"3 Years Without a Smartphone Transformed My Relationship With Digital Technology"

In France in 2024, how many people would (voluntarily) be ready to give up a smartphone? Maëlys, a member of Generation Z and a digital native, decided to embark on what seems today like a real adventure: going completely without a smartphone for 3 years. She shares how this experience slowly but surely changed her relationship with digital technology.

Second year of higher education. A supervisor stops me as I leave class: "The bus driver found your smartphone. You were lucky, it fell into good hands." My reaction? "Oh, okay. Thanks, I hadn't even realized it was missing."

If this story still amuses my old classmates, it nonetheless reflects the relationship I had at the time with my smartphone... and how it has significantly changed over time. If you're intrigued, follow me: I'll tell you about my daily life as an adult with and without a smartphone.

How I Decided to Give Up the Smartphone

I was 19 years old when that infamous smartphone, lost and then found, came into my hands. I used it a lot, for very recreational purposes: a fairly common use for someone of that age.

2h19 per day

average time spent on social networks by 15-24 year olds in 2022

Source: Médiamétrie, February 2023.

With studies largely focused on teamwork, my smartphone became a tool for collaboration and research during my commuting hours. Like 13% of the French, I got into the habit of checking my smartphone more than 50 times a day. A habit that was quite stressful.

Knowing that smartphone attention capture largely relies on FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), I was anxious about the idea that I might miss some crucial information. In retrospect, all I was missing was Roger's story of eating his fries.

One fine day, my smartphone vanished. Lost or stolen? I never found out. I felt a lack, perhaps due to a form of addiction. The habituation effect of this device was strong enough to bother me for 3 days.

Then an interesting phenomenon occurred: I began to feel relieved at the idea of not being notified constantly, with every new piece of information. A first glimpse of the positive effects of disconnecting. A feeling strong enough for me to decide to do without a smartphone—for an indefinite period.

A Daily Life (More or Less Easy) Without a Smartphone

A simple dumbphone in my pocket (literally "stupid phone," limited to a few basic functions) and an MP3 player: that was enough for my commutes and hikes in peace. Plenty of moments to myself, where I was still reachable in case of an emergency. This return to less sophisticated electronic devices ultimately allowed me to separate my student life and my private life into two distinct islands. I rediscovered moments of boredom, took distance from my issues, and stimulated my imagination.

Yet, the fear of missing crucial information never left me. Having a laptop, I simply shifted my smartphone usage time to this other device. When I started a conversation with someone, I delayed my departure by thirty minutes, an hour, or an hour and a half. A way to intensify a form of sedentariness.

Another difficulty, this time material: the brief lifespan of my phone, which didn&qpos;t last the year. It's hard today to find basic, therefore inexpensive, durable devices. Nokia's comeback in 2018, the darling of parents reluctant to give a smartphone to their offspring, did not reverse this trend. From an ecological standpoint, it was truly heartbreaking to have to buy a new phone every year. Not to mention the risk of losing my contacts with each device change.

Professional Integration... and the Return of the Smartphone

I also realized this: living without a smartphone is a real handicap in terms of entering professional life. When you go for an interview, it's so practical to access Google Maps, to find the HR manager's contact details in a few clicks... and then once in the company, I realized that a good part of team life happened on a network available only on smartphones. A real detriment to my integration.

For 6 months, I coexisted a professional smartphone with my personal dumbphone. A way to maintain a boundary between private life and professional daily life. Then, three years after giving up on this device, I bought a smartphone again. I started using it for leisure times, but also to check professional social networks. And I quickly found difficulties in disconnecting again.

If I had to summarize, I would say that this experience without a smartphone gave me the opportunity to question my digital uses. Now, here are a few principles I try to follow daily:

Download an app measuring my screen usage frequency (like Quality Time): an assistant that helps me block certain apps during my work time, and gives me an overview of my daily screen consumption.
Find times when the smartphone doesn't have its place: I turn off my device when I'm spending time with friends, or engaging in a group activity.
Resist the last message, video, or podcast of the evening to help me fall asleep. A very difficult tip to follow when you live alone, like me. My social connection literally comes from my phone. To counter this, a comic book helps (usually) make it easier for me to fall asleep.
Alternate between a smartphone and a dumbphone (and especially remember to put my SIM card in the latter): a good way to save on plans, and to keep a way to call (or be contacted) in an emergency. It's also a way to disconnect, to focus on the essentials... a real challenge for well-being today for employees.