I am a high school special education teacher and I usually keep my phone in my office while I’m in class. I travel from room to room. I try to set a good example of responsible phone usage for my students. We don’t have an effective phone policy yet, but that’s a different discussion…
I deleted my Twitter and Instagram accounts years ago and I recently deleted my Facebook and LinkedIn accounts as well. I enjoy living under a rock. In addition, I have very few apps on my phone and I’ve disabled nearly all notifications.
When I get home from work I plug my phone in on the dresser in my bedroom - a version of Cal Newport’s “phone foyer method”. Most of my screen time is spent on Messages or in Gmail, reading a handful of email newsletters like yours. At one point I even deleted the Gmail app on my phone, but I find a lot of value from being able to read email newsletters on the go.
I’ve even tried turning off Safari access. That lasted for months, but it was hard to open and share links so I stopped.
Those sound like some great habits. I haven't had Facebook on my phone in years and it's amazing how it's sort of just ceased to exist in my mind. Thanks for sharing.
May 23·edited May 24Liked by Katherine Johnson Martinko
Airplane mode or turning my phone off and then putting my phone out of sight has worked fine for me. I’m choosing to live frugal in order to stay home with my son so I’m not drawn to the idea of paying for something like this. Real life is just more interesting than our digital world. But I do think making space in our lives to reflect and ponder on the root of why we feel the need to check on phone or lack self control in this area will bring a lasting solution into a lives more so than doing any of these hacks. Having minimal apps on our phone, turning off notifications, utilizing the screen time feature…..all helpful in making our phone less appealing, but still doesn’t get to the root of why we are drawn to it. We can blame it on the developers and say they designed it that way but it’s important to take responsibility for what we do and acknowledge it. Speaking from experience.
Have you heard of a brick? I have been thinking about trying that because I like to carry around my phone to take photos of my kids (not all the time, but if something cute happens I like to snap one) but then I always have my phone and find it hard to stay off it. With the brick you can block specific things (eg only photos and phone calls work and you block everything else). I’m curious if anyone has one and likes it.
I love the idea of this box, yet I don't know that I'd have the courage to bring it up to my guests. We do have family rituals that keep us unplugged some of the time. (This all applies to the whole family, including parents.) Phones are not allowed upstairs in bedrooms, we use old fashioned alarm clocks, and no technology at the dinner table. We make a habit of leaving phones at home or in the glovebox of our car when go visiting family and for church. We also try to power off all phones during family vacations.
I like the idea of a faraday pretty box! Especially if I could put it by the front door and invite guests to set their phones aside for the duration. It would beat the clutter look of a "basket" and of course wouldn't even involve asking anyone to do the extra hard mental choice of powering down or putting anything on airplane mode. Nothing would ding! I would say something like, "Hey just want to invite you to set your phone in the box so you can fully enjoy your time here in person"....or something like that...
Very little of being 'in the moment' these days. Concerts, nature hikes, museums, dinners, etc. where people 'need' to document, research, post, etc. instead of just being. We can all live a little more unplugged for sure.
I've been contemplating buying the Aro box. Have you heard of it? The only reason I've been hesitant is because it's a subscription, because it connects to an app to track actual time your phone is down. And you can "compete" against your spouse/family members to see who has their phone put away the most, to incentivize you to keep it in the box. I think it sounds great, I'm just not sure if I want to pay a monthly fee for it. I've also done Hannah Brencher's 1,000 hours unplugged challenge, and you print off a bubble sheet and track the hours your phone is off. I find that to be really helpful, because I'm easily motivated by crossing things off/filling in a bubble. Ha! I haven't done it in awhile, but maybe I should start again!
I don't know about Hannah Brencher's challenge, but I'm going to look into that! Like you, I'd find the idea of a monthly subscription sort of annoying, especially if it means yet another app to monitor. I'm not familiar with the Aro box.
The Aro box looks great in theory! Because I think it would encourage my husband and myself to unplug more. I don't know about paying for it each month though. Our kids don't have phones yet, so I would also like to model good phone use BEFORE they get one.
