Smart Tip for iphone addicts: Put Your Watch Back On

October 26, 2013

travels in transmedia

Ever since I read Thoreau’s Walking and Emerson’s Nature, I have rediscovered the natural world – long walks in the autumn wood, watching  the beauty of the world  with more clarity. All that good stuff.

I am a total tech whore. I never turn off my gadgets. I am always ready to go to war with my armor of ipad, iphone, and laptop. And so, returning to nature required discipline on my part.

The average American checks his smartphone one hundred and fifty times a day. I was one such American. Further investigation on the matter from the Kleiner Perkins Report ,revealed that we start by checking  the time on our smartphone.  Next, we slip down the cyber rabbit hole of reviewing email, gmail, facebook, and the rest of it. Guilty as charged.

So I put on a watch for the first time in five years. In fact, I got  rid of my watches as  trifle from an arcane  millennium. I needed to scrounge around for one. For the last month, I have worn the watch.

The experiment  worked. I have cut my average check ins from 150 a day to 25. I am able to take a walk in an immersive environment  without the stress or tick of constantly having to check in with the phone. I have walked the wood for a good hour without consulting a gadget.

Additionally, I disciplined myself by:

  1. Going into settings and turning on the “do not disturb” slider. This universally turns off text,email and phone notifications when you need some quietude.
  2. Taking the phone out of eye-reach. In my case, I put it in my back pocket to avoid its alluring face.
  3. Rethinking the gadget as a friend to visit once an hour, rather than a ball and chain you needed to check in with every six minutes.

I have found I am not missing out on anything. I have gained some peace. Even energy.

There is the added benefit,too. Find  a watch that holds memories. I am wearing a watch that my grandmother gave my grandfather on an anniversary almost 50 years ago.

Now if I could just have the same results with  that weight loss thing.

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