3443: Three Places To Put Away The Smartphone by Anthony Ongaro of Break The Twitch on Mindfulness

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[00:00:38] It's a Minimalist Monday edition of Optimal Living Daily. Three Places To Put Away The Smartphone by Anthony Ongaro of BreakTheTwitch.com and I'm Justin Malik.

[00:00:48] Happy Monday, welcome back to Optimal Living Daily or the OLD Podcast where I read to you from some of the best blogs I can find and get permission from,

[00:00:57] mostly covering personal development and minimalism on this show. For now, let's get right to it and start optimizing your life.

[00:01:08] Three Places To Put Away The Smartphone by Anthony Ongaro of BreakTheTwitch.com

[00:01:14] I would love to say that my smartphone use is completely under control, but that would be a bold-faced lie.

[00:01:20] While I'm much more conscious of the times that I might get distracted, the temptation to look at my phone still persists.

[00:01:26] It's just so darn easy to pick up my phone and mindlessly scroll through Twitter while I'm sitting at the kitchen table having a snack.

[00:01:33] That being said, it's definitely not the ideal way to spend that time and could be significantly improved.

[00:01:39] My vision for how I'd rather be living periodically looks a little different from what is actually happening.

[00:01:44] I imagine myself only using my phone, social media, and email for about an hour per day total.

[00:01:51] Every day at the same time I sit down, maybe around 2pm, and spend an hour scheduling social media,

[00:01:57] checking up on friends, writing and replying to emails.

[00:02:00] Then I put my phone away and go about my life writing, making videos, playing piano, and working.

[00:02:06] I know that it can be difficult to create boundaries with our technology, but it's doable and so incredibly beneficial.

[00:02:13] There are three key places where putting down the smartphone makes a ton of sense.

[00:02:18] Science even backs me up on this one, at least for most of it.

[00:02:21] With that in mind, the three places you should put away the smartphone are...

[00:02:25] Kitchen table.

[00:02:27] There are many things that happen at the kitchen table, but the most common thing, at least should be, eating.

[00:02:33] First of all, there is significant evidence that distracted eating is horrible for us.

[00:02:37] When we use our phones at the table, especially while eating,

[00:02:40] we're paying less attention to the food we're consuming.

[00:02:43] That means we enjoy our food less, we tend to overeat, and consequently not even remember what we ate.

[00:02:49] Turns out having a strong memory of eating leads to less snacking later on after the meal.

[00:02:54] None of this is even considering whether there is another human being at the table.

[00:02:58] It's been shown that spending time together while eating has incredibly positive benefits,

[00:03:02] and if our attention is given to a smartphone or TV, it's simply not the case.

[00:03:07] This is when we should be spending time with our family, friends, whether over food or not.

[00:03:12] If you're flying solo, take the time to eat mindfully, enjoy and appreciate the food.

[00:03:17] The phone takes away from enjoying what's in front of us.

[00:03:21] Bed.

[00:03:22] As a part of my recently discussed morning routine,

[00:03:25] I decided that I wouldn't use my phone for the first hour of every day.

[00:03:29] Previously, I did this.

[00:03:31] Wake up, mindlessly scroll through emails, news, and social media,

[00:03:35] until rolling out of bed maybe 20 minutes later.

[00:03:38] Later in the day, I'd realize I had deleted something that I'd actually need to respond to or deal with.

[00:03:43] When we wake up, we're setting the tone for the entire day.

[00:03:47] It's where the phrase waking up on the wrong side of the bed comes from, right?

[00:03:50] Why allow extraneous information and external consequences outside of our control

[00:03:54] affect our mood and excitement for the day to come?

[00:03:57] Wake up, do your routine, start the day strong.

[00:04:01] You can deal with whatever lies on the other end of the glowing screen

[00:04:04] once you're up and ready for the day.

[00:04:06] The bed is a sacred place and must be treated as such.

[00:04:10] Study after study has proven that sleep is practically a performance-enhancing drug.

[00:04:15] Whether or not you believe it,

[00:04:17] the blue spectrum light from tablets and smartphones

[00:04:19] actually messes with our ability to fall asleep

[00:04:21] and in fact might be killing us.

[00:04:24] Glowing screens don't belong in bed pretty much ever.

[00:04:27] Read a book, talk to your spouse or partner,

[00:04:30] or perhaps consider the vastness of the universe.

