In 2012, I realized I had a problem.
My iPhone made me twitchy.
I could feel it in my pocket, calling me, like the Ring called Bilbo Baggins.
It distracted me from my kids.
It distracted me from my wife.
It distracted me anytime, anywhere.
I needed to take control.
This post originally appeared onMedium.
Infinity in my pocket was too much.
I wanted to get control, but I didn’t want to give up my iPhone altogether.
I loved having Google Maps and Uber and Find Friends and an amazing camera.
So I decided to try an experiment.
I deleted my mail account.
I uninstalled every app I couldn’t handle.
I thought I’d try it for a week.
A month went by, then two, and I was loving my newfound freedom.
I wrote up a post about my experience on Medium, calledThe distraction-free iPhone.
Then alotof people read the post.
It got over 80,000 views on Medium.Lifehackerran it, and it got 70,000 more.
Gizmodo ran it, and it got another 150,000.
Obviously, other people were interested in the topic.
(It’s not because I’m an interesting writer.
For comparison, the next thing I wrote, aboutzombies, got less than 500 views.)
Sure, most of those bajillion readers especially on Gizmodo wanted to talk about what an idiot I am.
“Why doesn’t he just buy a flip phone?!”
But a lot of people were supportive.
And a lot of them actuallytriedit.
Even some of my friends gave it a shot.
The biggest victory was when my wife made her own iPhone distraction-free.
This, after 6 months of telling me I was nuts.
You bet I was stoked!
(Only you’re able to’t really gloat in that situation.
Anyway, I still get a lot of people asking: am I still doing it?
Some of those people are probably too impatient to read this long boring intro.
Here comes the self-righteous part.
I reach for my phone a lot less often.
Times on the bus when I would’ve checked email, I listen to music or just look around.
I even started meditating on the bus (yes, really!
And, uh… yo don’t mug me) using an app calledCalm.
I can’t believe I’m the hippy dippy weirdo meditating on the bus using an app.
But I’m actually a lot happier doing that than I was with my tweets.
At home, the phone becomes part of the stereo, and nothing more.
At work, I set the thing down a lot.
The weird part is this: This experiment was supposed to be a hardship.
It feels like the easy way out.
I not only don’t want to go back, going back sounds really… difficult.
Think of all the things I’d have to keep track of.
Managing notifications and streams and pings and bleeps can add up to a lot of work.
Now there’s no pressure here.
Some people seem to handle their smartphones just fine.
For the rest of us, this is a worthy experiment.
At any given moment, there’s something super interesting on the Internet I haven’t seen before.
Actually, I’m gonna go check real quick.
Must… finish… iPhone post.
Turn ‘em on, and then you’re able to turn off Safari.
Kinda awkward, right?
Remove Mail
Email’s another big problem for me.
There’s somegood psychologybehind this: our brains have a glitch that makes random rewards incredibly appealing.
It’s a slot machine where the big payout is… a note from my boss, I guess.
it’s possible for you to’t turn the Mail app all the way off on your iPhone.
The easiest thing to do is delete your email account in parameters.
So none of them belong on my phone.
you’re able to delete these apps the old-fashioned way, of course.
Jiggle, jiggle, X!
Consciously Decide What to Keep
Having a blank desktop on the phone is surprisingly calming.
Once I’d cleared off so much stuff, I wanted to keep it clean.
I found it really useful to ask myself why each remaining app was on my phone.
Was it a tool that made my life better?
Or was it dragging me along for the ride?
So what made the cut?
Dropbox, Google Maps, Uber, Rdio, Instacart, and so on.
There are a lot of non-distractors that are amazing.
(Even the weather app is pretty cool, when I stop and think about it.
I mean, in the 1980s, I had a Walkman.
That’s my point of reference: a freakin’Walkman.
It’s totally amazing that it’s possible for you to get a weather report in your pocket.
And I would never,everget addicted to it.)
Useful things I rarely use, like a New York subway map or the compass.
Useless things you’re free to’t delete, like Passbook and Game Center.
Internet, all the time, everywhere?
Games, news, photos, popularity?
Yes, c’mon, more, c’mon!
It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet of excellent gourmet food.
The trouble for me?
I willalwayseat more than I should.
So I’ll leave you with a little preaching.
Personally, my life’s already going by at the speed of light.
But this past year, it felt just thetiniestbit slower.
Tell Me If You Try It
Thanks for reading.
If you do the experiment, I’d love to hear about it.
Take a screenshot and drop me a tweet.
I’ll check it on my laptop.@jakek.
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