LTP AH!

(Leave The Phone At Home!)

I’ve started doing something recently: deliberately leaving my (i)Phone at home when I go out somewhere (I’m calling it ‘Leave The Phone At Home!’ or ‘LTP AH!’ for short).

For example, if I go to the playground with my son, I sometimes decide to LTP AH! Running down the shops to buy milk or bread? Just LTP AH!-it.

I’ve become so accustomed to having my phone on my person at every moment of every day, from waking-up in the morning to sleep at night, that it feels weird going anywhere without it at first. Like you’re missing something crucial.

It’s a bit like when you were a kid, and you had those dreams that you were at school… without wearing any pants. 😳

But you get used to it. And in fact, I think it’s glorious!

You actually, you know… notice stuff happening around you. Not constantly distracted, by notifications and Newsfeeds, trapped in some purgatory between digital and real-life.

You focus only on the real world, and stuff that really matters, like your child.

These sort of moments are precious, and I don’t want to be one of those parents that’s on always their phones at the playground, with their kids calling out ‘Mum! Dad! Look!’

I spend more than enough time online — I really don’t need to spend so much of my waking life doing so.

Plus the digital world doesn’t ever go anywhere — it’s still right there on my phone when I get home. And I actually feel refreshed, from being purely offline, and usually I haven’t missed anything at all important.

Do you ever LTP AH!? I suggest you try it.

Or are you looking forward to a future more like this?