Could you go one year without using a smartphone at all?

[mommyoffive]

Could you go one year without touching a smart phone?  I just saw a contest for doing this.  Don't touch one at all for a year for 100k.  Could you do it? 

[mommyoffive]

1 minute ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Heck yes, for 100k! Even without money though sometimes I contemplate going back to just a dumb phone with text. I think the only thing I’d miss is the camera. And maybe Nav. My car has it, but it’s not as easy or as accurate. I have my laptop for everything else. 

 

Why do you want to go dumb phone? 

[Arcadia]

That depends on any other criteria for that challenge. I play games, surf web and reply emails on my iPad. I went without a phone for a month when my iPhone 6 died. People just use Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook messenger to contact me. I use my iPad as a camera often.

I also have a Samsung gear smartwatch so technically I could take calls on my watch without touching my iPhone. (ETA: send sms too, not hard to type)

It’s hard if the challenge includes not using tablets/laptops/computers to answer emails and surf the web. 

I went without a phone for two months when my iPhone 5 died. Wasn’t an issue. I know how to send sms using a flip phone since I used alphanumeric pagers decades ago.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Arcadia

[Garga]

I use my phone about 4 times a year. But I’m glued to my ipad. I suppose they mean to give up the phone *or* the ipad—mobile smart devices.

And could I give up the ipad for a year?  As long as I could still use a computer/laptop, I could.  I’d lose the convenience of carrying it around with me everywhere, but I could do it.  I did it for 40 years after all and survived.  🙂. Mostly, I would miss being able to watch hulu and netflix on the ipad in the bathroom in peace.  I’d have to watch tv on the tv in the living room, which would mean I wouldn’t be able to watch much of it, because most of what I like isn’t kid friendly, and the kids go to bed at the same time I do, so there wouldn’t be any time to watch when they’re not around.  

I love reading books.  I’d just take up my entertainment slack with lots more reading. 

[Lanny]

With regard to entering a contest. NO

Pay me up-front and I will give them my Smart phone and promise not to use one for one year. No problem...  We would replace the roof on our house with the money.

ETA: If I did not have a Smart phone, WhatsApp is the App I would miss the most. We use it a lot.  There are others, but WhatsApp is probably my #1 App with regard to how much I use it.

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by Lanny
add ETA

[stephanier.1765]

Yes, I really only use it for Google maps or to play games when waiting for the doctor or pharmacy. Otherwise, it's just a phone to me.

[SamanthaCarter]

Yes

[Garga]

If they mean not using any computer for a year, then I don’t think I could and homeschool at the same time.  Not while we’re only a year and a half out from college.  If the kids weren’t in high school, then yes, I could go entirely without electronics for a year, though it would drive my friends crazy that they’d have to call me to contact me. (I have a landline in my house.  And a rotary phone.  🙂  )

It would be hard for things like when businesses need to email you.  I’d be afraid I’d miss something on email, but then again, my parents don’t use the computer and they seem to be surviving, so I suppose snail mail and phone calls could still get me through.  

Edited December 14, 2018 by Garga

[mommyoffive]

Anyone who wants to enter

https://hip2save.com/2018/12/14/win-vitaminwater-ditch-phone/

 

What are the rules?

If you are selected, you may NOT use any smartphone for 365 days and cannot be required to use a smartphone for work or other commitments. This means you may not physically operate, caress, hug or otherwise be physically affectionate with anyone’s smartphone. 

No smartphone or tablet use, including using another person’s smartphone or tablet

Laptops and desktop computers are OK to use.

Voice-activated devices that are NOT smartphones are OK (like Google Home or Amazon Echo).

If you’re the grand prize winner, you will receive a 1996-era cellular telephone that may be used for communication during the 365-day period, including a monthly phone plan ($700+ total value). You will need to agree not to use (or touch) a smartphone for 365 consecutive days and take a lie-detector test at the end of the contract period.

If you successfully meet ALL aspects of the contract, you will receive a $100,000 prize! If you only last for 6 months, but have otherwise met all aspects of the contract, you will receive a $10,000 prize.

[KungFuPanda]

Easily, but I grew up without this technology so a year would not be hard at all considering you can still use a computer. 

[regentrude]

Why do they lump a tablet into the same category as a smart phone, as opposed to a computer? Makes no sense.

I have lived with a dumb phone for years. I guess I could go back to a dumb phone plus computer. But I need a tablet with stylus for my job. Why that is considered equivalent to a cell phone is beyond me.

