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Remember when phones had a green button to answer and a red one to decline?

Now it just says “slide to answer.”

No red button. No clear “no.”

We didn’t lose the option – it’s now just harder to choose.

You’re in a meeting, coffee in hand. Your phone rings.

Do you answer it?

When we’re face to face with someone, they should have our full attention.

We answer our phones because we choose to.

So the real question is: are we making the right choice?

Our phones buzz constantly and we feel the urge to respond.

But ask yourself: Do you really need to?

Unless you’re a neurosurgeon on call… probably not.

Be honest. You might need your phone less than you think.

Let me show you how to live a better life WITH techMy handwriting has gone to pot because I barely do it any more

Ditto for mental arithmetic and facts

After all, the entire body of human knowledge is now in my pocket!

Our brains are like a muscle … the bits we don’t use will atrophy

The latest report from @John Burn-Murdoch in the FT makes for scary reading

Aspects of our personality have changed dramatically in the past 10 years

This has affected all age cohorts, most of all younger people – “digital natives”

The timing correlates with the mobile phone age.

That’s the bad news.

The good news?

Our brains are like a muscle … we can choose to strengthen those parts that we want.

We can revert some of these changes.

How? I’ve been taking a break from tech for a whole day every week – the Sabbath – for my entire life (even before mobile phones existed)

As a child, I found Sabbath restrictive.

As an adult, I realised it was freedom.

Instead of your life being worse BECAUSE of tech …

A walk on sabbath is different than a walk during a week. 

A walk during the week often feels like a task: a way to clear my head between meetings. A walk on the Sabbath feels like freedom.

There’s only one small change: I leave my phone at home. 

When was the last time you took a fully unplugged walk in nature? 

After a crazy week, Friday hit me like a ton of bricks.

Taking a minute during the afternoon to look forward to the upcoming Sabbath was itself a pre-tonic tonic.

When time slips from one busy day to the next and one busy week to the next … What if we could reclaim time?

That is what Sabbath means to me A structured, sacred break from all the noise

When it comes to our tech and social media overconsumption addiction, the facts on the ground are changing too fast for us to get gold standard research on what to do about it. 

A “gold standard” study on the effect of social media takes years. 

A platform like TikTok can tweak its algorithm in an afternoon.

So, while we absolutely must continue the research, we can’t be paralyzed waiting for it. We have to try things that make sense for our families right now. 

Action over inaction.

How do you characterize your ‘relationship’ with your phone?

Philosophers are describing our phones as parasites!

Initially, our smart phones helped us stay in touch, and find our way around.

More recently, they have become an extension of us, to the point that they now may be considered ‘parasites’.

They ‘survive’ by staying connected to us, yet exploit us, capturing our attention to the benefit of the big tech companies.

How can we rebalance this relationship?

Evolution theory shows we need to (a) detect exploitation, and (b) have the capacity to respond.

I think that capacity is within all of us: drawing on human agency to take back control over our lives.

Every week on Sabbath, I don’t use my phone.

This day has turned into my own secret weapon in what has become a battle.

And it’s far more than just respite from a busy week.What We Owe Our Attention

And now for something completely different …

From the last person you’d expect to write a poem!

And with apologies to John Lennon

Imagine no cell phone

It’s easier than you think

Nothing to distract us

Sitting back and enjoying a drink 

Imagine all the people

Fully engaged in life

Ah-Ahhhhh 🎶

Imagine going out for dinner

It’s all about the food

Conversation with friends

Staying in a good mood

Imagine no fake news

Messing up your day

Ah-Ahhhhh 🎶

You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’ve been doing this for years

A break from tech every week now 

Newsfeeds will not drive me to tears

I grew up seeing Sabbath as restrictive—no phone, no TV, no football.

But over time, it became something else.

A break from the noise.

A breath of presence.

What felt like limits as a kid…

Became freedom as an adult.

Curious what that kind of pause could feel like?