I’ve forgotten life without smartphones.

[Bumblingbee92]

I spend far too much time on my phone. Last week I downloaded an app to block my access to SM between 9-9.

I’ve realised I haven’t really lived without being able to fill my life without immediate dopamine hits. I remember life without the practicalities of smart phones (AA map books, having torches, physical calendars/diaries/address books etc) more so, keeping boredom away. Maybe I should get a radio? Tv in the kitchen? Magazine subscription? Keep a book in my bag?

Sounds silly but to those maybe 50+ what did people do when they sat down with a coffee? I guess I remember as a kid I did have a sudoku book I’d lay in bed and do either late at night or first thing. I do remember my gran having lots of word search books but I can’t remember her ever doing them. I’d say in the 90s my mum spent a lot of time on the landline phone chain smoking or doing the ironing in front of the tele. The house was immaculate ready for unexpected visitors.

I guess I’m just rambling as I’ve forgotten how to spend time without it.

I'm in my 50s and I don't use my phone much. I use a laptop for web browsing. Otherwise I read, watch TV, or simply think. If I'm out and about I enjoy people-watching.

I used to read a lot, I'm trying to get back into the habit of reading an actual book and not one I've borrowed on an app.

I read, watch TV, keep my journal, knit, sew, draw, make plans, people watch, just sit in the garden an watch the birds. I only use my phone to text and make calls.

What app have you used to block it and is it working well?

I try to sit down with a coffee and just stare into space with my thoughts sometimes. We’ve become so unable to just be with ourselves and it’s not good.

I was killing time in a pub last month- had about an hour. They let me charge my phone, so was without it for the hour.
I remembered how to spend time without it- I sat doodling and making notes/ lists. Sketching, people watching.
It was quite nice- I felt more “part of” the pub, rather than lost in my phone.

It was so much better. The best thing was you used to meet new people all the time.

In a cafe I just read a book or magazine.

We watch a lot of old tv series with the kids so they can see it's possible to live without phones, and what life was like without them. (My youngest doesn't have one yet and she is very good at amusing herself without tech).

I read a lot of books. I also like to just sit with a coffee and look out the window at the garden. I have hens and often sit with them just watching them cluck about. It’s lovely.
In waiting rooms and restaurants I just people watch or chat to the other people waiting. Make my kids do the same as I think it’s nice for them to be able to make polite small talk.
i hasten to add this is all just in moments of downtime- I don’t just sit around all day!

I used to daydream, read, or watch TV. I'm still very good at daydreaming. I can pass so much time thinking up vivid scenios that would never come to pass. Or planning for ones that might. Or rewriting my history, or just replying old memories. My attention span for books and TV is not as good as it used to be.

From memory if you were on your own waiting for others. Mostly smoking. But also making little origami flowers from the foil inside the fag packets. Folding things up and generally fiddling with things. Doing a newspaper crossword. Day dreaming.

I often leave mine at home when I eg. dog walk. It's relaxing to know it can't ring. I've come to dread Whatsapp- it's much too frequent and needy.
We had cameras and torches and maps for most of my life. It was better in many ways. I still carry books around though, and a diary and pen, which I couldn't do without.
I used to have a Nokia that did calls and texts and I wish I still had. I wonder if you can still get them.

I'm a bit addicted to my phone but I still like to walk and garden without listening to music or podcasts. Sometimes I just need a good long bout of silence.
I used to subscribe to puzzle magazines and Time before I had a smartphone and I used to buy a newspaper most days so I'm still looking at a lot of the same content, just in a different format.