life without a phone (number)

Anyone tried to live without a phone number recently? How did it go for you? Carriers in my country are fuarrrking draconian, you pay expensive price and get no data, then they fuarrrking terrorize you via sms when you don't 'recharge' your PRE PAID number. Terrible. I am sick and tired of it. Since I don't need data, I am thinking about at least switching away from a traditional carrier. What's the cheapest I could get with a voip number? Any potential pitfalls? A few years back I know that you could get one for free, is this still the case? to be honest I would rather just roll without one if possible.. calls and texts are insecure and have zero merit to them, anyway..

lmao I don't even have a phone. Well I have a dumbphone that's always off.

>>71625 in my experience it's very difficult to get by without one. not because there's anything you need to do for which a phone is actually necessary, but because people will demand you give them one anyway. went to the dentist, they demanded a number even though i A) was standing right there and had an appointment and B) made it very plain that i don't fuarrrking have one. ended up having to give them someone else's number, which will do fuarrrk all if they ever need to actually contact me. went to the DHS and they demanded one to process my paperwork, which i found especially disturbing since they provide essential public services that some people rely on for needs as basic as food and shelter. i gave them my mother's number, but what if i didn't know a single person whose number i could give? surely people like that exist. should they just die for the crime of not having this stupid little gadget? i even went to a piercing parlor to get an old conch piercing removed, and even though it was a one-time, walk-in visit, they still wouldn't do it until i'd given them a number, even after i explained i would have to make one up on the spot. but the most common and annoying experience i have is the way regular people react when i don't have a number to give them. they look at you like they don't even believe you, like it's implausible that ANYONE could just choose not to have a phone. i must be LYING to them, or some kind of freak. i hate phones with my whole soul and i hope alexander graham bell is burning in hell

Don't worry, guys. Just because you've opted out of the government tracking rectangles that doesn't mean they'll forget about you when the ID implant chips roll out.

>>71631 >but what if i didn't know a single person whose number i could give? surely people like that exist. should they just die for the crime of not having this stupid little gadget? It is a very convenient reason to deny you basic services. Same with being unable to prove "your identity" even when it's completely irrelevant.

its frequently possible to give a phone number for a library or such thing, or even as you say a fake one. no big deal. i dont have a fone either.

>>71643 they seemed to forget about me with the covid vax shrug

I have not owned a phone since about 2011. It was a work phone and I only really used it twice, once to check a voice mail, and once to quit. In terms of impact, it's not allowed me to do certain things, but it's not been much of a problem for me. One example is when I went out to the eat during one of the weirder parts of the covid lockdown, they said their menu was using a QR code and I said "But I don't have a cell phone" and they didn't believe me, so I emptied everything out on the table. I told them I could use my laptop, but they'd need to give me the address. They declined so I had just ordered a beer, paid, and left. The other one was working on my graduate degree. The university I'm currently attending requires a cell phone to sign up, but they don't really need the number for anything else because they just spam the soykaf out of my student email... Well, after a very, very long conversation where I basically explained that I am not paying a monthly subscription fee just so I can sign up for them to impose their usurous nonsense on me, we found a solution: I can just borrow someone's phone number, since the system wouldn't allow me to be registered without it. Unfortunately, my advisor couldn't remove the number from my profile, so they contact that person about 5-6 times per year. Other than that, life isn't that hard. I did use a fake number for a website that I buy books from, so hopefully that won't bite me in the ass... and my online bank is attached to my mom's phone number, but they never attempt to contact me except if they think something is wrong with my account and she knows that she can just email me if they call and then inform them of the situation, but they never do.

Is there any point on even trying to "live without phones" when you're getting tracked by >10 cameras the moment you step out of your house? The only legitimate reason would be mental health but you can just use a dumb phone.

>>71663 personally i just don't like them. there's nothing i want to do with a phone. the only times i ever feel the absence of a phone are when other people needlessly inconvenience me for not having one.

>>71631 In most cases it should work to give institutions and retail/service businesses a fake number. I have my phone configured to block calls from numbers not in my contact list (due to multiple scam robocalls every day) and it doesn't cause problems. Where I would run into issues is with things that need 2FA, or a verified phone number to confirm you aren't a spammer. But the government or something you should be able to just give them a fake one, they won't call you anyway because it's more trouble for them than an email or letter.

>>71631 >>71662 Younger person here. To those who have lived without phones without some time, how do you usually contact others? What do you give out to contact new people you have just met? Exchanging Telegram/Snapchat/Instagram/Discord/etc. defeat the point of not having a phone number and also require a physical phone number after some time, yet they are the most common options beyond phone numbers. No one uses email unless they are very invested in talking to you. >>71663 One less data point to be tracked by. Or several less, depending on what is being tracked from the phone/phone number.

