I did the same, went without a phone for a few weeks (getting repaired/replaced) and it taught me a lot about how much I was overusing it. The most important change was turning off nearly all notifications (interruptions), but I've slid back into other bad habits like mobile reddit/HN since.

I've toyed with the idea of going back to a dedicated MP3 player for music and audio books, they should be cheaper and smaller than the last time I had one and with actual buttons they have a superior user interface (phones are versatile but a bit shit at everything). After that I could probably ditch a smart phone entirely.

I actually made a conscious effort not to idly listen to music anymore, so when I listen now, its purely for the enjoyment of listening to music. When I go for a walk, I listen to nature and let my mind drift without constant stimulation. I enjoy the music a lot more this way.

Yeah, I find 90% of what I use my iphone fir, I could really do without, like social media. When this phone dies, I plan on getting a cheap dumb one for emergency calls (I can still communicate with friends over IM on a laptop) and not replace the smartphone.

The experience taught me that I do not need to be stimulated all the time and I don’t need to be connected or reachable all the time. It felt liberating knowing that when I left home/office and was out of wifi reach, that I wouldnn’t get bothered by work requests. It felt liberating knowing that, while inconveint at times, I had to arrange a time and place to meet people, and we had to thennstick to it, instead of “i’ll call you when I’m near, whenever ir whetever that may be”.

The only reason I went back to having a phone is a family member got annoyed and bought me one, but a middle ground would have been to get a dumb (phone calls and SMS only) phone, rather than a smartphone or going without a phone completely like I did.