What If I Don’t Bring My Phone?
On the one hand, being an Apple Watch psychopath has helped me stay in half-decent shape. On the other, devices and digitization are dragging us out of the real world and are linked to depression. Of course, it’s not a new idea that something can be both good and bad for us at the same time.
It’s for that reason that a story on NPR recently about a study that found that more than 90% of people who willingly blocked the internet from their phones for a month ended up happier interested me. They didn’t go cold turkey, mind you. They were allowed iPads and computers at home and work and could still use their phones to talk and text. But what they couldn’t do was mindlessly scroll whenever they wanted.
One of the researchers behind the study said that he didn’t think that the cause of this boost in happiness resulted from taking away the internet. Rather, and I’m paraphrasing, that it resulted from taking the internet as an option when you intended to be doing something else anyway (reading, cooking, going for a walk, etc.). That way you actually got the benefit from doing something else!
So I asked myself, what if I don’t bring my phone?
And the answer to that hit me. I thought about how just the previous weekend I had gone for a walk in the woods with my wife, but I’d probably looked at my Apple Watch or checked my phone a dozen times for no good reason at all. Had I been present in the moment? Was I getting the time in nature with a loved one I intended?
Probably no.
I have a thread on X nee Twitter of nature photos. I thought about what if I had just carefully observed those moments instead of trying to take a good picture of them (though then none of you would have believed that I came face to face with a bobcat)? Would I remember them better? Might they have impacted me more?
I think yes.
And then I thought about the stories I just told you about accidental car jackings and “Oh No!” risk and how I recommended you always “take the minute to make sure you’re doing what you think you’re doing.” But I realized I probably wasn’t doing that when I was driving or walking or coaching soccer or in a brainstorm if I had my phone out.
Dangit.
Next week is Spring Break and let’s be honest, even though we’re going to be at the beach, I’m going to bring my phone. But I promise you this, while I will have my phone at the house, when I go to the beach I’m going to leave it behind and instead go to the beach. As for whether or not I’ll ditch my Apple Watch (which would end my Move Goal streak), well, I haven’t decided yet.
See you when we’re back, and I hope your – and my – spring break is bussin’. We deserve it after that winter.
– Tim
