Article 61

Join Me in the ‘iPhone Off’ Experiment

By Ryan Carson @ryancarson

09 September 2010 | Category: Uncategorized

I’m getting way too distracted by my iPhone when I’m not at work. I’m constantly pulled into Twitter and email discussions, when I should be focused 100% on the most important thing in my life: My Family.

People being distracted by checking their iPhone

So here’s what I’m going to do. Turn my iPhone completely off as soon as I get home from work. I will keep the phone off until I leave for work the next day.

I’m going to commit to do this until at least October 9th, 2010. Possibly forever, if this experiment is successful.

Why?

When I’m with my family, I often find myself somewhere ‘else’ mentally. Instead of being present with them, I’m reading some vapid Tweet about someone’s Friday night adventures or complaints about the latest nightly build of Chromium.

Join me!

If you’d like to participate in this experiment with me, please comment below to sign up. On October 9th, let’s all blog about our experiment and see if it made a difference in the quality of our personal life and relationships. I have no doubt it’s going to be amazing.

Looking forward to this!

P.S. Obviously you can substitute ‘iPhone’ for any mobile device that steals your attention from your family and friends.

Photo Credit: Steve Rhodes

Follow @thinkvitamin on Twitter Please check out Treehouse

Other Posts You Might Find Interesting

Comments

David Fisher

Self control works well for me. Just saying.
Igor Sirotic

Perfect! I joined you already. No phones at home.
http://www.lukejones.me/ Luke Jones

I wasn’t aware there was a life away from my iPhone =P.

I think my girlfriend would be very chuffed about me doing this. I’ll give it a go.
Ryan Carson

Nice! :)
http://fellabinaryreviews.com TheFella

I can see your idea behind it, but I don’t have a seperate work phone, so turning off the only way for anyone to get in contact with me sounds unfeasible in my current situation.

To be honest, I’m not usually on my phone that much if I’m out with people. Or at least out with people I find interesting…
http://emilyevelina.tumblr.com emilyevelina

nice idea and one i really ought to get behind myself…but it’s just a little too scary.

and if one turns off their iPhone, one really ought to also hide their iPad.
http://www.ryancerbus.com Ryan

Have you read http://www.tweetagewasteland.com ? Dave Pell is writing all about this addiction to the real-time stream and its effects on his life/our generation.
http://bardowl.com Chris Book

Great idea. I am always getting into trouble for doing the very same thing.

If I need to work / answer some email etc I will have to open the laptop or maybe look at the iPad but is a bigger more obvious gesture than checking your phone.

I’m in.

Chris
http://www.paulleader.co.uk Paul

Sounds like a very good idea. Nothing on Twitter is so important that it can’t wait until tomorrow :)

I don’t have a smart phone, so my distraction device is my laptop, and it’s just me, my girlfriend and two cats (which is kind of a family) but the principal is still sound.

I’m not going to have the laptop turned off all evening as it’s the only time I get to work on my personal projects, but I’ve a regular rhythm that I try to stick to:

6-7pm is have tea, play with the cats and talk to my girlfriend
7-9pm is personal project time – keeping twitter/facebook etc to a minimum
9pm onwards is wind-down time relaxing with my gf and a good book/tv show. My laptop is turned off at 9pm, whatever I’m doing. It gives my brain (and my eyes) time to wind down before heading to bed.

I’ve found that tearing myself away from the laptop in the evening is good for both my sleep and my personal life. It’s also good for helping me focus on my projects, as I’ve got a limited time to get something done without the temptation to just work late into the night, which is what I used to do a lot when I was younger. I think it results in more focused, better quality work.

Paul
http://www.brightstorm.co.uk mike

You don’t need to turn your phone off, just be more disciplined with dealing with work outside of work.

This sounds a bit like an alcoholic that thinks hes given up drinking because he’s avoided going to the pub.

Family is important for sure and i commend your actions. As someone who doesn’t have the luxury of a phone for work and a phone for home, I’ll be keeping it on and not answering every email/ phonecall / text unless its someone who i want to respond to.

