Ok, so 7 days into smartphone less world...I've realized how much I actually used my smartphone in day to day activities other than social media.
1. I asked a previous coworker of mine to text me a phone number. Without hesitation he sends me the .vcf file and I realize that my life wasn't that simple anymore. I had to explain to him that I needed him to actually send me just the phone number itself. Not a huge deal, but in a world where everyone simply attaches a .vcf it was mind boggling to him. Same thing happened again when my wife tried sending me the contact info for our newly acquired pediatrician.
2. Wife and I needed to pick up a few items at REI for an upcoming overlanding trip. REI was on the way home from our day hike, so no wasted trip here. I'm a cheap ass or a smart consumer in some regards. I'm constantly checking Amazon prices for items in B&M stores. I quickly realized that I no longer had that capability. Thankfully my wife understands what I'm trying to do and was more than happy to check prices for me. This will just be something that I eventually "get over" and purchase without thought...or will it?
3. I had to go downtown yesterday to help a friend setup some heavy equipment in her art gallery. I avoid driving downtown like the plague because I can't stand the traffic and my truck is a PITA. So, we decided to take my wife's much smaller SUV. I quickly realized that I didn't have access to GPS and was heading into downtown during 5PM rush hour. OMFG... There are two things here that I would normally not have issues with (1. My truck has built in GPS; 2. I would've planned the route at home prior to leaving), but we were leaving the woods from a day hike when I got the call, so no prior planning was available. I could've just went with the flow and tried to figure it out, but my road rage and a 28 week pregnant wife wasn't going to mesh. Again, luckily she just pulled up Google Maps on her phone and we found a route to the area that took 20 mins and avoided a lot of the traffic.
4. My wife and I use a combination of Evernote & Google Drive for our day to day activities. She makes the grocery list in Evernote and sends it to me to go to the grocery store. Not a big deal, I got the list and printed it out. YAY, winning! At least I thought so. I quickly discovered when I got home that she had updated the list while at work prior to me going to the store. I had printed the list the night before in preparation. I missed a few items that she was really wanting.
5. Amazon Prime Now - This was a service and app that I greatly took advantage of. This saved me a lot of wasted gas and time driving around town to pick up items. If you aren't familiar with Prime NOW, its a 2 hour same day delivery service in specific markets. There were plenty of times where I needed something that day for a project and was able to hop on Prime Now and have it delivered within a few hours for free (we can argue this, but I pay for Amazon Prime and it's apart of the service...so it's included). The downside to Prime Now is that it's only available through their specific app and not their website.
These are all #firstworldproblem hurdles to overcome and nothing that wont fix itself as we get accustomed to it. Nothing to steer me away from the task at hand. Just felt like sharing some updates on how this is actually going. This isn't for everyone. Smartphones are amazing tools when you don't let them rule your life.
For those that say they don't, I post a challenge to either set your phone to Off or turn off all data (data or Wifi) on the weekends and after work to just see how much that little pocket computer takes advantage of you.