It Really Is the Phone

Space to think changes my life.

I’ve been doing some thinking.

I know, dangerous, right?

But I think I’m gonna keep doing it.

And maybe this is your sign that you should, too?

So (after you read this article, of course), maybe set down your phone for a minute or two.

Take in the sights and sounds around you.

Let yourself feel your feelings (your actual, hard-to-swallow, wish-they-weren’t-there feelings. Trust me. You want to heal.).

Dream about the things you’re too scared to dream about (so you consume content about others’ dreams instead).

Make a pen-and-paper pros and cons list instead of Googling it. Get quiet and pray about it. Gosh darn it, ask a real-life person for advice about it.

Get some natural dopamine. Enough of those artificial vibrations and chimes and red circles notifying you of the people who want to talk to you! Go outside; touch some grass! Close your eyes and face upward toward the sun! Lay in the sand! Hug a real human!

I know, we’re getting a little risky here.

But trust me.

I think this is the way out.

I think this is the way to live.

I think we’ve been conned.

I think we’re trapped.

And I think the answer to a lot of our problems lies in this one solution: that we put the phone down and think.

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A little stream-of-consciousness poetry inspired by the fact that I’ve been putting my phone down during times I’m normally listening or watching or searching or scrolling—and it’s actually changing my life. I’ve come up with ideas and solutions to problems I haven’t been able to solve for years.

It really is the phone. We’re so capable without it. Let me know in the comments: when’s a time this week that you’re normally on your phone and can try to, like…not be?!

I’ll go first: I’m going to do the after-bedtime dishes without listening to a podcast. Did it the other night and came up with an entire multi-page manifesto for a dream I’ve had for years.

Tell me, what space will you give yourself?

Putting my phone down now,

Sarah