Do you ever feel like your mobile phone is less of a tool for communication and more of a personal anxiety inducer?? I blummin’ do! This age of information and constant connectivity we’re living in really get’s to me, there is no-where we can’t be contacted. (except the Horse and Jockey in Bentley – and that’s a TimberMane top tip!)
If I can’t take the call, it becomes a missed call notification or a txt requesting a call back which lights a fire under my anxiety!
“what do they want? Maybe it’s important, maybe it’s REALLY important, it must be important, they left a message….”
So I succumb and call them back, it’s rarely ‘drop everything’ important, but that’s not totally the point, it’s railroaded my headspace, the space I need to unwind. I’m an over thinker and will put myself in a hole if I don’t take some time to be a bit vacant, so when the phone is buzzing all the time you can imagine how I feel.
I’ve been trying for a long time to figure out a solution and the obvious one was to just leave the phone at home, or get a personal one, but I resisted this, maybe it was FOMO or concern of having ANOTHER device I can be contacted on. But I caved, I got myself an extremely cheap contract and what’s known as a dumb phone! Basically the type of phone we all had about 15 – 20 years ago, remember them? Phone calls, text messages, buttons and Snake!
I got a Nokia Flip Phone! It’s wicked, I have given my number to a handful of people who might desperately need me and when they can’t get me on my main phone, they can get me on my “Burner” and when the call is finished I snap it shut and feel cool as f**k!! It also takes me back to the days when all you needed was to txt “WUU2” and be offline by default.
So now when I go out with the family and meet up with mates I just take the flip phone, I’m more present because there isn’t the temptation to whip out the smart phone and scroll or google something….. The conversation quality goes up! If I need to remember something or really need to google something I either write it in my notebook (more about this on another blog) or I txt myself!
HOWEVER……
My wife picked my daughter up from Nursery the other day and they asked:
Nursey: “Do you or your husband have a flip phone?”
Mrs TimberMane: “My husband does yes…”
Nursery: “OK that explains it, she pretends to open a flip phone and say’s “Hello Peppa” (Peppa pig, they talk a lot, they’re BFF’s)
Mrs TM: “Haha, yes that will be it.”
Nursery: “Also we’ve had to make her some money…… Because she keeps requesting “Daddy Money, Daddy Money….”
Mrs TM: “Oh……”
They must think I’m some sort of drug dealer—especially when I turn up in my Hawaiian shirt looking like an extra from Miami Vice! Honestly, I’m starting to get nervous about the nursery run… half expecting the drug squad to jump out and cuff me! Or at the very least social services might show up with a few questions!
In all seriousness though, I don’t know where she got the Daddy money bit from…. I don’t have any. But what I am starting to get is a bit of headspace in my down time. If you, like me, struggle with switching off or disconnecting, I recommend putting the smart phone away for a day and focus on the important things in life. It’s very refreshing!
I’d love to hear what you do to disconnect and keep your head clear in this mad world, so please share, I really want to talk about this! Also, got any similar parenting stories?? Until then I’ll be the guy at nursery looking suspiciously tropical. Suspiciously tropical, but calm.
Take it easy!!
TM
