On brink of burnout in late 2002, I decided it was time to get rid of the very tool that for the previous three years had allowed me to juggle with four simultaneous jobs as a web designer, a university lecturer, a professional soccer referee, and a freelance designer: my mobile phone. The idea of living without a mobile phone addressed a personal need of improving my life by exploring ways to reduce stress.

An autoethnography of my experiences living without a mobile phone over nine years spread in two periods (i.e., 2002-2008 and 2014-2017). Seven criteria for successful ethnography from existing literature are identified, discussed and used to judge this work.