 I already had.

See, the thing I really didn't consider is that I pretty much already had the ideal dumbphone: this AW8 is a cellular version.

It does phone calls, text messages, and has sufficient ties to modern services (music, podcasts, audiobooks, maps, etc.) that it is, by itself, a 60% solution. And just for perfect clarity: there's a lot of things wrong with the watch that make it not an ideal device, with the biggest one being really not fantastic battery life.

For everything the watch doesn't do, I also have the phone, but the phone isn't strictly required, and I can simply leave it at home when I don't want to deal with all the modern smartness and just rely on the watch.

For sure, it's not a cheap solution since an iPhone and a cellular watch is a giant investment even if you go for the "cheapest" versions, and I'm paying for two cellular plans (though, with US Mobile it's $96/year for each so, relatively speaking, still pretty cheap).

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

It seems to me you are suffering from cognitive dissonance. You want to not use a smart phone and you deem that the "correct" way. You get frustrated with yourself because you can't live the way you think is right.

Don't beat yourself up, it's hard enough out here already. Getting by without a smart phone is hard and you aren't to blame for that. If at any point you feel addicted, identify you values and make a decision whether or not to put it away. Don't let your subconscious control what you consciously want.

Or I could have read this all wrong, I'm just some douche on the internet.