No cell phone, 24 hours at a time

[Chris Pascale]

Among my health goals this year is to shut my phone off for fifty 24-hour periods.

Have done it twice so far, and it was good.

[spartana]

Among my health goals this year is to shut my phone off for fifty 24-hour periods.

Have done it twice so far, and it was good.

I don't shut off my phone because no one calls me and I don't talk on the phone. But I get occasional text messages so leave it on for that and emergencies.  But I don't go online for long periods of time (phone is my only internet connection via data), and often VERY long periods of time when travelling.

Curious if you have another way for people to contact you in case of emergency or is it not physically off but just no online usage?

[evme]

Curious if you have another way for people to contact you in case of emergency or is it not physically off but just no online usage?

Yes, curious about this too since most homes no longer have landlines for telephone calls. How will you be reached in an emergency? I like your idea of going but I have an elderly parent that I would be too worried about to shut it off my cell completely for that long at a time.

[GilesMM]

Better to put it Sleep mode so notifications but important calls still ring.

[Chris Pascale]

I mostly use my phone for YouTube and GPS, and use it too much.

Before shutting it off I tell my mom, wife and kids. They can reach my wife or other kids to get me, or email.

[ATtiny85]

Please do not quote this but…

I carry my cellphone with me, not in case something happens to me, but in case something happens to someone else so I can dial 911. Having a first responder call someone in my contacts is not a use case for me. While I am sure my spouse would appreciate knowing I am in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, her knowing does nothing for me. I want first responders to be responding, not dialing following an initial 911 call.

[Fru-Gal]

I’m glad that you have that plan, @ATtiny85 . I’m trained in wilderness first response and rescue. The number of people for whom the cell phone is their only safety net is massive. Further, many people have been told that if you program ICE into your phone, first responders will use that information to dial your loved ones. All I’m trying to convey is that, that is not likely true.

I’m also glad you never had to call Missing Persons to try to find your loved one.

[Chris Pascale]

The 2 days I was cell-phone-free were days I slept in and was at the house reading or hanging out.

[Telecaster]

Most phones have a setting where you can block all calls except numbers you select (like your close contacts).   Or if you are in Do Not Disturb mode the phone will ring if someone calls twice in a row (which is likely what they would do in an emergency). 

[SmashYourSmartPhone]

Among my health goals this year is to shut my phone off for fifty 24-hour periods.

Excellent!

Other good habits are to always put it in Airplane mode and power it down when moving around.  No need to leave more data traces than required, and even if you have permissions sorted out properly, location services off, etc, the cell carriers still have highly precise information, especially in areas with dense 5G coverage.  It's required to get the improved efficiency of the 5G protocol, timing requirements are tighter, and that requires/delivers more accurate location information to the carriers.

If you have lost the skill of navigation, it's a good skill to relearn, but there are also offline mapping apps based on Open Street Maps that provide navigation without the massive location data exfil that any online mapping app is, by design.

It's no one's business but mine which route I take, and where I go.  To answer the next question most ask, no, I don't use credit cards either.

I’m trained in wilderness first response and rescue. The number of people for whom the cell phone is their only safety net is massive.

Baffling.  Though with some of the newer satellite based communication systems, may be useful enough in some cases.  I simply don't trust a smartphone to survive any sort of event that would lead to me needing to be wildlife-rescued, though.  They're all fragile.

[GuitarStv]

Having never owned a cell, I'm going to say that this is a worthwhile goal if a rather easy one to achieve.  :P

[Fru-Gal]

Having never owned a cell, I'm going to say that this is a worthwhile goal if a rather easy one to achieve.  :P

Impressive!

The closest I get to that is leaving it at home when I go for a run or to the gym.

[SmashYourSmartPhone]

The 2 days I was cell-phone-free were days I slept in and was at the house reading or hanging out.

Oh, that's no fun at all.  It's far better on a day you're out and about the town, going to new places!

Get some small notebooks, a small matching pencil or pen (I prefer the spiral Field Notes ones for this sort of task), write down directions, go places, watch people staring at their little shiny idols all around you, pay cash, leave no digital traces, and then go explore!

When was the last time you went somewhere, and simply explored on your way there or back?  Or... even got slightly lost?  I've do these somewhat regularly, though it's been a while since I was what I would consider lost.  "Not sure exactly where I was, and not entirely sure how to get where I wanted to be," certainly, but I knew I'd eventually hit a road of some variety I recognized, in one direction or another, and could route from there to where I wanted to be.  Or, worst case, guess wrong, and have to to turn around when I hit something I knew.  I've deliberately taken "wrong turns" before on back roads, just to see what was down that "no outlet" road.

It's taken me some years of running around without GPS navigation to learn the area like this, but I'm far happier with it now, and I understand how the area fits.  I will happily use online resources to give me a "mental map" of the area, and I often survey a general area map before departing, but once I'm out, eh, I'll find my way around.  I can always, if I need, stop, power a device on (it's in Airplane Mode, so I'm not leaking cell signal location), and use one or another offline map app to sort out where I am based on the streets around me.  Various Open Street Maps have good offline maps, and I understand Apple Maps has a pretty solid offline mode too, in the more recent versions of the OS (and they work on tablets too).

It is nobody else's business where I happen to be when I'm traveling about.  And a cell phone, even suitably configured to avoid leaking data through apps, is still leaking that data through the cell tower communication.

I'd rather not be swept up in some location analysis in a decade.

https://www.wired.com/story/jeffrey-epstein-island-visitors-data-broker-leak/

[Just Joe]

The past year or so has been pretty chaotic so I'm "on call' with the family to assist. Cant see giving up my smart phone this year. Maybe in a couple more years. I'm easy to find via landline.

[GuitarStv]

Having never owned a cell, I'm going to say that this is a worthwhile goal if a rather easy one to achieve.  :P

Impressive!

It's honestly not.  I've got a phone at home, and look up where I'm going with maps before I go there.

[SmashYourSmartPhone]

It's honestly not.  I've got a phone at home, and look up where I'm going with maps before I go there.

I remain amazed how many people don't seem to comprehend that humans managed to live, in a modern enough world, pre-2010 or so.

And it was a better place than our current world, with everyone always plugged into disposable ear-sticks and heads down at their little personal shiny idols.

It's easier to find new records now than in the early 2000s, though.

[Fru-Gal]

I wasn’t impressed that he left the home without it. I do that daily. I was impressed that he never even acquired a smart phone. Very cool!