How You Can Free Yourself From Your Cell Phone and Enjoy Your Life In 5 Easy Steps

Mobile phones are a constant source of distraction and stress. Think about how much slower the pace of life was when the only time you got a call was either at work or at home--before answering machines. Imagine travelling home in your car from work wondering who had called during the day, and thus being present for the drive. Imagine having to hand-write a letter, or type it I suppose, to communicate with someone in an alternative fashion to the phone itself. How different that correspondence would be: constructed slower, perhaps with more depth of thought than the product of spontaneously drubbing the screen with full-cocked thumbs. How much more present for our world would we be, for the people in our lives, for life itself. 

There are ways to gain some of that presence back, but it will take some hard work and dedication. Here are ways to put your mobile phone in its place:

1. Leave it somewhere and forget where it is: You'll get by without it--go ahead, give it a try. Leave it by your bedside, or under your bed for that matter--just leave it. You probably have at least two other back-ups, such as your work computer and possibly a tablet, if not a second or third mobile phone. 

2. Lose the selfie-stick: First of all, it's really tacky--you're that much of a narcissist? Really?--and secondly, your experiences can actually be unmediated, that is you're freed up to view things as they're happening around you. 

3. Use Do Not Disturb Mode: This is a great feature if you have an iPhone: set it to this in your settings, and all calls, emails, texts, and notifications will be stalled for a period of time. Try keeping it on all day.

4. Check email only twice per day: This simple practice will help you keep your nose out of your inbox throughout the day, as well as give you bandwidth for doing other things. Feel you have to be always on call? Try this out and see how much, over time, you're actually needed to that extent.

5. No phones at meal tables: This simple rule supports the healthy practice of commensality, or, quite simply eating with others. Nothing stunts commensality more than one's phone going off during a meal time. If you must have the thing on, at least keep the display face down at the table. 

If you have a problem doing any of these simple tricks, you might have proved my point: that you are not easily able to live without your mobile phone. What is at stake here? A slower-paced lifestyle