I do not. I don’t feel awkward necessarily just sitting there doing nothing but I also tend to avoid situations where I am like that because I do get bored and impatient fairly easily. I also just don’t like phones. I don’t do much with mine other than the things I find very useful like calls, text messaging and maps. I much prefer my PC whenever possible.

I’m American, and I’m 40. I didn’t have a mobile phone until I was like 19 and didn’t have a smartphone until I was probably about 28 or something.

I understand why people would feel awkward without their phones for sure. Especially if that’s what they are used to. I used to smoke cigarettes and I remember kinda feeling silly just standing there not smoking after I quit.

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My pockets feel unusual. Same when going out without a wallet. Constantly feel like I left them somewhere.

I feel weird if I’m taking a shit and I don’t have my phone with me, forget about leaving the house without it.

No. I’m an 80s kid. It’s kind of nice once in a while to forget it.

I imagine people with their phone in their faces while shopping, walking their dogs, etc. must have max anxiety over even the fleeting thought of not having their precious.

Not really, but I’m old. I grew up in the '80s and '90s. I still prefer not to forget my cell, mostly because there’s no payphones anymore.

No. It’s not hard to entertain myself by simply observing the world around me and daydreaming.

I leave my phone behind now and again so I don’t feel the obligation to always be reachable, a privilege I’m sure. I don’t often get lost but I speak the local language so I can just ask a stranger if I do. I absolutely don’t find it weird if someone’s alone and not looking at a phone and don’t think anyone around me does, though I’ve never been one to care about that sort of thing anyway. I’ve intentionally removed all the timewasting apps from my phone as well, namely social media and news and all that.

I only get as awkward as the distance travelled

I’d be fine going to the mall, bit iffed since I don’t have music to accompany me

I’d be damned if I visit hierapolis without my phone on me, fuck knows how I’ll get back if I also lose my wallet

it feels liberating

Do you feel weird/anxious if you go outside and don’t have a phone with you?

Nope. I sometimes forget my phone at home, no big deal I seldom use it. And even when I don’t forget it I have zero social apps or games installed on it, not even email ;)

I only use it to pass phone calls and to manage IDs and finances (and it’s only because my banks all require me to use their stupid apps, I would gladly tell them to go funk themselves but I need to be able to access my accounts).

What I never forget and I never hesitate to use whan I have the opportunity is a pocket book, so I always have something to read (without distraction, aka no Internet) and a pocket notebook/pen so I can write stuff (without any distraction, bugs, updates or whatever…) and in both case without any worry about being tracked.

so like its basically social expectation to be on your phone when you are by yourself.

Is it? And then people are surprised they’re exhausted, and constantly anxious and/or angry at one another? Doom scrolling is poison for the mind and for the soul. I’d rather look around, or speak with people.

you are missing a lot of information

Do I? Well, so far it has not caused me much issues.

that you might need in case you get lost or something.

When that happens, I ask my way around to people. It sometime is a nice opportunity to start a real conversation ;)

edit: typos and clarification.

I feel weird and anxious when I go outside even if I do have my phone with me.

A bit, I need it for contactless payments as in my country we use eletronic payments for almost everything

My take-out burrito wasn’t ready on-time and I forgot my phone in my vehicle. I had to look at posters on the wall while I waited! Please pray for me, it was awful and I’m still traumatized.

Broke my phone like two months ago and sent it in to get it repaired, which took about a month. I only had my work phone as emergency backup, so I basically didn’t have a phone during most of that time.

Well, staring into space while waiting for the bus seems to be the convention where I live, so I didn’t feel weird in that regard.
I did have some invasive thoughts, like what if you need to call emergency services and can’t? Haven’t needed that so far in my life and the chance of no one else with a phone being around is pretty slim, but the thought entered my mind anyways.

Well, and then I do use my phone for navigating public transport, for finding out where I need to go in case I ever get lost and then also just as a shopping list.
Shopping list is easy to replace with a sheet of paper. Navigating public transport had me suddenly looking at the hangouts in the various stations. It’s certainly not the same as having an algorithm tell you the quickest route, but you can find a lot of information there and you will find a route, which is good enough.
Not having a map is something that had me kind of just not take larger trips. I guess, if I had been without a phone for longer, I would’ve gotten used to that, too. Like, you can ask people, some of which might have a phone with a map on it themselves even.

Generally speaking, after the first few days, I did not miss my phone as much as I thought. I found it somewhat liberating even.