Friday morning, after I dropped the kids off at school, I went to my favorite coffee shop. I was grabbing to-go, because I had a full slate of recordings to get done. And while I was waiting in a line 8 people deep for the best Nitro coffee in town, I saw something very upsetting.

Everyone in front of me was looking straight down at their phone. Perhaps the only reason I saw this is because I intentionally left everything except some cash and my keys in the car. As I’ve written about here, I’m trying to leave my phone in my car more often. So there I was, looking around the coffee shop, alone with my thoughts.

After ordering (and asking the cashier how many people pay with cash these days), I saw all the people waiting behind me doing the same thing...except two guys who were having a conversation. The people waiting for their coffee on the other side of the counter — same story.

That’s not what I noticed though. I mean, that’s not exactly a groundbreaking observation.

They All Looked Unhappy

What I noticed was the way they looked. They all had this scrunched-up, madder-side-of-neutral face as they mindlessly scrolled. Like they weren’t that happy to be on their phones. Like they were just doing it because it was something to do.

Because god forbid we do nothing for a few minutes. Is this really the relationship we have with technology? One where it doesn’t make us happy, but at least we aren’t left alone with our thoughts?

The only smiling people, by the way, were the two people in line talking, and the group of people sitting in the corner, also talking.

And that should tell us something.

We Need to Be Bored

I’ve been thinking a lot about being bored. I’m working on a bigger piece about it, because I think it’s important; it’s not just something I want to quickly scrawl about and hit publish on. But the crux is this: boredom makes us better.

It gives us time alone with our thoughts. To form our own opinions. To think through problems. To not be emotionally affected by every transgression that happens online.

Living in the Real World

Being bored also makes us more aware of our surroundings. We hear everything that’s going on. We see what’s happening around us. We can strike up a conversation with a stranger, or help someone in need. Or just like...hold the door for the person behind us.

Recently I wrote about why I think we should have more phone-free bars. More device-less taverns. Maybe I’m aiming too high for right now.

Maybe we can just try leaving our phones in the car for a 10-minute errand. It will give us the opportunity to interact with the people around us, instead of being rage-baited by people who don’t know we exist.

Maybe, just maybe, we can put a smile on someone’s face...instead of whatever face they’re making when they stare at their phone.

I recently read Common Sense by Thomas Paine1 which I feel I should have read years ago. At 250 years old, there are a lot of good reminders in there of things that we’ve forgotten or taken for granted.

But something that truly struck me actually came in the 1995 preface, written by Gregory Tietjen (emphasis mine):

Friends said of Paine that he was a restless reader, impatient with books, and happiest when buried in newspapers or engaged in conversation driven by drink and a tavern’s conviviality.

What a deeply social concept: it’s always worth making time for good conversation over a drink.

I fear we’re losing that due to a couple of reasons…one being the phone.

This is actually something How I Met Your Mother addressed in 2011. It seemed the bar booth debate was dead. One would start, and then you’d just look something up on your phone.

Today, it’s even worse. When there’s any lull in conversation, people reach for their phone; God forbid there’s a moment of silence where we’re left with our thoughts. When our phone buzzes, we immediately prioritize the person/creator/thing that’s not with us over the people with us.

As a result, I worry we’re not having good, in-person debates. The kind that force us to think on our feet, and challenge our views in a way that makes us reflect on them — not with personal attacks, but by simply removing us from the media- and algorithm-driven echo chamber we tend to live in.

An Actual Discussion I had at a Conference

Earlier this year, I had an honest-to-goodness discussion with someone who had fairly opposing political views from me while we were at a conference. But we didn’t attack each other. We didn’t show each other histrionic or fake clips from our phones.

We had a 30 minute, uninterrupted conversation where we tried to learn each other’s perspectives. Then we came away from it with a little more empathy, and some homework for each of us.

We were able to do this for a few reasons:

1. People are generally more respectful in person, where they’re not protected by a keyboard and a screen.

2. We could pick up on each other’s body language; not just the words we were saying, but how we were saying them, both in physical delivery and intonation.

3. We couldn’t just go and immediately find something that “irrefutably” proved us right; we actually had to rely on our beliefs and thoughts — not just what we thought about other people’s opinions.

4. We had to be ready to actually stand by what we were saying.

This is what Paine liked about the tavern — a general conviviality you don’t often get on social media, where people can twist your words and your meaning, and quickly draw a mob to pounce on your twisted words.

This is honestly the root of another goal of mine: to leave my phone at home, or in the car, more. I want to have more engaging conversations without having the world’s most intrusive device in my pocket.

Which is why I have a proposal.

My Proposal: A Device-less Tavern

Picture this: you walk up to a bar, they check your ID, and instead of hitting you with a cover charge, they give you a number. That number corresponds with the locker they’ll put your phone in, where they’ll keep it until you’re ready to leave.

Once you walk in, you don’t see a bunch of faces aglow with the cold, blue light of their iPhones. You don’t see one-sided conversations where one person is talking while the other is “just checking their phone real quick.” You don’t see someone asking ChatGPT who that actor in Independence Day was.

