That's life before 2000, or even up to 2005 or like. Was not bad, really. Internet was slow and stuck in computers, astalavista, radium, emule and burning dvds The evolution of cellphones into smartphones was somehow a bad move for humanity

Sounds wondeful, though it's not possible in some parts of the world. Here in Sweden you need a phone to use a lot of services, and very few places still accept cash as payment.

Damn, it must be nice not to have any responsibilities or people that count on you for things.

Spoken like someone who isn't responsible for others. My kid is ADHD and autistic. She's high functioning, but that doesn't mean I get to just be unreachable. I'm several people's emergency contacts. I have to travel unknown places all the time and be there exactly to get the help my kid needs.

I'm a single mother. I trade off whatever they are stealing from me for the ability to get cheaper versions of what my kid needs. My job is flexible, so it allows me to take my kid to what she needs with the understanding that I can answer questions when I'm away.

Oh, I also have a deadly neurodegenerate disease that is only kept in check by this specific medication that I need to be places for a while to get. I like my phone reminding me to go get that and also being able to fill out the paperwork on my phone because of my shitty hands.

A lot of people I see who are like, "Just live without a phone!" Are not the people who are actually responsible for people and/or things. I was like that when I was young, but then you know, I became a pillar of my family and friend network. People who are unreachable when needed are dropped from my network. I know several people who when I actually needed them and it was very dire, were unreachable. I left them messages and everything. Nope. Don't think they ever knew the issue. Dropped. Sorry even in the 90s and 00s, you were expected to listen to your voice mails promptly. I shouldn't have to mount a search party to find you, which is actually necessary for some people I know.

A lot of those things are possible, if a bit inconvenient. BUT I am old enough to have lived through the time before GPS and smartphones and navigating without it - especially in an unknown city - is simply terrible.

If you have never experienced having to park your car and walk around, looking for a street name, just to find out where the hell you are... Count yourself lucky.

Listen to an old timer: I never want to go back to that.

Anyone who says otherwise simply doesn't drive around a lot or only in well known areas.