What is it like to live in today’s world with no cell phone?
Well, the first thing that I can say is that people are completely shocked when they hear about it and literally ask “How do you function?”The short answer is, with a lot less distraction in my life.
Now the reasons behind how this actually happened are quite simple.
I was traveling a lot and would be living in countries for a couple of months at a time where I did not know anyone or speak the local language.
I would usually get a new sim card every time I went to one of these countries and buy some credits so that I wouldn’t be some freak without a phone.
Now I’m not the most social person, especially over the last couple of years where I have been so heavily focused on building businesses.
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I eventually arrived in Austin, Texas, where I was staying with a friend, and just didn’t bother getting it renewed this time.
Fast forward to today and it is shocking to realize that it has been over a year that I have lived this lifestyle.
I just recently moved to Panama and for this particular journey, it was required to have some sort of way to reach me remotely as I was going through a complicated immigration and visa process that required my lawyer to be able to contact me on a regular basis.
Ironically, this happened to be during the recent Trump and Hillary election process and also during the launch of Pokemon Go.
What a time to abandon the no cell phone lifestyle and rejoin the masses.
So the first thing that I did was load my phone up with a few helpful apps as well as some crap that I very soon regretted.
DuoLingo is awesome and I use it every day to work on learning my third language, Spanish.
On the other side of the spectrum, I also downloaded Tinder and Facebook mobile.
Wow, what a mistake!
It is absolutely shocking to realize just how much time people waste on these 2 apps alone.
We are talking literally hours of wasted time spent daily simply to try and get laid or checking out the same news feed over and over on Facebook.
This type of behavior can be very dangerous and extremely counter-productive to your life.
Let me explain.
Plugging back into Facebook during the presidential elections was shocking, to say the least.
The negativity and stupidity I was being bombarded with on a regular basis seemed extremely toxic and very hard to ignore.
I felt the urge to slap some of these people and voice my own political opinions to a group of strangers that I had literally not interacted with in quite some time.
Luckily I caught myself and took a step back.
On my desktop version of Facebook I use an app called news feed eradicator (you can check it out here, it’s free), this app literally blocks my entire newsfeed on Facebook and saves me from all of the typical distractions that a normal user faces.
This is a tremendous benefit and I am very grateful that my buddy Zach recommended it to me.
Here is why:
I used to always compare myself to other people and it was depressing.
I would look at the lives of people that I hardly know who seemed to be living a life much more fun and successful than me.
The truth of the matter is that you’re only really seeing a snippet of this person’s life and the majority of the time their whole online persona is completely fake.
You know who I’m talking about, the people that take a selfie in front a car they don’t own or the dorks that regularly post a picture of their boarding pass or maybe even the guy that pretends he is crushing it in business when the reality is usually completely different.
Fake, fake fake.
Subjecting yourself to this daily onslaught is not healthy. But for some reason, I think it is a crime that we are all, at least partially, guilty of.
Now when you combine this with the toxicity of something so emotionally charged as the political election…
You have a daily dose of negativity that is ready to be injected multiple times per day right in 
your pocket.
It even beeps and vibrates to remind you.
Damn!
Now I’m not even going to go into all of the other time wasting crap on Facebook as I think I have made somewhat of a point.
Combine that with your other mobile addictions such as Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Tinder, Whatsapp etc.
This is a recipe for wasted time (and life) that we have never seen before on a massive global scale.
Another thing that I noticed that I was guilty of was using my mobile device as a crutch in awkward social situations or simply when I was bored.
Only when I went with no cell phone for several months was I able to realize just how toxic this little device can be.
I would go for dinner with friends or family and right in the middle of a conversation, they would get a beep or a notification and instantly check their phone.
They would then come back to the conversation and say things like “what were you saying?”
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Back in the day, this would have seemed extremely rude but nowadays it is just the way it is.
Now, I’m not saying that I will go back to living a no cell phone lifestyle anymore.
The fact of the matter is that at this point in my life I actually do need it for business.
But I will say this, it is very important that you control what you put into your mind and your consciousness.
You are what you eat. So stop poisoning yourself.
In closing, I would just like to say that I will be keeping my new cell phone and will be using it for business and work related purposes only.
I have deleted all the extra apps that I for some reason thought I was missing out on and simply use it as a way to receive phone calls and emails.
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I challenge you to take a look at your cell phone use and to put some thought into whether or not it is a good or bad thing in your life.
And at the very least put the thing away when you’re sharing a meal or having a conversation with someone.
Enjoy the beauty of the world around you and cherish the moments that you have with friends and family.
You only live once!
