The Distraction-Free Android
Why my brand-new Google Pixel is better without Gmail, Chrome, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram… or even Google
Back in 2014, after a few hundred thousand other people read about Jake’s Distraction-Free iPhone, I decided to try it for myself.
Unlike Jake, I can’t say I had a problem with my iPhone. It wasn’t burning a hole in my pocket, tempting me with the promise of infinity at every moment. It wasn’t distracting me from my kids, because I don’t have any. It was distracting me from my wife and my friends, but I didn’t see the problem, because it was normal.
That’s right. In those days, before I went distraction-free, my relationship to my iPhone was totally normal.
But just because something is normal, that doesn’t mean it’s good, or okay, or healthy. For generations, it was normal to smoke cigarettes, and nobody thought much about it. And then… well, then smoking became the greatest public health issue of the 20th Century.
Today, being addicted to your smartphone is more normal than ever. That’s a problem.
But it also creates an opportunity. Starting in 2014, I saw the benefits of Jake’s abnormal choice: he was more present, he did great work, and he still had plenty of time for his…
