I may have recently written about going back to a simple cellphone instead of my iPhone, but chances are I won’t be doing so anytime soon. I think it hit me the other morning when I realized just how many purposes my phone now serves for me on a daily basis. Sure, it makes calls; but it also replaces many different items I would otherwise have around cluttering up my life and my space. Off the top of my head, here are a few things that my iPhone stands in for perfectly well, enabling me to simplify my life and my belongings:
- GPS unit
- Kitchen timer
- Compass
- Radio
- Stereo to play my entire music collection
- Recipe Book
- Map book
- Notepads
- Calendar
- Address Book
- Digital Camera
- Remote Control
7 Comments
Like you, I have recently realized just how much I depend on my phone. Please don’t misunderstand me when I say depend. Would I trade indoor heat for it? Not likely. Would I prefer to pay my Verizon bill over putting groceries on the table? I should say not. But do I like it for its growing convenience in my life? Yes! While I moved to the iPhone from a ‘Droid I found the switch to be relatively painless and ultimately offering me more options than the ‘Droid (at least at the time.) I am a Mac user to the syncing is top notch! But I also use my phone for email, mild web browsing, farming weather report, commodities exchange rates, baby mandatory vaccination schedule, notepad, photo book, calendar, Keynote presenter, CD collection, digital camera (especially now with a baby), and “secret” poker games. HAHAHHAA.
I say stick with the smartphone. While it may cost a couple extra dollars it eliminates other gadgets, cost of batteries, need for charging/recharging (which is ultimately less electricity), etc.
Tell me more about how you use it as a remote control!
Mouse Lite App, controls my laptop which is what I use for TV and DVDs 🙂
I too have found that my “phone” has replaced many things I would normally use as separate gadgets thus helping me work towards minimizing and simplifying my “stuff”. My phone has become an invaluable tool in many ways I never expected when I first purchased it. I thought I would add a couple of uses that I use my phone in addition to the ones you already mentioned:
Great post!
The list included this time….
– Alarm Clock/Watch
– Flashlight
– Calculator
– Voice Recorder & Dictation
– Remote Control (TV/DVR)
– Remote Control Computer (Presentation)
– Scanner (for receipts, whiteboard images, low page count documents)
– Television (not in all cases but certainly enough to put on the list)
– Running GPS Tracker
– Starbucks Card (I have a bit of a caffeine problem)
Great post!
I wrote a tactful response to this blogpost welcome to check out. Thanks. The post acknowledges your prior post about the functional phone so all good. 🙂 Thank you for the inspiration behind the piece which sparked my interest in the first place. Drop by anytime.
Sincerely,
Zub
Hey, I found your blog when I google imaged “simple living”. The vintage posters you put up a while back are great! I used one in my blog in a post of mine on simple living. I wanted to let you know that you may get some traffic from people clicking on the poster, since I made it a link to your blog… it just seemed like good blogging etiquette.
And my 2 cents on the phone issue: I still have a basic phone, partly because I simply have not been able to afford more expensive plans and partly because I already have a hard time staying off the internet, so I didn’t want to be one of those people who checks it everywhere I go: out to eat, in the line at the grocery store, while talking with friends (oh, that bothers me). However, I am directionally challenged and that gps appeals to me in a major way. In the last few months, I’ve decided that the risk of spending too much time online is a weak argument against getting the phone. They are amazing machines and can make life more simple. I think I’ll finallly be getting onboard the smart phone train, when I return from a 6 month volunteer trip to Ecuador and can afford it.
Great blog! Take care.
I am still rockin’ a dumb phone. I was getting psyched up to upgrade when the iPhone hit Verizon, but when I looked at the cost of the phone plus the cost of the data plan, I just couldn’t justify it. A smart phone can indeed take the place of many other devices, but in reality, it doesn’t often do so, or at least isn’t really needed to do so.
If it were just the up front cost, I might be able to justify it, but the monthly data costs made it unjustifiable in my case. Anyway, that’s just my case, and each of us is different.