(phone ringing) - Over the past decade,
we've become so dependent upon our smartphones
that we rarely leave home without them.
So I wondered, what would life be like without a phone?
Would it be possible to get by?
Could I find alternatives to replace the tools
that I've become so dependent upon?
These questions and my hope to finally break
my phone addiction led me to some of the most
eye-opening lessons I've had
when it comes to my relationship with technology,
and there might not be any turning back.
So I decided to quit my smartphone for 30 days.
Let's turn off my phone and put it out of reach.
So this isn't my first rodeo
when it comes to digital minimalism experiments.
I've used a flip phone, a dumb phone.
I quit social media,
and I've tried just about every rule in the book
when it comes to using technology more intentionally.
I've tried all of these different experiments
because I've genuinely struggled with a phone addiction.
We're in front of screens all day,
from our laptops and tablets to our televisions.
But I think there's something
uniquely addictive about the phone.
Unlike the larger devices that we use,
it fits in our pocket.
We carry it around everywhere we go
and passively consume content in bed, on the toilet,
in line at the grocery store, and in between reps.
The addiction is enabled through the convenience
and accessibility of the device,
if not our own social anxieties.
As much as I've tried over the years,
I've failed to come up with a solution to my problem.
How do I get all the utility out of my phone
without it making me miserable?
I'm hoping that giving up my phone
for 30 days will help me find the answer.
So this experiment isn't about subjecting myself to pain
and discomfort for the hell of it.
I'm looking for real solutions
to help me get by without my phone,
and the first place I knew I needed to go was my laptop.
So a lot of things that I currently do on my phone
could very easily be done on my laptop.
FaceTime, Messenger, Messages, and WhatsApp
are the main ways that I communicate
with my family and friends.
In the past, I've used my phone to access these apps,
but now I'm gonna start moving these conversations
over to my desktop.
- This is what you have to look forward to
that's super exciting.
- I think one thing you might notice
if you tried quitting your phone for yourself
is how few of the apps on your phone are actually essential.
Do you really need an app for banking?
How about your real estate search
and the apps that you use for work,
Slack, Gmail, and Google Drive,
are all of these apps really necessary
for you to have at all times?
Since I've done similar experiments before,
I haven't been all that surprised
by my first few days without a phone.
I quickly transitioned to using my laptop for most things,
occasionally picking up my iPad to browse the internet.
My flinch to grab my phone in public
has already started to fade away,
and I'm just forced to be more present in each moment.
But, and this is a big but,
there are a few apps on my phone
that I feel like I couldn't live without.
The three most important ones
for me are calls, texts, and navigation.
Since my wife's pregnant, there's a real need
for me to be available in case of emergencies.
So I've realized that I really do need to figure out
a way to stay connected without a phone,
and that's when one of my tech-forward friends
recommended a solution.
- Well, one thing you could do is you could use
a smartwatch instead of your phone.
Then you're getting rid of all of the distractions.
You're getting rid of the
looking at the screen all of the time.
But then if Nat wants to contact you, she can.
- And you can get service on a smartwatch?
- Yeah.
Yeah, it's literally like having a 4G phone.
- [Matt] I've always been hesitant to use wearable devices.
Don't we have enough screens in our lives already?
Do we really need to attach them to our bodies?
But I recently purchased my first smartwatch
to track my biometric data for this channel,
and my limited experience using it
makes me think that it might actually work.
- If you were to say, what is the problem with the phone?
It's either screen time.
Could you imagine being like, oh, man,
I spent eight hours looking at my smartwatch.
Like, that's not gonna happen.
- So as it turns out,
you can actually update your watch
to have cell phone service without your phone.
So I need to cheat on this experiment for just a second.
So apparently, it only costs an extra $5 per month,
and that's in AUD.
And turning my phone back off.
(gentle music)
First, I really wanna test out a phone call.
Hey, Nat. - Hey.
- Sure, I might look like a complete (beeping) idiot
holding my watch up to my ear
like I'm James Bond, but it works.
How does the quality sound?
- [Nat] It's not, like, crystal clear,
but, like, I can hear you.
- I learned later that you can actually connect
your Bluetooth headphones.
Hey man, what's going on?
But what about texting?
I've tried texting with a dumb phone
and a flip phone before and the results were painful.
What does it look like to text on a smartwatch?
It turns out it's actually pretty great.
The easiest way is with voice-to-text,
which works just as well as when you use it on your phone.
Hey, just about to head to the grocery store.
Let me know if you need anything.
This makes sending longer texts really easy,
and in those situations where you might not wanna talk,
let's say you're in a public bathroom
and there's somebody sitting in the stall next to you,
what do you do?
Instead of voice-to-text,
you can use swipe for texting.
It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn good and much faster
than texting on a flip phone or a dumb phone.