>>71670 nophone person here. I dont often give contact info to people Ive just met, I usually meet them in places where odds are Ill see them again, so its not needful. When I do, I give email. Alternateley I remember their phone number and can borrow a phone to contact them later, but thats more rare and inconvenient for me. I dont have telegram/snapchat/instagram/discord/twitter/facebook/wechat/etc.

>>71670 pretty much all email. people don't like it, but they'll do it if it's important. plus what this lainon >>71671 said, most of the people i know i see irl on a regular basis anyway

To the Lainons that mentioned scenarios in which they had no phone number to give to whoever or whatever institution requires it, instead of a cellular phone with its own separate number from a carrier or giving out someone else's number or a fake one, don't you have a corded home phone with its number you can give out instead, or does that not really solve any issues with filling out personal info contact sheets, Two-factor authentication, sharing with friends, or whatever other general inconvenience?

>>71722 I don't actually, and it would cost me more to get one where I am than a cellphone incidentally. I havent lived in a house with a landline in almost ten years.

>Anyone tried to live without a phone number recently? I'm 19 and I've never had one. >>71722 1. On job applications they often have 'home phone' and 'cell phone' listed as two separate items. I believe I've been turned down from jobs due to putting "N/A" in cell phone field. Also, I live in an RV so getting that type of phone set up might not be possible. 2. A few hours ago I went to apply for a job at some health food place. Outside, it said "We're Hiring! Text Grow to [phone number] to Apply!" and I could not text that number. Once I get a gf I will use her phone for the rare thing that requires a phone: I shouldn't even do any work until I get a gf, anyways (if I don't get something from society why should I give something to society).

>>71670 >No one uses email unless they are very invested in talking to you. If someone isn't willing to talk to me via email, I do not consider them a worthwhile contact. That is not to say I force them to email me if we both have an account on a platform where we can talk, but I'm not signing up to anything new without a very good reason.

>>71670 I used a landline telephone.

>>71733 >If someone isn't willing to talk to me via email, I do not consider them a worthwhile contact. TSMT

I dont have a phone. They are goyslop for the soul.

>>71780 based perspective. none the less I have found myself having to go back to a phone after not having one for the past year because its too difficult to work together with others on projects if you can not call to plan things out.

>>71732 >I shouldn't even do any work until I get a gf Anon...

>>71625 Never owned a cell phone. Went ~2 years without internet or a landline. Not much to be said about it, it's highly dependent on your life and specific circumstances.

I had seen in the rare occasion of being outside payphones still exist in some places.

