Holding Out

I don't have a smart phone and with one exception, when I was stuck on the freeway due to a closure caused by an accident,  I don't regret it. I waste time on the internet like everyone else. I check my email, personal & work, as well as Face Book daily. I used to have Twitter, dabble in Pinterest, have a Tumblr account I don't use and allow myself to get caught up in the nonsense of modern life, but only to a point. Because I have a dumb phone, I don't feel the need to do any of the above when I am anywhere but home and occasionally at work. I try to maintain some separation for the purpose of focus, safety and sanity. Here's why:
Today I walked the dogs later than usual and the weather was beautiful. Across the street is a saguaro that is home to birds and a flurry of activity in the cool hours of the morning. I feel like I am watching my own little nature show while I wait for the boys to sniff & pee on the same tree they mark every morning.
Someone is cooking breakfast and the smell hangs in the air, a reminder of the weekend and the time to enjoy things the weekly bustle precludes. I encounter another breakfast further along, a similar reassuring smell reminds me that I am not the only one that enjoys stepping off the hamster wheel.
I play a game of dodge the sprinklers as I pass through the park. In the heat of the summer I gladly run through them, wet grass permeates the air. Further along I pass a house with clothes in the wash. I can smell fabric softener or a dryer sheet.
The sky is amazing, Pixar blue with the fluffy white clouds high in the air and a hint of the gold glow of the sunrise marking the horizon. The smells, the sights and the sounds are mine to relish and even though I have my phone I feel no need to look at it. No email notification will sound. I won't get Facebook updates and I keep the ringer off most of the time. Rarely, if ever, have I received a text or a phone call that required my immediate attention.
My walk takes about half an hour, I give the boys time to do their business and time to exercise. This is our time to enjoy, why ruin it with technology? I don't know if I would be able to relax and enjoy our walks if I had a smart phone. My dumb phone does everything I need it to do and I will keep it as long as I can. I would rather be a smart person with a dumb phone than the opposite. It's a slippery slope, the Pavlovian response to technology. I want to walk, love and enjoy my dogs, not be one!

http://www.today.com/money/not-smartphone-fan-try-these-simple-low-cost-alternatives-t34031?cid=eml_tsl_20150723