{"id":43507,"date":"2014-03-03T18:10:27","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T02:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/?p=43507"},"modified":"2014-03-03T18:11:48","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T02:11:48","slug":"no-smartphone-for-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2014\/03\/no-smartphone-for-lent\/","title":{"rendered":"No Smartphone for Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"nophone\"Every year for Lent<\/a> I try to give something up that I would otherwise find unimaginable or consider myself particularly dependent on. Last year I gave up meat, which isn’t that unusual but you have to remember I’m from Texas. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

This year as I surveyed my life there was one thing I kept coming back to as being completely dependent on: my smartphone(s). It’s only been a few years since the iPhone came out, but it’s inconceivable to imagine my life today without my calendar, email, Foursquare, Path, Chrome, Tripit, Simplenote<\/a>, WordPress, Tweetbot, Sonos, Uber, Spotify and my iTunes library, and most importantly Google Maps. (On my second screen: SmartThings, Nest, Lociktron, Lutron, 1Password, Calm, Authy, NextDraft, Withings, Circa…) These apps and everything they represent weave into every aspect of my life, I’m sure I’m one of those people who looks at their phone at least 150 times a day<\/a>. My smartphone is my camera, my flashlight, my connection to the world, and my crutch.<\/p>\n

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A small selection of what a phone replaces, from Reddit<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And now it’s what I’m giving up for Lent in 2014, from March 5th until April 17th. (Yes, that includes SxSW.) For safety and business reasons I’m going to have a makes-phone-calls-only phone, and might hop in a friend’s Uber, but the idea is there will not be a device on me 24\/7 that I’m tethered to, constantly looking at, and lost and hopeless without. You obviously can’t turn back the clock on progress, so I don’t expect this to be a permanent thing, but I’m curious what I miss the most, how it affects my ability to focus throughout the day, and how it changes my relationships with other people, especially the lack of messaging.<\/p>\n

I am in the market for a cool feature phone though, maybe a small one like Zoolander had or a slidey one like in the Matrix. Any suggestions?<\/p>\n

I’ll leave you with the “I forgot my phone” video from last year:<\/p>\n