I rediscovered this essay on living without a smartphone thanks to another post in ~ideasfromtheedge.
Has anyone else tried living without a smartphone? What was your experience like?
I've tried this experiment a few times - usually when an old phone broke. I found that I missed maps, music/podcasts, occasional google searches for things like restaurant ratings, and ridesharing apps the most. I also found that the quality of my life was at least 10x "deeper" or more engaging, particularly when I was exploring a new city.
My middle ground over the years has been to use an iPhone SE (because it's smaller) in black and white mode with no infinite scroll apps and the browser only accessible from search. I've backtracked a bit in downloading Primal/Damus and some PWAs like Stacker News. And I definitely use the browser a ton even though I need to search for it. Overall, this experience has been better than using a big color iPhone with lots of dopamine triggering apps. But I find that I still miss the depth of living with no phone at all.
The Camouflaged Dependency on Notifications