You see people looking at each other, talking, having lively conversations where they are fully present. So many engaged in conversation driven by drink and a tavern’s conviviality; Thomas Paine would be elated.

This isn’t hard to do. In fact, I’ve already outlined how to leave your phone at home, or in the car:

1. Tell your loved ones and babysitter where you’re going to be.

2. Give them the number in case of an emergency.

That’s it. That’s the entire list.

Sure, you may also have to get cash or something. Maybe a notebook and pen. But we’ve operated this way since the opening of the first taverns in…._Ancient Greece_. Some estimate the first taverns are actually like 4,000 years old.

So 4,000 years minus…30? I think you’ll be OK for a few hours.

Now, in doing some research, I did come across a few bars in the USA that are already doing this, to varying degrees of success.

Hush Harbor in Washington DC, for example, locks phones in a magnetic pouch. Same thing goes for Antagonist in Charlotte. Several bars in NYC offer the same thing.

I want to see more of this. More bars and restaurants that ban the use of phones inside. And I want more people to want this.

But if you don’t live close to one of these phone-free taverns, how can you make it happen?

How We Can Do This in Our Lives

Unfortunately, you can’t just stand at the entrance telling people to put their phones in your bag…for a lot of reasons.

But you can get your friends to agree: everyone leaves their phones in the car. Smart watches too. That way the temptation isn’t even there.

I promise you’ll have better, deeper, more interesting conversations.

Think about it: when was the last time you were out with friends and had a conversation where you were all fully engaged the entire time?

Time for the Digital Detox Accountability Report for March! This month definitely didn’t feel as strong as the previous two…but I think I’m cementing good habits, as opposed to creating a bunch of new ones.

As a reminder, the main tenets of my yearly theme are:

• Using devices less

• Leave phone in car more

• Rely on GPS less

• Read older books. More philosophy and biographical

• Read books about doing things in the real world. How coffee is made, cigars, other crafts

• Turn off symptoms radar/don’t let Oura Ring dictate how I feel

Let’s see how it’s going!

What’s Going Well?

I think, while on-balance I’ve used my phone more (travel had a lot to do with that), I’ve found myself not pulling it out as much, or losing track of it and not caring. And speaking of travel, I barely used it on my flights, opting to sit with my thoughts instead.

I’m continuing to use GPS less; I even used it less to get around my parents’ town, where they moved about 18 months ago. I think that’s a big win.

I finally finished reading The Iliad, and started reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I also read Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday. That helped reinforce what I’d say is the biggest thing I did well this month.

I gave up Amazon for Lent (as well as all instant gratification apps). As we approach the final days of Lent, I’ve had very little urge to use it; I will not add it back onto my phone, and I suspect I’ll be buying locally a lot more.

Where Can I Improve?

My biggest struggle continues to be using my phone around going to bed and waking up. It’s the last thing I see before bed and the first thing I reach for when I wake up.

I’ve told myself stories (what if someone calls and needs me?) and some stories with legitimate backing (having the headphones help me sleep better)1, but the truth is I shouldn’t need the phone in my bedroom.

I certainly would love to not check it when I first wake up. But it’s something I need to make an actual effort towards, as just telling myself not to do it hasn’t worked.

What Do I Resolve to Do in the Next Month to Further My Goals?

To that end, there are two continuing resolutions for my Year of Digital Detox:

1. Continue my Lenten promise of not using my Amazon. I want to come up with a way to use it when it’s actually helpful; I need some strict rules though, so no buying until I have those.

2. Build a system to stop using my phone before going to sleep and right after waking up.

More on that below.

What’s One Big Problem I Should Try to Solve Related to Digital Detox?

I’ve tried no phones at bedtime before, to varying degrees of failure. Leaving it outside the room, Bricking it before bed, trying to get my wife on board.

Nothing has stuck, in part because TV/Music helps me fall asleep. But the dog recently ate one of my sleep headphones, and I’m feeling extra motivated.

I want to solve this problem once and for all, and I’m confident it can be done2.

Alright — that’s it! What do you think? Comment and let me know.

For some people, their entire personality is wrapped up in their politics, their religion, or their job. I find this troubling in many cases as human beings are so brilliant; why would we want to reduce ourselves to being so one-dimensional?

But some could make an argument that when it comes to baseball, I can be that way. I study it. I consume baseball content year-round. There’s a 60% chance my analogies in my business will be baseball-related.

I watch the first Spring Training game, I take off on Yankees Opening Day when they have an afternoon game, and I try my best to watch every Yankees regular season game, and every playoff game.

Baseball is very easily my favorite sport. Here’s why.

There’s a lot to Know

I often tell people that my favorite hobbies require depth of knowledge. I like cigars, and there are a lot of aspects to what makes a cigar good. I play the drums, where there are so many styles and genres of play. It’s easy to be a life-long learner on the drums. The same goes with fountain pens.

And it’s true with baseball too. There are so many players, teams, and games…the stats are endless. The game is constantly evolving; not just year over year, but game over game. Sometimes even pitch over pitch.

A casual observer would say all you’re doing is swinging a bat at a ball. But a true fan knows that there are a lot of mental gymnastics happening between each pitch.

