Going phone-minimal

[droidntn]

I have recently decided that as much as I LOVE my Note 8, at times I get tired of feeling like I 'owe' it to keep checking, listening for and interacting with it.
So, I've been using the Maximum Power Saver more. The setting that shuts down everything except the phone and text. It also has a browser and camera options but those don't bug me.
I'm old enough that I remember the peace of not being tethered to a cellphone. My first 'cell' phone was a bag phone, lol.
So, I find great control and a focus again by just shutting off everything except basic phone and text.
Then, when I have time and it's my perogitive, I turn her back on full power and enjoy the fun of Facebook, Gmail, bluetooth to my car, etc.
But for a while it's nice to not have pings, dings and other notifications in my ear. And if Facebook is there, I will end up scrolling around in it, replying to something, then ding there is a notification of a reply to what I replied to and then it just goes on and on. Plus there's the obvious benefit of longer battery life, which that setting is originally intended for anyways.
I feel like I have a little more control now.
My phone.
My time.
When I choose.
There is a lot to be said for simplier times.
Anyone else ever do this or something similar?

 

[Tim1954]

Yes, I shut mine down to basics also at times, being a minimalist I have it fairly tight anyway with no social media crap, nothing is allowed to synch and only messages are allowed to notify me. I check my own emails when I chose, nothing auto synchs or auto updates..

 

[Morty2264]

I totally agree with you! Sometimes I feel "too" connected. I always put Do Not Disturb on my phone overnight so I am not woken up by notifications; but also so I am not tempted to check my phone once I hear notifications go off.

I actually disabled Facebook notifications for a time; and so it was kind of nice not to get bothered by every "mention" or comment coming through - I could manually check the app at my leisure. Plus, it saved my battery; as my phone woke way less often.

Putting my phone on Vibrate or Silent Mode helps too - my mom, boyfriend, and brother are all priority notifications; so those would be the only (wanted) notifications I'd get (in Silent/DND modes) and I can enjoy my phone-free time otherwise.

Sometimes I feel like I'm a slave to my notifications - as in, if I get some, that notification number will bother me and I have to open it. I'm trying to get over that though.

Great thread - thanks for sharing! We could all use some "phone free" time (I type while looking at my phone screen... ).

 

[Tim1954]

Haha yes, only the irony impaired can miss that one Morty....

 

[kramer5150]

Sadly I can't completely go blank. As a boy scout troop coordinator I need to remain on top of my gmails. My son is autistic, so I am on constant life alert for him during the school year so I need to keep android message notifications connected, and of course incoming calls. But other than that I turn off everything else.

As a scout coordinator though we go camping and backpacking 2 weekends every month, and are completely off grid and off line. So I think get my little relief more than others.

 

[Morty2264]

Haha yes, only the irony impaired can miss that one Morty....

I love the use of puns and irony...

 

[Inders99]

I've turned off notifications, my sanity is more important than some stupid phone. I don't need to be accessible 24/7 and in fact it started affecting me...now I'm in control. I'll look manually at my notifications as I see fit. Yeah, once in a while I am slow responding but tough toenails.

 

[Morty2264]

I've turned off notifications, my sanity is more important than some stupid phone. I don't need to be accessible 24/7 and in fact it started affecting me...now I'm in control. I'll look manually at my notifications as I see fit. Yeah, once in a while I am slow responding but tough toenails.

That's great that you turned off your notifications. Your peace of mind and sanity come first! Sometimes there's too much stuff coming in on your phone and you need a break!

 

[droidntn]

Update: I can report that after a week of keeping my phone in Maximum Power Saver when I'm at work and other times that I just want to unplug, I honestly feel like I have more sayso and control in my life.
I can focus on other things without that nagging thought in the back of my mind 'I need to check something'. I turned it on normal power on lunchtime and after I got home (sometimes).
All the other times, I just leave it on phone/text only.
I have a home office/desk/pc that I command at times when I'm home that I check those other things, listen to music and hang out when I want to. Otherwise, my phone is back to being a phone.
I showed this setting to a coworker yesterday. She was trying to find something similar on her iPhone. I'm not sure if there is anything like that, but maybe it is.
That's just my life. We are all very different in how we view our fantastic phones and their usages in our lives. But it is good to have an option to have a smart AND a dumb phone when we want.
Oh and a side benefit is that the battery will last for days now.

 

[Morty2264]

Update: I can report that after a week of keeping my phone in Maximum Power Saver when I'm at work and other times that I just want to unplug, I honestly feel like I have more sayso and control in my life.
I can focus on other things without that nagging thought in the back of my mind 'I need to check something'. I turned it on normal power on lunchtime and after I got home (sometimes).
All the other times, I just leave it on phone/text only.
I have a home office/desk/pc that I command at times when I'm home that I check those other things, listen to music and hang out when I want to. Otherwise, my phone is back to being a phone.
I showed this setting to a coworker yesterday. She was trying to find something similar on her iPhone. I'm not sure if there is anything like that, but maybe it is.
That's just my life. We are all very different in how we view our fantastic phones and their usages in our lives. But it is good to have an option to have a smart AND a dumb phone when we want.
Oh and a side benefit is that the battery will last for days now.

I definitely agree with you: it's so nice to unplug and to just enjoy "the here and now" without focusing on social media notifications, etc.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

I have recently decided that as much as I LOVE my Note 8, at times I get tired of feeling like I 'owe' it to keep checking, listening for and interacting with it.
So, I've been using the Maximum Power Saver more. The setting that shuts down everything except the phone and text. It also has a browser and camera options but those don't bug me.
I'm old enough that I remember the peace of not being tethered to a cellphone. My first 'cell' phone was a bag phone, lol.
So, I find great control and a focus again by just shutting off everything except basic phone and text.
Then, when I have time and it's my perogitive, I turn her back on full power and enjoy the fun of Facebook, Gmail, bluetooth to my car, etc.
But for a while it's nice to not have pings, dings and other notifications in my ear. And if Facebook is there, I will end up scrolling around in it, replying to something, then ding there is a notification of a reply to what I replied to and then it just goes on and on. Plus there's the obvious benefit of longer battery life, which that setting is originally intended for anyways.
I feel like I have a little more control now.
My phone.
My time.
When I choose.
There is a lot to be said for simplier times.
Anyone else ever do this or something similar?

I could never do that partly because I can switch off without having to do anything extreme to my phone to do so.

There are days at work where I will use my Note8 simply to play music and Calender reminders,my WhatsApp will fill up with messages, my FB, Twitter etc... will fill up with mentions and I will o ly look at all of that when I get home at around 7pm that night.

I like my phone but there is no way it will run my life like that.

 

[droidntn]

I could never do that partly because I can switch off without having to do anything extreme to my phone to do so.
I like my phone but there is no way it will run my life like that.

Yea, like I said, we all handle it differently. I just like KNOWING that the only thing that I have that can get to me is a ring or a text.
Something about that is consoling. Kind of like being on a cruise and not having a cell signal but your family knows how to reach the ship in an emerency. I like that too.
World, leave me alone awhile.
And then when I decide to get back in the world, I Just flip that setting off and I can post on here and look at my Facebook. lol.

 

[Almeuit]

Not for me. My phone is a useful tool that I don't owe anything. I just don't feel I need to purposely go out of my way to not use it since that would be counterproductive for me and require more effort then using it when I need.

I use mine more when out & waiting for stuff or at work. At home I am doing stuff around the house and usually get on the computer if need be.