>>71625 I have never owned a cell phone before. I never have been in a situation where I felt like I needed one or really wanted one. However, I do have a landline in my home so if the actual need of a phone is met I'm able to use that. I've always refused any type of services online that require a phone out of principal of privacy rather than because I don't have one. I never would give my phone number to any services IRL that required or asked of it either for the same reasons. >>71631 >it's very difficult to get by without one Not exactly, you may experience minor inconveniences and anyone personally dealing with you will experience them but that isn't the end of the world. People have become to reliant on the conveniences of having a cell phone or getting in touch with people indirectly especially when talking about local friends and family members. I started to have less friends and less family have anything to do with me because I wasn't "conveniently" on social media whenever they could have just sent me an email as they used to, called the landline, and/or just stopped by for a visit. >went to the dentist, they demanded a number Any type of doctor, dentist, and/or other situations where a number is needed in appointments I still don't cave in. I also get the same treatment, looked at as a freak, and not believed when I explain I don't own a cell phone. It's always the same thing every single time, "Just give me someone's number", and there's been times where I'll give them a clearly fake number as I'm talking a "555-5555" situation. These people are literally programmed in such a way to the point where they literally end up in a crash error state not computing that it's possible in their minds. At the end of the day I don't really give a soykaf about their opinions of me regardless if they think I'm some autistic technologically backwards retard. I have nothing to prove to these people or care about them in the smallest possible way. >>71662 >menu was using a QR code I experienced this and instantly regretted going against my own notions of never going out to eat. I was in a situation where I was still pretty far away from home and was hungry so I stopped somewhere for lunch as I actually had some spare money to get something decent. I dealt with a similar attitude where it was inconceivable that I didn't have a cattle tag device in my pocket like she did. >bank I don't use online banking at all. I barely even have anything to do with my account and I didn't have to give them my number when signing up with my account as it was before smartphones even existed. I think I remember them trying to prompt me for a phone number but I didn't give them one. A lot of stuff prior to the 2010s in my town was pretty lax all around the board and one could get away with so much in comparison to now. >>71663 It's simply not a life necessity and I'm simply a living protest on it not being a part of my life. I have no interest or desire to own one. Again as I stated, I have a private landline if I need a phone for emergencies and there's even payphones still in my town. I was thinking about a situation with people in my town when being recorded on camcorders in the 80s and early 90s for home videos before reading your post about cameras. A lot of people kept referencing government agencies and was hiding their faces or flat out not wanting to be recorded or heard in any capacity at all. Some even flipping the one with the camcorder off and cussing them out. I just find it ironic and sad that in a wider perspective people generally seemed to care more about their privacy when it wasn't as threatened as it is now. >>71664 >the only times i ever feel the absence of a phone are when other people needlessly inconvenience me for not having one Those other people are just malfunctioning over the fact that someone out there has more willpower and abstinence towards something than they do, they want you to be part of "the herd". >>71666 >2FA If it as 2FA then it's not okay! Seriously, if people can't figure out better methods of protecting their accounts on whatever they're doing online. Here's a thought, just maybe they shouldn't be online in the first place. The internet has spiraled down into an endless decay ever since everyone has decided we must do everything online for the goddamn sake of "convenience". It's literally to the point where people associate it with meaning better when that's not the case. >>71670 As some of the others have mentioned, email is probably the easiest starting point to communicate with someone. Especially if it's just normal conversations with regular people as emails aren't the most secure way of communication online as most on here would tell you or know as well. Either way the main point is to eliminating the need for a cell phone during your everyday life in the first place. Landlines are ridiculously cheap if you must go the route of using a phone at all. I also liked bringing up the fact of just meeting again where you met them or finding a hang out place in a reasonable timeframe in the future. This is how I personally made most of my friends that I didn't go to school with. >>71732 Absolutely they didn't hire you due to putting "N/A", I went through that for quite some time during the 2010s. I started seeking out smaller places where I'd get less hours and the management seemed like they didn't give a soykaf. Landed something pretty close that was good enough for me at the time. My boss while working there often would express to me how annoyed he would get that he couldn't call me, etc. He even asked me one day flat out, "Do you have autism or extreme OCD? I'm not trying to make fun of you or discredit you as you're a good worker." I just responded, "I probably do, never have been evaluated to be diagnosed nor do I care enough if I am to go through with that". Digital footprints are sought after by employers these days, so if you care about privacy at all you probably won't work the job you want. Unless you have connections along with some networks, or are willing to go under the ground. >>74311 Not many places but yes, they do. In my town you can find anywhere from one to three in every part of town. You could find one literally everywhere until the early 2000s. I used to call Nintendo's toll free number 1800-255-3700 all the time on it. Thinking back it would have been nice to have been exposed to the idea of phreaking as it was already dying in the 90s by the time I learned about it. In my opinion the only time in history that phones actually seemed truly exciting as I would have soykaf myself in excitement over being a part of that culture.

>>74314 I went to a dentist where their form was digital and the form refused to allow me to complete it without a phone number.

There is a sweet room for rent (only $700 a month) which I'll be moving into on Friday. The guy seemed cool. I came to see the place yesterday, and he asked me for my phone number as I was leaving. I said: "I don't have a phone: I like to stay off the grid like that." He replied: "I work with computers, and honestly, that's smart." It made me happy, I just wanted to share.

TextNow is an awesome app that gives you a phone number.

>>74314 >menu was using a QR code just ask the nice lady for a recommendation come on this isn't hard. I hate the QR menus as much as anybody but its not innavigable. This is like the cashless restaurant thing, just learn to deal with people and its not a problem. >>71663 you vastly overestimate the number of cameras, or you live in hell. I don't know which.

>>74314 > It's always the same thing every single time, "Just give me someone's number", and there's been times where I'll give them a clearly fake number as I'm talking a "555-5555" situation. These people are literally programmed in such a way to the point where they literally end up in a crash error state not computing that it's possible in their minds This happened so much during my phoneless days. >what's your phone number >I don't have one >you don't have one? >no, sorry >I have to put something down, do you have a friend or family member's number? >no >so nobody you know has a phone? >some do, but since I don't have a phone there's never been a reason for me to memorize their numbers. Every time. Sometimes I'd just tell them to use their own phone number or I'd give them their office's phone number.