The batter is figuring out, based on what the pitcher threw and how he reacted, what the next pitch might be. He has to commit to how and when he’s going to swing before the pitch is thrown.

Hitting a baseball being thrown 100mph with a wooden bat is the hardest thing to do in sports. And the pitcher knows that. So…is he going to throw hard? Or slow it down and get the batter to swing well before the ball gets to the plate? Did he adjust the hitter’s eye level to look high so he can throw low? Is the batter a patient hitter, or a free swinger?

All of this happens in the 20 seconds between pitches. And that’s just one aspect of the game.

Baseball is a Combination of Short and Long Term Athleticism

Baseball is a long season. 162 games played over about 6 months. Plus 6 weeks of Spring Training. And if you’re lucky, 4-5 weeks of Postseason play.

There are about 20 off days baked in. 162 games over about 182 days. That’s a lot. And players have to stay healthy that entire time. That requires a different kind of stamina than you need for soccer, football, or basketball.

Some positions are more intense than others. There’s a reason starting pitchers only pitch every 5 days; they are involved in every play of the game, throwing 75-100 pitches when they’re on the mound. Catching is also physically intense. Infielders need incredible reaction time on hard-hit balls. And you need to cover a lot of ground in the outfield.

There was a time when guys played every game, every day, sometimes twice a day. What we saw Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripken Jr. do will almost definitely never be done again.

The average baseball career is shockingly short (as is the case in most sports); but the truly great players know how to keep their body in shape to play past 40.

Baseball IQ is a Real Thing

I also like that you need to be smart to play baseball1. Because there’s so much going on with every pitch, you need to be extremely situationally aware. Not just about pitches, but who’s on base, what to do based on how and when the ball is hit, and any number of factors and variables that affect each and every play.

For example, during the World Baseball Classic, we saw Aaron Judge throw out two guys trying to take third base on a fly ball2. They were not aware that he had such a strong, accurate arm.

For most Right Fielders, those players (one being the speedy Fernando Tatis Jr.) would have been safe. But Aaron Judge is a different caliber of player, and it’s important for those runners to know that.

It’s a Great Combination of Analog and Digital

Finally, I love that, much like this publication, baseball is a great combination of the analog and the digital.

There are a LOT of stats. Sabermetrics (objective analysis of baseball stats) has transformed the game, getting popularized by the 2002 Oakland A’s.

Today in the MLB we’re seeing technology assist in player improvements, training, and on-field calls. This is the first year we’ll see ABS, the Automated Ball-Strike System; if a pitcher, catcher, or batter thinks the umpire called the ball wrong, they can challenge it.

In one very specific example, Giancarlo Stanton has become a much better pinch hitter thanks to advancements in pitching machines. Now they can simulate actual pitchers, so he can take simulated at-bats that are far, far more accurate.

This is important because the better you understand the release angle, the better chance you have of actually hitting the ball. And when Stanton actually hits the ball, it tends to go far.

But…it takes true physical strength to be a baseball player. You need to condition yourself in such a way that your body can handle hundreds of short bursts over a very long season. Games can be won or lost based on a single decision a player makes on the field.

You need to have gut instinct to be truly great. Games can also be won or lost based on a single decision the manager makes. Analytics help, but they aren’t everything. They can’t tell you how a particular player is feeling that day. They can’t tell you what the next situation will bring. Previous results do not predict future outcomes.

The teams that win the most deftly combine technology with gut instinct. They know how to use the tools they have…but more importantly, they know when to disregard them and trust their instinct.

Baseball is Back

October is my favorite month. It’s Autumn in the Northeast USA, which is the best. NFL football is happening. The Baseball Postseason is happening. It’s my birthday.

But there’s always a great sadness when the Yankees are done playing, and subsequently, when the World Series is over3.

March is the other side of that coin. Hope springs eternal, as they say. If October is what could have been, the new season is all that can be.

And I love that.

I was waiting for my daughter to get out of Cello lessons at the local music shop last week when I struck up a conversation with Ben, the guy who owns the shop. I was telling him how I finally purchased records for the record player my wife got me for Christmas.

It took me so long because I didn’t just want to get the first record that came to mind. I wanted it to be something meaningful. I settled on:

1. The White Album by The Beatles

2. Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

Good choices. As Ben said, “Probably two of the best rock albums of all time.”

We moved on to music quality, the intentionality of listening to records, and how I picked up music players for both me and Teresa.

Then he said something unexpected: As far as midlife crises go, this is a pretty good one.

It never occurred to me that this might be my midlife crisis…but at 40, it’s pretty well timed.

What is a Midlife Crisis?

First I want to talk about what a midlife crisis is, with the heavy caveats that:

1. I am not a psychologist.

2. My research on this was effectively stating a premise (that midlife crises aren’t always bad), and then using Google Gemini in Deep Research mode to surface primary sources to either support or reject that premise.

I won’t give you the history lesson, but it was coined by Psychoanalyst Elliott Jaques in the 1960s, and it’s had a largely negative connotation. Terms like depression, melancholia, stress, and contemplation of mortality have all been associated with midlife crisis.

