Five days ago I divorced my iPhone.
Last week I walked into my local electronics store and bought myself this little beauty. A Nokia 110. I bought a micro-sim adapter and then took my micro-sim out of my iPhone 4S and swapped it over.
For the last five days I’ve been living with a phone that can’t do much except call and text. It can’t check where I am. It can’t login to Facebook. It can’t allow me to tweet. It can’t take good photos. It can’t sync my contacts with the cloud. It can’t do much at all.
Over the past month or so I’ve been realising how truly addicted to the iPhone I am. It’s just a beautiful device that I end up spending hours each day looking over, searching for nothing meaningful, checking for the latest updates, and trying to look important in doing so. It’s not because I need to do these things, it’s just because I want to use my phone.
I’ve been an iPhone user for the past 4 years. It’s radically changed how I operate and allowed me to do things that I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. For example, when travelling overseas I’ve been able to take photos, check where I am, send email and be on Skype all from the one portable device. That wouldn’t have happened 5 years ago.
But I’ve realised that there’s more to life than my phone. There are people in my life that need me, that should have my time and time is a valuable thing. Therefore, some of the goals I’m seeking to achieve in this iDivorce are:
- Spend more engaged time with family and people
- Be more productive and use my time more wisely
- Not be so reliant on a device
- Able to be less conscious on the device I have and be ok when it drops out of my hand
- Distance and separate my working life with my social life as well as my online and non-online life
- Break the iPhone addiction
These are the things I want to achieve over the course of the next month, possibly even longer. The iPhone has been the first thing I look at each morning and the last thing I look at each night. What a sad place that is when I’ve got a beautiful wife lying right next to me. For that alone it’s time to initiate an iDivorce.
How about you? Is it time you began a separation with your smartphone?
Minimal Mess 
I was strong for a while. I’ve used three “dumbphones” to death over the course of 7 years. When my last dumbphone died, I decided to try out a smartphone, finally. Picked out a Windows phone. Dammit, I’ve been hooked. Someone stage an intervention!
Hey,
Yeah I felt it was intervention time too! Hence the new purchase. Nearly a week through and ya know what? It’s awesome! Get on it!
I had an iPhone. I sold it last year and bought a smaller smartphone. I can still do much of what I did with the iPhone, but I don’t. It’s a phone. Period. I don’t get notifications every 2 minutes, distracting me from whatever I am doing at the moment, to tell me of a random, meaningless tweet or an email that is not important. I don’t have instagram and I don’t have Facebook.
I still have a smartphone because I use it on business travels. But on daily basis, I use the smartphone more like I would use a “dumbphone”. It’s a bit silly, but I prefer it this way. I can have the advantages when I need them, but I’m not constantly attached to the item for no meaningful reason. I also have an old Motorola “dumbphone”, which I use for another country’s SIM card. Text and call. I don’t need more.
I loved your post because it goes straight to the point. Technology is fine, until it takes us away from what is most important for us.
Thanks Sara, great to have you pop by!
I agree entirely. Technology is only as good as the help it gives. Once it pushes us over the edge and into unhealthy territory then it becomes something of a hindrance to life.
Nice move in selling the iPhone. I’ve kept mine to take some photos and listen to music. Other than that I’m not really missing it at all. Feels quite liberating really!
I use to be a cell phone junkie, It was bad. My contract is up for my cell phone plan next month; But I decided I was not going to renew and I am going to keep the phone I am using.(which is a smartphone, BTW). Why?? Because I own a P.C, Tablet, and Nook. All I need my cell phone to do is to text and ring.
Hey Lynne,
Great to have you here.
Yeah, I’ve also got an iPad (wifi only) and a laptop. I’m now tossing up what I’ll do when my contract runs out – I’m currently paying good money for a phone I don’t actually use!
Thankfully I don’t have wifi at home either so I’m not distracted with the iPad – I used to tether but even that’s becoming something I may just have to live without.
happy to hear that there is now one less iphone user! I have never had an iphone or smartphone. i noticed the way people that have them seem to be so engaged with them, and knew i didn’t need, or want to be like that. I want to be present. my husband does have an iphone and he spends much more time looking at it than he does looking at me.
Thanks! Yes, I’ve found it brings much more engagement with others. Good on you for no smartphone!