I Went 30 Days With No Smartphone: How It's Been

It's hard to believe that I started this project of living life with no-phone about 1 month ago. In fact, it's been a little over a month; my first post (Day 1) was on April 24, 2026. Just a few days before my birthday.

Since then, I've gone through a list of trials and tribulations of living in this modern age with no smartphone. But can I just fast-forward to the question everyone is asking: Is it worth it?

The answer is a resounding yes. It is so worth it.

But I have a confession to make before we get in to everything ... I actually bought a phone last week. That's right, in a moment of weakness, I went online and bought an iPhone 17. A whopping $970 or so later, I went to the Apple store near me and picked it up.

I expected a sense of euphoria and dopamine to hit me when I got the phone in my hand. But truthfully? I felt nauseous. It felt like a foreign object, one I have intentionally been avoiding for almost a month at this point. Now I just had spent $1,000 of my hard-earned money on this little, strange device. The same, strange device I had been noticing everyone mindlessly sticking their noses in all day, at lunches with their partners, the whole world around me looked like mindless zombies gobbling up whatever crap their phones fed them, every second of every day.

Was I seriously going to go back to that?

The real "fuck this shit" moment came when I started looking for a cell provider again. Ugh, what a pain in the ass that is. So many options, all of them just to steal my life away. Unlimited data this, international roaming that. I settled on Google Fi, because it has some interesting perks I won't get in to because at the end of the day, after one day of cell service, I cancelled it and returned my iPhone to the same Apple store.

When I was returning it, the employee asked me: "Any reason why?" ... I hesitated for a moment. Should I tell this guy my journey, that I'm going no-phone, that I felt physically ill at the thought of becoming a mindless droid again after breaking out of the matrix? I just simply answered "No reason." He processed my return, and I left the store feeling ... like I have for the past month. Right where I want to be; content. Normal.

I've gotten really in to eating meals with no phone. In fact, that was one of the things I was worried about getting a phone again. Eating meals with YouTube. The thought was nauseating. I liked just thinking now, imagining, maybe having a conversation about who-knows what. And I enjoyed eating the food, the tastes were / are more vibrant. I feel more present. I'm eating less. I'm excerising finally, I'm finally losing weight. It's hard not to point at all these good things happening and say they're by-products of getting rid of my smartphone, because in many ways (if not all ways) I think they are.

As some of you know, I am in a Master's program. I have a classmate / friend in the program who simply cannot wrap his head around me going no-phone, especially in our field where we rely on technology for nearly everything we do. On top of that, to him, his phone is his life. Contacting parents, friends, family, colleagues; how can you do any of that without a phone? I don't bother telling people anymore that the answer is "you don't", they just don't get it.

But this same friend a couple days ago grew a bit annoyed with my no-phone life. He was very happy when I bought an iPhone again, but then when I returned it, he told me "You know, not to be mean, but there will come a day where you'll have to have a phone. Just so you know". I know what he meant. Maybe I'll get some high-paying job that requires me to have a smartphone on me at all times. Maybe I'll start a family and need to keep tabs on my kids whereabouts. But the truth is, something I've realized lately, is that anything that requires a smartphone is something that probably isn't very good for me in the first place. That high-paying job? Say goodbye to my 10-hours of nightly sleep and low-cortisol levels. Keeping tabs on my future kids? Being a helicopter parent doesn't sound very enticing to me, nor to my future kids. 

In truth, everything the phone 'promises' to deliver to 'improve' your life is really just guiding you to a more phone-reliant, and stressful, lifestyle.

Sure, I might miss out on a job here and there because I'm not reachable 24/7. But why the actual fuck would I want to be reachable 24/7. If a job requires me to have a smartphone, I can simply use Google Voice. And if they're unhappy I don't have a smartphone, well that right there is a beautiful indicator that I do not want to work for whatever the fuck company operates that way. I have family who works in healthcare, and they tell me they need a smartphone in case the hospital needs them to work an extra shift at 1AM. After they tell me this, they sit there and look at me like I'm going to say "Ahhh, okay I get it now!" and not "Why the actual fuck would I want someone to contact me to come work at 1AM?"

Plain and simply, if a lifestyle / career / job / relationship / whatever requires me to have a smartphone, I don't want it. And guess what? That has led me down a path of low-stress, low-cortisol, and ME-CENTERED. That's right, ME in the CENTER of my own life. Imagine that! I make decisions based on what kind of lifestyle I want to live; not my phone, not my friends and their stigma and peer-pressure, and certainly not some exploitative boss who needs to have me at their disposal. Get fucked.

One of the things that really bothered me when I got my iPhone was adding my contacts back. It was like holy shit these people can just text me whenever they want, again. I went from having true peace, living my life, and coming home and checking my computer / Google Voice for messages, to carrying this little fuck-head device in my pocket that would buzz me like a fuckin' lab rat whenever some moron wanted to message me something, mostly entirely pointless. That was gross, and made me want to throw the phone in front of a train. But I just spent $1k on this fuck box, so I returned it instead. The point stands.

The truth is, the only way to truly go no-phone in this life is to accept its limitations, and start viewing the limitations as positives. The phone does not 'give' you anything, it does not give you peace of mind, nor does it give you accessibility or more convenience. It takes all those things from you. My life is incredibly more convenient now. If I go somewhere that requires a smartphone, guess what I do? I fuckin' leave. I didn't need to spend $47 on overpriced nachos anyway. Get fucked.

There is endless ways to circumvent the world that requires a smartphone. For example, I really enjoy going to the movies, especially now that its hot and summer is here, it's a great place to escape. I have Regal Unlimited, which requires a smartphone to buy tickets in person. The smartphone app is scanned and you can buy tickets. Guess what I did? I just printed out my QR code and ID that came in the app and I use that. Not a problem at all.

I can't express to you how good it feels to NOT have a phone in my pocket. I personally hate carrying shit, so carrying one less thing has been a blessing. Now my pockets are empty, technically speaking because my bank account is fat. And I am carrying more cash now; we could get in to all that, but we won't. I will say the credit card is the devil and I am trying to convert everything to debit / cash.

One more thing before I depart. I was in a meeting and we were all shooting the shit and the topic of phones got brought up. Nobody knows I don't have a phone, because I'm reachable on Google Voice. But one of my colleagues says, in their graduate program, they visited this remote tribe (I don't know what the fuck context makes this make sense but stay with me) and he said when he pulled out his smartphone to write something, one of the tribesman pointed at his phone and called it the "White Devil Box". Apparently these tribesman have seen smartphones before from other students / aide workers / etc. and my colleague said they always noticed the person's expression and mood would change when the smartphone, aka the White Devil Box, was pulled out. People could go from happy, to stressed when the phone got pulled out. Or the phone would bring bad news. Or the phone would simply be a phone, because it is a fuckin' White Devil Box and I was the only one who laughed out loud hysterically when this was said in the meeting. Everyone else was too distracted on their phones to hear what he just said, probably.

Aight, I'm logging off. Go no-phone, you can do it! The key is to not give a fuck. The average IQ of our country is 94, and odds are the people you surround yourself with have significantly lower numbers than that given the average includes doctors, lawyers, college students, professors, and so forth. The average fucktard who can't comprehended how you can live without a smartphone also can't comprehend how to wash their ass. Don't take what they say seriously. Go out and live your life and throw your phone in front of a moving train.