I have never owned a smart phone. AMA

[EuclidianGeometryFan]

I have never owned a smart phone. I don't think it is worth the money.
I use a laptop to access the internet.

Do you work outside the home or travel much?
so much of modern life seems to require internet access these days. Presumably your laptop doesn’t go everywhere with you?
I felt the same as you until I actually got one. Now I can’t imagine life without it. DH, on the other hand, hardly uses his phone beyond texts.

I don't often have to travel somewhere that I don't already know the route. If I am going somewhere new, I have a road atlas in the car, and check google maps for directions beforehand. If necessary, I print off a map of the local roads not shown in the road atlas.
No I don't take my laptop out of the home.

I only use it for work not personal
No apps on other than train
No email

Do you listen to music out and about? How do you cope with places that require you to scan a Qr code?

I assume you still use contactless banking?

How do you message friends and family? Text?

Do you have kids? I would need mine for the nursery update app and the class WhatsApp group.

No I don't listen to music while out. However, if I wanted to I have an MP3 player with a few thousand songs on it ripped from CDs.

I use online banking, and tap my debit or credit card (or occasionally insert and enter the PIN as required). I always have a fairly good idea of how much is in the bank.

I have a dumbphone for texting, but usually just phone people from the landline. We have an answering machine on the landline for voice messages.

All kids grown up.
I have never used WhatsApp.

Why though?

Because smartphones are expensive. Why spend money on something I don't need?
Plus there is no worry about losing it. I wouldn't walk around with £200 or £500 cash in a jeans pocket. Don't people worry about losing their phones?

You can buy a smartphone for about £50.

Sorry I have lots of questions! Do you not want to have the ease of being able to have a WhatsApp group?

Eg we have a family one and it’s nice to text everyone at the same time, share photos, send jokes. It’s more informal than having to text everyone individually.

Does your phone have a camera?

If you go abroad you can’t print out a map of everywhere you might go, what do you do then?

Also google translate is so handy when abroad, do you not think some aspects of a smart phone would be handy? Even basics like being able to check train / bus times, or have a look if there’s been an accident causing delays.

Living the dream

I held out for almost a decade longer than my peers before finally getting a smartphone at 23ish, wish I hadn't - hopefully getting rid of it soon

Do you have a camera? Smartphones among other things have tanked the market for affordable small cameras that can match the quality of a phone, it's a shame

So instead of paying money for a smartphone (and you don’t have to pay 200 to 500 for one)
You’re paying to run a dumbphone, run a landline, and still have broadband for your laptop. And on top of that you’re giving yourself a job printing off maps every time you want to go somewhere. So you have to either have a printer or pay for printing either way it’s costing money. Everything needs a hell of a lot more arranging so therefore it takes a lot more time. You really could make life a lot easier by just getting a smart phone. It’s not a bad thing. Just use it for what you want to use it for. And no, I don’t worry about losing my phone. I’ve never lost a phone.

It is not just the cost of the phone itself - I would also need a contract, or PAYG data sim.

I guess you don't miss what you have never had. I don't feel the need to send group texts with jokes to family and friends.

My dumbphone does have a camera, but the quality is so bad I never use it.
I have a digital camera that I take on days out or holidays, and email photos occasionally when I get home. It is a tiny bit more effort to upload the photos from the camera to the laptop, but not worth getting a smartphone just for that.

I must confess, DH has a smartphone, and he has used google maps and Uber on our annual holiday abroad - is that cheating on the premise of this thread?
If I were single, wouldn't get a smartphone just for the sake of enhancing one holiday a year.

Oooh I love this! What a good AMA. How do you feel when you are with friends and their smart phones? Do you still get stuck scrolling through crap on the internet on your laptop or is that not a thing? Do you mind if I ask your age? I think if I could take it all back I’d do the same but I’m so used to the convenience - don’t think it is at all good for me though.

How old are you?

I would always have high-speed home broadband, even if I had a smartphone. The landline is basically free with the broadband deal.