[00:04:32] Did you know that a Googleplex is not only a real number,

[00:04:35] but in fact a number so big

[00:04:37] that if every grain of sand on Earth

[00:04:39] were a whole other earth full of grains of sand,

[00:04:42] there would still be less than a Googleplex grains of sand

[00:04:45] in that whole situation?

[00:04:46] Think about that for a minute.

[00:04:48] Bathroom.

[00:04:50] I'm not going to do any Googling to give scientific data for this one,

[00:04:53] but stay with me here.

[00:04:55] Often a bathroom break is one of the few times

[00:04:57] we get to walk away from our desks,

[00:04:59] our computers,

[00:04:59] and zone out for a minute.

[00:05:01] I think we have this fear of what will happen

[00:05:03] if we allow our minds to be bored.

[00:05:05] That twitch to pull out our phones the second we sit down?

[00:05:08] That's our mind just triggering the habit

[00:05:09] of constantly being entertained,

[00:05:11] stimulated,

[00:05:12] and occupied.

[00:05:13] There's a reason that we tend to think of odd ideas

[00:05:15] or solve various problems while in the shower,

[00:05:18] literally called shower thoughts.

[00:05:20] It's because our phones can't come in there with us yet,

[00:05:22] and goodness help us when they finally can.

[00:05:25] We need to stare at the wall more,

[00:05:27] wonder why that one tile is out of order from all the rest,

[00:05:30] and just notice things in general.

[00:05:32] I never thought I'd be advocating for mindfulness

[00:05:34] during bathroom breaks,

[00:05:35] but it really does make a ton of sense.

[00:05:38] Plus, there actually is evidence

[00:05:39] that sitting on the toilet too long

[00:05:41] does all kinds of bad things,

[00:05:43] but lets you Google through that yourself

[00:05:45] if you're interested.

[00:05:46] To be clear,

[00:05:47] the world isn't going to end

[00:05:49] if you do in fact use your phone

[00:05:50] in any of these places,

[00:05:51] but life is going to get better if you don't.

[00:05:54] You can count on being a little more mindful,

[00:05:56] a little healthier,

[00:05:57] and find more satisfaction

[00:05:59] from the time spent at the table,

[00:06:01] in bed,

[00:06:01] and, well, I suppose in the bathroom too.

[00:06:08] You just listened to the post titled,

[00:06:09] Three Places to Put Away the Smartphone

[00:06:12] by Anthony Angaro of BreakTheTwitch.com,

[00:06:14] and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:07:23] Thank you, Anthony.

[00:07:25] I've definitely struggled with phone use over the years.

[00:07:28] When I first started this podcast,

[00:07:29] I was constantly checking stats,

[00:07:32] responding to emails,

[00:07:33] looking at social media.

[00:07:34] It feels like pretty much all the time.

[00:07:36] And even now,

[00:07:37] while I am better at it,

[00:07:39] I still catch myself reaching for my phone

[00:07:41] way more often than I'd like.

[00:07:42] That part about waking up

[00:07:44] and immediately checking your phone,

[00:07:45] I used to do exactly that.

[00:07:47] But lately,

[00:07:47] I've been trying something different.

[00:07:49] Instead of looking at my phone first thing,

[00:07:52] I go outside and get some sun.

[00:07:54] It's become a nice little morning ritual

[00:07:56] that helps me start the day better

[00:07:58] than scrolling through notifications ever did.

[00:08:00] And the bathroom one made me laugh

[00:08:02] because it's so true.

[00:08:03] We really do need those moments

[00:08:05] of just letting our minds wander.

[00:08:07] I learned this during my time

[00:08:09] at a meditation retreat.

[00:08:11] Sometimes the best insights come

[00:08:12] when we're not constantly stimulated or entertained.

[00:08:16] Our brains kind of need that downtime

[00:08:18] to process and just be.

[00:08:21] The kitchen table point is huge too.

[00:08:23] I'm definitely guilty of mindless eating

[00:08:25] while looking at my phone.

[00:08:26] My brother who hosts Optimal Health Daily

[00:08:28] has talked about this on his show,

[00:08:30] how distracted eating can lead to overeating

[00:08:33] because we're not paying attention

[00:08:35] to our food or our body's signals.

[00:08:38] So good stuff to think about today.

[00:08:40] Thank you again to Anthony

[00:08:41] and thank you for being here every day

[00:08:43] and optimizing your life along with me

[00:08:45] really means a lot.

[00:08:46] Have a great rest of your day

[00:08:47] and start to your week

[00:08:48] and I'll see you tomorrow as usual

[00:08:50] where your optimal life awaits.