Life without smartphones day1-day4 was pretty interesting.
I could see some findings from not having my smartphone accidentally.
Let's continue talking about my change in life: life without a smartphone.
Day5-6 without smartphone
I have been spending my time without a smartphone for almost a week now.
I do have my laptop and also because I am a freelance web marketer and a blogger, I do spend my time in front of my laptop every day.
How I spent days 5 and 6 was very simple.
I spend my working time in my place as always and when I went outside, I brought my old and slow smartphone.
Wait, what?!?!
Smartphone?
Yes, I will explain it later, so please be patient.
Spending time without a smartphone is very interesting, and it can let you realize how much you spend time on a small screen.
If you have time to look back at the breakdown of how many hours you are using the smartphone every day, you will notice that most of the time you spend on a smartphone is unnecessary.
I felt I have acquired so many hours by giving up the smartphone.
The time without an electronic device is very slow actually.
To enrich my time without a smartphone or any other electric devices, I go to the park every single morning to do a digital detox and appreciate nature.
If you want to do a digital detox but don't know how to, please refer to the article Digital detox method "going to the park with no device" is so easy to do.
It will help you to understand why even a short time of digital detox is very important for you.
The purpose of not having a smartphone is to keep doing a digital detox.
When I travel or when I go outside with my friends, I don't want to be a person who checks his smartphone even though he is with his friends.
Getting used to life without my phone, when I find the people like that, I feel it is a really rude attitude that one can present.
Findings from Day 5-6
I would like to share my own findings from the past couple of days without a smartphone.
Life without a smartphone is very beautiful, but at the same time, I found something very uncomfortable as well.
I listen to music quite often, and it is one of my hobbies, so not having a device that I can use for listening to music is very uncomfortable.
As I have written in the previous article, during my family trip, I had no access to digital devices including my laptop; meaning that I had no chance to listen to my favorite music for three days.
This was the first time I did not listen to any of the music for three days.
It was nothing but painful.
Then I was thinking about how to achieve the goal of a life without a smartphone, and having a device for listening to music at the same time.
Also, I tried to transfer some money from my Internet bank account to another person's bank account, and I realized that without a smartphone, I cannot transfer the money...
I have to do some transactions every month, so this is very crucial and important for me.
In addition to these facts, my parents want me to have a phone for emergency communication.
Japan has a lot of potential for natural disasters, so I do think having a device for emergency communication is very important.
Then, I found a mutual solution which is to use the smartphone as it is an iPod.
I inserted the Sim card, but the phone itself is always on Airplane Mode, and the only app that I have installed are as follows;
- Phone (pre-installed)
- SMS (or course pre-installed)
- YouTube Music (need for my life)
- Bank App (As mentioned, it is necessary)
I disabled even Google Calendar!!! (because I can check it with my laptop)
I text my friends in a foreign countries via Facebook messenger, but I always do it with my laptop browser.
By doing this, I have realized that not responding quickly isn't a problem at all because it's not a job.
To conclude my findings, two things I will lose if I give up, the smartphone completely, are access to music and a communication tool for emergency cases.
Tips to start the light digital detox
My findings can tell you a very interesting method.
What I found is that in most cases, a laptop can be a perfect alternative solution; you can use Facebook, Google, and even WhatsApp to chat with your friends, the laptop has a much wider screen, and so on.
Unless the app you have on your phone is not for your job, you can start by erasing the app from your smartphone one by one.
If you have so many unused apps on your phone, your mind will be very busy and confused when you look at the smartphone.
Meaning that, without a specific purpose, smartphones can occupy the whole day.
After reading this article, let's give it a try.
How about you promise yourself that you will erase one app today?
If you can achieve it, probably next week, you'll do the same.
If you keep doing this, you'll eventually have a smartphone that only has the necessary app.
I hope my own experience will help you to understand the importance of digital detox, and hopefully, if you want to, you can try life without a smartphone at your speed.