It’s been one of my bigger goals of late. Being on my phone less. Cell phones, while a great tool, have ended up being a major, disappointing distraction. As I’ve written about before, I’ve sought to lessen these and other devices’ influence over me. And I’ve been successful.
To a point…
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been able to go without my phones (one for work; one for home) being on me for good stretches of time. It’s felt great not even feeling them on my person. An empty pocket, in other words. I don’t even miss them when I do leave them behind. The problem isn’t that any longer.
When I do have them near me, I still tend to grab them and unlock them, allowing that bright screen to transfix me. If it’s not for a legitimate purpose, such as email for work, or texting my wife, I mindlessly tool around in one app or another. Or I’ll look around on social media. In other words, I zone out. Zoning out is one thing; zoning out because I am on a phone isn’t letting my brain shut down. I want to be able to shut down, truly shut down, even if for a moment. I am able occasionally, but I need the phones out of reach about 75% of the time.
So there’s still work to do. Given the improvements so far though, I have little doubt that I will succeed.
Jeremy C Kester 
Leave a Reply