Hey,

Last year I posted about how I broke my phone while I was on a trip in late December.

Instead of fixing it, I decided to go for one month without it. Just to see what happens.

I also quit Instagram, TikTok, and all short form content.

Do not get me wrong. I was still posting on X and YouTube. But doing that from a laptop? The experience is shit.

Then one month became two months.

Then five.

And now it has been more than a year.

Almost 14 months without my phone. Only my laptop.

I wrote three newsletters about this experience during that time. But now, after more than a year, I can give you the full picture.

How I felt without a phone. What the struggles were. And why, until today, I still have not bought a new one or fixed mine.

The first month.

You have to know something about me. I am not a heavy phone person.

I was not that addicted to reels and shorts. In fact, when I was 16 years old, I went a full year without any social media platform. Not even YouTube.

So the first month was not really hard.

But in the first few days, I had to figure something out.

Before I was about to fix my phone, I sat with myself and asked: What do I actually use my phone for? What is necessary? What can I not do without it?

Two things. Receive 2FA codes when I log in somewhere. And receive calls.

I do not really call people. I just sent DMs on WhatsApp.

I do not care about taking photos. I have my Sony camera for that.

So for me, the 2FA codes and receiving calls were the only things that mattered.

Now here is the thing. My phone screen is not showing anything. But it still functions. So if someone calls, I can answer. But without knowing who it is. I just have to guess where the answer button is.

For the 2FA codes, I found a way to mirror my phone on my laptop screen.

Before you say I was cheating, let me tell you. The experience is shit. It is just enough to view the code I receive. That is all. Everything else is so laggy it is unusable.

And that is what I am still doing today.

But checking my phone every minute to see notifications, likes, sales, and emails? I was addicted to that. And now it is gone.

Once I found the solution, I felt free.

2 months.

I said I would only do the experience for one month.

But then I said, let me go for another one. Just one more month.

Because now I felt something different.

My mind was free.

Something that was holding me, controlling my life, so heavy in my pocket, had disappeared.

5 months.

I still felt the same freedom.

But now everyone knew I did not have a phone.

My family stopped calling me. My friends too. All of them just send me WhatsApp DMs now.

I already had WhatsApp linked to my laptop, so communicating was easy.

And now I was addicted to this feeling. The feeling of not having a phone.

I could not go back.

10 months.

I did not care anymore about having a phone.

Even in my business, I did not need it much.

I wanted to get the new iPhone. But I asked myself an honest question.

Do I really need it?

I imagined myself having it. And it was not going to add anything to my life.

Life Trick: before buying anything image yourself having it. If it's just going to give that first-time joy and will not add anything to your life, don't buy it; if it's going to make your life easier and worth it, go for it. Don't just follow your feelings.

So I saved my money.

Today.

This experience is so good.

I am not addicted to any short form content anymore.

Maybe a little bit of YouTube on the laptop because the experience is better there. But I am trying to remove that too.

I do not see myself getting a phone anytime soon.

I just like living without one.

But let me be honest about the struggles.

Many times I met someone, and I really needed to get their number. And there was no way I could do it. Especially if I did not have my laptop with me. So we ended up with them getting my number and sending me a DM on WhatsApp later.

I travelled a lot last year. And let me tell you, without a phone, I got lost many times. I had to carry my laptop, open Google Maps somewhere, and remember the entire road. That was painful. Seriously.

Photos. I will be honest. Even though I do not take many pictures, sometimes I do not have my camera with me. And the view is just amazing. So instead of capturing it, I just enjoy it and remember it. But still, sometimes I wish I could capture it.

Meeting people. When I have to meet someone somewher,e and they do not know the place, it is just chaos. They call me. I told you I can answer without knowing who it is. But sometimes the touch screen just does not work. And many times last year I could not meet some friends because of this.

But this problem could be solved with a Nokia 3310.

One thing I did not expect.

Removing my phone removed many bad habits from my life.

We do not notice it, but 90% of our bad habits come from our phone addiction.

Should you try this?

Before I say yes or no, let me ask you something.

If your phone is your work, your business, just do not do it. You cannot.

If your smartphone is what you use to film videos, do meetings, run your business, and you cannot replace it, just do not. It will not work.

But if you are like me and many friends I know, people who use their phone just to waste time on reels, play video games, and communicate, go for it.

Even for just a month.

But you do not have to break your phone to do it.

Just lock it somewhere and forget you have a phone.

Your life will feel different.

Without my phone, I needed a system to keep my life together.

Second Brain 6.0 was that system all last year.

Tasks. Goals. Habits. Projects. Everything in one place.

If you grab it today, you get version 7.0 with the new Game Mode free when it drops.

-> Second Brain 6.0

If you are a creator like me, I switched this year to Creator Brain 4.0. Same power, built for content.

-> Creator Brain 4.0

Thanks for reading.

See you soon.

Osama (OLS)