Reclaim your focus, save money, and beat back those endless notifications by not giving out your phone number and doing this instead.
Phones are a nightmare these days.
And I’m not even talking about the apps on smartphones, which are of course a nightmare of notifications, stolen focus, and brain rot.
But even if you account for that, phones aren’t exactly fun. Let me remind you: how many political texts and phone calls have you received in the past few months? Any? 😇
Well, let me tell you how many phone calls and texts I received of a political nature:
Zero.
And that has nothing to do with the fact that I don’t use a smartphone.
It’s because I don’t give out my phone number unless I absolutely have to.
And you don’t either.
No one will tell you this, and most companies will squirm in discomfort if you try to not give out your phone number.
But with a little resolve, you can take back the peace and quiet of a phone that won’t bug you to the point of madness. And not giving out your phone number is one way that you can reclaim your privacy too in a noisy and privacy-free world.
And this can save you money too, because without as many entreaties to spend money, you can reclaim your intentionality around spending, and spend only what you want, not what companies ask for.
Table of Contents
Use email instead
Do you have a choice of entering an email or entering a phone number? Then use your email.
Yes, this might give you more email, but managing your inbox is a topic for another day.
Just because there’s a field in the form that says “Phone Number” doesn’t mean you need to put something in to it.
And this works because most of the time, important information that goes to your phone (receipts, confirmations, etc.) will also go to your email address. It’s redundant, and you don’t need your phone to get this information. It’s all in your inbox.
Use a fake phone number
But what if the form says that the “Phone Number” field is required?
Simple: use a fake one.
I had an office number at a company I worked for over a decade ago. I’ve been using that as my “phone number” for about as long.
The number was a landline, not a mobile number, and so even if the number still is in use (not guaranteed, as the company is long out of business), it won’t receive texts or notifications. It might receive calls, but they won’t go to me.
What about Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)?
Probably the most common reason that companies ask for a phone number is for two-factor authentication (2FA). That’s the thing where companies send those six digits to you and you need to type them in to continue logging in.
2FA is important for security, as it lessens the chances of security breaches when someone tries to log into your account. Even if someone has your password, with 2FA on, they’re usually out of luck.
But did you know that 2FA over SMS (text message) is actually a big security risk, and security experts don’t recommend you use it?
Luckily, you don’t need to use 2FA over SMS. You can use an authenticator application. I use Google Authenticator, which is a Chrome browser plugin.
Most sites will allow you to set up an authenticator instead of SMS (text) authentication. Do it. The six digits will show up in the app, not as a text.
What if a real phone number is required?
Well, first of all, see above. Most of the time, your phone number isn’t really required, and you can get away without it.
But if this company actually needs you to enter in a phone number that you monitor, you still have a few options available to you:
Get a free Google Voice number
Everyone with a Google Account (which is mostly everyone) is eligible for a free Google Voice number. It is legitimately a second phone line for your life. You can use a Google Voice number in public and in most cases the correspondence will just go to your Google Voice account and not your phone. (Hint: Turn Google Voice notifications off.)
View it when you need to catch an important text, and other than that, you can ignore it, and any spam that comes along with it.
Use a temporary number service (expert level)
Sometimes companies don’t like Google Voice (or “VoIP” numbers), and won’t send their “important” info to that number. In that case, you are going to need a “real” phone number.
But don’t despair, you still don’t need to use yours. You can use a free service like Temp-Number.com, or even a paid service like Temp-Number.org. (Yes, it’s confusing, but the free service is public for anyone to see, and the paid service is private.)
I used the latter to get an OpenAI account back when ChatGPT first launched. It cost me $2 to get a private verification text, and OpenAI never bothered me or that phone number ever again. (And if they did, I never saw it.)
Change your linked phone number when necessary
Now I’ll admit, there have been times when I’ve entered a fake phone number or a Google Voice number, and then later realized that I wanted that number to be associated with my actual phone.
But no worries there. If you ever need to change your number, you can always do so.
So all of the steps above won’t preclude you from going back to “normal” if you ever decided to do so.
Unsubscribe from everything
The other step here to reclaim your focus and keep your phone quiet is to unsubscribe from every text or notification you get.
Whenever you get a text from something you don’t want to hear from again, just reply with a simple “STOP”. In most cases, that will unsubscribe you. Keep doing this, and over time you will receive fewer notifications.
Will it work all the time? No. But frankly, what have you got to lose? I doubt you’re going to get more texts if you try to opt out.
Bottom line: Reclaim your phone
As you can see, with a little work and planning, you too can receive fewer unnecessary notifications, texts, and even phone calls through your phone. Your phone can return to what it was designed for: as a way for friends and family to get in touch with you (and vice versa).
Remember: you don’t need to give out your phone number. Companies just want you to think that you do.
