anchor.diff:  
   I also think that having 24-hours access to the Internet raises our anxiety levels. 
   Our parents watch this depressing local and international news and worry a lot about things they cannot influence. 
  -We however also worried about news. 
  +We however are also worried about news. 
   But those are news about our Facebook friends and some events that are happening now. 
   And we have strong fears and anxieties to miss these events. 
   The problem is that we not worried to miss something once per week or per day, but every 10 minutes. 
  
positive.code: ---
  title: "Phoneless"
  url: "/phoneless"
  aliases: ["/phoneless-m48kmx3778k"]
  description: "On living a life without a smart phone in the modern society"
  date: 2015-09-27
  draft: false
  acknowledgement: 
  tags: ["phones", "consumerism", "anxiety"]
  people: ["Alain de Bottom"]
  places: []
  locations: ["St. Louis, USA"]
  ---
  
  = Phoneless
  Anton Podviaznikov <anton@podviaznikov.com>
  :revdate: 2017-12-28
  :docdate: 2017-12-28
  :nofooter:
  :document_type: writing
  :tags: "phones, consumerism, anxiety"
  
  I often get asked why I don't have a smartphone. 
  Interestingly, it's not that easy to answer this question in one sentence. 
  There are multiple reasons, and they change over time. 
  
negative.code: 
  As a software engineer, I'm connected to the Internet probably 14 hours every day. 
  I consume large amounts of information during those hours. 
  Not having a smartphone gives me the ability to be offline for the short periods when I'm commuting, or doing shopping or walking, or having a meal in the restaurant. 
  I think we should strive for the balance and to have some time for ourselves. 
  It can be scary at the beginning and maybe even boring. 
  But that is the only way to know who you are and who you want to be. 
  Permanent consumption prevents us not only from creating products but from knowing and improving ourselves.
  