Without the internet at your fingertips, you might ask a local for directions, get pleasantly lost or find yourself in serendipitous situations. When freed from your phone, you tend to look forward rather than down, opening your body to interaction.
Also, focus improves: you’re not only likely to have more conversations, you’ll likely have better ones; and with no internet to answer every question, discussions can expand and roam. Freed from email and social media, you can forget the white noise and hone in on the things that truly inspire.
However, smartphones are extremely useful, so leaving them behind probably isn’t realistic. So use your smartphone smartly. Disable time-sucking apps and limit yourself to a quick online check every few days. Don’t let a small rectangle of pixels usurp the wonders of the real world.