From Psychology Today:

[M]idlife crisis most often occurs due to unresolved issues from the past and/or the urge to act on an impulse that has been dormant. If someone has low self-esteem or a need to compete with those they feel are living a more desirable life, that may also increase the tendency to engage in midlife-crisis behaviors.

But it’s gotta be more than the stereotypical upending of life we see right? Not everyone buys a sports car and blows up their marriage, right?

Right?

Turns out, that is right.

A More Positive Spin on Midlife Crisis

Crisis, at least in some circles, has been labeled a bit of a misnomer — and maybe even flat out wrong:

Depending on your circumstances and outlook, it can be a stressful and confusing time. But midlife can also be a time of growth, stability, and joy.

Indeed, a lot of what I read focused on shifting mental models of aging, and introspection. It’s true that my generation, Millennials, are “launching” later, and similarly becoming the sandwich generation1 later.

But something I read from an academic paper called Midlife in the 2020s: Opportunities and Challenges really stood out to me:

Middle-aged adults often play a crucial role in bringing together and nurturing family members and mentoring co-workers. The central position in the life course is captured by balancing gains and losses associated with the aging process, linking earlier and later periods of life, and bridging generations.

I’m in this position now. My kids are getting older. I’m involved in their school in a way that gives me some influence. And I’m helping business owners take more time off through coaching and consulting.

I see this as a strong opportunity to find purpose in mid-life — a time in your life where experience and wisdom is combined with enough energy and spryness to really make a difference.

But what does all of this have to do with me listening to records?

Strong Nostalgia and the Comeback of Physical Media

Nostalgia is another one of those terms that has often been given a negative connotation. It can be associated with longing for times gone by — “better” times — where things felt more in your control.

But it doesn’t have to be:

…reconstructing symbolic social bonds in an idealized timespace is not merely a retreat from reality but rather a positive search for meaning.

I’m finding that meaning through physical media. In a world of instant gratification, it’s easy to not take time to appreciate the craft of something. It’s easy to move on to the next thing.

The first second of this video doesn’t grab you? Swipe up. Don’t like this movie? Pick the next one. Not interested in this song? Next, next, next.

Physical media — especially records — doesn’t give you that luxury. You have to disconnect and set time aside to enjoy a record. It helps me take in the real world and enjoy the time and effort people put into their craft.

And I’m not the only one who’s been thinking about this. Gen-Z is longing to disconnect. Cal Newport has been talking about digital minimalism for years.

I recently saw a piece on Good Morning America about consumers buying more VHS tapes and DVDs. Record purchases are up too. I’m part of that growing population now.

If this is my midlife crisis, I’ll take it. It looks a lot more like bringing together family members, and mentoring the younger generation than upending my life.

If I can get my kids to appreciate the act of listening to music, and not just having it on in the background, it’s a huge win.

Some might say I’m just looking at this through rose-colored glasses. That I’m making a bigger deal of it than it is. But I don’t think I am; and I agree with Ben.

If physical media and digital detox is my “midlife crisis,” it’s definitely a good one to have.

Time for the Digital Detox Accountability Report for February! I’ve decided to update my weekly and monthly notes in Obsidian to better track this throughout the month. As a result, this should be more complete and more accurate!

As a reminder, the main tenets of my yearly theme are:

• Using devices less

• Leave phone in car more

• Rely on GPS less

• Read older books. More philosophy and biographical

• Read books about doing things in the real world. How coffee is made, cigars, other crafts

• Turn off symptoms radar/don’t let Oura Ring dictate how I feel

Let’s see how it’s going!

What’s Going Well?

This month saw a great continuation in my attempts to digital detox. I wrote at length about how I’m giving up Amazon for Lent. That’s been going well so far, and I feel like I’m already thinking past Easter to see how I can continue this trend.

I’m also extending it to other “instant gratification” apps, like Uber Eats1.

I’ve read a lot more; my challenge for the month was to figure out how I can manage my energy better so that I could read in the evening after the kids go to bed. I don’t think I made a concerted effort, but I did read in the evening a few times throughout the month.

I’m about 65% of the way through The Iliad, which is like 700 pages long. I want to finish it before I travel on March 14th.

I have left my phone in the car several times. This was a big one for me, and something I’ve caused a stir over on LinkedIn. I was already leaving it in a locker at the gym, but there were a few times where I actually went out into the world without it. And you know what?

No one died.

I really enjoyed the Olympics. I know this isn’t strictly digital detoxing. But watching human beings demonstrate incredible feats of physicality felt like it. I also learned a bunch about the Olympics, so that goal was also fulfilled!

Finally, I purchased a non-streaming, downloads only music player. Now I have a completely disconnected way to listen to music, and as an added bonus, I actually own a lot of the music I listen to.

Overall, I would call February a bigger success than January. That said, not everything went perfectly.

Where Can I Improve?

I did end up logging into a work account on my phone. I was out doing a job away from my computer and had some obligations I had to attend to. I don’t want to do that at all, so in the future, I need to manage both my time and expectations a little better.

I also want to reduce my dependency on sleeping with headphones. I’m susceptible to a lot of noise/distractions, and as a result I’ve been watching TV or listening to YouTube as I fall asleep. I’d like to try harder to not do that…especially since ultimately I’d like to sleep with my phone in a different room.

