Living without your Mobile?

Obviously, it’s need Monzo but what else have you come to “need” your phone for that you couldn’t live without?

Thought I’d lost mine when I woke up this morning (had gone down the back of my bed) but started to panic!

My bank, my travel card, all the RSA tokens for remote access to clients, the heating, Spotify etc, I’d be pretty lost without it even for a day !

Banking, emails, news. Phone and texts and WhatsApp. Forums to respond too. Taking photos. Listening to music, watching videos and playing games.

Apart from Monzo I have been seriously thinking about just getting a basic phone that doesn’t have apps or a camera etc.

1 Like

One of my mates lives by a cheap phone that does nothing, he loves it, charges last days, and he doesn’t get absorbed in his phone !

Other than Monzo, I use my phone for Authenticators, Spotify, Emails and few other things I have gone a day or two without it though but you don’t realise how reliant you are on it when you don’t have your phone for a while.

1 Like

Emails, texts/iMessage, Spotify, Slack and that’s about it I think.

1 Like

Monzo. And other banking apps.
Authentication/2FA verifications.
Messages (WhatsApp - though the desktop version is available.
Podcasts and occasional Spotify. The silence (or noise of the Tube) would kill me.
Oral B toothbrush data.

Citymapper & Google Maps would definitely be missed. I have no idea where my house or anything else is in London without these two apps!

I guess these are the “essentials”.

1 Like

I tried the Oral B app and I hated it. It hadn’t been updated since what feels like iOS 7.

1 Like

Admittedly I listed that as a joke. It’s not a great app at all. And very often it only seems to record one brushing session a day which is clearly wrong.

2 Likes

Messaging, banking, music and web browsing are the main things I’d miss

I’d miss Instagram, reading free books, Slack/ going on the forum, mobile games, and tracking every tiny bit of my life (where I’ve gone/ time spent- Life Cycle, amount of water drunk- Plant Nanny, tracking screen/app time- Moment). Oh and compulsively checking Monzo because it’s so pretty even though I know I haven’t spent anything.

I admittedly spend too much time on my phone- some days where I don’t have uni or research to do I’m on it for up to 16 hours. Thankfully I’m not really a big TV person- it’s a huge time waster.

2 Likes

Is it a bigger time waster than Instagram? I’ve found I’m enjoying some of the TV progs recommended on the forum and at least they have a storyline and production values whereas Instagram is for me just a time gobbler with no perceptible benefit whatsoever!

1 Like

Realistically the most used apps on my phone are the apps I could probably live without (Twitter, Reddit, Slack, Instagram etc)

If I really wanted to ditch the smartphone the apps I’d miss the most would be:

  • Banking (inc Monzo) & Apple Pay
  • Music Streaming (I’d loathe to go back to the day of carrying around another device that I have to manage whats stored on it)
  • Messaging (iMessage, Messenger etc. Its easy to get out of the loop without these things, but I’m at a constant battle to not feel like I’m accessible 100% of my waking life)
  • Navigation (I think this would be such a pain to live without)

Thats all the “smart” functionality I think I’d really need. Everything else is a nice to have or just a complete time sink.

I know it seems a current trend to “ditch technology”, and I appreciate some people are addicted…

But… quite frankly technology runs my life. My banking, my family, my communication, my home (lights/heating etc).

I wouldn’t want to get rid of it and I’m not ashamed to say that.

For balance… I live in the countryside and spend as much time outdoors as I can :slight_smile:

4 Likes

I would spend more time outside, too, but the sun shines on my screen and I can’t read the Discourse forum properly. :wink:

3 Likes

Get yourself a new MacBook - I’ve been outside working all day today!

2 Likes

Rather jealous!

1 Like

For me Instagram is definitely more of a time waster but my housemates used to put the TV on from morning “in the background” and watch it till night while chatting too. I can assure you they didn’t get very much done :sweat_smile:

If you’re talking about how “useless” it is though I guess if you watched documentaries it would be educational. But I know you’ve been watching Love Island :eyes:

I don’t too feel attached to my phone. I have a job where I can’t look at it for most of the day per my contract and company policies. I work a long day so generally only use it in narrow windows, before and after work. That being said, I spent 13 hours and 24 minutes on my phone last week. iOS’s Screen Time is quite illuminating.

:see_no_evil::see_no_evil::see_no_evil:

image

1 Like