Clients can wait till the morning. I’ll be playing angry birds.
http://www.mikeebee.com Michael Barker

I really like the idea Ryan but since I don’t have a land line my iPhone is the only way to reach me in an emergency (not that I’m an on call doctor or anything but…), I think your idea should be more “iPhone web apps off” or something to that effect or is your intension not to be interrupted at all in the evening?

Good luck with it, I hope you get some decent QT with your family.
http://www.mikeebee.com Michael Barker

Aaaah just noticed that TheFella said what I said!
http://circlecube.com Evan Mullins

Totally! That’s the whole reason I haven’t bought into an iphone, I enjoy my time away from it all in the evenings with my family. I do stay out of work email and such at home already, just wanted to say awesome idea, and that I hope it catches on!!
http://twitter.com/renniks Mark S

How will you keep up to date with the stuff you keep up to date with at home, I assume you normally don’t have that much free time at work :)

To all those thinking they can’t turn off their iphone as it’s their only phone, just turn off wifi / 3g, sorted.
http://www.johnhillman.co.uk John

Sound idea, Ryan.

I came to the same conclusion a long while back, so I do this most days anyway. I also try not switching on my laptop over the weekend or on my designated days off.

I lived for 35 years without a laptop; seems odd that in the last ten years or more I was lead to believe that unless I was in some way connected (internet wise) then there was something missing. Increasingly I’ve found that if you pick away at the surface of all this stuff you may get a glimpse of the life simple *before* and you might also be able to pick out that which is important from that which is just a layer of distraction.

I’m not saying technology or keeping in touch is bad thing, just that it has become overstated, with too many people too keen to voice something about their own self importance. I’ve got so much noise in my head and so many distractions from this update to that latest app that a physical disconnect is probably the best way forward.

I also stopped tweeting for a year from last year – and do you know what, nothing changed, the world didn’t stop because I was no longer typing, no one missed my updates and I felt better for not trying to think of something profound or important to say.
Ryan Carson

I don’t think I’ll stop Tweeting during working hours – I love interacting with all my followers too much (they’re awesome).

However, I think you hit the nail exactly on the head about the feeling of ‘missing out’. I don’t think it’s real (unless you’re a writer at TechCrunch).

I think I’ll miss being connected at first, and then enjoy it later.
http://iamoneman.com Paul Adam Davis

I think turning my iphone off completely is a little irresponsible, in my opinion. I want to be contactable by phone is someone needs me.

However, turning off the WiFi & Data renders it useless, meaning that things like Twitter & email are inaccessible. I’ll try that instead. :)
http://techneur.com JP

I think this is a great idea. I find it interesting that people spend so much time on their mobile devices in the presence of others. It’s almost sad really, as they are too focused on their online relationships when the real relationships that matter are right in front of them. My fiancé is guilty of this and it drives me crazy.

Kudos to you.

-JP
http://fellabinaryreviews.com TheFella

That means I can’t receive emails / whatsapp messages / IMs / etc., none of which are to do with work or my freelance web design.

I think maybe people need to be stronger willed, rather than having to resort to turning technology off. If I’m with friends and we’re chatting, I’ll talk to them and not aimlessly read Twitter or some blog.
Mike Houghton

I’m in… and now to get the kids onboard with the “Nintendo DS off” experiment… and hope that it all doesn’t devolve into a bunch of time in front of the television.
http://andy-gale.com Andy Gale

Alternatively just throw away/sell the iPhone. Surely if you are at work you don’t need the Internet on your phone anyway. Get a cheap jobber with no Internet.
http://laurakalbag.com Laura Kalbag

Right, me and Matt are going to attempt to do this.

A big deal for us, we *do* sometimes bicker about spending more time staring at our screens (admittedly, mostly me.) I also have an incredibly short attention span. Maybe this’ll improve it!
mike

You don’t need to turn your phone off, just be more disciplined with dealing with work outside of work.

This sounds a bit like an alcoholic that thinks hes given up drinking because he’s avoided going to the pub.

Family is important for sure and i commend your actions. As someone who doesn’t have the luxury of a phone for work and a phone for home, I’ll be keeping it on and not answering every email/ phonecall / text unless its someone who i want to respond to.

