Life without a smartphone
Maria McCabe.
09/10/17.
With the relaunch of the new Nokia 3310 this summer, someone decided it would be a fun experiment to challenge me to take a trip down back to the Noughties and use only the Nokia 3310. All for the sake of a great article! The initial idea was to trial a month without a smartphone. (I know... crazy, what were we thinking?!) I can say proudly that my test lasted all of 5-7 days until I flipped. I will admit, I thought I would fly the experiment, pain free and easy. I have deleted social apps before for breaks and considered the week to be a just another little detox. How wrong I was!
Some highlights and learnings of the ‘smartphone detox’ were…
Getting lost (the most traumatic part of life without a smartphone).
I had a morning meeting in a busy Dublin area I didn’t know very well. It completely did not occur to me that I would typically 'Google Map' my way through these situations. So there I was on the M50 taking the exit to Z destination and I reach for my phone at the traffic light to realise I haven’t got my Maps!! This was my first AAGGHH! moment. I somehow managed with my sniffer sense of direction to find my way to my destination, but I was way later than I had planned, so I had to panic park right outside the building...
Asking for directions.
…the receptionist informed me of another car park and I had to ask for directions. She looked at me dumbfounded, why could I not just look it up? Anyhow, I eventually found the carpark and made it back to my meeting 10 minutes late. That situation could have been easily avoidable WITH my smartphone so at this point I’m already cursing this silly experiment.
The ‘Slippery Snake’ Nokia.
Lets get onto the actual phone itself. Holding it felt like I was trying to keep one of those slippery snake stress toys in my hand. It just kept slipping out of my hand! The updated curved body design and smoothed down buttons leave little to grip onto. I much preferred the original Nokia’s chunkier buttons and angular corners. The new design takes a while to get used to.
Can't figure out how to lock the keypad.
This was one of my first issues and I still haven’t figured out how you were supposed to lock the screen.
That ringtone...
I’m so used to my distinctive iPhone ringtone I missed my first couple of calls on as I didn’t know where the noise upstairs was coming from. The flute like polyphonic sound was definitely a blast from the past. I was in SuperValu and my phone went off, much to the amusement of a few Kylie Jenner wanna-babies. You’d need thick skin to go out in public with your Nokia on full volume.
Hurray for Bluetooth!
Making calls in my car - this was one issue I thought I would have but when realising the bluetooth worked and could connect to my car, I was delighted. So this is one perk of phone technology the Nokia 3310 has. I love to use my travel downtime in my car to make daily calls so good old bluetooth works just fine for connecting calls with the Nokia.
Required for babysitting.
My smartphone addict niece
A weekend at home for me involves getting roped into babysitting, every time! Of course I like to play and entertain like the best Aunty ever but there comes a point mid-screaming when you just have to let them have your phone to keep them quiet. I handed the Nokia to my little niece to play with and she it flung it away faster than you could say My Little Pony. Not one bit of interest! Even babies can't be fooled. They’re from the tappity tap, swiping finger generation and if there are no bright colours and big changing screens, it’s game over.
No instant pics.
The original Nokia 3310 you will remember did not have a camera. The new version does have a 2 megapixel shooter. However the lack of social apps means you are less inclined to use the camera. I typically Whatsapp my fellow foodie friends instant pics of my incredible cooking, yet sending a photo by SMS doesn’t give the instant gratification and communication you’re looking for in those situations.
Snake.
The Snake game is for sure the most popular and nostalgic part of the original 3310 for me. Snake on the new 3310 is quite different. Now updated with a coloured screen, the look and feel is not the same as the original. Also I guess you have to think back to 2000 to put things in context and to realise our addiction then was based on the fact that this was one of the first phone games we had the opportunity to experience. Apart from texting, we had nothing else to distract ourselves with when it came to the content of our phones. Snake could well have catapulted us into this era of smartphone addiction.
Lurking on social.
For the social addict, not being able to like, tag or follow is a massive struggle. I did surprisingly miss checking in on some of my favourite Instagram bloggers and snapchatters. No stalking allowed with the 3310.
Business in the age of smartphones.
Back in 2000, social media, broadband, wifi or apps were only ideas, mid-conception. Fast forward 17 years, a brand’s online presence pivots around social media activity much of which are managed on the go through apps. This is another area I found difficult as I could not easily check the iD page or other pages on the go. Even using instagram requires you to post through the smartphone app so if you’re looking to use Instagram, you must have your smartphone.
Morning ritual.
My daily ritual usually involves waking up, grabbing my phone and quickly checking emails. Last week involved waking up, realising I had no iPhone, *sad faced* and missing checking my emails, then…. Getting out of bed. So all in all, I did save about 10 minutes each morning.
Family Communication.
The funny thing is, my Mam who’s in her 60’s just got on the Whatsapp wagon recently and is of course obsessed already so I missed all her silly family group texts. My brother who is travelling for 3 months is using the family Whatsapp group to share his travel pics with us so this part of ‘life without a smartphone’ was difficult and would be difficult to maintain if you were to give up your smartphone completely.
All in all, the Nokia 3310 does exactly what it says on the tin - makes calls, sends texts and has incredible battery; I did not have to recharge it once. If you really do need a break from all channels of smartphone usage, at €49.00 on iD Prepay, the Nokia is a good buy so go for it. Also if you’re heading to a festival and would rather not taking your smartphone, then this will do the job.
I can tell you, life without a smartphone is definitely one life I was much better at 17 years ago!
I bet you’re glad you have your smartphones handy now!
Maria.