A recent camera fault on my HTC One M8 called for a warranty repair which—horror of horrors—meant I would be without my smartphone for a week. It turned out to be quite a sobering experience, and one that I’d recommend many people give a try. It’s only when you are confronted by life without your trusty pocket computer that you can truly appreciate just how dependent you have become on its 21st century wizardry. Without a smartphone, many simple tasks that we have learned to take for granted become absurdly complicated, calling for a degree of forward planning and thinking on your feet that you may not have experienced for quite some time.
To ease the pain of separation, and at least allow me to continue to make and receive calls, I was accompanied on my smartphone-free journey by a GB£10 (US$15) Samsung Keystone 2 feature phone, similar to the simple handsets I last used around 2002. But, even with this lovely little gadget to hand, I was shocked by how many adjustments I had to make in my smartphone-free life. Here are just a few of the changes I made:
Thankfully my smartphone has now returned, repaired and as good as new, and normal 21st century service can resume. But this experience leaves me with an acute appreciation of just how much my life, and the lives of all the people around me, have changed in recent years. This truly is a digital world.