Clients can wait till the morning. I’ll be playing angry birds.
http://www.patriktotero.com Patrik

I hear you on this one! I’d love to do the same thing but my phone is my work phone and private phone and i haven’t got a ground line at home. I’m a victim of the online era, I “need” to be reachable :P

I have done this with my laptop at home though. Nowadays I spend far less time in front of it compared to before. Some weekend i don’t even turn it on. I think that at least that’s a good start. Now I spend more time with my girlfriend instead, YAY :).
Tom

Turning off your iPad as well? =)
mike

You don’t need to turn your phone off, just be more disciplined with dealing with work outside of work.

Family is important for sure and i commend your actions. As someone who doesn’t have the luxury of a phone for work and a phone for home, I’ll be keeping it on and not answering every email/ phonecall / text unless its someone who i want to respond to.

Clients can wait till the morning. I’ll be playing angry birds.
http://mogotion.com Sam Machin

I think what you are referring to here is known in corporate terms as the work/life balance.
However usually this means something like “we give you an extra 2 days holiday once you’ve been here 5 years…”

For me a true work life balance isn’t about the amount of time I spend ‘at work’ vs ‘at home’ its the ability to mix the two, mobile technology & the rise of the knowledge economy means that
us can ‘work’ just about anywhere and productivity certainly doesn’t mean time sat at a desk. Therefore I’m quite happy to deal with urgent work things at 7pm in the evening when I’m at home just as work should be happy for me to take a long lunch if my wife has the day off or something.

If your going to block out work when your with your family are you going to block out family at work? I guess it comes down to the discipline of yourself and your colleagues to only do work during family time if it can’t wait. The other thing I found that helps is turning off the iPhones auto email checking for my work mail, That way I’m not tempted to just see what that message that came in was.

I guess maybe running your own small business is quite different to working at a big corporate though :-)
Tom

Agreed, why not do a will power experiment… much more sensible!
Ryan Carson

I think that’s the problem – that I can work from anywhere now. I love work, and that’s part of the problem. I let it take over, and that’s not good.
http://www.welcomebrand.co.uk James

Couldn’t you just exercise a little restraint instead of making such a dramatic gesture? I know what you mean but really, it’s not that hard to just leave the phone in your pocket.
http://paulleader.co.uk/ Paul

[My previous comment seems stuck in moderation, did I waffle perhaps? Here's a more concise reply :) ]

The feeling of being “connected” by modern tech is very powerful, but it’s mostly illusory. People feel the need to constantly respond to things instantly, when most of the time they can wait until the next day. Very little that comes through email/twitter/facebook etc is really so important that it can’t wait until the next day, or perhaps just set times of the day.

I’m not going to give up using my laptop in the evenings, that’s the only time I have to work on my personal projects, but I am trying to limit my twitter/facebook to set times, and to make sure I set time aside for my girlfriend/cats. Focusing on one thing makes me more productive, and getting rid of all that context switching and constant interruption is great for time-management and makes me more relaxed.
http://jeremydouglas.ca jeremy douglas

I haven’t had a mobile phone for almost 1 full year now. It’s awesome :)
pim

Just turn off Wi–Fi at your home and deactivate data packet ;)
http://ohheymktg.com Kyle

I’ve been doing this for awhile. Since I started my company 3 months ago, my iphone became the business phone. When we are closed, the iPhone goes off. Weekends = no iPhone. Life is great. I bought an address book.

#jointhehippymovment

ohheymktg.com/blog
http://ohheymktg.com Kyle

When your phone isn’t there in your pocket. It makes a big difference. It’s fun.
http://www.karyx.co.uk Dan Dineen

Both wife and child have commented on the continual and somewhat invasive presence of my iPhone during what should be ‘family time’. I don’t mean to do it – I just drift off into the relative peace of idly wandering around the app store or scrolling through Twitter chaff.

If I may recount a short anecdote at this point: My little girl had gone sugar-loopy a few weeks ago and when I informed her that she wasn’t going to be having sweets before bedtime again she got rather cross with me. Searching for something to hurt us with in return she loudly announced “If you ban me from sweets then I ban mum from… lipstick and I ban you from… from… your IPHONE!”. My wife wasn’t so certain that the lipstick ban would hit her everyday life too hard but it certainly provoked some small-scale soul searching on my part.

