that's been my approach (meanwhile years ago). People never said it to my face but I'm pretty sure they thought I was strange. The only effect it had on me was

that's been my approach (meanwhile years ago). People never said it to my face but I'm pretty sure they thought I was strange. The only effect it had on me was missing out on spammy gossip group chats which filled my phone with memes and annoying notifications of people's micro-emotions that they felt I needed to somehow be part of. When I now meet these people IRL they seem often very happy for being able to break news to me. Not being in the loop added quality to my friendships and I'm also genuinely happy to meet somebody because "it's been ages". Have created the same rule with my partner some years ago and we do not text each other little updates during the day so that we can have "quality time" in the evening which we always look forward to. It felt weird at first because nobody else does this, but it helped us carving out "us time" in which there is always something interesting we can share (e.g. "delayed gratification"[1] is grossly underrated in our time) Most friends have meanwhile switched to Signal so I'm now more in the loop than 2 years ago. Though I never bring it with me when I leave the house so making an appointment with me and cancelling on last minute will be a problem (one I actively want to have - as strange at it sounds). Also I bring respect to any IRL conversations by _not_ having the chance fiddling with my phone. (I don't demand the same courtesy from my peers but I like tho think as of leading by example). So my mobile is a landline that uses radio :-) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_gratification