you are missing the point - its not about me throwing my phone away, its about other people knowing that contacting me is physically impossible, and not expecting me to even have a phobe

I feel like this is a "you" problem, not a "them" problem.

In the sense that you haven't laid out a clear boundary to the "other people". You don't have to go on a cruise ship to get away from email etc. You just say, "I'm offline from x to y".

I suspect you are not comfortable actually telling the other people this - I'm not sure if it's employer, customer, or family. In all cases though the right solution is to be clear, and give advance notice. There will likely be some push-back (especially given your past behaviour) but be firm.

Feel free to browse all you like. Feel free to post pics to Instagram. But resist the urge to answer emails or messages. Let that wait.

Ultimately people will treat your boundaries based on how _you_ treat your boundaries. It's a you problem first, not a them problem.

Tell them to fuck off.

Seriously. Set boundaries. Using "no access" as an excuse implies that if you're reachable you're on the hook to serve other people's desires at all times. People need to know that there are times in your life that are reserved for you only, and some people have a problem with that, so you have to tell them yourself in no uncertain terms.

Setting boundaries is a healthy skill to exercise, but if you need an excuse you could try hiking or camping? There are still plenty of places on land without cell coverage.

Not for long: https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/t-mobile-takes-cove...

And if you must have the phone in case you need to call for help, take the battery out or turn it completely off so they can't call you.

Coming soon: the national parks service partners with starlink to offer yellowstone internet service.

That already works. You just bring your dish in there.

Who in your life is demanding to be able to contact you at any random point in time, unless you explicitly tell them it's physically impossible for you to communicate with them?

There are a (very) few people who would expect to be able to reach me relatively quickly in an emergency unless I told them I was going to be off the grid or at least intermittently available for a few weeks. I don't think that's either unusual or unreasonable.

Not unusual, but it seems like you would want to be contacted in an emergency. So it's a good thing that cruise ships will be getting great internet service. You still have the choice to ignore non-emergency calls and only take emergency calls.

Maybe? If I'm in the middle of the Atlantic and can't do anything maybe not. In any case, I'd be reasonably confident that regular satellite communications today would get a regular emergency message through assuming someone knows what ship you're on.

I tell people that they can’t reach and do an OOF mail. Works like a charm. The only person who I say can reach me is my dad and all other numbers are blocked.

Set up your voice mail greeting and email appropriately.

Tell them you're going on vacation and won't have phone coverage. Then switch your phone off.

Remember the olden days, when if you wanted to take a picture you'd use a camera not a telephone?

Nothing prevents you from doing that now.

While partially true, that won't be the case for most people. And that can change your experience in a way you can't control (think of people at a concert filming the entire thing on their phone, or even everyone sitting around a dinner table on their phones).

> or even everyone sitting around a dinner table on their phones

I mean, you can find people who share your convictions.

Or you can just ask that folks agree to keep their phones away for the duration. There may be less pushback than you expect.

I mean, you can live in reality where no one is going to dump friends who use phones

Sure, but people should either decide to be ok with their friends using phones or get friends who also dont use phones. The middle ground of having friends who use phones but hating them for it is stupid.

Many mountain regions with beautiful hiking paths will remain disconnected from internet access for quite some time. So if you are fit enough, I strongly suggest to hike. You and everyone you are hiking with, will have no option to check mails or slack. It is also a great way to connect and spend time with family and friends.

https://www.alaska.org/tours https://you.com/search?q=alaska+hiking+trails

> Many mountain regions with beautiful hiking paths will remain disconnected from internet access for quite some time.

SpaceX also just partnered with TMobile to bring direct-to-phone satellite internet. It'll probably take a while to happen, and the announced specs are pretty limited, but it's basically going to be everywhere.

Certainly there are places without Internet access. That said, as someone who leads group hikes, I'm not sure I could in good conscience advise people, in general, to just leave their phones at home when they go hiking if they want to get off the grid. And, if I was regularly in remote places with no cell phone reception these days, I'd probably think something like a Garmin InReach was probably a good idea.

It’s not the same.

Similar to how you can’t just stay off social media to avoid the influence of social media. The entire world has changed, and people behave differently because they are on social media. And their behavior affects you and the ambiance of places you go to.

Plus so many places just expect you to have a phone. For tickets and access to places, to view a menu and order in a restaurant, to access maps and information.

My last friend who still uses a "dumb" phone with no internet has started to struggle over the last few years as more places just require a smartphone. He's increasingly excluded from services.

Hm, I'm doubtful.

I have a smartphone, but I use it for text messaging, calls, navigation, and not much else. Tickets I buy online and print. I've never been to a restaurant that required a phone to see the menu or order, and I'd likely walk out if they did.

The maps/navigation is convenient, but if push came to shove I'd print the directions like I used to do before phone navigation was a thing.

> Tickets I buy online and print

I do not own a printer (30 years old), and neither do any of my siblings. If I want to print something I'd have to do it at work but don't know how to make the work printers work (despite being a software engineer at a company with a "good" printer setup). I travel internationally and don't print anything for that anymore.

> I've never been to a restaurant that required a phone to see the menu

I've never been to a place with a web menu and tried to get a physical menu.

> if push came to shove I'd print the directions

That's true if you know where you're going ahead of time, but if you're out and decide you now need directions to a coffee shop, ATM, public toilet, pharmacy, etc, you often need to look them up. You can ask for directions, but only if you speak the language, can find someone who knows, etc.

I have a vague bad feeling about all of this change, but I can't really justify it. These are the ways things are going and I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing in general, although there are negatives to it.

To justify it, there’s the SPF issue. When everything is online, then any failure in the chain between you and the target URL breaks it. Phone doesn’t work for any multitude of reasons, no internet access, et cetera. Printed matter is very robust.

Yeah, if I'm traveling, especially internationally, I'm going to probably have a printed backup of my itinerary, any pre-purchased tickets, etc. I absolutely don't want to be in a situation where my phone goes out and I don't know where I'm staying that night.

I certainly don't obsessively print things but I don't work in an office and I probably want to print at least a few pages in a given week.

> if push came to shove I'd print the directions like I used to do

If push came to shove, I'd send smoke signals to my friend across town when I want to invite them to a party.

If I go sit down at a restaurant and they can't tell me what they can make in the kitchen without me scanning a QR code I'm getting up and walking out.

There are some cities now where this choice means you'll only be eating at home. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to live like a monk just to avoid using my phone. That's why internet free cruises were so great.

Which cities?

Taipei city, I can confirm many restaurants now do this. I suspect many restaurants in China have gone this route for a while now as their service landscape is more phone-heavy.