Insights in living without a smartphone
Wed, 16 Apr 2025
Technology, Lifestyle
=======================================

I have not used a smartphone for about 5 years on-and-off
(discounting of course the years as a child where I didn't need
to worry about silly things like this). It started in the summer
of 2019 when by best friend gifted me his old Nokia 8110 4G
(more on this later). Since then, I only had a smartphone for
about a year. This device burnt through its charging circuitry a
month or-so ago, so I am back to the dumb-life, though now with
more insight into how to do things.

In this post, I will be sharing the insights I have accumulated
over the years. Just as a warning, the advice provided in this
post might come across as ultimately unsatisfying. While it is
definitely possible to live off of the information-grid, that is
not the type of life I can live currently. Therefore, a lot of
my insights revolve around using alternative but highly similar
solutions to having a smartphone. The main difference being that
you don't or can't bring these devices around in your pocket.

With they being said, let me start by covering briefly the
things which smartphones provide to us. Obviously, this list is
not exhaustive, instead only covering those things which I
personally find valuable and things which are outside of my
control.

What do smartphones give us?
----------------------------

1. The valuable
	a. Photography
	b. Navigation
	c. Phone calls
	d. Music and podcasts
	e. Alarms
2. The enforced
	a. Multi-factor-authentication
		i. TOTP codes
		ii. Specific apps (primarily banking and government ID)
	b. Certain communication platforms
		i. Notably Whatsapp
	c. Bus/Plane/Train/Cinema Tickets/Identification

How do we replace these services?
---------------------------------

Now we come to the interesting part: how do we replace all these
services provided to us by smartphones. For this section, I will
keep the same divide as listed above, as interesting patterns
emerge when we do so.

The valuable
============

Generally, for items in the `valuable' category, we have a
two main options: specialized technology or feature phones.

Specialized technology speaks for itself. Get yourself a camera,
map or GPS, dumb-phone, disc-or-walk-man or mp3 player, and an
alarm clock.  Obviously, this is a lot more to carry around
which will force you to be more concious with what you bring
with you. Furthermore -- while I find this highly upsetting
when it comes to the state of society -- you can get all of
these items (new or second-hand) for less than the price of a
new smartphone.

The other option (and the one I have gone with) is the feature
phone. Feature phones are a class of devices reminiscent of the
dumb-phones of old though brought into the modern world. They
typically allow you to connect to 4G networks, install apps, and
use the internet. At the same time, they are typically very
low-powered devices with traditional button-navigation. Some of
them run Android (which allows you to install all your usual
apps, though with the processing and navigation limitations
mentioned), Android-go  (Android with a reduced and simplified
library of apps), or KaiOS (A operating system based on web
technologies).

Each of these have their up-and-downsides. The android devices
are by far the most capable, though in my opinion you might as
well get an old second-hand smartphone at that point. Many of
them even have touchscreens making them just overpriced
smartphones with a built-in keyboard. The android-go devices
seem more in line with what I would want, though they are
typically not optimized for button-navigation and I have never
actually used one. That brings us to KaiOS. KaiOS is the
operating system which runs on the phone which I have used these
past 5 years (the aforementioned nokia 8110) and exists at the
nigh-perfect intersection of usable and limited. I should point
out at this point that KaiOS is more-or-less a dead project,
though that doesn't mean that it is not still perfectly usable,
nor that there are not still exciting (though small)
developments made by the community.

My Nokia runs KaiOS. The camera is not very capable, but more
than sufficient for capturing memories. It runs a stripped-down
version of the google-maps website, sufficient for finding your
way when lost using GPS and 4G. Obviously it is perfectly
capable of phone calls and texts (even with two sim slots --
revolutionary, I know --). The built in music player app is
sufficient for my needs, though it does not allow you to make
playlists (third party offerings in the KaiStore do offer this
functionality) and there are plenty of podcast apps available.

In other words, my Nokia covers all the bases of what I find
valuable in a phone. Problem solved right? Well actually, the
`valuable' list is the easy part. Now for the elements outside
of my control.

The enforced
============

The enforced section of services is both more difficult and less
satisfying. Let me just rip of the bandage right away by dealing
with the least satisfying ones: Authentication, Identification,
and Communication.

