I Don't Have a Smartphone

Filed by Patch Reyes

Ploum, a longtime open source advocate and privacy-minded writer, makes the case for life without a smartphone in this personal essay. He doesn't come at it from a place of technophobia, but from a hard-nosed calculation of what constant connectivity costs: attention, autonomy, and the quiet moments that used to exist between notifications. The piece walks through the day-to-day realities—the logistics, the social friction, the weird looks—while making a broader argument about who really benefits when everyone carries a tracking device in their pocket. It's a sharp, unpretentious read that will resonate with anyone who's ever felt their phone buzzing and wondered who's actually in charge.