How on earth do you navigate (literally) through your daily life without access to a smart phone or tablet?
This came up the other day when I was chatting with my good friend Meaghan and she mentioned that another really good friend of hers was still glued to her old flip phone.
This isn’t the first person that I have encountered recently that has decided not to embrace one of the most amazing technologies of this century, the smartphone.
I would really love to sit down and talk to these individuals to see what makes them tick. Look I can understand the allure of living a minimalist lifestyle, I really can. I am a romantic after all and there is very much a romantic mystique to shunning technology for a simpler life so maybe that’s the attraction, but it’s certainly not for me.
I was thinking today about my own life and how much my smartphone has become not merely a convenience, but a necessity. In the last 24 hours alone, I have used my smartphone to purchase gas, to communicate with my good friend Meaghan, to order and pay for my morning coffee(s), to read and edit an article on Medium, to purchase tickets for my daughter’s ballet performance, to check on my kid’s school grades, to check the weather forecast for tomorrow, read the latest news on the democratic primaries and to message my therapist.
I also used this awesome little device to check my work emails, communicate with my business partners, watch a technical training video and check my fitness stats for the day, and listen to my favorite songs.
Finally I broke out this handy companion this evening to photograph and deposit my paycheck, set my alarm for 4:30 am tomorrow morning, take a cute video of my cats and then take a handful of half naked selfies for my partner.
I can’t even imagine how I would accomplish all those things without access to my smartphone.
So I ask you flip phone users of the world, how on earth do you survive in 2020 without this electronic sidekick?
I just think of the tremendous amount of time savings I get each and everyday from this little hand-held wonder.
I don’t have to walk into the gas station and wait in line to pay in the morning. I can order my morning coffee and it’s waiting for me upon arrival. I don’t have to pull off the road to consult a paper map when I get lost. I don’t have to hunt around for a payphone or wait until I’m home to speak with colleagues and friends. I don’t have to lug around my DSLR or Camcorder.
Look, I understand the burdens that can result from always being a phone call or text message away from work, family and friends. I understand the influx of data and occasionally getting overwhelmed with it all.
I certainly have my days when I want to be left alone, and the constant barrage of text messages (especially when people are having a 2-way chat on at 3-way text group) can drive you totally up a wall.
That to me thought seems a small price to pay for the shear convenience of it all.
If you are one of those people that goes through your daily life with nothing more than a flip phone I want to hear your story.
How do you do it, and more importantly…why?
—
Previously published on medium
—
◊♦◊
Talk to you soon.
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project and want to join our calls on a regular basis, please join us as a Premium Member, today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: unsplash