Thought I’d Miss It—Didn’t Happen

[mouakter14]

When I decided to cancel my phone number, I fully expected to feel a little regret. Maybe even panic. After all, having a phone number is like a safety net, right? It’s how people have reached me for years. I figured I’d be scrambling to get it back within days—maybe missing a text from a friend, a job callback, or just the weird comfort of knowing I could always be reached. Spoiler: none of that happened. Instead, the transition was way smoother than I imagined. Once I updated a few accounts and let my people know where to find me (hello, Instagram DMs and Telegram), I realized something kind of wild: I didn’t miss my number at all.

What I did notice was the silence—and I mean that in the best way. No more random calls. No texts from political campaigns or pharmacy chains. No anxiety when I saw a number I didn’t recognize lighting up my screen. My communication became quieter, more intentional. Everything moved to the apps I already used daily: Instagram for friends, WhatsApp special database for family, and email for anything important. I started checking my phone less because I wasn’t being pulled into distractions I didn’t ask for. And guess what? The people who actually mattered didn’t disappear—they just messaged me in the apps we already shared. It turns out, most of us already live in a post-phone-number world—we just didn’t realize it yet.

Honestly, the only real “loss” I felt was the monthly bill, and I was more than happy to let that go. I won’t pretend there weren’t little adjustments—setting up Google Authenticator, finding workarounds for apps that still demand a number—but once that was handled, it felt like digital freedom. If you’re someone who’s thinking about cutting the cord but worried about what you’ll miss… you might be surprised. I thought I’d feel disconnected. I thought I’d regret it. I thought I’d miss it. Didn’t happen. Instead, I feel lighter, more in control, and oddly more connected to the people who matter—because now, every message I get is one I want to receive.