I reckon I can do this. I’m in.
http://www.jonkranz.com Jon Kranz

Self-control yes. So, as a way to remove it from my line of site, my toddler takes it from me so he can play the Peek-a-Boo Barn, Peek-a-Boo Wild and Alphabet Tracing apps to his heart’s content…or until dinner of course.
Ryan Carson

Sounds interesting! I’ll check it out.
http://www.droidcon.co.uk/ Dominic Travers

Heh, if you had Android phones you would have one button on your home screen to turn off email and other notifications from native Facebook and Twitter apps. I press it when my partner comes in the door from work, instant peace.
iPhones are soooo basic.
Ryan Carson

That’s exactly what I’m noticing. Our kids *know* that we’re distracted, even if they don’t voice it.
Ryan Carson

But elegant ;)

You owe me an email!
alex morris

I started developing an app for this when the iPhone first came out but it used some private frameworks so was never going to get through approval.

It was going to be called meTime and basically set timed rules for email/data access during my own personal time to make it harder to get distracted by email/twitter/web on my downtime.

Switching your phone off solves it but also makes staying in touch with friends/family harder when you may want to.

This would be an awesome addition to iOS, lets pester Apple for this.

A.
Laura Francis

I know all about this and it’s even weirder with working part-time. I don’t have a problem with evenings. My little girl goes to bed about 7.30pm and then its my time anyway. I don’t tend to bother much with iPhone or laptop because I’m relaxing (knitting, reading or watching chaff on TV do it for me).

But, my non-work days alone with the little one at first I used to be checking Twitter every hour and email etc (my phone is not a work phone so I’m not going to switch it off ‘cos other Mum’s call for play outings and things). And Lois hates it, she tries to grab the phone off me or goes a bit mental if I’m just glued to it. So I have a rule now, no Twitter or email on Monday’s or Friday’s until she is in bed, and, life didn’t end, I haven’t become disconnected. Phone is just a phone on those days.

Work days I use the computer on my desk for checking whatever I need to. I only use the phone as an internet device sometimes first thing in the morning and then late evenings.

Weekends, I tend to not bother at all, and it’s no longer a concious effort. It’s just that I no longer feel the need, and anyone who needs me knows where to find me :)

Good luck with your experiment, I hope it allows you to feel that you can disconnect without needing to physically switch off the devices, I think that requires far more self-control and discipline than actually switching it off ;)

Or – go on holiday for 2 weeks where there is no WIFI and you don’t want to pay for data and that’s like a crash course in disconnectedness anyway!
http://selfesteem-selfhelp.com Gerald

The problem is not in the iPhone but in a user itself..
http://twitter.com/jclermont Joel Clermont

Agreed. At the very least, put it in the dock so it’s not in your pocket, but leave it on so you can take a phone call or get that urgent SMS at night when the server pukes.
http://www.hoodturkey.com abe

I have an iPhone, but never bought into twitter and all of that attention-grabbing-someone-acknowledge-me stuff. Good for you, but why blog about it? Kind of defeats the purpose. You can’t enjoy a sandwich when you’re tweeting about enjoying a sandwich. Just turn off and enjoy.
http://www.miromedia.co.uk/ Andrew Male

I think this is a great idea. I am always on my iPhone aimlessly swiping back and forth between nothing and more nothing.
I will definitely be giving it a go and I’m sure if there is an urgent out of hours work requirement I’m sure someone will actually ring me!
Lars

TV, iPad, iPhone, laptop (or other). You just have to check yourself, and be aware that your family time isn’t stolen. I have friends who got rid of their TVs because they couldn’t manage their time with it properly.
http://www.toleemedia.com Tolee

I agree to all of you who mentioned discipline. It’s hard to get focused on something, when you’re interrupted from different other stuff. I am trying this for years now, but it’s hard to separate work and family while I am a freelancer and my office is at home.
It is possible to exit my email-client, facebook, twitter and mute my phone when there is a job to be finished in few hours because of the strict deadline. The same should be done when joining the family or friends.
But it isn’t…. Don’t know why.
I know that family goes first… But?
Any psycho-trick to handle that?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCTz_ihVzdw Amelia

I’m the same as you and agree.
http://twitter.com/sulcalibur Suleiman Leadbitter

I’m actually the opposite. I use my iPhone to cut down other usage. I can check emails, scan and delete loads in a matter of a minute. I can do this every five or so hours. No big problem. I only check Twitter when commuting. I also scan through everything and either star it or send to instapaper for casual reading later.

