Speaker A
For the past 90 days, I got rid of my smartphone. No maps, no notifications, [music] no scrolling.
Tom spent 90 days without a smartphone, using a flip phone instead. He found boredom became peaceful and that time felt fuller, concluding the problem is forgetting how to be bored.
Key Takeaways
- Constant phone use can erode attention and make ordinary quiet moments feel unbearable.
- Boredom, when embraced, can feel peaceful and create space for thought and enjoyment.
- Most smartphone habits are avoidance and scrolling rather than genuinely necessary tasks.
- Practical workarounds like planning ahead can replace many phone functions with little real loss.
- The goal is not to abandon technology but to regain control over how you spend idle time.
What the video covers
- Tom quit his smartphone for 90 days, storing it in a safe and switching to a flip phone to reclaim his time and attention.
- His daily routine had been dominated by reflexive scrolling from waking up until bed, leaving no quiet moments.
- Initially, the lack of maps, search, reminders, weather, and music felt inconvenient and frustrating.
- The hardest part was boredom, which first felt restless but later became a peaceful space for reflection.
- Tom realized he had been using his phone to speed up time when he actually needed time to slow down.
- He adapted by checking directions in advance, writing things down, planning ahead, and deliberately listening to music.
- He discovered that most of his phone use was scrolling rather than essential communication like calls or messages.
- Tom views the change as a trade: some conveniences were lost in exchange for regained attention, time, and life.
- He argues phones are not inherently the problem; the real issue is losing the ability to be bored.
- He does not advocate quitting phones entirely, but suggests noticing what you reach for during idle moments.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction: Quitting the Smartphone
- 00:24Life Lost to Constant Scrolling
- 00:44Deciding to Change and Switching Phones
- 01:00Inconvenience and the Hardest Part: Boredom
- 01:28Discovering Peaceful Boredom
- 01:46Missed Features and Finding Workarounds
- 02:13How Little Was Actually Needed
- 02:42Trade-Offs and Reflection on Phones
- 03:36Closing Advice: Notice What You Reach For
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
And not to be more productive, but to see if I could get my life back.
Speaker A
Most mornings would start the same. Alarm scroll. Teeth scroll, coffee scroll. Every second filled, every quiet moment gone. I was losing my life to my phone, lost in a sea of notifications and endless feeds. It's not that I was
Speaker A
distracted. It's that nothing could hold my attention anymore. 90 days ago, I decided things had to change. I had to change. So, I bought a flip phone, put my phone in a safe, and decided I wouldn't open it. However hard
Speaker A
things got, the first thing I noticed was how inconvenient everything became. I got lost. I forgot things I used to use reminders for. I couldn't check the weather. I kept reaching for my phone without thinking. But the hardest part
Speaker A
wasn't missing the apps. It was the boredom. Moments that used to disappear started to last forever. I felt restless. I couldn't just scroll when I was tired or when I got back from work.
Speaker A
Everything got slower. And at first that was hard. Then something strange happened. The boredom started to feel different.
Speaker A
Not exciting, but peaceful. I didn't need to escape it anymore. It felt like space. Space to sit with a thought until it finished. To listen to music without doing anything else. to read a good book because it was just a good story. And
Speaker A
slowly my days started to feel longer, more complete. I realized I'd been using my phone to speed up time when what I really needed was for time to slow down.
Speaker A
But it wasn't all perfect. There were things I genuinely missed. I missed maps. I missed being able to Google stuff. I missed having music whenever I wanted. I missed being able to organize stuff when I was out of the house. And
Speaker A
at first, most of those things seemed like real losses. But pretty quickly, I found ways around most of them. I checked directions before I left, wrote things down, planned stuff in advance, and when I wanted music, I actually sat
Speaker A
down and listened to it. What surprised me wasn't that I adapted. It was how little I actually needed. Most of what I've been using my phone for wasn't calling people or messaging friends. It was scrolling. I hadn't lost the ability
Speaker A
to live my life. I'd just lost the habit of avoiding it. So what now? Where do I go from here? It's been 90 days and to be honest, I don't really want to go back. More than anything, I see it as a
Speaker A
trade. Sure, there's a couple things now that are harder than before. But if giving them up gives me my attention back, my time back, my life back, and it seems like a pretty good trade to me.
Speaker A
I don't think phones are necessarily the problem. I think forgetting how to be bored is. So, to be honest, I'm not telling you to quit your phone. I'm just saying maybe next time nothing's happening. Notice what you reach for
Speaker A
instead. Because sometimes the life you're looking for is hiding in the [music] moments you keep trying to fill.
Speaker A
Manifest excellence. I'm proud of you.
Topics:digital detoxquit smartphoneflip phonescreen timeboredomattention spanmindfulnessphone addictionminimalismproductivity
