Home is work. Work is home. With the smartphone, we straddle one foot in and out of the office at the same time. There is no real freedom, no way to untether from the tyranny of the desk.
We are addicted to being ON all the time.
But the phone is not the new cigarette, as Cal Newport so proclaims in his new book entitled Digital Minimalism. The mobile phone is our bridge to the world. Used mindfully and appropriately (i.e., not spreading fake news), it’s the most impressive tool man has ever owned. All the information in the world resides at your fingertips. Anyone can serve as a creator, consumer, or curator of content.
Liberated from the web, little by little we can take back control of our scatterbrain and take our thoughts for a walk. We can work toward what we want by projecting ourselves into the future.