Turns out that no, no it isn't really. You can use your gear, even your commlink, without being in "AR User Mode". Using your commlink in a manner similar to real life (holding it up to your head, looking at the screen, messaging your teammates by tapping out a message with your thumbtips, etc) doesn't rise to the level of what shadowrun calls "AR". If you're driving your car, and you rely on the instrument panel rather than an immersive holographic Heads Up Display, that's not AR. If you're doing a technical task and not making use of holographic technical orders floating in space, that's not AR. Etc.
Hmm. Id say these interactions are pretty common in Shadowrun; being out in public and referring to your physical commlink for directions or messaging must surely mark you out as either a performative Luddite hipster or desperately poor. And the third example, in particular, it might render you borderline unemployable. My headcanon is that AR is absolutely ubiquitous in and crucial to all kinds of jobs. Even manual labour on an assembly line is AR-guided.
Which could be interesting character background fodder for why someone with this quality might fall through the cracks and end up a criminal...
It all depends heavily on the character concept and on the campaign location.
At my current table, the setting is Berlin, so the virtual world is already a bit more... shoddy. Spam, faults, patchy connectivity and outright jamming in the alternative districts - you will be often better off without AR reliance, and you will have at least have a good explanation on why you still use your thumbs on your spiderwebbed commlink display like some caveman. Also, being in AR also means being visible and trackable. There are enough Luddites and Paranoids in the City who only turn on one of their 2D6 Burner Kommlinks when itīs absolutely needed. There are even seperate sub-grids and a whole wires-only Matrix beyond the city. So, being a little bit "old school" isnīt going to raise that many eyebrows. Maybe you will get a little quip here and there, but youīre not considered a freak. And even if you were: Itīs Berlin.
So, one of my players actually rolled a character with AR vertigo: A gunslinger Adept with a strong western theme. Old school Akimbo revolvers, dusty longcoat and (armored) Hat, and a fitting Code of Honor, since the player in question is a huge fan of the Dark Tower series. Outside of Combat, the AR Vertigo is mostly a funny quirk that offsets the character from the other, more tech-reliant characters (a Rigger and an Infiltration expert). Heīs often lagging behind and quite laconic in Matrix conversation because heīs typing so slowly, but this often leads to rather comedic "complications". And sometimes, there are actually situations where itīs beneficial to the team to have one member on the watch in the real world without any AR overlays. Since the Adept is also serving as the teamīs Astral spotter, heīs even less dependant on AR to serve his role.
In Combat situations, not using AR has certain drawbacks, but nothing that is really a total dealbreaker - especially when combined with the unique skills of the awakened. He canīt use Smartlinks, and in fact, his revolvers are 100% mechanical throwbacks without any electronics. Thatīs missing out on +2 AR and 1 dice, but he still rolls 17-18 dice and gets +2 AR thanks to Adept powers. Tactical communication is a little bit trickier as well, but good planning, Subvocal mics and handsigns are not the worst substitutes. And of course, you are a lot less prone to hacking. It offers some unique challenges, but thatīs what you get your bonus karma for.