I'm not gonna lie, replacing my smartphone
with a smartwatch is an absolute game changer.
I still haven't used my phone once,
but I now have access to so many useful apps.
I've got calls and texts, obviously,
but also music, an alarm clock,
weather, a calculator, and even payments.
And since the screen is so small
and has such limited capabilities,
I literally haven't been able to use it for anything else.
But it's still early days,
and I haven't fully put it to the test just yet.
So I've been able to make a full-time living
creating YouTube videos just like this one.
Every day I get to wake up, explore new ideas,
and do what I love most.
And one of my passions
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So whenever I've replaced my phone with another device,
the biggest challenge has always been,
what do you use for directions?
So it looks like the best navigation
that you can get on your Apple Watch is with Apple Maps.
And so I'm gonna give walking directions a shot.
All right, so I wanted to raise the stakes.
So Natalie here is gonna be driving me to a random location,
and I'm gonna see
if I can't find my way back to the starting point.
- Feel like you're gonna get lost.
- I feel like it's gonna work.
All right, so we're here.
Time to get started.
All right, so I'm gonna plug in the address here into Maps.
Let's see how we go.
So it's telling me to start on Brighton Street.
I think that might be down, wait.
After a delayed start,
I got back on track pretty quickly.
My watch vibrates before each turn,
reroutes quickly when necessary,
and the navigation is just as accurate
as you'd expect from your phone.
Obviously, the screen is really small,
but it seems to be working pretty well.
I made it. - Made it!
- I think an even bigger problem
might be driving directions.
So I'm using driving directions right now with my watch,
and it's actually working out surprisingly well.
I've got voice navigation turned on,
and it also gives me some pulses
and vibrations when I need to make a turn.
- [Maps Narrator] Go past the stop sign,
then turn right onto Bridge Road.
- I definitely think that this could be a great solution
for short trips and when I'm not in much of a hurry.
There are two main issues that I have with it though.
First is the lack of a screen.
I get lost in Sydney with a screen,
and so having one is helpful
for tricky intersections and merging onto highways.
The second thing I'm worried about is battery life.
Apple says that the battery will last
between four and six hours using navigation,
which isn't terrible,
but that's just an added layer of stress
if you're making a big trip
and the only device you have is your watch.
I've tried things like printing off directions
and using my car's built-in navigation,
but they just don't match the convenience
and reliability that I need.
So far, this has been the biggest drawback for me
when it comes to switching to a smartwatch full-time.
I've had very little issues using my watch
for most utilities.
In addition to using it regularly
for calls, texts, and directions,
I've also been using it to make payments every day,
listen to music while at the gym,
and to catch up on podcasts
while walking around my neighborhood.
There were some occasional bugs,
particularly with the Spotify app,
but nothing that I'd consider disruptive.
I found a Notes app that works very similarly
to the functionality of texting,
so I can take notes for my videos or business,
either by writing them out
or by using the voice-to-text feature.
I ate a rotisserie chicken every day for 30 days.
There are some downsides to not having a phone.
It's been impossible to keep up
with the speed of group chats.
The battery life on my watch isn't so great.
I look like a douche bag while making phone calls.
And I no longer have access to apps
that would be essential while traveling,
like Uber or Airbnb.
The pros by far outweigh the cons.
When I look back over the past month,
I think some of the biggest things for me are the fact
that I haven't been using a device in bed.
I don't wake up to a glowing screen.
I'm not spending hours every single day looking at my phone.
And I will say, actually,
I have yet to use a device while sitting on the toilet.
I'm not saying I'm Deepak Chopra, but pretty much.
So here is the big thing
that I've learned from this experiment.
Getting rid of your phone
is getting rid of some convenience.
There is no way around that.
Whether you're using a smartwatch or a dumb phone,
as far as I can see, there are no replacements
that will allow you to have everything
that you'd want out of a smartphone
without some reduction in utility service or efficiency.
But this experiment of quitting my phone
has completely changed everything for me.
This is the first time that I've finished
a 30-day digital minimalism experiment
where I've had absolute certainty
that this was going to change everything
about how I use technology going forward.
So what's next?
I'm gonna change very little about this system,
so my phone will continue to stay hidden away
95% of the time, and I will use my smartwatch
for everything else on a daily basis.
So you might be wondering,
why not get rid of my phone completely?
Well, my watch is a companion device,
and so to set it up and to keep it updated,
I actually do need a phone,
and so I will keep it for that purpose.
The other purpose that I'll keep it for
is driving navigations.
And so I haven't found an appropriate alternative
to be able to get around without a phone,
and so I'll keep using Apple CarPlay on my phone
without actually really using my phone much at all.
Whether or not this has me slipping back into my old habits,
I guess we'll find out soon enough.
Thanks so much for watching.
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