To the Editor:

According to the statistic cited in Paul Greenberg’s “In Search of Lost Screen Time” (Op-Ed, Jan. 1), I am among the under 25 percent of Americans who don’t own or use a smartphone. According to friends and colleagues who can’t understand how I’ve made it into the 21st century without one, that fact qualifies me for a place in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.”

When I started my business in 1996 and announced to my new clients that they would never be able to reach me by cellphone, many of them were horrified and wondered how I could ever possibly conduct business. Or what would happen, say, if a friend was delayed for our lunch date and absolutely had to get in touch to let me know that she’d be seven minutes late. I am glad to report that it has all worked out.

I have found being smartphone-less delightfully freeing and not remotely a hardship (although I admit that it must be nice to have access to Uber on a rainy night). Otherwise, I can happily say — as suggested in Mr. Greenberg’s article — that I have the time to exercise and read books every day and I save lots of money.

And while my honey and I don’t make love 16,000 times a year (per Mr. Greenberg’s calculation), I suppose that I would have to blame his smartphone for pulling down our stats.

Linda Konner
New York

To the Editor:

Paul Greenberg's analysis regarding screen time is at best incomplete. For one thing, some smartphones are used during the idle moments of commuting and the like, when alternatives are limited. (In my experience, amorous activity — to name one of Mr. Greenberg's suggestions — is not feasible on the A train during rush hour.)

Also, some of us need a smartphone for work and must own a device, however infrequently we use it. So limiting screen time does not necessarily liberate the funds to plant even a single tree, to say nothing of half an acre of them.

Joseph Bernstein
Haverford, Pa.

To the Editor:

I’m an 18-year-old high school senior writing to you from my smartphone, while eating breakfast on my vacation in Jaipur, India. Without my device, I could not have read Paul Greenberg’s insights, nor could I have sent you this letter.

To stay motivated in my busy life, I rely on my smartphone to deliver the daily news, even when I’m halfway across the world. I’m now going to email my congressman on my smartphone, in response to the morning briefing on the government shutdown delivered to me via smartphone. After that, I’m going to put down my phone, make the trip to the Taj Mahal and enjoy the sight without distraction.

Thank you, smartphone!

Brian Silverstein
Jaipur, India

To the Editor:

Thanks to Paul Greenberg for providing suggestions to support the New Year’s resolution many of us doubtless made: to reduce screen time and renew connections to the physical world. Simple pleasures, rich rewards.

I like to think of my day in terms of digital hours and analog hours. Usually, it’s the analog hours that bring more fulfillment. For those of us who prefer a less ambitious goal than those Mr. Greenberg lays out, perhaps starting with analog minutes is a good idea. My day begins each morning with a few analog minutes enjoying the rustling of the newspaper above a steaming cup of coffee.

Ralph Walsh
Chicago

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