I’ve been using my phone without a case for the past few days.
While this might sound dumb to some, and while this isn’t something I’d exactly recommend doing, the reason is two fold:
1. It reminds me to be careful. Modern day phones are ex-pen-sive. And even just one drop could result in an expensive repair. Which I’m hyper aware of. Which I’ve realized is a hack opportunity into my own mind—because I can’t help but slow down when I grab my phone and am increasingly sensitive to where I put it when I’m not using it. Think surgeon picking up and putting down tools at the operating table. That’s me with my phone these past few days.
2. Being “full-of-care” is being simultaneously full of presence. I don’t think you can separate the one from the other. And presence is the antidote to the modern day drug that is distraction. Which, of course, is the drug that comes pouring out through our screens in unrelenting quantities. So by triggering “presence” whenever I reach for my phone, it’s almost as if I’m taking a shot of the antidote before exposing myself to the coinciding drug.
Like I said, this probably sounds dumb to some of you. And if you’re the clumsy type, I certainly wouldn’t recommend doing this.
But, maybe there’s another way you can encase your phone with a sort of “presence antidote” that can give you a similar sort of shot to help you combat the unrelenting distractions that are bound to eat up every bit of your time they can manage as soon as you unlock that screen.
Something worth carefully thinking about at least…