Man without a smartphone

I am 33 years old, I am a programmer from St. Petersburg and I do not have and never had a smartphone. It’s not that I don’t need it - I need it, even very much: I work in the IT field, all members of my family have them (the child is third), I had to manage including mobile development, I have my own website ( mobile friends 100%), and I even emigrated to Europe for work. Those. I'm not some kind of recluse, but quite a modern man. I use the usual push-button phone and always used only those.



I occasionally come across articles like “successful people don't use smartphones” - this is complete nonsense! Smartphones use everything: successful and not so, poor and rich. I have not yet seen a modern person without a smartphone - this is the same as not fundamentally wearing shoes, or not using a car - of course you can, but why?

It all started as a protest against mass smartphone marketing, and it has been going on like a challenge for about 10 years - I wondered how much I could withstand current trends, and is it even possible. Looking ahead to say: maybe, but it does not make sense.
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I admit that many people are thinking about abandoning the use of a smartphone. I want to talk here about my experience so that those who intend to conduct such an experiment can appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of someone else’s experience.

Of course, this story has its pros and cons, and they are fairly obvious.

So, here are the advantages that I can designate in order of priority:

• I do not need to bathe about charging. I charge the phone about once every two weeks. When I went on vacation for the last time, I didn’t even take the charge with me, because I was sure that the phone would not be discharged during that time - it happened;
• I do not scatter attention to constant notifications and viewing updates for any free minute that has been issued. This is especially true of work - less distracted - it means you are more concentrated at work;
• I do not spend money on new phones, do not watch for updates, and do not feel discomfort when one of my friends has a phone that is better than mine, or when my phone is better than that of friends;
• I do not annoy my acquaintances constantly sticking in the phone (at a party, for example, or just at a meeting). But this is more about education and politeness;
• I do not need to buy the mobile Internet - so-so plus, considering that the prices are quite low;
• I can surprise people telling them that I do not use a smartphone and have never used it - and the further they go, the more surprised they are. I must say that I would myself be surprised if I met such a person - so far the only person I know in the same position is my grandmother, who is 92 years old.

The main plus is that I do not depend on the presence of sockets nearby. It is sad to observe how people first “stick” to the sockets, wherever they turn out to be, or tend to take places closer to them. I really do not want me to have such a relationship, and this is one of the main points on my “resistance list”. When one “stick” of charging remains on my phone, it means that I still have a couple of days before it sits down.

About spraying attention is also quite an important point. It really eats up a lot of power. It is possible that it would be correct to allocate several time intervals per day to check all notifications and respond to messages. But, probably, it is easy for me to speak as a person from the outside.

But the cons, also in priority order:

• the lack of a camera at hand is a pain. I have already missed a thousand moments that I should have imprinted on memory or to share with loved ones. When you need to take a document or on the contrary get a photo - the situation is also not rare;
• I can get lost even in my hometown. It is rather a memory feature, and is easily solved by the presence of a navigator. When I need to travel by car to a new place, I use a paper map or memorize the route at home on a laptop;
• there is no possibility to “distribute” the Internet to a laptop - you have to always look for open Wi-Fi, or ask friends;
• I am terribly lacking a translator in my pocket if I am abroad, or Wikipedia when itch to learn something new;
• I'm bored in queues, on the road, and in any other places where all normal people scroll through tapes, listen to music, play or watch videos;
• Some people look at me with sympathy or as unhealthy when they find out that I do not have a smartphone. I do not want everyone to explain the reasons - already tired;
• I find it hard to maintain relationships with friends who communicate in Whatsapp, for example. I, as befits a programmer, is a bit introvert, and I don’t like it when they call me and I don’t really like to call. Communication through messages is a great way to keep in touch;
• Recently, services have begun to appear that it is simply impossible to use without a smartphone - two-factor authentication through pushy, for example, all kinds of car sharing, etc. In Russia, as I understand it, they are still trying to support the old ways, and in Europe they no longer bother.

The main three things that I lack are: a camera, a navigator and the Internet at hand (at least as an access point). Of course, one can live without it all, and I almost do not feel defective. In everyday life, there is almost always a person with a smartphone nearby, and this saves me in most cases - I use other people's phones in emergency situations.

If you wanted to try - try, of course, but I believe that there is no need to artificially limit yourself. It is better to learn how to filter or dispense useless information and activity.

I decided to write this note because I am going to stop the challenge, and soon I will become a full-fledged modern man with a smartphone, an instagram and a constant need for charging.