Thank you @owasco. At this point in our connected world getting rid of all electronics would be very difficult for me but I can choose how I interact with it -- personalize notifications, limit usage, download only necessary apps, etc.
I very much agree! I feel more alive/positive when I'm in the right company but can feel lonely/negative in the wrong company. I almost every aspect of these devices have been designed to make us dependent on them. It's quite a conundrum.
I'm especially ticked off about needing a smart phone for 2FA verifications. I have several landlines, so anyone can get in touch with me fairly easily. No app is necessary for me. I refuse to use GPS unless I am completely lost, and even then, I will consult a map before I turn on my phone. If it weren't for 2FA and the like, I could ditch that device. The computer is easy to hardwire, but still addictive.
It's definitely frustrating. I switched phones once without knowing how to transfer the 2FA. If I would've wiped the old phone I would have lost access to a whole lot of crypto right after I left my job. I easily lost a few years of my life in that instance.
Now that I have this Tesla I'm more tech reliant than ever. Certain aspects of it are incredible and some give me the creeps. I think about how having all of this tech do so much of the mental heavy-lifting is changing our brains. It's, without a doubt convenient, but that convenience comes with a huge cost that we don't even fully realize the ramifications of yet.