[Pawz4me]

Sure I could do that. Easily. But I’m old and spent a LOT more of my life without a smart phone than with one. That’s assuming a dumb phone is allowed. Since pay phones don’t really exist anymore I’d want to have some way of communicating in case of car trouble, etc. 

[Amira]

I could have before I moved here and generally did, but now I need a smart phone for Uber and I use data for google maps all the time.  

[alisoncooks]

I like to think I could...but geez, I get lost a lot, lol. Map apps are my friend!

[Arcadia]

4 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Why do they lump a tablet into the same category as a smart phone, as opposed to a computer? Makes no sense.

 

There are tablets with cellular making them behave like big smartphones. Also tablets do come in small sizes like the kindle fire and iPad mini. I can easily put an iPad into my handbag but I can’t bring a 13” laptop as easily.

For the tablet with stylus for your work, the laptops that works in tablet mode would work. My kid does that for his laptop. He use tablet mode for recreational drawing.

i think the idea is on dependency and convenience. It’s easy to surf web and play games on a tablet while on public transport. Less easy with a laptop though DS14 does that with his 13” laptop on a long bus ride. 

[brehon]

Those rules would seem to exclude a lot of people based simply on the fact that your work can’t require you to use a smartphone/tablet. Lots of healthcare workers, including me, are automatically disqualified on that basis alone. 

[Arcadia]

3 minutes ago, Amira said:

I could have before I moved here and generally did, but now I need a smart phone for Uber and I use data for google maps all the time.  

 

I would need my husband to call Uber for me if I don’t have my smartphone with me or my smartphone battery is flat. That does need a place with WiFi connection so I could message my husband and he could message back the vehicle license number. We use Uber Family account.

2 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

I like to think I could...but geez, I get lost a lot, lol. Map apps are my friend!

 

Garmin hiking gps.

[alisoncooks]

Just now, happysmileylady said:

What's funny is you have to enter with a tweet or instagram....I don't use either of those lol!

Yes! Same here. 

[Amira]

2 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

 

I would need my husband to call Uber for me if I don’t have my smartphone with me or my smartphone battery is flat. That does need a place with WiFi connection so I could message my husband and he could message back the vehicle license number. We use Uber Family account.

 

Garmin hiking gps.

With the amount I use Uber and the odd places I need it, I think my husband would say the $100,000 was not worth it. 🙂  And WiFi is definitely not standard in my current city, especially in the neighborhoods where I spend my time.

I created a huge google map of my city with over 500 pins of places I want to go with information about all of the sites.  I never could see a reason to have a smart phone before my beloved map.

[Carol in Cal.]

Yes, but I would need a flip phone for emergencies, a Garmin for driving instructions, and a camera.  I would be willing to give up my fit bit tracking, or maybe see whether I could do that on a computer instead.

[Guest]

No phone, yeah. I prefer a computer or an iPad-the phone is too small, so I don’t use it for much computer stuff. I’d need a GPS, though (and Insuppose a dumb phone for safety since it is now expected that everyone has a phone at all times).  I could pretty easily replace the iPad with a small notebook PC. 

Edited December 14, 2018 by dmmetler

[Junie]

Considering that on Black Friday dh had to re-teach me how to turn the smartphone on...

yeah, I think I would be ok without it.

[Ann.without.an.e]

I use mine for work a ton so ... no.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Attolia

[marbel]

18 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

That's when you use what my mom calls "manual GPS."  A great big map book she keeps in the car lol.

<snip>

LOL but no.  :-)

My kids and I have vivid (unhappy) memories of the attempted trip into south Philadelphia (11 years ago) that prompted my husband to get me a GPS for Christmas.  Map books are great if you have a navigator who can look at the maps and guide the driver.  Not so great for someone alone, or with little kids, in a busy area without frequent places to pull over to study the map!  :-)  

(We returned home 4 hours after attempting to drive to a museum 19 miles from our house, without ever finding the museum.)  

[Pawz4me]

16 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

That's when you use what my mom calls "manual GPS."  A great big map book she keeps in the car lol.

 

DH and I have learned the hard way to not travel without a good, old fashioned road atlas. That’s despite having two smart phones and a GPS. We experienced one time too many of those not knowing about road closures/detours. So before we left on our last road trip we bought a Rand McNally atlas. And lo and behold on that trip it saved us from a very poorly marked detour due to a road closure that neither Apple or Google maps or TomTom knew about  

[happypamama]

I've only had a smartphone for a couple of years, but I did have an iPad for several years before that. Yeah, I could live without it for that money, but it would require a lot of reworking things. I use my phone for tons of stuff, other than texting and phone calls. It is basically my brain. My laptop is less easy to access and definitely takes longer to load up, whereas I use my phone for a million super quick tasks every day. 