>>74319 [Area Code}]-555-5555 tends to work, if they're not sending you a confirrmation text or anything. 555-555-5555 gets flagged as unreal.

>>74396 I don't think you realize how braindead a lot of waitresses really are. They aren't there to remember anything, just to write down your order, bring you your food, and then expect a ludicrous tip for doing basic soykaf and maybe because they are showing off a little cleavage to the average male who decided to dine in that day. As if I care at all about such things in a woman. Matter of fact I haven't been attracted to a woman since the start of the 2010s. I don't see how any man could put up with a devious harlot whoring herself out with a phone 24/7. Absolutely disgusting!

in my country when you go to hospital to get help according to your insurance they send you sms with special code that you later show to the actual doctor so he knows you're paid. this way you either don't go to hospitals or you have a number

>>74404 What country? I'm getting tired and disgusted with more dystopian measures being put in place, especially within the medical field.

>>74400 Dentist and doctor offices use the phone number for appointment confirmation. Some places cancel your appointment without confirmation. It's fuarrrked up.

>>74404 Had something similar happen recently. Went to the doctor and he gave me three different medications to take. Didn't tell which ones nor what I could possibly have wrong, just said "I messaged you the codes, show them at a pharmacy and they'll give you what you need". It wasn't until I got there that the pharmacist told me what they were and what they were supposed to help with.

>>74429 maybe if you didn't just bow your head and take it you wouldn't have this problem. Why are you at the doctor anyway, least of all a doctor who treats you like this ? You complain, yet still you obey. Silly!

I am unable to use my credit card or sign into my bank account anymore without entering in a SMS verification code (Canada). I hate this soykafhole country.

>>74423 During covid you had to call from outside when you arrived. No wiating room social distance blah blah, retardation.

>>71625 the literal only thing you need a phone for is faggit websites that require a phone number because snowden shut down the other collection venues ^W^W^W for no reason with thinly veiled arguments like "you have no choice youre gonna use 2fa yeah its broken since anyone can just get your sms since sms is not a secure thing but whatever fuarrrk you" if you work in tech you use some soy platform for all comms like discord telegram or the other ones before that like slack and some other i forget what glitterboy soykaf we used

>>75181 >he gave his bank his phonenumber rookie mistake

This is something I thought about a lot as someone whose heart starts racing whenever it starts to ring and not knowing who it might be. Been home a lot lately so it's just sitting and idling while I use the desktop. Sometimes I use Firefox when I'm troubleshooting something away from the desktop. Sometimes I use TorBrowser on the phone, but I don't dig into places I shouldn't be, just to be safe. I'm not sure about how secure it is, but I use the Tor bridges too. I'm paying under 40 for a plan and hardly use the cellular data because it's on the LAN most of the time. It feels like such a waste, but I have to hold onto it for those occasional times where I actually need it. If I did get rid of my phone, I'd have to figure out how people can contact me, how potential employers can get hold of me. I could get absolutely lost while driving out of town or the vehicle may break down. I could print directions out to use or buy a dedicated GPS device. Another thing is the MFA on some Web services, which means going through every account and changing the MFA to use something like Authy or whatever. Seems like it'd be a hassle to deal with and the more I think about it, the more issues come to mind. I considered a SIP VoIP handset and finding a good provider. I've read about them a while ago and found a provider I considered using, but I never went through with it. I want to learn more about VoIP though. It'd be interesting to hear how people actually get by without carrying a tracking device... I mean smartphone in their pocket 24/7.

>>75205 >I could print out directions or buy a dedicated GPS or you could buy an road atlas, or develop your sense of direction. If you're dependent on GPS now, given a few weeks without it you'll get significantly better, Ive seen it happen, even in people with very bad direction sense. Sun sets in west, rises in east. If you're in the northern hemisphere, it generally is more or less south. In the southern, the north. Stars also give you directions. Also in the northern hemisphere, satellite dishes, like for TVs, face south. terrigation is not difficult you lobotomized phonef*gs just look around you

>>75205 I knew people used the stars to guide them for 10s of thousands of years (not exactly sure), but hadn't crossed my mind while I was driving. As far as stars go, I'll take my reflector telescope out once in a great while and take a gander. Unfortunately, I have to drive out quite far to a nice dark spot. I was driving down a highway, right alongside a river with the sky as clear as it could be, and the view was the best I ever saw yet. I can't imagine how great it would look in some of the better places. I know I got a little off subject, but I'm crazy about space. Sometimes I can't seem to remember little things like this unless I invest enough thought into it. Earth spins toward the east, so the Sun and stars rise in the east. That makes sense. Thank you