I am a high school special education teacher and I usually keep my phone in my office while I’m in class. I travel from room to room. I try to set a good example of responsible phone usage for my students. We don’t have an effective phone policy yet, but that’s a different discussion…
I deleted my Twitter and Instagram accounts years ago and I recently deleted my Facebook and LinkedIn accounts as well. I enjoy living under a rock. In addition, I have very few apps on my phone and I’ve disabled nearly all notifications.
When I get home from work I plug my phone in on the dresser in my bedroom - a version of Cal Newport’s “phone foyer method”. Most of my screen time is spent on Messages or in Gmail, reading a handful of email newsletters like yours. At one point I even deleted the Gmail app on my phone, but I find a lot of value from being able to read email newsletters on the go.
I’ve even tried turning off Safari access. That lasted for months, but it was hard to open and share links so I stopped.
Those sound like some great habits. I haven't had Facebook on my phone in years and it's amazing how it's sort of just ceased to exist in my mind. Thanks for sharing.
Airplane mode or turning my phone off and then putting my phone out of sight has worked fine for me. I’m choosing to live frugal in order to stay home with my son so I’m not drawn to the idea of paying for something like this. Real life is just more interesting than our digital world. But I do think making space in our lives to reflect and ponder on the root of why we feel the need to check on phone or lack self control in this area will bring a lasting solution into a lives more so than doing any of these hacks. Having minimal apps on our phone, turning off notifications, utilizing the screen time feature…..all helpful in making our phone less appealing, but still doesn’t get to the root of why we are drawn to it. We can blame it on the developers and say they designed it that way but it’s important to take responsibility for what we do and acknowledge it. Speaking from experience.
Have you heard of a brick? I have been thinking about trying that because I like to carry around my phone to take photos of my kids (not all the time, but if something cute happens I like to snap one) but then I always have my phone and find it hard to stay off it. With the brick you can block specific things (eg only photos and phone calls work and you block everything else). I’m curious if anyone has one and likes it.
I love the idea of this box, yet I don't know that I'd have the courage to bring it up to my guests. We do have family rituals that keep us unplugged some of the time. (This all applies to the whole family, including parents.) Phones are not allowed upstairs in bedrooms, we use old fashioned alarm clocks, and no technology at the dinner table. We make a habit of leaving phones at home or in the glovebox of our car when go visiting family and for church. We also try to power off all phones during family vacations.
I like the idea of a faraday pretty box! Especially if I could put it by the front door and invite guests to set their phones aside for the duration. It would beat the clutter look of a "basket" and of course wouldn't even involve asking anyone to do the extra hard mental choice of powering down or putting anything on airplane mode. Nothing would ding! I would say something like, "Hey just want to invite you to set your phone in the box so you can fully enjoy your time here in person"....or something like that...
Very little of being 'in the moment' these days. Concerts, nature hikes, museums, dinners, etc. where people 'need' to document, research, post, etc. instead of just being. We can all live a little more unplugged for sure.
I've been contemplating buying the Aro box. Have you heard of it? The only reason I've been hesitant is because it's a subscription, because it connects to an app to track actual time your phone is down. And you can "compete" against your spouse/family members to see who has their phone put away the most, to incentivize you to keep it in the box. I think it sounds great, I'm just not sure if I want to pay a monthly fee for it. I've also done Hannah Brencher's 1,000 hours unplugged challenge, and you print off a bubble sheet and track the hours your phone is off. I find that to be really helpful, because I'm easily motivated by crossing things off/filling in a bubble. Ha! I haven't done it in awhile, but maybe I should start again!
I don't know about Hannah Brencher's challenge, but I'm going to look into that! Like you, I'd find the idea of a monthly subscription sort of annoying, especially if it means yet another app to monitor. I'm not familiar with the Aro box.
The Aro box looks great in theory! Because I think it would encourage my husband and myself to unplug more. I don't know about paying for it each month though. Our kids don't have phones yet, so I would also like to model good phone use BEFORE they get one.
Here's more about Hannah's challenge: https://hannahbrenchercreative.com/unplugged