Many services in this area simply REQUIRE an app on either
android or IOS. Banking applications, Government ID, Healthcare,
and Whatsapp all require apps to some extent. Banks occasionally
allow you request a dedicated code-device, though more the
more-modern e-banks usually don't offer such services.
Governments and Health-insurance-providers (at least the ones
which are relevant to me) require apps to authenticate to online
environments. Lastly is Whatsapp, for those not from
mainland-Europe it might seem strange that this app is in the
`enforced' section, but here governments, public institutions,
customer-service-lines, and the public at-large all use
whatsapp. And since these services have still not been forced to
allow for interoperability with other services, I am stuck there
for now.

Now to the (rather unsatisfying) solutions to these problems.
Over the years I have found three options:
	1. Run an android container on your laptop or PC
	2. Get a tablet running android or IOS
	3. Get a smartphone that you leave in a drawer somewhere at
	   home
In other words, you will be stuck with these services (and
Android or IOS) either way, though at least these are not
services you will need to have on you at all times.
Whatsapp is perhaps an exception to this, though this depends on
your lifestyle.

Whatsapp is furthermore an exception because it doesn't provide
an IpadOS app for some reason. Therefore, if you want to go with
the tablet-route, you cannot use and Ipad. Furthermore, while
Whatsapp does offer a web-version, you will still need to login
from Android or IOS. Personally, I run an android-emulator on my
laptop (waydroid) where I authenticate my whatsapp-web and
hardly ever look at it again. Do keep in mind that you need to
add contacts in your replacement device of choice as you cannot
do this through Whatsapp-web. Other communication platforms like
telegram are much better in this regard as they just have a
standalone web-app, though for the reasons mentioned above, I
cannot use these.

When it come to non-app-specific two-factor authentication, the
story is a lot more encouraging. Firstly, the feature phones I
mentioned before all have apps which allow for receiving TOTP
codes. Furthermore, such apps also exist for mac, linux, and
widows. Allowing you to simply authenticate with your laptop or
pc instead. Of course, if you are already getting a tablet for
the services above, then you can also use it to authenticate,
though at that point you are committing to carrying around your
tablet to most places where you might need to authenticate (such
as university, work, or public institutions).

Lastly is tickets and identification. Once again, you can carry
around a tablet whenever you need a ticket for something, though
-- especially if you use public transport a lot like I do --
this is not always feasible. Luckily, all services I have
encountered thus far still allow you to print a physical card
(for identification) or just print your ticket on paper (for
entry tickets and such). This does not necessarily mean that you
need to buy a printer though. Many libraries and universities
will allow you to print for a small fee. Some countries
(especially in southern Europe) also have many copy-shops spread
throughout their cities. The only difficulty in using the later
is somehow transferring your documents to the shop. This is
usually done on-the-spot though email, which is obviously not
accessible without a smartphone or similar device, though
luckily many places also accept USB sticks, and you can always
send your email ahead of time with an explanation that you will
come by soon.

Final remarks
-------------

The copy-shop example also leads me to one final point, that
being the ability to rely on friends and family for help. At the
end of the day, many of ditch smartphones to feel more connected
to others, and having a friend help you out with their printer
or mobile-internet-connection at the copy-shop is one such way
of connecting. The same goes for navigation. In a group, only
one person needs to have a method of navigation on them. You can
meet-up in-person instead of discussing things over text, or
just inform your friends and family that they need to call you
if they want to get a hold of you. 

Obviously, this lifestyle (if you want to call it that) can be
limiting, and it can feel especially discouraging when
smartphones are forced upon you. I have written in the past
about QR-codes and how their proliferation for restaurant menus,
ordering, locker reservation, etcetera basically forces you into
getting a smartphone (or a friend with one), and this can make
be limiting. There is almost always a way around this though
(talk with a waitress instead, see if someone around can get you
a locker in exchange for cash, etcetera), though there is not
one generalized solution (Yes, the nokia 8110 can scan QR codes
and use the websites, but I will always try to find a different
solution first.).

Ultimately, I have found not having a smartphone quite fun, and
ultimately more liberating than limiting. If you have never
tried it however, you don't and can't know what you are missing
(and I can't really describe it either other than a feeling of
freedom). I would love to say ``Everyone! Just give it a try'',
but there will be a large adjustment period and even a fair
amount of money spent in some cases.

Therefore, my final point of advice is this: If you want to try
living without a smartphone, don't bring one the next time you
go on holidays -- provided you are traveling with someone who
does have a smartphone. In this way, you will always have the
safety of falling back on your partner's device, while
simultaneously forcing yourself to keep the experiment up until
the end of your trip.

=================================================================
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