[Donna]

I would love to be able to but with all the travel dd and I do, it would be near impossible or would require way too many other things like maps, GPS, pay phones or could we use a dumb phone? 

We use our iPhones for directions, weather, Uber or Lyft for transportation when we don't have a car with us, looking up vegan options while traveling, ordering in food when there are no good vegan options available within walking distance, booking gigs, connecting with other people about gig logistics, and dd uses her hot spot for internet for her computer so she can get her schoolwork completed when there is no wifi available or when it is sketchy. Also, we are able to get sim cards in different countries to cut costs on phone and internet services...I don't remember being able to do that before we had smartphones. 

[purpleowl]

It just says no smart phone, not no phone. As long as a dumb phone with calls & texting is allowed, I could do it--though I admit that I currently use the smart phone too frequently for other things so it would be an adjustment! 

I use it for GPS as well, but I could work around that. Let DH use his phone, or let DD#1 use mine if DH isn't there, or print out directions beforehand if I'll be by myself.

[Katy]

I use mine to manage every aspect of my life so I would struggle.  But DH hates his and wants to go back to a dumb phone all the time. He'd absolutely do it for $100,000.

[katilac]

For the money, yes. 

Otherwise, I would not attempt it. I use my smartphone every single day. 

[Dicentra]

Well, since I don't own a smartphone or a tablet, then I'm already doing it.  Can they just pay me the money? 🙂  I have an old Samsung 3S Mini, I think it's called.  It has no data.  I don't often use it as a phone because the sound is terrible.  I sometimes text but will more often use email from my laptop - faster to type.  We don't use GPS when driving.  DH has a flip phone.  I'm not kidding.  He says he won't trade it in for an upgrade. Ever. 😄

I do use my laptop all the time for work (online course teaching tends to not really work unless one is... well... online 😉 ) so I couldn't give up computers or the internet.  But a smartphone or a tablet? Already there. 🙂

[rdj2027]

Heck yeah, I own neither a tablet nor 😀a smartphone.  They should just declare me the winner right now.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Of course. But I don’t want to. My smartphone is a very useful tool for me. I use it for all sorts of functions including scanning labels to make sure that products are safe for my daughter with Celiac. I don’t see anything virtuous in having to get a pad and paper (for note taking and lists), a Thomas guide (for navigation), a calculator or pen and paper for calculations, an encyclopedia for looking up information, a collection of recipe books, a separate camera...  I would need a very large tote bag and a cart to push all of that around. 

[Lady Florida.]

I'm old and grew up without the technology. Heck, I grew up without color tv, cable, and microwave ovens. And no, I'd have no interest in giving up my smartphone and/or tablet for a year. Not even for that amount of money. 

[J-rap]

Yes!  We've often been out of the country for 3 months at a time, and I don't use my phone then.  It's actually kind of a relief to not be tied to it then.  I just check my email from time to time on my laptop and stay in touch that way.

[Garga]

21 minutes ago, Lady Florida. said:

I'm old and grew up without the technology. Heck, I grew up without color tv, cable, and microwave ovens. And no, I'd have no interest in giving up my smartphone and/or tablet for a year. Not even for that amount of money. 

I didn't have color tv for the longest time.  Or the microwave.  Didn't get cable until I was married.  

My kids look at me like I'm a veteran of the Civil War or something...

[Carrie12345]

Smartphone? Sure. Smartphone and tablet? I’m out.

[Storygirl]

I could get along without my smart phone for a year, but I still could not enter that contest. Because I have four teenagers who already have or will have smart phones, and I need to be able to touch theirs in order to monitor how they are using them.

Otherwise, I could do it. I would miss my iPhone, but I got along fine before I had one (I didn't get one until many years after they became popular). I don't have a tablet, other than a Kindle, which I don't use. I do use my laptop a lot, but it looks like that would be allowed.

[SKL]

Yes I could, but for work purposes it's good for me to be able to read emails on my phone sometimes (especially while traveling).  Also the GPS is quite nice, now that I finally figured out how to use it.  So I don't desire to switch, but it would not be a huge deal for me.

Dumb phones often have cameras.  My sister's does.

I am boring.  I don't have any games, music, etc. on my smart phone.  I don't use it for reading and only rarely check news / facebook etc. on it.

