Or just don't take your phone out? I always read these threads and think that the folks here probably have issues disconnecting and so they're longing for a world where social pressures forced disconnection. I still frequently don't check my socials until after work or after a long social activity. I'm upfront with my contacts about that too, and most of my friends are like me. I only monitor my phone constantly if I'm awaiting an important call or email, but then I usually have something big going on in my life at the time.
I use my phone mostly as a PDA. Quick searches, reading Hacker News and RSS, Chatting (very infrequently), calls, and utilities. No socials apps, no games. And I have an ereader and a digital audio player for books and music.
I have plenty of social apps but they're pretty much on perma-mute except for folks like my partner or my parents who have "priority access" to my attention. During work hours work gets access, but they go on mute after hours + 2 (since I generally work a bit late.) I have a work pager setup on my phone if someone really needs me for work. Works out fine for me FWIW. I'll shitpost when I have time/brain space but leave them alone for days or even weeks if I'm occupied enough.
Does it matter? Was society behaving like you in other ways back then? I'm younger than the set here but not young certainly, and I distinctly remember how lonely it was to be a nerd in the '90s. I've assumed through most of my life that the most you can do is control how you and your circle behave. My circle varies on the introversion/extroversion scale where I'm in the middle and roughly get back to comms within a day, my more introverted friends may take multiple days, and have extroverted friends who get back within hours or even minutes. My partner is on the extroverted side and is constantly monitoring her comms but before the smartphone she had a rich rolodex of contacts who she was constantly calling.
Why do people have to follow you? I also experienced the "offline first" life and while I miss the wilder, more unsanitized nature of the internet from back then, I much prefer being able to always be connected.