Speaking of, I’ve been using my phone at the dinner table too much — not during dinner per se, but too much. I’m in a bad habit of eating while I watch TV and vice versa. Having a device-free zone in the dining room would go a long way to breaking that really strong association.

I also didn’t Brick my phone more…though I have some bigger ideas in the works with respect to contextual use of my devices.

What Do I Resolve to Do in the Next Month to Further My Goals?

I think there are 3 major areas in which I can advance my goals for March:

1. Continue not to use Amazon or instant gratification apps

2. Sleep without relying on listening to/watching something

3. Give my iPhone a revamp similar to (but definitely not the same as) my iPad

The first should be easy, since it’s what I’m doing for Lent too. But I’m also traveling for a week in March; I will need Uber…I just need to remember I don’t also need Uber Eats.

#2 will be hard, no doubt. I’ve done this my entire life pretty much. I hear everything, my brain runs wild, and I have tinnitus. I’m going to have to ease into this one.

And for #3, I will probably spend a lot of time thinking about the contexts in which I use my phone. I can’t turn off all notifications, and there are several legitimately useful apps (like Flighty). It won’t be as locked down, but it will be as locked down as it can be.

What’s One Big Problem I Should Try to Solve Related to Digital Detox?

Picking up the Innioasis Y1 got me thinking more about owning my media. If all of my streaming services disappeared right now, my ability to consume the music I want to listen to would be severely degraded2. So my big problem:

How am I going to own more of my media?

I want to own all of the media I consume, and digitize my movies and music. I’ve begun digitizing my music. But I have lots of DVDs that need some love.

I also picked up a UGREEN NAS over the summer, which has the ability to stream owned media. I also upgraded it to have 20TB of storage…so I have the space.

Alright — that’s it! What do you think? Comment and let me know.

I’ve been on a quest for what is likely a unicorn device.

I want an eInk device I can do long-form writing on, that is distraction-free, but connects to the internet.

I mean…talk about a contradiction of epic proportions.

I’ve considered the Freewrite line of eInk typewriters, but I like a spacious screen so I’m not sure I’d actually like writing on them. But after buying and LOVING the reMarkable Paper Pro Move, I thought the reMarkable 2 + Typefolio keyboard case would solve my problems.

Sadly, it didn’t.

I Ended Up Returning the reMarkable 2

It’s a really nice device. It’s impossibly thin without the Typefolio, and I did enjoy having more room to write and brainstorm.

But the primary reason I bought it was to have a more frictionless, distraction-free writing experience. I can’t really say I got either.

Yes…if I just had the reMarkable, it would have been a very distraction-free experience. But because of the way I write, I’m usually researching and cross referencing.

That’s very hard to do on a device that doesn’t have a browser. I needed to have some device nearby that could use the internet for more than syncing, and that device was usually my phone.

But even if I had left the phone in another room, the experience wasn’t frictionless.

Syncing properly formatted text from the reMarkable was harder than it should have been, and required some clever automations to get it to a usable format in Obsidian.

Proofreading was also harder If the draft was also typo-laden, I couldn’t tell because there was no spellcheck. But I also couldn’t always see the screen super clearly. The reMarkable 2 has no backlight, which means I was relegated to writing in only well-lit areas.

Finally, because I owned both the reMarkable 2 and reMarkable Paper Pro Move, I was struggling with which one to use while I was home. I liked more space, but there was a small, unforeseen problem.

Since the devices are two different sizes, the pages generated on one device didn’t look great on the other1.

Because I love the Paper Pro Move so much for its portability, when I realized the optimal number of reMarkable devices per person is probably one, choosing which to keep was easy.

But that still left me with the problem of distraction-free writing.

That’s when I turned to my iPad.

Why the iPad is a Near-Perfect Writing Device

I really love the physical limits of the iPad. It’s smaller and by default, more focused. You have to go through great lengths to make it accommodate more than one app at a time…though admittedly recent iPadOS updates have made it easier.

It’s also really light, and the setup is flexible. While the reMarkable 2 works with exactly one keyboard, the iPad works with basically any keyboard. I can make any adjustments I need to based on where and when I’m writing.

There are also lots of writing apps for the iPad, including my favorites: Obsidian and Ulysses.

But notice I said near perfect.

Drawbacks of Writing on the iPad

The reMarkable is pretty much a single-serving device. You use it to write notes…either by hand or typing.

The iPad is still a distraction-filled device if you let it be. Its versatility means it can be used for anything, from writing, to consuming media, to creating media.

Plus there’s notifications.

That’s why I set out to reMarkable-ify my iPad Pro. I want to make it as much as distraction-free writing device as humanly possible.

Here’s what I did.

The Exterior

Let’s start with the easy part. I have the 11” M4 iPad Pro. It’s really thin, and super light. It also has a beautiful OLED screen.

That OLED screen offers a benefit the reMarkable couldn’t — it looks great, even in low/no light. But the colors also really pop, and I wanted this to feel more like a notebook than a beautiful media device.

