Declaring Independence From My Smartphone

Yesterday was July 4th and I finally decided to reclaim some control over my life. I love technology and think it can be very useful, however, I also firmly believe technology needs to work for you and not the other way around. As such, I would like share with you what led me to declare "Independence" from my smartphone yesterday. I'm not giving it up totally, instead I'm committed to making it work for me instead of the other way around.

The Itch

At first, like many others I found the smartphone truly amazing. In one piece of hardware, I got the world at my fingertips. However, in time I realized there is a hidden cost to all of this. For me, anytime a moment of boredom would set in, I would find myself getting "an itch" to check my phone. At first I did not realize it, but in time videos such as the one below made me realize that I was almost acting like some of the characters in them (you try to figure out which ones):

Obviously, I am not alone. Despite the fact I kept on promising myself to cut back, it was just not happening. I know that getting rid of the phone entirely is not realistic for me and wondered what to do next. I stepped back and asked myself what exactly do I really need on this phone? Do I really need Twitter on my phone when I can access it on my desktop? Do I really need all the Fritterware games with me 24/6? Must I get news updates every few minutes on my cell phone browser? For me, the answer to these questions was a resounding "no". I like the phone, camera, camcorder, GPS and email checker all rolled up into one. However, there certainly were elements of the phone that were becoming more trouble than they were worth.

Getting Drastic

I realize that for some people a mere commitment to limit their smartphone use is probably sufficient. However, knowing myself and "the itch", I realized a mere commitment would not work long term. Thus, I decided to do something a little more drastic. I would kill off all the extras on my phone.

Gaining Control Over the Smartphone -

How does one kill off all the extras? First, I uninstalled all of the apps I did not want on my phone anymore including Tweetdeck and the ever so compelling Angry Birds. I also made sure that whatever apps I wanted, were installed on my phone (like my awesome flashlight app). Then, considering I have an Android phone I went to the Android marketplace and got a free app called APP Lock which is simply an app that can block access to any app and requires a password to get around it. (I imagine there are similar things for the Iphone and Blackberry but since I don't own any of those devices I did not check or do any research.) With APP Lock I was easily able to put a block on any of the system apps that cannot be uninstalled such as the stock browser. I also made sure APP Lock blocked access to the "settings" menu on my phone and access to the Android Marketplace. This insured I could not install new apps on my phone (except by using Android Marketplace on my desktop) and nor could I uninstall the APP Lock app itself. Then I asked my wife to set up the passcode and security question without telling me what it is. There I was done. Thus, right now my phone cannot be used for browsing, Twitter, games etc. All I use my phone for is for email, texting, GPS, camera, camcorder and oh yeah make phone calls.

Is it enough or too much?

Now, some of you might find this a little over the top and some of you might say I did not go far enough. First of all, I did not get rid of email and texting which can be distracting. Also, what I did is also not totally foolproof because theoretically I can still go to the Android Market via my computer and install any app I want onto my phone from there and it would not be blocked. Thus, for example, I can install a new browser and it won't be blocked. The only way to prevent access to Marketplace from my desktop would be to reset the phone and link the whole phone to someone else's Google account. For myself, I don't feel that to be necessary right now. Others might say, isn't that a little over the top? I get that. However, the nice thing about this is, it is a personal thing. Decide what works best for you. For myself, nobody is forcing me to do any of this.

Do I now have a kosher smartphone? 

As I was setting this personalized version of my smartphone, I realized this might be a feasible way of making a smartphone "kosher" or least "semi-kosher" depending on what is allowed and what your definition of kosher is. For example, to protect a phone from being used to view inappropriate images, the phone should be linked to another person's Google account and that other person should apply the APP Lock blocks to any app on the smartphone that can display images. The other person should check the user's phone from time to time to see what apps are on it and make sure their password still works. It might not work for all, but it certainly can work for some.

Independence

In any event, getting back to my smartphone. I must say, after doing the aforementioned procedure, I immediately began to feel like old self again. I had effectively gotten rid of the "itch". I was INDEPENDENT again. After all, there is no point in being busy with your smartphone if there is nothing there. No Twitter, no news, no games etc. I still have a phone, GPS, camera, camcorder, texting and email which is nice and if I find those too distracting, I can adjust that further as need be. Hopefully, I will update you folks in a year from now as America once again celebrates INDEPENDENCE DAY and let you know how it went.

In conclusion, I would like to thank all those who helped raise awareness about this issue. Including the daytodisconnect initiative which took place this past year, to Lipa for his great video and to the organizers of the #asifa for inspiring me to think about this issue at my own personal level. Thanks to all!