The dumbphone is PAYG and ultracheap because I don't actually text much, and almost never call from it. Perhaps I am just uncommunicative by modern standards.

The printer we have anyway. DH needs it for work, but even if he didn't I can't imagine not having a printer at home, for all sorts of admin and hobbies.

Yes, out-of-the-ordinary things do take a little bit more organising. But not enough to make me think a smartphone would be worth it.

Even when I started work, no one had mobile phones, and laptops were just coming into the market. We survived. But my goodness I wouldn’t be without my smart phone now, makes life so much easier and efficient, but then we travel a lot and are often out and about.
Can uou honestly say you’ve fully considered the move to a smart phone and genuinely think it wouldn’t add anything at all to your life?

I think you are very wise. I waste so much time on my phone. I don't take it on walks because I want the peace of not being able to scroll on a bench. Wish I had a dumb phone.

Yes, I am sat here on the laptop scrolling through (not actually) crap MN. WFH and work is a bit slow today.

I used to sit reading the internet on the sofa in the evenings far too much, but have now made it a rule to never move the laptop out of the home office area. I don't take it over to the sofa anymore. Instead, we are watching more TV together, or I am reading more books.

When I am with other people who have their nose glued to their phone, I think that is incredibly rude, and I drop a hint if necessary. Usually it is not necessary, as they put the phone away when I start a conversation.

I am shocked at the number of young people in the office who sit looking at their phone during a business meeting or presentation. So rude. Just because a part of the meeting doesn't concern or interest you, there is no need to get your phone out. I am not talking about taking urgent calls or attending urgent emails that have cropped up - it is clear they are scrolling out of boredom.

I am 58.

This is really interesting. I’ve recently realised I’m addicted to checking my smartphone constantly. I believe it’s contributed to my reduced attention span.

What is your attention span like? Do you read a lot instead? Do you get more things done? Do you notice a difference between you and your husband in terms of that? Or close friends?

So you don't need to use a phone for work then? I couldn't do my job without a smartphone, I need to pick up emails/texts/messages on the go and I run the socials.

I have fully considered getting a smartphone, and keep the decision under constant review.
It would add lots to my life. DH has a great app that identifies the names of wildflowers if you take a picture of them - so no need to carry a book of flower identification if we go on a walk.
But the costs would outweigh the benefits - both in monetary terms, and in the worry of losing or damaging it, and even more in the potential for addiction and the loss of ability to tolerate boredom.

My DP has never had one either. We still arrange to meet up the old fashioned way by stating time and location. He’s not good with technology and has chubby fingers which don’t gel with smartphone screens!

I need a phone to receive a text code to log into the system - the dumbphone does that. I don't need it otherwise, as at a desk all day with MS Teams and email.
I keep very, very strict boundaries between home and work. Outside of my set working hours, I am uncontactable. Only HR has the landline number for emergencies.

Just to say as you’ve mentioned costs a lot, you can buy a basic smartphone for about £50 and a sim only deal for less than £5 a month. and you would save on printing and I assume you already have some costs associated with your non-smart phone.

I have a normal attention span - so probably good by today's standards.
I can watch a slow and intricate film or TV series, or read a long novel, with ease.
My DH is constantly on his phone, self-employed sole trader so he has to be on the phone all waking hours to keep the work coming in. I guess he probably also talks to friends and family a bit more than me, but I don't pay much attention to his calls so wouldn't really know if he is taking to a customer or a friend.

Would that £5 include unlimited data, texts and calls?

The printing cost is minimal, only a few pages per month for my usage. We have had it years and (touch wood) it is still going okay. Ink is expensive though.

The dumbphone cost me about £40 a few years ago. I had to replace my old one because (as far as I recall) the 2G signal was being turned off. The previous one cost £5 to buy and I had it about 15-20 years.
Top-up is about £10 every four to six months, because I don't send many texts or make many calls from it.