Less Phone is More Smart

It is no secret that your phone is making you unhappy. At least I have yet to read a study that marries increased screen time with increased happiness, Yet plop oneself down in any public space and you will innevitably witness a deluge of glass-eyed phone: scrollers, Hell, one of them might even be you!

How did we get to a place where a couple goes out to dinner—— presumably to spend more time with each other--only to surf

tik tok independently. In perhaps the most hilarious and tragic example of distracted phone usage, I once watched a man try to Instagram the concert he was attending, forget who it was and check the ticket stub in Gmail, scroll around on Wikipedia for a timer to learn more about the artist, then field a bunch of text messages about golf. All to the background of a song that was not so subtly about the toxicity of cell phone indulgence. I am not immune to it either. I still sometimes catch myself furiously refreshing my favorite news feeds as if there is some achievement one unlocks by seeing a new article first.

First.

Or worse: I find myself staring at a digital shopping cart full to the brim with items of varying usefullnesse

As an extreme introvert, my #@¢ smartphone was something of

a godsend in my bachelor days. It meant I could go somewhere alone and appear as though somebody cared about me. Of course we all knew I was tapping refresh on Facebook and not, in

fact, answering an onslaught of messages from my entourage. Furthermore, I was deluded to think that gluing my eyes to a screen made me look and feel anything other than more lonely.

I eventually learned to get over my fear of public displays of singularity and instead travelled with a book as my prop and companion. I try to make a concerted effort not to pull out my phone when I have down time. It is often tempting to sneak a peak here and there.

But there is almost invariably nothing there for me, Therein lies the whole issue with smart phones. They were not designed for us. Once you accept that their utility is a byproduct of the data collecting ad revenue machine they are meant to be, you

can start to have a healthy relationship with it.

I wish that this is now the moment that I could recommend a privacy respecting Linux phone designed by a cammunity around individual health and happiness, but that sadly doesn't quite exist yet. At least not if you are unwilling to make significant compromises, I've tried multiple times to de-google my life

only to repeatedly come to the same conclusion: sometimes

Google © « does have the best tools (or Apple, Microsoft, Sams- ung, and so on)

While there is definite merit in the pursuit of a fully free

and open source toolkit, I'm not advocating that you toss your proprietary wares in the trash. Rather, learn how to use them less, Make them work for you instead of leech off of you.

The smart phone was billed as the swiss army knife of technology. You no longer needed a GPS, walkman, gameboy, or day planner if you simply signed the terms of agreement and willingly handed over your life to a single slab of glowing, touch sensitive glass. It is true that the smartphone gave us those things, but

at what sacrifices?

This is why, perhaps counterintuitively, many of my suggestions will involve acquiring more technology. Think about what essential features your phone provides and ask yourself if a purpose built device could provide a better, distraction free experience,

My gateway into this line of thinking was the smartwatch. I often need to 2 factor authenticate applications for work which typically involves unlocking and engaging with my phone for a brief moment. Once eyes are trained on the screen, all bets are off. What starts as a simple login ends halfway down a NY Times article, A smartwatch gives you freedom from the smartphone rabbit hole by letting you engage with notificat- ions without access to the whole suite of attention stealing apps. The key to making this work is to be ruthless about which notif- ications you allow through. Uninstall anything that you do not regularly use. Mute notifications on the apps you want to keep but don't want to hear from. If you aren't ready to kill your social media accounts, at least mute them. I've even gone as far as creating a new phone number and email address that is only ever shared with REAL people that I care about and would want to respond to immediately. This: way I can turn off notifications fom the junk and let bots quietly churn in silence, If you've already burned your current number by sticking it in one too many sketchy web forms, just port it over to google voice and start fresh

with your carrier. Ideally your watch should only notify you about things you really care about. No time wasters allowed! Once you have achieved notification bliss, I urge you to experiment with leaving your phone on your nightstand (or wherever it rests) any time you are home. If my own experience is any indication, you won't always succeed in this experiment. So ask yourself... What is it you regularly need your phone for? Can you get this some other way? For me it was music, so I bought myself a walkman, Yes they still exist, Do you play games on your phone? Try a dedicated gaming handheld. Read the news? Get a magazine subscription...

You may not immediately feel happier with less screen time. You might even feel BORED,

Sit with that feeling.

Revel in ite.

What does your mind do?

What do you notice?

What will you do now that you've reclaimee time for yourself from your device?