I tend not to spend that much time faffing around with it to be honest when at home. I have four boys though and I also love cooking so my time is usually spent elsewhere of I like it or not :P

Great idea though dude, family is always ALWAYS the number one priority. Hope it all pans out matey.
http://twitter.com/sulcalibur Suleiman Leadbitter

I have to agree with this comment. Sorry guys :P
George M

Count me in. It was once so bad my wife called my phone “worse than a mistress”. What do you say to that? Constant connectivity can be truly addictive. Maybe we should start a 12 step program?!
Humphrey

Also studies have shown the fact we are taking up our “Free time” with stuff to do is badly affecting our brains long term. http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/how-the-internet-makes-us-stupid-20100909-15383.html
http://www.lagrafica.se Niklas

I did this experiment last spring for fun, but only for a weekend (48 hours) and it actually refreshed me a lot.
My deal was to cut all digital peripherals:
No computer, No iPhone, No TV (flatscreen), No movies (computer media center), No itunes, no digital camera (!)

What I did was just enjoying analog family life, listening to radio and taking photographs with my analog camera.
Try it out. The stakes does not have to be extreme…
http://applicake.com Ela Madej, @elamadej

Yeah, same here – I can’t really switch it off completely because my family would not be able to contact me. In fact, it’s already the case as I keep my iPhone off / on mute quite often. I felt really liberated when my iPhone broke and I was using my old Nokia for a week or two. I might start switching my sim card between the two phones – an iPhone and an old-school “call-and-text-only” mobile.

Btw Ryan, I see a paradox here – you’re committing to spend more quality offline time with your family which triggers a long online discussion in which you’re being asked questions and expected to participate. We live in crazy times!
http://www.colinasquith.com Colin Asquith

I have to agree it’s a user issue, just because your house has books in it doesn’t mean you need to read them all one after the other constantly. Just put your phone on silent and do something else.
Ryan Carson

Wow :)
http://www.justforthealofit.com/ TheAL

There should be a ‘Blackberry Off’ experiment as well, as they’ve been around much longer, and most people addicted to those are very far gone. Oddly, most Android people I know tend to only use their phones for immediate convenience (e.g. looking up movie times) or serious business, but never nonstop trivial things like Twitter or chatting. Could just be the individuals I know.
Darren Taylor

Tried it last night and it sucks! I had a problem helping my daughter with a tough RE homework. I know if I’d posted for help on Twitter and Facebook I’d have gotten it. To be honest I’d have probably got involved in other non-essentially chatter but isn’t that part of everyday life, be it on the web or face to face with friends?
http://www.mojowebdesign.com.au/ Richard

What I’m finding hard, is letting traffic know i’m interacting with my iphone and i have no observations around myself. there are too many inconsiderate divers that dont understand the iphone walker! just stop when i unexpectedly cross the road!

Good Post
Rich

Topics

Learn with Treehouse

Join Me in the ‘iPhone Off’ Experiment

By Ryan Carson @ryancarson

09 September 2010 | Category: Uncategorized

Why?

Join me!

Other Posts You Might Find Interesting

Comments

Think Vitamin Radio
Episode #34: Amazon Fire and Responsive Roundtable

Advisory Board

Aarron Walter

Ethan Marcotte

Molly Holzschlag

Paul Boag

Jeff Veen

Ryan Carson

Topics

Learn with Treehouse

Join Me in the ‘iPhone Off’ Experiment

By Ryan Carson @ryancarson

09 September 2010 | Category: Uncategorized

Why?

Join me!

Other Posts You Might Find Interesting

Comments

Think Vitamin RadioEpisode #34: Amazon Fire and Responsive Roundtable

Advisory Board

Aarron Walter

Ethan Marcotte

Molly Holzschlag

Paul Boag

Jeff Veen

Ryan Carson

Think Vitamin Radio
Episode #34: Amazon Fire and Responsive Roundtable