I picked up the Rock Paper Pencil V3 from Astropad. It adds a coarse texture to the screen that makes it feel a lot more like writing on paper…or the reMarkable.

But it also has this blunting effect on the screen. It doesn’t make it harder to see in low light2, but it does diminish the experience of watching movies on it. When I had the V2, I would take it off when I wanted to watch something, and put it back on when I wanted to write.

Luckily, it’s really easy to take on and off…but I was doing it so much that I eventually just kept it off, and it degraded, before getting lost.

So I replaced it with the new version, and my intention is to always keep it on. After all, there’s not much I’ll be able to watch on it.

I did a lot to the device to ensure that it would be distraction-free, making both significant app changes, and settings changes. Let’s take them one at a time, starting with apps.

App Changes

I decided the only apps I’m keeping on my iPad fall into three categories:

1. Writing

2. Research

3. Required/Systems

As it turns out, you can delete a surprising amount of stock apps, including FaceTime, Calculator, Weather, and Music.

That leaves me with just 44 apps on my iPad, including the ones I couldn’t delete (like Phone, Messages, Settings, etc).

The vast majority of those are “Productivity and Finance” (16) and Utilities (14).

Writing Apps

For writing, I’ve kept Obsidian, my primary writing app on both my iPad and my Mac. I’ve really enjoyed at least starting writing here.

I’ll usually finish articles in Ulysses because it’s easier to publish to external sources. Obsidian is also a research buddy. Pretty much all of my text makes it into Obsidian at some point.

I also have some miscellaneous text apps:

• Notes, my primary notes app

• Tot, which serves as a scratch pad

• Goodnotes, which is where I like putting my written notes

• reMarkable, which syncs notebooks from my Paper Pro Move

• Google Drive…just in case. I figured reMarkable could sync to and from Google Drive, so why not.

Notably missing here are Ulysses and Notion. While I’ll use Ulysses to publish articles, I sync my Drafts folder to both Obsidian and Ulysses, so I only need one of them.

Notion is my content planner, but I don’t usually write directly in it.

Research Apps

That leaves research apps. For that I’ve kept:

GoodLinks, Feedly, and Sublime, which is where I keep articles and highlights. If I need to easily access something interesting I came across, they’ll be in these apps.

Google Gemini and NotebookLM, which are the LLM flavors of the week3. I’m honestly not sure how much I’ll actually use these. Gemini is what I use as a copy editor for drafts, so if I’m feeling particularly driven to finish a piece, it will come in handy.

Preview and Books, for PDFs…or Books. I considered Kindle, but all of my Kindle highlights sync to Sublime.

The most dangerous apps I’ve kept are Safari and YouTube. If I need to look something up, or reference some video, these will come in handy. But they also pose the greatest risk of distraction.

The Rest

Everything else should help me stay focused or write more easily.

The Utilities are apps like Actions, Shortcuts, and other things I probably could delete, but I don’t open them. They add features to Shortcuts or other apps, and are not distractions. I’d rather have them just in-case, so something doesn’t break.

I did keep Spotify, because music is life. Though I might nix that in favor of my new mp3 player when it comes.

I also have Raycast for my text snippets. This reduces the amount of times I have to go to Safari to find a link. Many of them are stored in Raycast.

There are a few Safari extensions that will make my life easier. Momentum to keep me focused in-browser. Keyword Search to make searching my own sites easier with keyboard shortcut, and Noir, which adds Dark Mode to websites that don’t have it.

Finally, I kept Mail and 1Password, in case I needed to access some website.

But as I mentioned, this is only half the battle. The rest is the Settings.

Appearance

I already mentioned the changes I made to the exterior of the device. To help blunt the cornucopia of colors even more, I made the following changes to the appearance of the device:

• Black Wallpaper

• The Home Screen is “clear” to give it the black and white feel.

• The lock screen has 1 widgets to prioritize quickly getting into Obsidian.

• There are NO widgets on the Home Screen. Just 5 icons: Obsidian, Safari, Good Notes, Tot, and GoodLinks.

• Dark Mode is always on.

• My Focus mode is set to Green Zone (which doesn’t necessarily change the appearance right now, but it can).

Something I considered was setting the Color Filter so that the device was completely greyscale. But I didn’t really like that, and figured I’d rather have color when I’m browsing or highlighting.

Device Navigation

I also wanted to make it hard to easily switch between apps or have apps and media surfaced when I don’t want them.

While I can’t turn off CMD+Tab for switching apps (as far as I can tell), I can disable access to the Control Center. Swipe actions keep me in the app at all times.

I also turned off App Library in Dock, and App Suggestions in Dock. My Dock is very focused.

When I search, it’s an extremely limited set of apps and files I see. That means I won’t inadvertently get distracted by some random website or app when I’m searching for something on the iPad.

Finally, I turned off Background App refresh for everything except Obsidian and GoodLinks, since I suspect I’ll be in them the most and don’t want to wait for syncing (or at least, I don’t want to wait long).

But the biggest impact (that I know you’ve seen coming since like the second sentence)…

I Turned Off All Notifications

I completely turned off notifications on the device. No app can send them, no badges.

Not even Find My!

I figured if I’m trying to mimic the reMarkable, it should get the same amount of notifications — which is none.

