My First Year Without an Iphone

Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago

trevin

25 points

13 comments

ktklp.substack.comTechstory

calmmixed

Debate

40/100

SmartphonesDigital MinimalismAlternative Technology

Key topics

Smartphones

Digital Minimalism

Alternative Technology

The author shares their experience of living without an iPhone for a year, sparking a discussion on the trade-offs of smartphone usage and alternative technologies.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Light discussion

First comment

Peak period

0-3h

Avg / period

1.9

Comment distribution13 data points

Loading chart...

Based on 13 loaded comments

Key moments

01Story posted
Sep 15, 2025 at 8:57 AM EDT
4 months ago
Step 01
02First comment
Sep 15, 2025 at 10:52 AM EDT
2h after posting
Step 02
03Peak activity
5 comments in 0-3h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03
04Latest activity
Sep 16, 2025 at 10:17 PM EDT
4 months ago
Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (13 comments)

Showing 13 comments

greenie_beans

4 months ago

1 reply

i went almost three years without a smartphone. was always too embarrassed by this decision to blog about it. i went back to smartphone so i could have a reliable navigation system for giving rides to a politically sensitive group of people who don't need to experience the pains of getting lost / me fumbling with my gps / cops.

i ended up spending a lot of time on my laptop, so it didn't really cut down on my screen time. i expanded my device footprint to replace all the nice tools that come in a single device (camera, gps, notebook, etc). that made me less nimble as a traveler.

i'm glad it made me get a garmin inreach, though. i will never replace that with a glass screen for backcountry emergencies.

closetohome

4 months ago

If you want to go minimal on the backcountry device as well, PLBs are nice as a barebones alternative that only require a battery change every few years and don't need a subscription.

imcritic

4 months ago

2 replies

The author clearly has graphomania. I am not reading that.

seec

4 months ago

I agree with the sentiment. A lot of words were written but not a whole lot of valuable information was laid out. I made an effort but it was impossible to not just skim past the second picture.

yesfitz

4 months ago

To be a little more constructive for the author, as they themselves are an editor:

* Headings would be helpful. They let the reader see what the structure of the writing is. And I see that you definitely have a structure, we'd just benefit from knowing it before we dive into reading the whole piece.

* Once you're using headings, adding a table of contents or an outline at the top of the page is trivial.

* Consider adding a hook to the first sentence. It says that you went to a Nokia 2780 and won't be going back to a smartphone, but why should a reader scroll past the picture of Paris Hilton to keep reading? Are you going to tell them how/why to do likewise, or is this a meditation on your journey, or something else?

baggachipz

4 months ago

2 replies

I could never go back to not using a smartphone; texting on-the-go, maps, contactless payments, and ride-sharing are too important to miss out on. That said, it's possible to avoid most of the bad things about smartphones: Don't install any Meta products, and discontinue their use entirely. Don't use any Google products. Be extremely judicious and stingy about which apps you install. If it can be done in the mobile browser, do that. I've also disabled news alerts and most other alerts so that it's a pull rather than a push. It's greatly improved my mindset and freed up a lot of time.

627467

4 months ago

1 reply

> it's a pull rather than push

This is under appreciated, low effort'ish perspective. The simple fact of disabling all notifications (but for a couple basic ones like calendar) returns a good 80% of control back to you.

Pair with battery saving mode - that on iOS and Android - even locks involuntary notifications and saves you from battery anxiety.

matt-attack

4 months ago

1 reply

I’m always blown away, when someone shows me something on their phone, let’s see a photo or something, and during the brief demo, I see an on slot of random notifications popping up. Retailers, email, promotions, etc..

Like seriously? I completely blew my mind. I think I basically have just iMessage and calendar.

baggachipz

4 months ago

And, far as I can tell, that's the vast majority of users. Like, most people live like this. I think they don't know how to disable that shitshow (or even that it's possible) and have just learned to live with it. And we wonder why everything's shit.

bnpxft

4 months ago

This is the middle way.

sombragris

4 months ago

From the title, I thought the lady had switched to Android. It turned out she wrote about ditching smartphones, not just iPhones.

ho_schi

4 months ago

The Garmin Edge run very well without a smartphone or even a computer. Bluetooth File-Sharing from/to Edge is built-in. And they can sync themselves via WiFi. I favor them over Wahoo because they work standalone :) And with Linux you can feed them via USB easily.

The fitness-trackers without a smartphone are more problematic. They’ve WiFi integrated but I think they sync only via Bluetooth and the smartphone? Syncing via Garmin Express should be possible only on macOS or Windows. I think they provide also USB access on Linux.

jsbisviewtiful

4 months ago

I understand the sentiment about not wanting a smartphone but the amount of pocket space saved and efficiency of the device makes up for most of the shortfalls. In high school I wore cargo shorts/pants so carrying 4~ devices at a time was easier but nowadays I wear slim jeans or lightweight linen pants, mostly. Only needing my wallet and phone works too well when I don't have a bag. Definitely miss the quality of point and shoot cameras compared to a smartphone though

View full discussion on Hacker News

ID: 45249113Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 4:32:26 PM

Want the full context?

Jump to the original sources

Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.

Open link View on HN