Yesterday, I made the decision to stop using phones. And document the journey to the world via Olatorera.com. This morning, I woke up to several unread text messages and other social app messages. I haven’t responded to most knowing that I would not carry on a conversation via phones anymore. One of the text messages was from a friend who is in town from the USA. I wasn’t able to reply prior to getting rid of my phones for good. I’m sorry – if you read this before you travel out, email me, we can still get together without my use of a phone.
Why am I doing this? Before I get to that, let me tell you what happened the 1 hour before I switched off my phones for good.
I decided to notify about 20 people, many of whom I am closest to and communicate over phone most often to. People were shocked as expected. But the most interesting responses were “When you travel how will you check on your family?” “How will you negotiate in business?” “Don’t you use mobile banking?” “You’re too impatient to not use a phone. What will happen when you need something done immediately?” “How will we meet up for running in the morning?” My plan was to use my phone for 5 more minutes and I ended up using it non-stop for over an hour replying to messages. That’s not how I want my life, fingers, health and mind to be controlled. My eyes are hurting a bit too.
I tend to have a pretty good self-induced notion on right vs. wrong. I also tend to care a whole lot about my health. To achieve great things, we must ensure physical, emotional and mental strength. I want to maintain my 20/20 vision, my IQ and my well being.
I recall when I said I was going natural with my hair, almost a decade ago. It was a taboo to my closest friends then. Afro women “relaxed” “permed” or “fixed weaves”. I was determined. I knew there was nothing right about putting chemicals in my hair and although I wasn’t sure how i’d look my best with natural hair, I took the plunge and never looked back. My hair has grown very healthily since then, much longer than it had ever been. So healthy that i feel and look my best in my natural hair. This is in part thanks to the great hair care products I get via Dressmeoutlet.com/health-beauty/hair-care. But I digress.
I have decided to no longer use phones because I believe they are bad for our health and this is probably because they go everywhere with us and we grow to use them too much. One of the many examples of cell phone addiction would be this: I realized lately that when travelling, as soon as I sit on a flight, I bring out my cell phone and I don’t want to switch it off until the flight is taking off. The first thing I do when the flight lands at destination, is to anxiously switch back on my phone. I also find that at dinner, at the airport, many of us are using phones rather than socializing, meeting new people and having a great time. I love to socialize, I love to meet new people and I always love to have a great time. No more phones.
Without answering a million questions, this is an experiment that I have set my mind on. Answers to every question will be provided with time. Bottom line and most importantly, I will not use a phone again.
How will I achieve this? My time will be well managed using a digital calendar. My public engagements such as speaking events will be pre-broadcasted via Olatorera.com. Meetings will be scheduled in advance. Everything I love to do most from family life to appointments will be scheduled in advance. I will engage employees/ people still using phones with tasks that absolutely need a phone to executive of which I will diminish/ fully re-assign such tasks overtime. Even laptops are not the healthiest – I will limit my use of laptops to working hours only. Phones are overly mobile and are much worse.
Cheers to what I believe will be a greatly positive journey. No more phones. So far, it feels very refreshing. If I change my mind, which I highly doubt, it would be documented here on Olatorera.com. One quick secret: my best negotiations, communications, deals and invitations have all come via mail, email or in person. Phones are overrated. One last quick secret: phones don’t protect, other humans protect, we all protect.