Category: No iPhone

Ashley Feinberg:

That lingering coolness factor only makes it all the more depressing when you realize that, today, the Razr is a barely functional, actively-out-to-sabotage you bit of technological refuse. What was once displayed with pride on a shiny store pedestal, I found on eBay for $36 and sandwiched between a bulk set of broken chargers and discontinued memory cards.

As someone with a moderate to severe smartphone dependency, I knew my Razr month would be an adjustment. But I would have never guessed which things actually ended up needing the adjusting. Here’s everything I learned during 30 days soundtracked by polyphonic ringtones and my own, gentle cries of defeat. Kids, please, don’t try this at home.

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And you thought my trying to last a year without an iPhone was crazy.

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I made it two months and one day without an iPhone.

For those keeping score, that’s ten months shy of my original goal.

In that original post, I wrote:

I — like most people I observe in waiting rooms and in line at Starbucks — kill little bits of time with my head down, the glow of my smartphone lighting up my face. Twitter, App.net, Google Reader, Instagram, Email, iMessage, Tumblr and more wedge their way in to my life in little two-minute increments throughout the day.

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This weekend, my wife and I drove to Little Rock for a wedding.

As I mentioned on Twitter last night, the groom is one of my oldest friends. In fact, we met in second grade and have been close ever since. It was a blast seeing him marry an awesome woman.

Being in any wedding is an honor, and it usually means a lot of work before, during and after the ceremony itself. I ran errands, moved cars and packed bags, all while spending time with old and new friends.

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Ian Kerner at CNN:

Technology allows us to be constantly connected to the world, but it can also make us even more disconnected from each other.

In fact, two recent studies show that cell phones can have a negative impact on close relationships.

Researchers from the University of Essex found that people who engaged in personal discussions when a cell phone was nearby — even if neither was actually using it — reported lower relationship quality and less trust for their partner. They also felt their partner was less empathetic to their concerns.

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Thomas Brand leaves his iPhone at work in the evenings:

This division keeps me on task at work where I need to stay connected, and attentive to the people around me when I am at home. Not everyone can do this. My job pays for the my work phone, and by running to and from work means I don’t need to stay connected while commuting. I may miss the company of my iPhone while waiting in line on the weekends, but I make up for it by spending more time with my wife.

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Patrick Rhone:

That 2013 will be the year of opt-out. That disconnection will become hipster cool. More and more people will be replacing smart phones with dumb ones, digital with analog, social with solitude, sharing with journaling, etc.

Nick Heer, in response:

Technology is like food: have everything in moderation, and don’t go overboard too often. Fad diets don’t work, and neither will unplugging. When Paul Miller of The Verge comes back to the internet, and when Stephen Hackett gets his iPhone back, both will probably resume their usual habits. There’s nothing wrong with that, provided that you moderate your own usage.

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I’ve never enjoyed the holidays the way I think other people do.

If we were to spend some time on a couch talking about this, I’m sure there are lots of reasons that would come during my session. Perhaps I could blame my parents, or my son’s cancer. Maybe it is because I struggled with depression for years before seeking treatment. Or maybe it’s my tendency to be introverted, especially while in a group of people.

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Adam Brault:

I’ve realized how Twitter has made me break up my thoughts into tiny, incomplete, pieces—lots of hanging ideas, lots of incomplete relationships, punctuated by all manner of hanging threads and half-forked paths. I am perfectly fine with unfinished work—in fact, I doubt I’ll ever be a better finisher than I am a starter. But I’ve found that my greatest joy, deepest peace, and most valuable contributions come from intentionally choosing where to let my focus rest.

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David Zax at MIT Technology Review has been without an iPhone for a week:

That’s not to say that I haven’t enjoyed some benefits from being iPhone-less. It’s true that “spare change” time–the time waiting in line to order, or waiting for the subway to come–now gets funneled into thinking about projects I’d rather be thinking about than yet another compulsive check of my inbox. There’s undoubtedly something to be said for that. But so far, the brief bliss of moments like these is mostly overshadowed by the dozen other ways I’ve inconvenienced myself. I’m obviously and unequivocally at a net loss.

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Editor’s Note: This essay originally appeared in the third issue of The Magazine. My thanks to Glenn and Marco for giving me a shot at being in such a great publication.

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My worst interaction with technology most days had been a sick Windows laptop, and my best involved monkeying with a new audio system. Most of us view technology within the frame of our personal and professional lives: a company like Apple, an e-reader like the Kindle, or an operating system like Windows.

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Peter Cohen at the Loop:

This past fall I got rid of my iPhone and replaced it with a “dumb” phone. It can make calls. It can, after a fashion, produce text messages. That’s it.

There are a lot of upsides.

Peter’s experience with using a dumb phone closely mirrors mine so far.

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