When was the last time you were without a phone/smartphone for an extended period of time?

So next weekend I was thinking about taking the bus down to the beach down for the day. Probably the smart thing to do would be to just leave the phone at home so it doesn't get stolen. Which would I guess be the first time I've willingly been away from a cellphone since around 2005, and without a smartphone since 2011. I know "we rely too much on phones" is not a new observation but it's crazy how much of my life it fills up. It's what I look at when I'm bored, it's podcasts are the background to all of my travel and it's phone functions to let me know that none of my family members are dead.

I haven't really done it except couple times when I've just shut my phone down for a better part of a day. It's nice but also, it could get people worrying which is the problem. I guess you can let your close ones know you're doing it just in case.

I mean, I went to sleep last night... ?

But more seriously, where the hell do you live? Or have you never been to the beach before? I live in Florida and whenever we go to the beach we just leave all our shit on the beach when we go in the water. Like, everyone assumes everyone else is a decent fucking human being and no one will steal your shit when you're in the water. I've lived here nearly my entire life and have NEVER heard of anyone getting their things stolen at the beach.

I've been without a smartphone for 30 years.

@falconer: I'm in Los Angeles. I can't speak to whether or not it's better/worse in Florida but I've heard beach theft is definitely a thing. Especially on a crowded beach. And a phone is a pretty pricey item to trust people with. Someone walked off with my Switch two weeks ago at an LA Fitness.

I recently switched to an old Nokia phone of mine, the classic 8210, and I'm baffled as to how much quality spare time this decision incurred. I'm actually noticing the World around me again.

Pick a spot near a family with kids. Most people are nice, but parents are usually on the lookout for sketchy people. Also, people in Florida absolutely steal stuff, that dude's experience is strange.

I carry a tablet around, so I kind of always have one on me, but I've only owned an actual smartphone once.

I'm making an effort to stop gluing myself to it as much, though. Having the internet in your pocket is a dangerous thing, haha.

1987

All the time, since I still don't own a smartphone, and my cellphone is a crappy budget phone I only really use for "emergencies".

I really have to wonder about people who act like they can't live without their smartphone. Like 95% of my life is interacting with technology, but not having a smartphone is not that much of a setback.

I can go months and months without a smart phone. You quickly forget about it. I used to do a decent amount of traveling, and because of data roaming fees, my phone was basically just a device for sending texts to loved ones and would stay locked up in hotel rooms.

I bought a small media player a few years back that I have a 64 gb SD card in. It basically fulfills all of my podcast listening needs, doesn't drain my phone battery with use, and looks cheap enough that I'm never worried about someone stealing it.

I also realized a few years ago that I was often using podcasts as noise filters, and wasn't actually listening to them. Since then, I'll pop in some earplugs and do some reading to pass the time. People don't steal books most of the time.

Typically though, the best option is go with someone who doesn't want to swim and will hang out with your stuff. Another option (rather obviously) is putting on a smile and asking a nice family to make sure no one steals your crap.

If you're in LA, I assume you're driving, and I'd just lock it in my car. If you're taking public transit, and are deathly suspicious of everyone, you could go the old school route of finding a local YMCA and locking your valuables there... but I don't know if they even allow that kind of stuff anymore.

My wife and I are big on taking cruises. It's pretty much a no-phone-zone as soon as the boat leaves the pier, except for when we were in Hawaii and had service the entire time. We are basically 60-year-olds trapped in the bodies of 30-year-olds.

Read a book, yo.

I don't use a phone, so.

Now if you wanna talk about life without a computer and internet, then I might say I will have some trouble, initially. But you always manage to find other ways to spend time. Read a book, learn some history, or why not just preoccupy yourself with your own thoughts.

The power went out in LA a few months ago and it left me wondering what I did without internet when I was younger.

As for a phone- the longest time was on my honeymoon. There's not a lot of service in Vermont. I enjoyed my time away for sure, but at the same time it's nice to be connected to everything.

This is a good question that i do not have an answer for lol. These things are basically an extension of my body at this point. Even just going out to say a beach, im like what if an emergency happens and i need to call or receive a call.

Probably the end of this week for who knows how long... I live in Florida.

I didn't get my first smartphone until earlier this year. I regularly go without it, as I'm not used to keeping it on me as of yet. It's always been keys and wallet; adding a third item to the mix is proving to be a challenge to consistently remember.

I've had periods where I worked from home communicated for work exclusively in email (it was a weird thing). My phone was generally within arms reach, but I probably didn't even pick it up for weeks at a time. Hard to be sure though. I used to never touch the thing at home. Now I tend to put youtube on when I cook and stuff, so it gets a lot more use.

In 2014 I went to Rome and my phone broke early on in the trip. I went without for 10 days.

I have two phones, one for work one personal. I hardly ever leave the house with at least one of them and very often they've been sitting around collecting dust that the battery is likely to have been dead for days. I'm not a fan of the technology at all tbh. I want holograms coming from my arm goddammit!

Put it in a sealed baggy and bury the fucker in the sand?

For the past about year now I have had an iPod touch, which works like an iPhone 5 on wifi (basically I just text on it and browse the internet, listen to music or podcasts). So I've had that at home or on wi fi, but outside that I have nothing when I go out. It's kind of weird to deal with, but I wanted to try it for a while.

I have never liked the phone thing a ton or like how it has made things these days. I'm 28 and love the internet, but don't have a Facebook account for example. I put my phone down and walk away more than most people I ever see.

The experience has mostly worked well for me. There are times on the go when I would like to look something up and can't, and also the issue of being out and not being able to talk to anyone and see where they are. Back in the day that wasn't an issue, but now, people are always checking and verifying to the point where if you don't respond they might not even follow through on a plan that was set.

It can make hanging with friends a little tough. It can be an issue for dating. Some girls are totally cool with it but it can vary. Some people think the whole thing is weird. Work can also make it an issue, but I work at a service job so it's nothing serious.

I think I may get a proper phone again soon. But I want to try to act more like I do now, not being attached to it or using it for much. Mostly it gets a thumbs up from me. I would think more about just doing this again with a new version, but they don't make the iPod anymore.

Of course, I still have much of the basic functionality of the thing when I'm out and I use that, but otherwise it's an improvement for me in just being in the moment more and having one less distraction when I'm out.

Also: I go camping and stuff like that and don't have my phone.

On vacation is another country I typically just use the phone a tiny bit...I'm too cheap to buy the SIM cards to use on my phone.

One thing I do notice is the while much of the US has poor internet, we do have FREE internet nearly everywhere in the bigger metro areas. Even in a small town, most public libraries have free wifi. I was shocked when in Vancouver BC and London England that there was so little wifi.

Probably just a breaking of the seal kinda thing. Convenience is hard to get rid of once you've had it for so long.

1978-2014 was the last time.

When I was in a school camping. The teachers took it away to keep our attention on camping activities. This was the last time and won't ever go out without my smartphone.

My entire life, did use a cellphone with some regularity in college to organize ride pickup locations and what not, weren't no smart phones back then. Fun fact: if you're outside looking at the scenery is often more interesting than staring soullessly into your phone.

If I ever wind up moving to a large city I imagine it'll become an unavoidable necessity /shudders