I’m in my 40s, how would you expect to court a partner without a phone?
There is already plenty accounts out there that even the relatively small barrier of iMessage -> SMS is a large enough of an inconvenience to stop a lot of casual relationships from moving to the next level or even continuing.
Having no phone means you are basically unreachable for most of the day. A much more significant hurdle to get over. It’s possible to find another like minded person but that is a very tiny minority of people looking for a partner. It’s not the 90s anymore and people are accustomed to living in this constantly connected world. Look at most sitcoms from the 90s so many of the situations they find themselves in just aren’t relatable because of the easy communication we have with everyone at all times.
I guess we need to agree exactly what "not using a phone" means.
I send >85+% of my sms or sms-like messages from a laptop/desktop. So no, I don't see a phone as an important part of my communication besides the fact it gives me a number serving as an ID that could just as easily be provided many other ways.
I primarily took this line to mean dating apps, facetime, and other social media like functions; which I would argue are mostly worthless for developing and maintaining friendships or partnerships.
If we're taking it to the extreme and saying that not having a phone somehow disallows you any digital communications; then yes it will be significantly more difficult without a phone, perhaps to the point that some would feel it's a necessary device.
Random interactions at a third place can happen without a phone, but eventually you'll want to meet somewhere else, and unless you're comfortable with the old school "meet me at the clock" style meetup and all the failure modes that could occur, you're going to need a way to communicate
There is already plenty accounts out there that even the relatively small barrier of iMessage -> SMS is a large enough of an inconvenience to stop a lot of casual relationships from moving to the next level or even continuing.
Having no phone means you are basically unreachable for most of the day. A much more significant hurdle to get over. It’s possible to find another like minded person but that is a very tiny minority of people looking for a partner. It’s not the 90s anymore and people are accustomed to living in this constantly connected world. Look at most sitcoms from the 90s so many of the situations they find themselves in just aren’t relatable because of the easy communication we have with everyone at all times.