Startups in Silicon Valley lives without a mobile phone three years Bashny.Net

Entrepreneur Steve Hilton - Crowdpac CEO and author of More Human - three years living without a mobile phone, and feels good

. Before you start reading this text, I want to make something clear. I'm not trying to persuade you to something. I'm not going to read you a notation or judge you. Fair. At some points you may find that this is not true, but believe me, I do not like. In this article, I just want to explain ....

People who knew me as an advisor to the British prime minister, a little surprised to find that I now co-founder and CEO of the startup process. And those who know that from school times, I almost did not read the books, and now are surprised that I wrote a book.

But most importantly, in that no one can believe it - I have no phone. I do not use a mobile phone. I do not have it at all. Even old-fashioned and primitive. Call me only on traditional landlines. At home. Or call someone who I'm visiting.




When people find out about it, they wonder, as if I was born with a chicken brain. "But how do you live?" - They shout. "And your wife think about it?" It was a little later.

I do not have the phone for three years, and all the time people ask me to "tell my story": how to exist in the technologically obsessed corner of the world, Silicon Valley, without a smartphone? Here's how.

In the spring of 2012 I moved to the Bay Area with his wife and two sons. My wife Rachel was a top manager of Google, and we had to communicate, regardless of the time difference is 8 hours. I worked for two years advisor to the Prime Minister David Cameron, and, well, we state machine fed up with each other. To simplify our family life, we all moved to California.

I took with me my old phone Nokia (smart phones, I can not stand). But as soon as we came to America, my room stopped working. I tried to find a phone in the United States, but nothing came of it. A couple of months I used the old phone bought on eBay, but they were broken one after the other. In the end I gave up.

I remember the moment when I realized that there was something important. I rode a bike to Stanford, and then it occurred to me that for a week I have no phone. And everything was in order. Even better than fine. I felt more relaxed, carefree, happy. Of course, this was due to move to California. But not only. I noticed that during the day I can really think of. Organize your thoughts. Notice the details.

I thought, "Of course, I then have to buy a phone, but still wait and see how it feels." It was in September 2012, and since then I have no phone.

People ask: "How do you communicate?" Write letters to me. I'm not a hermit! I have a laptop and I usually use them. I have not once been meeting for meetings, a very tight schedule, with delays, shifts - and I calmly coped with all this without the phone

. "What if something happens to your children?" That is the most stupid question. One my son is eight years old, the other four. With them all the time there is a responsible adult. If something happens, somebody will take care of them for sure.

"How you manage startup without a phone?" I always borrow smartphones from other people, to see how our products work in the mobile version. And yes, there was a meeting at which I was late and could not prevent it. It turned out good. But this was only one meeting - three years

. Of course there are practical issues. Without the phone, I can not do something urgently check. And people, I think, all the time something is checked: sms, emails, news, weather, new statuses in Instagrame. To me it is not available. Tragedy. But somehow I get by.

Another practical consequence: I can not order Uber. In our city, it's like not to be able to drink the water. But my wife now works in Uber, so I still can not use it. More often than not I get well where to bike or public transport.

Although, to tell the truth, I still use Uber (well, Lyft too). And this weak side of my story. Sometimes I say to a friend is slightly embarrassed tone: "And this, listen, can I order Uber? I will pay you, of course ... »

It was then that my wife would come, "Look at this hypocrisy! At most there is no phone, and rely on others! Yes, he's just selfish. The world should revolve around him. I agreed to meet him - and you can not change anything, because until it does not reach. How it infuriates me! »

It is true? I do not think. Yes, sometimes I ask people the phone to call a taxi, send a message and so on. But this might be four to five times a month at the most. Exactly at this rate I really need the functionality of the phone. Yes, my choice sometimes causes inconvenience. But very rarely.

The more important question is whether my choice brings inconvenience to others. Well, what's wrong with this is to stick to the plan and try to keep their promises? What good when agreements are constantly changing? Is this not a sign of disrespect to the other? For three years, I only once got into an awkward position due to lack of phone.

And from the point of view of human life in general, it seems to me wild and terrible idea that we always need to be connected. With the help of electronic tools we lock ourselves into a digital prison where there is no freedom, independence, loneliness, privacy.

I do not want to preach. I just want to explain that the absence of the phone gave me the personal freedom. Once I was late for a meeting, my partner of Crowdpac said, "Listen, you really need to have a phone." We began to discuss it, and the conversation brought me to tears. Probably, because it reminded me of the life I left behind: a life full of stress, tension and anxiety emanating from the device in my pocket. Although I have described the typical expressions of people who become aware that I have no phone, I kept silent about the most common response: "It is so great! If I could (la) so .... »

So you can! Anyone can. And it seems to me that many people want it. I do not know whether you do it concretely. But if you want to try if you want to see if you can live without the phone, my advice is: do it as it should, within a week. Look, if it turns out you. If not, then everything is OK, turn on the phone. I'm not trying to convert you to their faith, it is true. But if you will let me know.