Buying a Smartphone

Summer 2010. I had just started dating a very lovely lady (now my wife) and I decided that the time had come to finally buy a cell phone. I was 26, working as a software engineer and living on my own in a duplex I had purchased in 2008. Life was going well and so far I had made it 26 years without a cell phone (I did own a landline at that time).

Somewhat of a a non-conformist, I had already resisted social media (I rejected Facebook when it came out in 2004 during my college days). Until that point, I had put up good fight against cellphoens too. Despite this, I decided with a girlfriend, the time had come to get a cell phone and I decided to go all out and get the best one.

So, one hot summer day in 2010, I walked to the local Sprint store (remember Sprint?) on my lunch hour and told the clerk I wanted a phone. I looked at all the options and (as I wasn’t a Apple guy) chose the HTC Evo 4G. According to Wikipedia, the HTC Evo was marketted as Sprint’s flagship Android smartphone. I decided it looked good and bought it.

Returning a Smartphone

As I walked back to work with my smartphone , something didn’t feel quite right. According to the commercials I should have felt like I finally arrived yet I didn’t. Instead, I felt like I had been ripped off and overpaid for something I didn’t need. I can be frugal at times and while part of me hesitated due to the expensive cost of the phone and the expensive monthly fee, there was something else that made me uneasy too.

Later that day, after work I came home and turned on the phone. I brought up google, tried YouTube and checked the weather. Then a thought ran through my head. A thought that has stayed with me for years and has helped lead to this site’s existence:

I don’t need this. I will waste a lot of time with this. This isn’t me.

That was it. I didn’t need a smartphone. As a software engineer, I already spent my entire workday in front of a screen. I already felt somewhat screen addicted and didn’t want to become one of the millions wasting my precious moments on Angry Birds or mindless scrolling.

So, I reversed course. I packed up the phone and returned it the next day. The clerk was dumbfounded when I told him I didn’t want the phone. I looked around and purchased a Sanyo flip phone (cheaper and with fewer distractions) and was on my way. My 24 hours smartphone ownership had ended and 14 years later I’m still going strong.

Lesson Learned: Stay True To Yourself

So what did I learn from this? Throughout my shopping for and purchasing of a smartphone I knew deep down inside that I didn’t really want one. Instead I was caving to the enormous societal pressure that was saying, “You need a smarphone!” Ultimately, I learned that I needed to stay true to myself. I knew that a smartphone was a waste of money and would lead to a waste of time.

In the end I made the right decision. 14 years later, there has been no looking back. I am glad I’ve stayed away from smartphones. I’ve saved money. I’ve saved time. I started this blog. And also, I don’t need a smartphone because… I’m already smart!