Fewer Distractions, More Focused Work/Life

How ditching the iPhone helped me regain hijacked time, attention, and creative energy without going offline

In the video above, Simon Sinek is making the point that if we want to show people our respect, we should really put away our phones during meetings, dinners, and dates. Highly recommended to watch and discuss with friends, family, and team members.

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Fewer Better Things began as experiments in how to interact with digital technologies. Digitalization and dematerialization allowed for fewer things as much of our things could now be stored in the cloud.

I began ripping DVD’s and CD’s in the late 90s and then getting rid of the physical copies. That began a decade of intensive experiments where I exchanged things for software applications and cool new hacks.

My idea back then was to be able to access anything from the palm of my hand; from music, movies, photos, and documents to physical things and people. Those experiments became the story of my TEDx talk in 2016.

Today I could do without tech, just pop into an Apple Store somewhere in the world and check emails and write stories. Of course, it’s not optimal but it feels good to know that I’ll manage if I’d loose all my devices for any reason.

The most optimal setup I’ve found is to have two devices and one cell plan. I use the Apple Watch when on-the-move and the iPad Air for when sitting down to work. I own an old iPhone which I only use for synching watch apps.

The Apple Watch (SE ‘20) is water and sand proof which works great for my outdoor beach lifestyle. I see it as a minimalist version of the iPhone without the distractions. No social media, no scrolling, no screen interaction.

What I use the Apple Watch for:

• Making and receiving phone calls

• Sending and receiving text messages

• Tracking health and workouts

• Checking surf conditions and tracking surf sessions

• Paying for everything with the Wallet

• Storing boarding passes (needs iPhone to sync)

• Managing my Any.do todo lists

• Checking public bus and train timetables

• Accessing calendar and getting appointment reminders

• Listening to music (via car stereo or earbuds)

• Storing favorite photos (needs iPhone to sync)

• Dictating notes via Day One (needs iPhone to sync)

The iPad Air (‘22) is basically a simpler and lighter MacBook and can do everything I need. I use it without the external keyboard and with the SIM card from the iPhone once I have configured my Apple Watch.