A friend of mine avoids smartphones as he is (rightfully) very concerned with his privacy when it comes to big tech. So he has a PC and a dumbphone.

In the US, it’s not a requirement. I use my phone for nothing but occasionally making or receiving calls, taking photos, and messaging friends, but all of that could be done without it. I just use it because I have it.

In your four scenarios.

1 is doable the rest are not.

You need a voiceline/phone.

I guess you could use a soft phone.

Tedious but doable as proven by a lot of older people.

I live in France. I did nothing at all for months, but I had and wanted no social life. I returned to my computer because I wanted it, and to a dumbphone because of banks. Without a phone number, there is a lot of things you can’t do with your bank, and I couldn’t access to my bank account anymore. I know people with a landline phone and no dumb or smartphone and it’s ok for the bank, for now.

I have mail, phone numbers, etc. But what’s really annoying is people are always with whatsapp or signal and I can’t. I feel left out of lot of things. I’m often the last to know social events.

Edit: and there are lot of services which requires smartphones, even state ones.

In the U.S. older people still get by fine without all this stuff. I have family that still has a landline, nothing else, so I guess maybe that’s #3 in your list. It does mean they physically have to go to places to get things done (e.g. physically go to a bank).

Older people don’t care as much about social life beyond visiting/seeing the people/relatives they’ve always been seeing. A smartphone isn’t required for that.

My mother in law gets by just fine without hers. But then again, she’s in Arkansas, so I’m not sure if that counts as a modern, or developed country.

You need to include Internet in that list. A computer doesn’t necessarily have Internet, and though it’s more common, it’s not guaranteed on a smartphone either. Landlines still also exist. Even if they’re VoIP, because voice-only Internet connections for VoIP are a thing.

There are plenty of older folks in categories 1 and 4. And by older I mean old Gen X and Boomers (even a few Silents are still around) mostly. They manage to get by just fine. Things are not quite so far gone that Internet is 100% necessary, though more and more places are trying to force it to cut costs.

I’m in category #1 myself, but as this comment’s existence strongly implies, I have Internet. I’d be in #2 but I need the phone occasionally for notifications and 2FA. Also if the Internet goes out, I need to be able to call someone to fix it.

I didn’t have my first smartphone until my 20s.

I’d imagine it would be similar today. A purse full of maps, important phone numbers in my head, Skype on my computer to talk with my family and friends.

In the early days, I would go to the library to use the computer and Internet.

Does the US count as a “modern-day developed country?” 'Cause if so, it’s apparently still possible because my tech-illiterate Boomer parents manage it.

(Okay, they technically have smartphones, mainly because I’m trying to drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century, but they basically use them for nothing but phone calls and maybe an occasional text message or email. My dad accesses banking stuff via website on his computer, but if he didn’t have that I’m sure he’d just be fine going to the counter at the brick-and-mortar branch.)

I did these in China.

4 first, poor had nothing, moved to teach English. It was fine, I paid for things with cash, I had a debit card to use the ATMs.

And up until that point I still didn’t have any phone, so I climbed the hills behind the apartment I was renting and just walked around town learning stuff, trying for, living life.

Then I got a dumphone, which changed little except I could hang out with close friends from the school but usually we coordinated when we work together in the school anyway, so there was very little change with a dumb phone.

Then I bought a laptop and I could study Rosetta Stone and watch TV/movies.

eventually I got a smartphone and then I could start dating in the modern world. I dated in China before that through organic meetups, but I didn’t realize how far into the digital age dating head lapped until I got a smartphone and used all the apps.

It’s very feasible and I’ll say a lot less stressful to not have a phone, but it’s not as anxious-fun, and I do like looking stuff up all the time and having gigabytes of music in my pocket.

which reminds me before I had a laptop or smartphone, I bought a mini iPod in China and used one of the school computers to load it up with music.

Shoot that was a revolution for me, I loved the little clip on the back and how late it was.

How bad would it be for your social life?

I’d say that without the tech you won’t make new connections as easily on a surface level, but whenever an unteched person does get into a conversation, their side of the conversation tends to be a bit more well thought out and significant.

You’ll also put more work into the real life relationship since you don’t have a hundred virtual relationships vying for your attention on your phone.

So it would probably help your social life, by my metrics.

It depends on what part of the world you live in. At minimum, for the developed world, you’ll probably need at least #3 to maintain a job and connectivity with various government and commercial entities.

1 & 2 are no problem at all, I did that (2) till a couple of years ago.

I’ve done no. 1 a few times for a month or so each. Some of the biggest problems with that are:

• Banking can be a bit rough without the app. You can sometimes get a separate device to log in from some banks
• Digital authentication to eg. government services, and some private services as well works via a smarthphone app. Depends on the country a bit how extensive this is, Sweden has been really bad considering this.
• Sometimes public transit only/mostly sells tickets through an app
• Digital maps and route planners are very convenient and not having them substantially increases the time and effort you need to put into finding places

What usually won’t be a big issue

• Messaging: Whatsapp, Signal and obviously Facebook Messenger work on the computer, so you won’t be fully missing out on anything. Also, SMSs and calling work well and are cheap/free
• Missing out on social media and digital entertainment like youtube on a device that you carry 100% of the time is probably just a good thing
• Photography, you can find all kinds of digital cameras, camcorders and DSLRs for a reasonable price

All in all, it’s feasible but quite inconvenient at times.

I find having a smartphone without a sim card at home to be a good compromise. It limits the time I spend on my phone, which in itself is nice, and subsequently decreases the amount of data that can be collected of me. Also, if you aren’t relying on your phone it doesn’t need to be nice and expensive.

It’s entirely possible, depending on what services you want to live without.