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I Hate My Smartphone

I've written a bit before about how my relationship with technology has changed over the years, but one thing that has become abundantly clear to me is that the ubiquity of smartphones in our world has now made it impossible to live without one.

And I hate it.

A while back, I picked up a Nokia feature phone with the intention of finally ditching my smartphone and all of the baggage that comes with it, and it lasted as my main device for a whopping two weeks.

Want to know what blew my little experiment up?

Everything.

Without a smartphone, it was impossible to do basic things like pay for parking, view a restaurant menu, drop my kids off at school, or pick my kids up from school. It is now taken as a given that everyone has an iPhone or Android phone, and while you can choose not to have one, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that you will be able to effectively participate in modern society without one.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not against the existence of smartphones. They are truly valuable tools that have the ability to improve the lives of many people in many different ways. What bothers me is the general lack of choice in the matter.

I want to be able to not have my phone on me, if I so choose. I want the battery to be allowed to die. I want the chance to be "disconnected" for as long and as often as I want. I want to be able to exist in the world without all the apps and barcodes and notifications and other mandatory distractions inflicted by the glowing black rectangle in my pocket.

Is that too much to ask?

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This is post 004 of #100DaysToOffload

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