[Pen]

Is this a winner from amongst entrants is chosen who Then must not use it for a year?  Or after not using it for a year one can have a chance to win?

For a certainty of 100k I would do it, but for a chance to win 100k in a drawing, no.  Sounds like buying a lottery ticket — with a year of strings attached  .  

 

 

[purpleowl]

10 minutes ago, Pen said:

Is this a winner from amongst entrants is chosen who Then must not use it for a year?  Or after not using it for a year one can have a chance to win?

For a certainty of 100k I would do it, but for a chance to win 100k in a drawing, no.  Sounds like buying a lottery ticket — with a year of strings attached  .  

 

 

The first one. You enter via Twitter or Instagram, and on/around Jan 22, they will select one person to go a year without a smartphone or tablet. If the person makes it the full year, he or she gets the prize (a smaller prize if the person makes it 6 months but not a year).

[alisoncooks]

13 minutes ago, Pen said:

Is this a winner from amongst entrants is chosen who Then must not use it for a year?  Or after not using it for a year one can have a chance to win?

For a certainty of 100k I would do it, but for a chance to win 100k in a drawing, no.  Sounds like buying a lottery ticket — with a year of strings attached  .  

 

 

A winner is chosen from entries based on certain judging criteria. That winner then gets $100k if they make it the year. $10k if they only complete 6 months. 

[Pen]

Is it open to people who haven’t embraced smartphones in the first place?  Rather than giving them up?  

[Wheres Toto]

I"m sure part of the selection criteria is someone who is very very attached to their phone and/or tablet.  Probably why you have to enter through Twitter or Instagram.  I have both of those but only to follow my kids so there are literally no entries from my side.  

I could do without a smart phone or tablet.  I don't like doing most stuff on either of them anyway, I'm more likely to open my laptop to go to any websites.   Even my email doesn't seem to be up-to-date on my phone so I end up checking on my laptop anyway.  I do take pictures, so would need a camera.  Other than that a dumb phone would work.  I hate GPS, I look up where I'm going ahead of time on my computer.  Even if we're out and lost, I'll look up google maps and write down the directions I need.   But, I'm also very good at reading maps.

[Selkie]

No! Mainly because my smartphone makes communicating with my two college boys so easy. Throughout the day, we text all kinds of goofy stuff including photos of our dogs and cats and horses, interesting cars we've seen, links to news stories, and anything else that catches our eye. I would hate to lose that!

[shawthorne44]

I would do it for a $100. 

I prefer my Garmin for GPS, it beats the pants off Google.  I'd have to carry a digital camera around.  But, even then with flip-phones being pretty small, the weight of the two devices would probably equal my smallish smart phone.  My only snag would be that group texts don't appear on a dumb phone.  If there was a forwarding program that took care of that, I'd be set.   Maybe twice a year I would have to call someone while driving and have them look up an address for me.  

[alisoncooks]

I'm sure they'll pick someone with a prolific Twitter/Instagram history. Someone with followers. And this person will probably blog about their life-changing, year-long experience. 

I'd do it, but I'm not marketable. 

[OH_Homeschooler]

Nope, not a chance.

[Spryte]

I could do it.  

I would seriously miss my kindle app, though.  My eyes prefer adjustable font sizes.  I wonder if a straight up kindle, with no other bells and whistles, just books, is ok?

Nav I could do with the car’s system, I think.  

Now I kind of want to try, just for kicks.

[Lady Florida.]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

 

I am boring.  I don't have any games, music, etc. on my smart phone.  I don't use it for reading and only rarely check news / facebook etc. on it.

I don't know if it makes me boring but I don't have games or music on mine either, though I've been known to listen to online music such as Amazon or Pandora.  I don't read on my phone but I listen to audio books and podcasts.

In addition to the above I use my phone for maps, including directions and traffic information, finding the cheapest gas when I'm on the road, news, phone calls and texts, calendar (I don't make appts. at the doctor's office until I pull out my phone and check the family calendar), ordering items, taking photos, digital coupons, memos, weather updates, email, and more. I hear some people with a bit of arrogance (not you, I'm just using your quote as a jumping off point) say they don't need to high priced gadget for playing candy crush or other games, but I know very few people who play games on their phones. Even my 21yo rarely uses his for games (but he does use it for college - he accesses Canvas on his phone all the time). A smartphone isn't necessary that's true, but it's also not a fad or high priced gadget. It has real life practical uses. For some younger people it is their computer.

So, the answer to *could* I go without my smartphone for a year is of course, yes. Would I choose to? No.