How Can You “Survive” in 2024 Without a Smartphone

A lot of people would call you crazy if you tell them that you want to use a feature phone (aka a mobile phone with physical buttons) and ditch your smartphone. Pretty much everyone uses a smartphone nowadays, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t live without those devices (well, at least some of us).

In fact, the world was all fine 10 to 15 years ago when smartphones weren’t popular. Mobile phones, hard and heavy as bricks, were the trend back in the day, and people didn’t have such urgent grievances as today, such as not having enough CPU cores or megapixels on their cameras. They had other occupations. Smartphones frequently capture our attention too much, making us sloppy in other areas of our lives. Plenty of studies show that the attention span of the average person has lowered drastically in recent years, mainly due to social media and smartphones.

I’m not here to say that it’s a bad idea to use a smartphone in 2024. Surely, those devices can be highly useful for many of us. I just want to say that it’s completely feasible to use a feature phone instead, at least for some of us. Therefore, if you’ve set a crazy goal yourself to ditch your smartphone and buy a feature phone instead, here are a few ideas to make the transition a lot easier:

A laptop is mandatory

You need some level of portability for your computer in order to buy yourself a feature phone to the detriment of your smartphone. Assuming you won’t have a smartphone anymore to allow you to watch your favorite YouTube videos or movies while you’re getting bored at work, something else is needed to fill that gap. What else could be better than a laptop that you can carry around with you anywhere you want?

It’s not a secret that many smartphones of nowadays are more powerful than some laptops and desktop PCs. But you can certainly use a laptop instead of a smartphone for your usual tasks, such as scrolling through social media, watching videos, reading emails, and more.

As long as you have a decent laptop in your briefcase, the need for a smartphone is close to zero.

Grab a professional camera

Now that you’ve decided to get rid of your smartphone, you may not be willing to take photos and record videos with a 0.3MP camera that many feature phones have. Assuming that taking photos and recording videos represented some of the main activities when you were using your smartphone, you will have to spend some money on a professional camera to fill the gap. The offer is huge, so there’s no use to worry that you won’t find the right gadgets.

If, on the other hand, taking photos and recording videos aren’t among your hobbies, that’s obviously even better for your journey of opting for a feature phone.

Prioritize human interactions

Prioritizing human interactions is both a condition and a huge benefit when it comes to using a mobile phone with physical buttons (aka feature phones). If you’re in a new city and you don’t know where’s the railway station, for instance, you can simply ask the pedestrians for indications if you won’t have your smartphone anymore. They will be happy to help you, and furthermore, you can eventually make new connections with people.

Surely, if you have the habit of sleeping with your smartphone under your pillow, I’m sure you have your own reasons, and you can be free to continue in that way. Nobody says that smartphones are bad, but living without them is surely possible and can bring along some important advantages. There has been a rise in the use of feature phones in recent years, as many people conclude that using a smartphone too much is not actually a good idea.