Yea, I Actually Turn Off My Phone About 16 Hours/Day

I don’t do it all the days, but most days. Here’s why, and what I think is good/bad about it.

I started doing this maybe in late 2023. I have a back house to my main house, and my work set-up is in the back house, including where I charge my phone. I started putting my phone in the back house at night probably in 2021. It’s true that my parents were getting older, and I guess you could make a case that I should have it by me since they’re 1,200 miles away, but you could also make a case that dealing with something at 7am and 2am is the same since you’re not going to catch a flight at 2:30am, generally.

Anyway, I didn’t like having my phone in room, so I started that in 2021. It was out back and I checked it in the morning when I went to look at email and stretch (and find memes).

The late 2023 pivot was tied to a therapist I used to have. Ended up not being the best therapist perhaps, but we did talk about how my phone kinda depresses me. It’s not just the torrent of bullshit news about wealth moving upwards and people locking their babies in refrigerators, although that was troubling. It was more that I used to feel (maybe age 22–26) “relevant” and “popular” (suitcase words), and after about 32, it felt like no one really texted me or cared…