A Simple Retreat, Use GET

I remember the first time I watched The Devil Wears Prada. At the end of the movie, Andrea (the lead character), decides she doesn’t want to be the person she is turning herself into – as an act of defiance against her overbearingly meticulous boss she throws her phone in a fountain. This single act bringing a smile to her face, a burden lifted off her shoulders, a feeling of relief. Now, this doesn’t directly relate to the life change I’ve made, but it does show something about the nature of cell phones: they cause stress. Selling communication has caused consumers to oblige to an inherit stigma, you should use what you pay for.

If you pay for 500 text messages you’re going to do your very best to use every last text, no less, no more. If you buy unlimited, then you better use more than 2000, or whatever the next lowest plan is. This is fine and dandy, but it means you’re texting for the sake of texting. So that’s one point I’d like to make. If you do text, don’t feel so obligated to use your money’s worth. Feel obligated to use texting as a tool, a resource, of a source of enjoyment. But not as something stressful.

Now, my second point would be to get rid of texting completely. Give it up. It is one more stream of relatively useless information. There are much quicker ways to convey information. I know somebody is thinking “but I don’t spend that much time texting, and it doesn’t stress me out.” Well, good for you. You are better than me, because I cannot handle the stress of checking, receiving, and replying inadequately formed messages on a device meant for talking, not typing.

The title of this post is simply trying to convey one thing. Don’t let texting, email, or anything else check you. Check it instead. See if you got any new text messages every 15 minutes. Or check your email every 15. But don’t set it to auto-check ever minute, etc.

I haven’t completely gotten here myself though. My email checks itself every minute, although I did get rid of texting, I am not exactly where I’d like to be.