Last week, I—the guy who wrote an entire book on attachment to the stuff of earth—spent more than 4 hours per day on my cell phone. My cellphone use was on an upward trend, and I decided it had to stop. How would curb I my well-fixed attachment? Through simple, incremental change.

Yesterday, I placed my phone on the far side of the room, next to the wilting plant and a minimalist interior design book I keep in my office for inspiration. It’s a corner of the room I frequent less than I should.

Switching the ringer on (in case Amber or a client called), I fell into a sort of forced “monk mode,” a state business writer Greg McKeown describes as “shutting out the world for a time.” I worked a focused flow for one hour, then a second, taking a break only once to refill my coffee mug (and see a man about a horse, if you know what I mean). And with my phone out of sight and out of mind, the barrage of silent notifications from Instagram, Messenger, Voxer, The Weather Channel, and the like passed unnoticed.

This is what monks do; they ignore the superfluous to tend to what’s important.

I worked a similar flow in the second half of the workday, and though my will-power is lowest in these hours, having my phone across the room seemed to help. At four o’clock, I answered a scheduled call and after I hung up, I looked at my screen time report. It was five minutes till the end of the workday, and I’d only logged 55 minutes.

By the end of the night, I’d only used my phone a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes. How did I feel at the end of the day?

Focused. Energized. Accomplished.

What did I miss?

Nothing as far as I can tell, except the tyranny of my smartphone notifications, and that seems to be a thing worth missing.*

*Yesterday, I opened a new thread on smartphone addiction on Substack, in which I ask you for suggestions. Check it out.

Life Examined: An Incremental Plan.

Today, set aside at least one hour and enter “monk mode.” During that monk mode hour (or hours), hide your phone, disconnect from social media, and focus on what matters most.
After your time is up, spend fifteen minutes examining how you feel. Ask yourself whether you ought to make this part of your daily routine. Examine what this might do to break your smartphone attachment, even if it’s only an incremental step.

Join Me

What to hear more about how you can help bring a book on silence to life? Don’t forget to head to my latest Substack post for more.

THE BOOK OF WAKING UP —a book on addiction, attachment, and the Divine Love—launched TUESDAY so order a copy or ten at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookish (my favorite indie bookseller). Then, forward this post to a friend and ask them to read along.