I went and did a thing, yesterday. It’s a sort of odd thing, but I think it’ll be fun. I bought myself an Apple Watch Ultra, and turned my iPhone off for the foreseeable future.

Whoa, right?

I’ve contemplated doing something like this for years. I’ve thought about grabbing a Light Phone (e-ink smartphone with very limited apps), trying a Nokia or other non-smart or semi-smartphone, and various other schemes. The reason why is pretty obvious, I’d think. The average American spends about five and a quarter hours a day on their phone and picks it up almost 150 times a day. That’s a lot! In fact, the average person in the US will spend over seventeen years of their life on their phone (based on living to age eighty).

For years, I’ve routinely seen the negative aspects of our technology at play. I’ve watched couples on a dinner date both eyes down in their phones. I’ve watched parents ignore their children because they were scrolling. I’ve come to realize that the sorts of connections we generate by tapping out a quick text are not a replacement for real conversation, but often feel like a good replacement - which is one of the primary causes for the loneliness epidemic rampant across so much of the world right now. 

I was not in quite that bad shape, partly because I already recognized that phone abuse is a serious issue. I’ve never had my phone ringer on, so I couldn’t hear alerts when they arrive. I’ve worn an Apple Watch since they first came out, so those alerts vibrate my wrist a bit, after which I can look at the alert and see if it’s something I need to deal with now, or can safely worry about later. My wife Liz and I have also always had a firm rule of no phones while we eat; meals are for spending time together chatting, not to ignore one another.

But even with all of that, I was still on my phone for about three hours a day and picked it up about forty-five times a day. That’s a lot. Three hours a day is about 19% of my waking life, and most of those hours were not actually spent pursuing things that I value. They were wasted time. Social media and video games are my primary addiction issues here.

And it is an addiction. I’ve been addicted in the past - to nicotine - and the sensation is similar enough that I’m familiar with it. The reality is these devices have been engineered to keep us busy scrolling or tapping for as many hours a day as humanly possible, because every hour we spend on an app earns someone, somewhere, about thirty cents. That’s might not sound like much, but multiply that by billions of people spending an average of five hours a day, and it adds up fast!

OK, that’s the ‘why.’ Here’s the specifics of how I am doing this.

I could have just jumped to a flip phone. Lots of folks do. But that removes a lot of the functions I do appreciate about a smartphone. I went and looked at the list of things I really use and want to keep using my phone for, and it was fairly short. I enjoy checking the weather, getting directions, listening to music, tracking my workouts and fitness, texting people, calling people, checking email, running timers and alarms, setting reminders, getting calendar alerts, and ironically, calling an Uber, using the calculator (which I had to use twice writing this piece already!).

The cool news is, the Apple Watch can already do most of that. In fact, the only thing on that list that it absolutely cannot do is call an Uber, but there’s a workaround for that. They have a toll free number you can call to order a cab, so I’m set on that score, too. For the rest of this stuff, the watch does it all.

What the watch does not do is run games (I’m sure there are some, I’m just never installing them, which is easier because playing on a tiny screen won’t be as fun), use social media, watching YouTube videos, or most of the other time-wasting things I ended up primarily using my iPhone for. It just has the stuff I need, and with the tiny screen it’s not great for doing much else.

Now, I will still be on social media, of course. I’m just going to be doing it on my laptop instead of my phone. I’ll set aside intentional time to check in with the writing community on Facebook, for example. But it’ll be intentional time, not cases of “I’m bored, let’s yank out the electronic pacifier.”

Why the Ultra? The Apple Watch Ultra is their flagship watch. It’s sturdier than the regular watches, which I want if it’s my main driver. It’s difficult to break. It has a slightly larger screen, but not large enough to cause me major issues. It has 5G, so I have the same powerful connection ability my phone gave me. It’s got 64GB of storage, which means there’s plenty of room for audiobooks, podcasts, and music. I’ve done some testing, and even with the iPhone off, I can still get calls and texts without issue. (You do still need an iPhone to anchor the watch, but I already had it, so that part was easy. I just won’t buy a new one until I absolutely have to in about ten years…)

I love technology. I write science-fiction, so how could I not?! I also want to be in control of the tech I use, rather than allowing it to control me. Will this experiment accomplish that?

I have absolutely no idea.

But I am intensely curious to find out! I’ll post updates as this trial run goes on and let you know how it goes!