Too many apps in your life?
I know the feeling
So what do you think about an app to help us deal with it?
Trying to solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them is what Einstein called the definition of insanity
When the solution to distraction is more of the same tech that caused it …
… then maybe …
… we’re asking the wrong question.
Google is hosting YouTubers at Parliament House this week—just as the gov’t rethinks its decision to exclude YouTube from a social media ban.
Same data-hungry model. Same addictive design.
Is YouTube really different—or just better at branding?
Ronald Reagan called it the nine most terrifying words in the English language.
We all know we have a big problem with our mobile devices
The question is: who or what is going to help solve the problem?
I’m all in favour of mobile phone bans at school and thanks to @Jonathan Haidt for writing and evangelising about the effect of devices on our children.
That’s very suitable for schools.
Now, how about the rest of us?
Can regulators stop the juggernaut that is social media?
It’s whack-a-mole. Restrict one platform and a new one just pops up.
Amend Section 230 to make them publishers not platforms? Break them up? Fine them for breaches?
It’s not clear that even big moves like that will make a difference.
The fix is already in.
It’s not too late to find a better solution, but we have to rethink our approach.
I was as addicted to my phone as anyone. Still am.
And I was driven to understand why.
What was this technology doing to us?
And what can we do about it that would make a difference?
I read tons of articles & books, watched the movies.
Then I understood what was happening.
And then it hit me: I already had the answer.
It was in the Sabbath observance I had kept for my entire life.
For one day each week, I disconnect. No phone. No laptop or TV. No work.
Embracing my most valuable asset – TIME with family, community and myself.
As a child, I found it restrictive.
As an adult, it was (still is) deeply religious.
In today’s social media world, it is freedom.
Two things have changed about media
Something I call ‘granularity’ – the size of media chunks – has changed
Our brains and emotions are being bombarded by these tiny chunks in our newsfeeds.
This moment feels so overwhelming
We need something now more than ever to claw this back in some way
Technology gives us everything—productivity, connection, access.
And that’s the problem. It gives us too much.
More noise. More pressure. Less time.
We began using our tools. Now our tools use us. We have become the “scrolletariat”
It’s time to take back control.
I grew up in a family that had everything—except time.
My father was a Holocaust survivor who built a successful textile business from nothing. He worked tirelessly, overcoming unimaginable trauma with sheer determination. But my father refused to call himself a victim. He was a relentless optimist, focused on building a future.
But that future came at a cost.
I watched my father pace the factory floor, overseeing every decision. The business owned him, not the other way around.
When I was old enough, I worked alongside him, feeling the weight of expectations—both my family’s and society’s. We were a prominent name in Melbourne, Australia, and with that came whispers, assumptions, and pressure.
At first, I followed the script: I pursued a promising career in software development, then left the nine-to-five world to launch my own business.
I craved independence, control, and success on my own terms. Over the years, I built multiple ventures, navigating the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. I learned what it meant to win—and to lose.
Through all of this, one truth became clear: Time is the one asset you can’t earn back.
Money, businesses, investments—these can be rebuilt. But lost time with family, lost moments with community, lost opportunities for joy—these are gone forever.
And yet, modern life conspires to steal time from us. We are slaves to technology, endlessly connected but never truly present. We confuse busyness with productivity, work with purpose.
Then I saw something else: I had always known the solution. It had been in front of me my whole life.
I was raised in the Orthodox Jewish tradition of observing the Sabbath. For one day every week, I disconnected completely. No phone. No laptop. No work. Just time—time with family, with community, with myself.
As a child, I found it restrictive. As an adult, I realized it was freedom.
We live in a world obsessed with high-tech solutions for high-tech problems. We use productivity apps to manage the stress caused by other apps. We turn to meditation apps to find peace amid digital chaos.
We scroll endlessly. We respond instantly. We work late. We wake up anxious.
But what if the real solution isn’t new technology—but something ancient, something tested by centuries of practice? What if the answer is to simply unplug?
What if, instead of letting time slip away, we reclaimed it? What if we built our lives around true rest—not just vacations, but a structured, sacred break from the noise?
This is what the Day of Rest offers—a tested, structured method to reclaim time, attention, and purpose. It is more than a religious tradition; it is a system for renewal and balance that anyone can adopt.
We have sacred spaces—churches, synagogues, mosques—places we designate as separate from the everyday chaos, where we step inside and feel a sense of reverence.
Why shouldn’t we do the same with our time? A Day of Rest is a sanctuary in time, a moment set apart to remind us that life is more than productivity, more than screens, more than the endless race for more.
The Day of Rest isn’t just an ancient practice—it’s a modern necessity. You don’t have to be religious to benefit from it. Start simple:
ONE Pick one day a week where you step away from technology and work.
TWO Prepare in advance so that you don’t have unfinished tasks lingering in your mind.
THREE Be present – Spend time with loved ones, engage in meaningful activities, and reflect.
FOUR Make it sacred – Treat it as an unbreakable commitment to yourself.
I’ve had the privilege of speaking with some of the world’s wealthiest families—from Dubai to Singapore to New York—about their private struggles, their deepest concerns, and the legacies they hope to build.
No matter how much wealth or success they’ve accumulated, the one truth that unites them—and all of us—is this: we are all here for a short time.
If you don’t master your time, nothing else matters. How best will you use it?
Let me help you create the space you need to truly experience the space of time—the sensation of being alive, without distraction, without frenzy.
So I ask you: What would your life look like if you took back your time? If, just one day a week, you turned off the noise? If you built a life where time was your greatest asset—not your greatest loss?
More optimization, more efficiency, more automation—these don’t give you your time back; they just help you lose it faster.
The real answer isn’t in some new hack or algorithm. It’s in stepping away from all of it, in reclaiming time as something sacred.
It’s time to stop running. It’s time to take back what’s yours.
Start by taking a Day of Rest.
You can start today.
If this resonates with you, let’s talk. Join me in exploring how to reclaim time in a world that steals it.