Help Me Put Down My Phone

And the power of doing life together

I read Catherine Price’s book How to Break Up with Your Phone and had two thoughts:

1. Wow, I don’t think I could go a whole day without my phone
   and

2. That means I really need to.

Why is it so hard? Well, we know why it’s so hard. The phone people purposefully make them addictive so we will never put them down.

That’s where you come in. Gritting my teeth and just willing myself to stop scrolling by sheer will power is just setting myself up to cave. I will be more successful if I have accountability with other people, if you are on the journey with me.

So come join my group, LA people. Let’s break up with our phones together!

I remember once when I had to pack up my things to go back to college after a summer home, it felt so daunting to get everything packed. I asked a friend to just come sit in the room with me. I knew I would get so much more done when someone was there with me during a hard task.

Turns out this is called body doubling. While this article speculates about why body doubling works, for me, it helps me stay present in the moment and focused on what I’m supposed to be doing. It’s the opposite of time-blindness, when I completely lose track of the passage of time and how long I’ve been doing something. Having someone there, especially if we’re talking while I’m doing a mundane task, helps keep my mind where my body is.

I have a group of women I write alongside many times a week. We meet on zoom and keep each other loosely accountable; no drill sergeants here. But mostly we’re just there as body doubles to sit together while we’re working on something. (In fact I’m on zoom with them right now as I write this) Many times we’ve reflected that there’s a special energy that comes when we’re writing together and that our productivity often plummets as soon as we log off,

Maybe it’s because the llama is our unofficial mascot! (see why below)

So won’t you join me in doing life together? Let’s put our phones down (I will need a lot of accountability on that one).
And on other things won’t you just sit with me? I couldn’t do it without you.

Thank you for reading Almost Named Grace. Writers really value readers who share their work by forwarding, sharing on an online platform, and yes, by word of mouth. I wouldn’t be here without you, so thank you!

I love hearing from readers… replies to this email will be sent directly to me. Keep in touch!

---

~What I’m reading~

Anti-Racism as Daily Practice by Jen Harvey
What We Talk about When We Talk about God by Rob Bell

Thank you for reading Almost Named Grace! Subscribe for free to receive new posts right in your inbox. Paid subscribers also receive weekly sermon notes whenever I preach.