Welcome

If you’re here, you’ve likely recognized that your relationship with your smartphone is degrading your quality of life. You’ve tried app blockers, grayscale mode, and digital detoxes, but nothing sticks. These devices are designed to capture and hold your attention, and they’re very good at it.

The solution to your smartphone problems isn’t another hack, screen timer, or setting to tweak. If it were that easy, everybody would do it. The answer is removing the obvious source of the problem: your smartphone.

This blog provides a framework and practical guidance for living without a smartphone. It addresses the real challenges that arise (expectations around reachability, two-factor authentication, social friction, navigation, and work requirements) without demanding ascetic sacrifice or asking you to abandon normal ways of living. Your specific situation matters, and this blog offers different approaches for people with different constraints and priorities. This isn’t theory; it’s what I’ve learned through years of trial and error.

Why Listen to Me?

I haven’t used a smartphone in three years. I’m not a minimalist or a Luddite; I work as a small business counselor, coach cross country skiing, and maintain an active social and family life. Before making this change, I owned a software development firm called Pango Technology until I sold my share in 2023. Living smartphone-free hasn’t limited what I can do; it’s expanded it. I have significantly more time in my day, my in-person relationships are stronger, and I’m more relaxed and focused. I’m even more creative — because I’m bored again, and those idle moments where your mind wanders are when ideas actually form.

I make no money from this blog: no affiliate links, no sponsorships, no courses to sell. I spent years developing this approach through frustrating trial and error, and the only reason I created and maintain this site is to make your transition smoother than mine was.

Who This Is For

This site is for people who want concrete guidance, not manifestos. It provides practical, experience-based guidance for those curious about what life without a smartphone might look like: the challenges, the trade-offs, the daily realities. Specific situations matter. The core problems may be universal (fractured attention, diminished presence, lost agency), but the path forward depends on your particular circumstances. This site addresses several distinct audiences, each facing different constraints and challenges:

Working professionals who recognize that constant interruption prevents deep work and meaningful accomplishment. Job requirements vary — some can use a two-phone approach (personal dumbphone plus a work phone that stays at the office or turns off after hours), while others need specific job-related tools accessible throughout the day. The goal isn’t perfect purity; it’s finding boundaries that protect the parts of life that matter most while meeting professional obligations.

Parents who want to model healthier relationships with technology and be genuinely present for their children. Parents face particular challenges, with pressure to use a miasma of smartphone-based communication tools for schools, clubs, and work, all while understandably wanting to meet teens “where they are,” which is often on their phones. I’m a parent of three myself, so I’ll describe systems that help my family communicate effectively and stay connected without smartphones.

Teens who want to escape the grind and pressure of constant online connection. The average American teen spends more than 25% of their waking hours on their phone, all at a time when their brains are still developing and they are working to build lifelong habits and social skills. They face significant mental health, social, and academic consequences as a result of living more deeply immersed in smartphone culture than any other demographic. Because the challenges teens face are unique, I’ll include articles with practical advice written by teens who have successfully embraced “dumbphone living.”

People with ADHD or attention difficulties who’ve found that smartphone use amplifies existing challenges with focus, impulse control, and executive function. Research demonstrates that frequent digital media use is associated with increased ADHD symptoms, and smartphones are designed to exploit the exact vulnerabilities that make impulse control difficult. (I have ADHD myself, and managing symptoms was central to why I stopped using a smartphone. The difference has been profound.)

Anyone else experiencing the erosion of sustained attention who’s noticed they can no longer read books for pleasure, sustain focus on challenging work, or sit through a conversation without checking their phone.

This blog focuses on smartphone use, not social media, though the two are deeply intertwined. Each amplifies the harm of the other: smartphones make social media constantly accessible, and social media gives you another reason to constantly check your phone.

Some readers will want to keep social media and access it through companion devices like tablet or laptops, which mitigates many of social media’s harms while allowing you to to maintain digital connections. Others are working toward eliminating social media entirely. But attempting both transitions simultaneously often proves overwhelming, so if you’re planning to also disengage from social media, I recommend addressing the smartphone use first. A smartphone is the delivery mechanism that enables constant social media access, so eliminating it naturally constrains social media to companion devices where you can engage with it (or disengage from it) more easily and intentionally.

What You’ll Find Here

A “How I Did It” guide

This guide walks through my transition process and serves as a starting point after you’ve read this page. It’s an example informed by my specific circumstances — not a universal formula — that you can adapt based on your own constraints and priorities.

Practical strategies for common challenges

These strategies address the concrete problems you’ll encounter: managing others' expectations around instant reachability, handling two-factor authentication and digital gatekeeping, sitting with discomfort when you’re used to constant stimulation, navigating social friction when you’re the only person without a smartphone, and wayfinding without GPS. These aren’t theoretical concerns; they’re the daily realities that determine whether this transition succeeds or fails.

Reviews of dumbphones and companion devices

These reviews help you select tools appropriate for your situation. The specific devices matter less than understanding what you actually need versus what you’ve been conditioned to think you need.

Curated stories and research

This content explores smartphone impacts on attention, relationships, and well-being. The focus is more on “how” than “why” (I assume you already understand the problems), but I occasionally share credible research that illuminates what’s at stake and what you stand to reclaim.

What You’ll Need

Willingness to change

The initial weeks and months will feel awkward, and the patterns you’ve built over years won’t function anymore. You’ll reach for your phone repeatedly throughout the day only to remember it can’t do what you want. This discomfort is temporary, but it’s real, and the phantom reach for your phone fades faster than you might expect.

A planning mindset

Living without a smartphone means thinking ahead before leaving home rather than solving problems on the fly. You’ll check directions beforehand, confirm meeting times in advance, and consider what you’ll actually need. This isn’t a burden once you adapt; it’s a different rhythm that becomes second nature. (We all used to do this before carrying a smartphone became the norm.)

People will have reactions when they learn you don’t have a smartphone. Some will be confused, skeptical, or judgmental; others will be genuinely impressed or curious. A few will treat it as implicit criticism of their choices. You’ll have these conversations whether you want them or not. Over time, you learn to navigate them with ease, and they often become sources of unexpected connection and meaningful dialogue about attention, technology, and what matters in life.

A dumbphone

You’ll need a phone that meets your needs. The specific model matters less than finding one without browsers, app stores, or infinite scroll temptations: devices designed to respect your attention rather than exploit it. I review various options throughout the blog.

A companion device

You’ll need a device for necessary functions: email, banking, and work systems. I recommend an iPad with keyboard for most people, though laptops and desktops work equally well depending on your situation. The key is that these devices stay in one place or require deliberate retrieval, creating the intentional friction that prevents mindless use.

Optional auxiliary devices

Consider single-purpose tools for specific functions where they excel. E-readers provide better reading experiences than backlit screens; dedicated GPS units offer navigation without the distraction of notifications; music players let you listen without being pulled into other apps. These aren’t necessary, but they often prove valuable.

How to Use This Blog

If you’re making the switch, start with the “How I Did It” guide to understand the overall process, then explore posts addressing specific challenges as you encounter them.

If you’re already smartphone-free, use the blog for optimization: better tools, improved strategies, and solutions to problems you’ve encountered but haven’t yet solved.

This isn’t an overnight transformation. Expect your system to evolve over weeks and months as you discover what works for your specific situation, what trade-offs you’re willing to accept, and what you’re reclaiming that you didn’t even realize you’d lost.

About the site tite: 907 is the area code for the entire state of Alaska and a common signifier of Alaska identity. This site takes its name from that: life in Alaska. 907 is the area code for the entire state of Alaska and a common signifier of Alaska identity. This site takes its name from that: life in Alaska.