2021 questions (13/365)

[nanila]

January 13
What would you miss if you stopped using your smartphone for 48 hours?

I suspect this question is aimed at people who are very active on social media apps, of which I am not one.

I don't think that would be possible. It's a cute idea, detaching yourself temporarily from the internet and from technology, but it's totally impractical when you use it to manage almost every aspect of your life, and when you have dependent humans in your household.

Even if I did stop using my phone, I still have other devices that let me access most of what I need to work and communicate, so it wouldn't make much difference.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

I mean, I *have* turned data and the phone bit of my smartphone off for 72 hours, when on holiday (we were on a cruise, and had a section that went sea day - Casablanca - sea day, which meant at best roaming charges for Morroco, and for most of the time the appalling charges for connecting to marine sat. It works fine if you're on holiday and know you don't have any bills due that might be coming in via email. (I still used the camera function, though). Not really a good idea in normal circumstances.

(In theory I could have signed up for the ship's wifi, but it was really expensive and notoriously slow, so I didn't).

[nanila]

Yep, we used to do this when we went to stay in Landmark Trusts for the bloke's birthday. They don't have televisions or wifi, and a lot of them had very poor 3G/4G signal, so it was easy to stay offline. Now that there's good coverage in most places, it doesn't work any more!

[tree_and_leaf]

It's actually one of the main reasons why, despite all the reasons to bu dubious about them, I really like cruises.....

[cmcmck]

Not a thing as I've never possessed one! :op

[nanila]

Ha, I thought my parents were the last holdouts - they'll be pleased to know they have company. :)

[cosmolinguist]

I wouldn't miss social media apps at all -- I only have one, and I could use the website though the interface is less accessible for me than the app -- but I'd miss podcasts and audiobooks. Which, again, are technically accessible other ways but not so easily on e.g. my walk to and from work, or just before I go to sleep, which is when I most appreciate them.

[nanila]

Oh yes, excellent point! I like listening to a bit of radio comedy when I fall asleep, too.

[annofowlshire]

I’d miss having my camera.

A few years ago we went to a gite in southern France, and the wifi was broken and I had limited data (before EU roaming was instituted, not that that matters for us now), and I loved being offline for a few days XD I’m the sort of person who misses a lot of phone calls or texts because I don’t get very many and tend to forget my phone in some part of the house, or accidentally leave it on silent for days a time....

But then, my iPad can do anything my phone can, so I can’t be that sanctimonious about it... my iPad is usually within reach if I’m in the house, at least.

[nanila]

Yes, same - I have other devices that can do most of what my phone does, so the phone itself isn't so important.

[hilarita]

I wouldn't miss my smartphone at all. Just don't take my broadband away!

[nanila]

Yes. Fast reliable broadband would be very difficult to do without. It really should be a utility.

[lilly_c]

When the screen cracked on my old phone I was without it for 10 days while it got repairs and it was glorious, I didn't miss it. Slight downside was that people who text/call regularly were worrying about me .

[nanila]

It sounds like a lovely holiday (apart from the worry caused to others)!

[liseuse]

Well, I'd be annoyed about having to try and remember my login for Memrise on the laptop, and if it's 48hrs where I'm at work, work would be annoyed at me not being contactable by phone, but ... I can access basically everything on my phone on my laptop, so I'm not sure I'd be that fussed. (Also I have a bad habit of leaving my phone on silent and putting it down somewhere and only realising several hours later.)

[nanila]

I tend to plug my phone in and then go to another room and forget it for a few hours. :)

[silveradept]

It would be difficult not to have connection for that long, but at the same time, I have plenty of other things that I could do in the interim, and, as you said, it's not life I don't have plenty of other devices to achieve communications with.

[nanila]

It might be nice to tick some things off the to-do list that required a long period of concentration without interruption, but I'm not sure that setting the phone aside would achieve that with two small children around...

[azurelunatic]

When my smartphone was broken for two weeks, I had a hard time carrying out a normal life. I was constantly worried about my car breaking down and getting stranded, since I wouldn't be able to call for rescue if it did. I had to borrow my housemate's phone in order to get to my mammogram appointment in a completely unfamiliar area of town. I tried going to a new grocery store and it was an adventure; I remembered how much work it was to prepare directions that I can follow. (Turn by turn on paper often fails for me.) I missed important calls.

[nanila]

Two weeks is far too long to be without one's main communication device. :(