This is the most important action I can take for a distraction free device. The goal is to leave my phone elsewhere and put my watch in Do Not Disturb, so I can really focus on writing, while still having access to resources when I need them.

Pitfalls

I want to wrap up with some potential pitfalls.

Since I can’t completely delete Messages, I may be tempted to check them, even without notifications. The same thing goes for Mail.

I want to explore options for this that don’t require a monthly subscription. Perhaps the Brick is an option — though if I need 2FA from email, I’ll still need to keep the Mail app unlocked.

The same thing goes for YouTube. I really want to get into the mindset that this iPad is only for writing.

I’ve de-facto made a decision that when I want to watch something on the go, it’s on my much smaller phone. Though I also want to be in the habit of reading more than watching stuff on the go.

I will also have to be very intentional when deciding what device to take with me when I leave the house. If I plan to do more than write, my laptop will have to come.

Though that may be a good constraint and not a pitfall.

The last one feels silly, but I have a few keyboards, including the Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad. That’s so bulky though, I’m not sure I’ll like it better than something like the Twelve South Curve Mini and Logitech Keys-To-Go.

I’m Excited

All-in-all, I’m excited for this experiment. I’m sure there will be optimizations I can make. And I’ll for sure put out a video walking through the settings so you can see what I’ve done more concretely.

And yes…I wrote this entire article on the reMarkable-ifed iPad.

It began with my daughter’s intense love of music. I’m committed to keeping smartphones out of my kids’ lives until they’re teens, and that meant finding a way for her to enjoy music without an internet-connected device.

After discovering the Innioasis Y1 MP3 Player — a simple, offline digital audio player with Bluetooth and a headphone jack — I decided to pick one up for her upcoming birthday…and one for me too.

Check out Mike Rohde’s write up here:

Sketchnote Lab

An iPod clone is my new focus secret weapon

I bought it on a whim…

Read more

2 months ago · 25 likes · 14 comments · Mike Rohde

That purchase sent me down a rabbit hole I didn’t expect: reclaiming the music I’ve accumulated over decades.

Recovering my Music

I knew I had music in a bunch of different places:

• Albums I bought on Apple Music / iTunes and Bandcamp

• Uploads and purchases from Amazon Music

• A CD Collection I’ve owned since I was about 12.

I discovered that most of my owned music can be downloaded and backed up — relatively easily, I’m happy to say.

Using the Amazon Music app, I successfully downloaded roughly 1,000 songs I thought were lost to the cloud. The same thing goes for Apple Music; most of that was recoverable.

The most time consuming task will be ripping all of my old CDs, which I’m doing with an Apple SuperDrive.

Shifting From Renting to Owning

The internet is mostly rented land. Heck — Substack is more or less rented land (though you can export all of your data, for now).

I’m tired of renting music…especially when it’s so important to me. If my favorite albums get pulled from Apple Music or Spotify1 then I’m SOL.

So I’m making a shift. I want music files I truly own: DRM-free, locally stored, and untouched by the whims of corporate platforms. I don’t need discs, but I do want control.

This is now part of my ongoing Year of Digital Detox — not just quitting habits, but reclaiming what’s already mine.

Leave a comment on this post: do you own your music? Where do you buy it? What player do you use?

Berkshire made a bigger cut to its Amazon holdings, selling 7.7 million shares, or more than 75% of its stake in the e-commerce giant.

Now, I’m not an investment guy, and it would be completely useless for me to give my opinion on this.

BUT it was the first of two things that gave me an idea for what I’m doing for Lent.

The second came from my friend Sam Vander Wielen, who decided with her family that they’d stop buying from Amazon for an entire year. I encourage you to read that piece:

Beyond Business with Sam Vander Wielen

What Happened When Amazon Stopped Being My Default

In 2026, I’m not buying anything on Amazon. Along the way here on Substack, I’ll document my journey, what I’ve learned about my buying habits, whether it brings me closer to my community, and where I’m getting (less) stuff instead. This is Part 1. Let me know in the comments if this is a series you want to keep reading…

Read more

2 months ago · 9 likes · 12 comments · Sam Vander Wielen

So I’ve decided, more like Sam and less like Berkshire Hathaway, to give up Amazon for Lent.

A Quick Statement About Lent

I’m generally not one to talk about being Catholic; not because I’m ashamed of it or because I’m worried about how people will view me. It’s because I don’t think it’s relevant to my content very often, and I don’t want to shoehorn it into stuff for the sake of doing it.

But it’s pretty hard for me to talk about what I’m doing for Lent without at least mentioning it.

I would say I’m a practicing Catholic, but like Allen Iverson, sometimes I skip practice. I’m not the best Catholic; I’m also suspicious of anyone who claims they are.

However, I think hard about what I’m going to do for Lent. Mimicking Jesus spending 40 days in the desert following his Baptism, it’s supposed to help us reaffirm our commitment to our faith, reject temptation, and challenge ourselves to be better.

Challenging myself to be better is the main reason I don’t do the same thing every year. I want to spend the days of Lent trying to create appreciable change for myself, or in the world1.

