The only reason I consider a smartphone a necessity is private and secure messaging and calls on the go. I can’t imagine having to be at my PC for longer calls with my family or non-gaming friends, and as a woman I absolutely refuse to go outside when it’s dark without a phone.

So since I already have to have a phone I use it for other things like Lemmy, music, podcasts, public transit and the odd entertainment app. It’s perfectly fine to not have a smartphone if you don’t need any of those things though.

I have done most of those things, ~95% of everything I have ever done was in small rural towns/villages. I don’t have a car, refuse riding as a passenger, and no license either and don’t feel the need to get one at all. Admittedly I live in a 15k people city right now but that is just way too much so I’ll go back to something smaller as soon as I can. And I don’t live in the US so I got that going for me, which is nice.