4 reasons why I don’t own a smartphone

I’m the only person I know who doesn’t have a smartphone.

Call me what you will (literally, that’s about all my phone can do), but I just don’t think a smartphone lifestyle is for me. I never have to “check” on things, I’m not keeping track of the calories I burn each day on an app, and I don’t squint to read.

I’m not saying you have to throw your smartphone in a dumpster to experience this kind of freedom, but maybe—just maybe, you should turn your phone off every once in a while.

Think you can’t live without it? There are a lot of benefits to being smartphone-free.

1. You’ll network because you have no choice.

Do you know the people at parties or networking events who just stand in a corner and look at their smartphones all night? That’s not me. Even if a party or networking event is really, really boring—I have no choice but to talk to people and try to make the night fun.

After all, nothing is worse than looking at my cell phone. The only cool feature I’ve got is my EZTip calculator.