As the dust settled after a crazy morning of getting kids ready for school I realised I didn’t have my phone for a whole day. At the start I was looking forward to it. What a chance for mindfulness and to be aware of my surroundings. It was great. Then I had a coffee and the natural follow-on left me no choice but to head to the toilet. And without a phone, a public toilet is the worst place to be aware of your surroundings.
My productivity was at an all time high. Without a phone I had no interruptions and was crossing thing off my to-do list. And by limiting the way people contact me, nothing was getting added either. The dream is to have a to-do list that gets smaller. Rather than the usual “completing works gets rewarded with more work”. I was actually enjoying work. I was feeling like I was useful, professional, and dare I say it, deserving of my role and title.
It wasn’t all fun; I did miss my phone when waiting for my order at a café. With no friends to talk to, I looked around and I was the only person not on a phone. This isn’t a criticism. My brain craved the finely tuned by chemical hit technology provides. Apps and notifications have been optimised for dosing dopamine for the attention era. Needing something, my attention constantly got caught by the movements of the staff rushing about. I felt like a weirdo; a weirdo just raw-dogging life.
Sitting with your thoughts can be dangerous. Think back to the early to mid 00’s when the best thing on your phone was Snake. Society, at this point in history, was left dwell in their own thoughts and gave us emo music. Standing in line waiting for a sandwich left to your own thoughts – no wonder they wanted to self harm.
Lunch came with a coffee, and coffee came with… repercussions. Not since the invention of the smartphone have I sat in a room hearing people shit. Say what you want about the doom scroll, but it does distract you from the emptying in the adjacent cubicle. My lord. Having phones in toilets turns them into a filth brick; the germs and faecal matter you then hold to your face is disgusting. You can sanitise a phone, but you can’t sanitise your mind from the sound of a colleagues bad diet choices.
There is a lot of talk about society needing to unplug. We are addicted to the phones in our pocket and are being manipulated by tech moguls the world over. And generally I agree. But not in a room where people are unplugging around you.
Traditionally there is a call to action at the end of posts and articles to initiate engagement with you. But I don’t want you to tell me when you heard people poo.
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Russell Hartup 