"You don't need to connect to the Internet at all".

How is that an answer to someone saying that they don't see how they can stay connected without having a smartphone?

Well honestly that's part of the flip phone lifestyle, if someone doesn't want to call me, that's fine, they can send me an email. We don't have to bring Google or Apple into this relationship, it's a choice people make because the prefer texting and being available to everyone they ever met 24/7

> We don't have to bring Google or Apple into this relationship, it's a choice people make because the prefer texting and being available to everyone they ever met 24/7

You're changing the discussion now.

The original point is this: Given that people want to be able to text with their friends in what is perceived as a normal way, how can they do it without a smartphone?

If you change the rules ("Given that people are fine being disconnected"), of course it changes everything.

I don't think that 24/7 availability is universally perceived as "a normal way". A large number of my contacts will answer several days after a message. In my experience it is usually only inside the nuclear family that people expect answer within 2 hours and these are the kind of people who can always choose to call instead of text if they know their child/sibling/parent is not usually text available.