Do it. Your health will thank you almost immediately for that.
>going back to an old-school phone or not owning one at all.
Personally, although I love the idea of going landline-only, I think a "dumb" phone can serve one well in a certain number of circumstances, so that's what I've been using for four years now. I use a Nokia 6250 at the present moment, but I keep switching between old phones I like and have lying around--some of them are brand new, never been out of the box.
I don't even text. I only make phone calls, and if someone doesn't pick up, I leave a voicemail telling them when they can preferrably return the call. That's it. I only use e-mail for more formal exchanges, but never to have anything that resembles an informal conversation.
Mind you, if you are still relatively young, doing away with IM, texting, and social media can be fairly alienating, as you will no doubt realize how utterly addicted everyone else is to their smartphone, and how a great deal of social activities and interactions that used to happen not that long ago don't come about that often anymore. Many opportunities to think deeply, to reflect, to have a conversation, to laugh, to question something, to go through your own personal memories, to find new things to do, to live, in sum, are now wasted on a regular basis.
Good luck with it, and don't be afraid to be an outlier.
Thanks! I am 23 and live abroad so I always told myself I owned a smartphone to stay connected to family at home. But I just started to realize that it owns me. Plus during COVID I don't go out anyway. So why not try...
By all means, stay connected to your family--just try and do it through other platforms. In similar circumstances to yours, I stayed in contact with my family through Ring, Tox (toxic), and XMPP. I always preferred audio and video calls over texting them, which I almost never did. Stay connected to those that care about you the most, through healthy means. No need to own a smartphone, you are right about that one, but do know that there are meaningful connections worth maintaining.
Do it. Your health will thank you almost immediately for that.
>going back to an old-school phone or not owning one at all.
Personally, although I love the idea of going landline-only, I think a "dumb" phone can serve one well in a certain number of circumstances, so that's what I've been using for four years now. I use a Nokia 6250 at the present moment, but I keep switching between old phones I like and have lying around--some of them are brand new, never been out of the box.
I don't even text. I only make phone calls, and if someone doesn't pick up, I leave a voicemail telling them when they can preferrably return the call. That's it. I only use e-mail for more formal exchanges, but never to have anything that resembles an informal conversation.
Mind you, if you are still relatively young, doing away with IM, texting, and social media can be fairly alienating, as you will no doubt realize how utterly addicted everyone else is to their smartphone, and how a great deal of social activities and interactions that used to happen not that long ago don't come about that often anymore. Many opportunities to think deeply, to reflect, to have a conversation, to laugh, to question something, to go through your own personal memories, to find new things to do, to live, in sum, are now wasted on a regular basis.
Good luck with it, and don't be afraid to be an outlier.