{"id":2432,"date":"2013-05-24T10:12:17","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T14:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alifeofproductivity.com\/?p=2432"},"modified":"2022-09-03T02:16:41","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T02:16:41","slug":"life-so-far-without-my-cellphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/life-so-far-without-my-cellphone\/","title":{"rendered":"Life without my best friend… I mean, my cellphone."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jump to:<\/strong> If you’re just looking for the practical\/tactical part, jump to “How much more productive does your smartphone make you?”, and read from there!<\/p>\n

Takeaway:<\/strong> The answer to whether a smartphone makes you more productive comes down to what jobs to “hire” your smartphone to do for you.<\/p>\n

Estimated Reading Time:<\/strong> 7 minutes, 15s. Some parts are skimmable, though.<\/div><\/div>\n

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This article is about a productivity experiment I’m conducting where I’m only turning on my smartphone for one hour\/day. Read more about my productivity experiments<\/a><\/span>.<\/div><\/div>\n

Smartphone Paradise<\/b><\/h2>\n

Yesterday I saw the new Star Trek movie with my girlfriend and I thought about my smartphone, which was at home, for a significant portion of it. I thought about what I was missing out on – texts, twitter alerts and @mentions,\u00a0emails, and everything else. Throughout the movie I was restless; shifting around in my seat, and my mind wandered to a cellphone paradise chockfull of alerts, beeps, and buzzes\u2026<\/p>\n

You are slowly walking around in a cellphone paradise. You pull your phone out of your pocket. 67 new alerts. 32 people retweeted your tweet! 20 like your Facebook status! 15 new followers on twitter! You’re famous! You’re a rockstar!<\/i><\/p>\n

Wait, a *fling* sound just came from your phone! What’s this? 10 new email messages!? Three from people telling you how great you are? One from Groupon with an amazing coupon for 95% off at Starbucks? Four responses from jobs you just applied for? One from Amazon that your order just shipped?<\/i><\/p>\n

As you look up from your phone, you begin to smile as you slowly spin around, taking in the digital landscape around you. You’re a pioneer. A rebel. A digital maverick.<\/i><\/p>\n

You are a God amongst mere mortals in the digital age. A king in a digital paradise.<\/i><\/p>\n

A New Friend<\/b><\/h2>\n

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When I bought my first iPhone (the one pictured on the right), my cellphone stopped being my cellphone and became, to put it weirdly, another appendage. One that was more useful than most of my other appendages.<\/p>\n

Sure, it’s pretty cool how my thumb allows me to grab things, but can it take pictures and connect with people from literally all around the world? And sure my nose is cool and all, but it can really only do one thing – there’s no way it’s ever going to be able to play music, tell the time, play video games, or be useful as a meditation timer.<\/p>\n

My new buddy did so much, so beautifully, that I never wanted to let him go. He was as good as a part of me.<\/p>\n

So, is that a good or a bad thing?<\/b><\/h2>\n

A smartphone can feel like a paradise – a rich, engrossing dreamscape that connects you with dozens or even hundreds of people at one time. When you’re plugged in, you’re entertained, engrossed, engaged, and connected. You direct nearly all of your attention at your smartphone, and in return you’re able to connect with all of your friends, learn what they’re doing, and have access to almost every person and piece of information in existence. When you think about it, that’s absolutely incredible.<\/p>\n

But in my opinion, the opposite view is just as valid. If you could watch yourself using your smartphone, it would look as though you’re a silly, small person staring at a tiny little screen providing you with little pellets of stimulation and validation. Sure, your smartphone allows you to connect with the world, but is that really<\/i> what the world is about? Why become engrossed with a tiny screen when there is even more beauty all around you?<\/p>\n

The book RAPT<\/a><\/span> (a book about managing your attention) puts it nicely when it says, “the world’s most beautiful garden might as well be as asphalt parking lot if you pound through it while barking into your cell phone”. But I would add, if you’re walking through an asphalt parking and your significant other just texted you about how much they love you, you might as well be in the world’s most beautiful garden.<\/p>\n

I think the answer to whether a smartphone makes you more productive stems from what jobs to “hire” your smartphone to do, and how many black holes you fall into along the way to getting those jobs done.<\/p>\n

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How much more productive does your smartphone make you?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Since your smartphone is a tool, the extent to which it makes you more productive depends entirely on how you use it.<\/strong> As part of this productivity experiment, I usually save my highest-leverage smartphone activities for the one-hour a day I use my phone, like texting friends back, checking my voicemail, making important phone calls, and very quickly catching up on Instagram.<\/p>\n

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I have a much better memory after ditching my iPhone.<\/p><\/div>\n

Every single piece of technology in your life is a tool – nothing more, nothing less<\/strong>. You can choose whether you want to use it to entertain you, make you more productive, or whether you want to waste time with it. Of course you have a number of habits on how you use technology ingrained in you that you may fall back on automatically, but you ultimately have control over whether to use technology to make you more productive or not<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I think there are two very important questions you can ask yourself if you want to become more productive when you use your smartphone.<\/p>\n

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  1. What jobs do you hire your smartphone<\/a><\/span> to do for you?<\/strong>\u00a0I think this is a question worth asking when it comes to all technology. Do you “hire” your smartphone to just keep up with your friends, or do you hire it to be your GPS and mobile Internet device? Being mindful of how your actual usage syncs up with what you hire your phone to do is a great way to become more productive on your smartphone.<\/li>\n
  2. How often do you fall into a black hole of productivity?<\/strong>\u00a0If you’re a lot more disciplined than I am, you can safely skip this question. Often I fall into a productivity “black hole”, where I flip my mind to “autopilot” and bounce around between apps without thinking about it. If you often fall into a black hole of productivity on your smartphone, be more mindful the next time you use it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How not having a smartphone has affected my productivity<\/b><\/h2>\n

    Pros<\/strong><\/p>\n