I've decided to try something new. After reading In Real Life by Nev Schulman, the host of Catfish on MTV, I've been inspired.

It's time to kill my phone.

Not forever, but just enough to reduce daily distractions. I started today. My phone is far out of reach - in another room - so I'm not tempted by anything. It's no longer begging for my attention. I even went so far as to uninstall all social media apps and disconnect my email accounts.

Here's someone else who has tried the distraction free phone with great success. Jake, the author of that post, was also an inspiration for me to try this.

Instead of picking up my phone whenever I have a spare minute or being intrigued by a notification, I hope to stare at the wall. I hope to stand up and stretch more often. I'll be able to think and reflect instead of reading something I saw on Twitter, browsing Reddit, or scouring Hacker News.

It's the equivalent of distraction yak shaving.

My phone constantly tempts me. There's not a moment that goes by without some type of notification. It might be an email, an app telling me to do something, or a calendar notification. There is always another inbox to check.

So, I've asked myself, why do I need my phone during the day? I never talk on it. Hopefully, by doing this, I'll better schedule my time with friends and family. I won't be responding to texts during the day. I won't be planning my evenings during the day. Instead, I'll have to improve my actual meaningful communication.

I want to try this out for two weeks and see what happens. Stay tuned for a follow-up.