You should strive to see the bigger picture, not the smaller picture. Quite literally, this is an urgent call to put your mobile phone away.

Modern life is based on ubiquitous connectivity and omnipresent mobile phones. Listening to music, communicating with colleagues, reading the newspaper, and even the daily wake-up call are assisted by our mobile phones.

Losing one’s mobile phone is worse these days than losing one’s wallet. That is because we carry our mobile phone closer than our wallet. Whilst we only carry our wallets when we leave the house, most people carry their mobile phone all the time nowadays.

What consequences does this have? Let’s look at a real-life example from my family.

The Kids

My kids have their own mobile phones, whereas those devices are under the tight supervision of Apple Family Control. Downtime, app time restrictions, and a website filter should prevent them from being glued to the screen.

So far, so good.

Does this system, designed by Apple, work to keep the kids off their phones? Not at all. Kids find workarounds all the time, and if they don’t find workarounds, they waste their time with unrestricted apps, such as the settings or the clock.

Because big tech is unable (or unwilling) to keep kids off the mobile phone screens, my wife and I decided to go back to the old ways. Now the kids have to leave their mobile phones in my wife’s room, asking for their devices if they want to use them.

Screen time fell dramatically.

But with the fall in screen time came a dramatic rise in creativity. The kids started crafting, painting, and building again. Just because we put in a physical hurdle to gain access to their mobile phones.

The Adults

Baffled by the quick change in behavior of my kids, I questioned my own behavior, too. I reminded myself how many times I have checked my mobile phone during an online meeting. How close my wife and I keep our phones when we have a conversation — because hey, maybe we need to coordinate schedules. I could recite countless other examples.

Therefore, I decided to adopt a similar practice to what we enforced on the kids: I don’t keep my mobile phone within reach on my desk during work, and I don’t take my mobile phone to our living room when my wife and I have a conversation.

This simple trick makes it impossible to check the phone all the time. This behavior frees up mental capacity, unlocks creativity, and provides clarity of thought. 

All of that is needed in the hectic daily life, juggling family and work.

Conclusion

Mobile phones aren’t inherently bad things, but they are designed to catch your attention. Furthermore, they are reducing the size of the world to a few inches.

In our complex world, you should strive to see the bigger picture, not the smaller picture. Quite literally, this is an urgent call to put away your mobile phone.