In the past, I gave up soda (something I ultimately came back to, but drink way, way less of now). One year I built websites for non-profits for free. I’ve practiced more generous thinking instead of assuming the worst of people2.

Giving up buying things on Amazon continues this tradition.

It Removes Instant Gratification

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we’ve turned into a world where we favor instant gratification over lasting gratification. I wrote this in a recent article for Streamlined Solopreneur:

We need to move away from the instant gratification of ticking a box on our to-do list, in favor of the lasting gratification of completing something worth doing.

The context here was that it takes work to be great. You can’t just prompt ChatGPT and expect to get a great work of literature…or using the example from the article, compete in the Olympics.

But everything in our world has pushed us towards thinking we should get what we want as quickly as possible. Make the LLM sound like you, and tell it to write an article for you. Post on TikTok and get likes and comments immediately.

Order at 10am and get it by 4pm.

We need to be better at practicing patience; at investing our time in what matters, and really thinking about our actions.

I’m not trying to stand and deliver on patience by talking about Amazon. But also, removing the ability to rage buy something because it feels like solving a problem will make me actually solve my problems.

It Fits With My Yearly Theme

This was a little unintentional, but giving up Amazon for Lent fits in perfectly with my year of Digital Detox.

I’ve deleted the Amazon Apps off my phone, and now it’s yet another reason I’m less reliant on that device.

Instead, I will order from a smaller vendor who cannot offer same day shipping; they also don’t have an app to make purchasing as easy as possible.

If I need something more immediate, I need to actually go out and get it. That means it’s helping me do more in the physical world (as well as invest more locally).

This is very good because working from home, I sometimes have a resistance to actually leaving the house — especially over the last few weeks where the temperature never cracked 25F.

It’s Adding The Right Amount of Friction

Both of those reasons (removing instant gratification and doing more in the real world) reinforce this penultimate reason: it adds friction to something needlessly frictionless.

Something slightly implicit in this promise (and something that Sam mentions) is that I don’t just want to replace Amazon with Walmart, or Target, or some other massive chain that can offer the same or similar benefits.

After all, replacing one form of instant gratification with another doesn’t fix anything.

This promise means that instead of just clicking “Buy Now” at any whim or recommendation, I actually have to think about whether I should spend the money or not.

About whether I need this thing — and need it now — or not. “Is this worth taking time out of my day to get, or can it actually wait?”

And by adding friction, we can get to actual change.

It’s Forcing Better Spending Habits

By adding friction to buying things, this will encourage better spending habits. If I can’t impulse buy something, that money stays in my account.

I’m also not just accumulating stuff and then not returning it because I’m too lazy. Because even though Amazon makes it very easy to return things, the friction of returning something is still orders of magnitude higher than making the purchase.

The reduces overconsumption, or encourages, as my friend Brian put it, piety.

Bringing it back to the “Lent” of it all, piety can mean being religious, but it can also mean reverence.

And maybe this is a stretch, but I feel like a form of reverence appreciating what you have, and not rushing out to get something new or replacing something that still works perfectly well.

A Better Me

There’s a risk with the idea of giving something up for Lent that one defaults to something easy or common (no soda, no beer, no social media).

But I really want to force better change in myself. Hearing, “I’m giving up Amazon for 40 days,” the people I told immediately knew the challenge and the benefits.

Given that I just spent 1,000 words talking about the benefits of doing this, I trust that I’ll come out the other side, better, more thoughtful, and with a little more money in my pocket.

Money I can use to actually effect change…not just get yet another charging brick.

Oh I don’t have hobbies. My work is my hobby.

And look, it’s great to love what you do for work. My entire career has been an incredible attempt to get paid for things I like doing, and I’ve had more success than most.

But being that one dimensional is sad.

There are a lot of benefits to having hobbies. They work a different part of your brain. They help you relax and NOT think about work. They give you restorative time...which makes you better at your job.

And they give you a different perspective.

If you only do one type of thing, it becomes very easy to think only one way...and that’s bad.

I Have Lots of Hobbies

That’s why I have lots of hobbies. Honestly, maybe too many.

From playing the drums to smoking cigars to baseball, I sometimes struggle with what to do when I have some free time.

One of those hobbies is collecting and using fountain pens.

I’ve always had a great interest in writing implements and stationery. My first “fancy” pen was a teal blue Caran d’Ache. It was tiny and perfect. I carried it everywhere...until I lost it.

I was always on a quest for the perfect notebook...though in the late 90s and early 2000s my options were limited. Franklin Covey had a store at my local outlet mall, which I enjoyed shopping in1.

I didn’t get into fountain pens properly until I was in my late 20s, and I was HOOKED. Aside from being some of the finest writing implements you can get, they have a characteristic common among virtually all of my hobbies.

There’s a Lot to Know

One day I took my friend Emily to the cigar shop with me. We were running errands and were going right by it. As we stared at the wall, she said, “Why are there so many? Aren’t they all basically the same?”

“NO,” I said a little too excitedly, before calming down and telling her about how the climate, soil, leaves, aging process, wrapping, and shape all affect how the cigar tastes.

There’s a craft in creating a great cigar, and while perfect precision isn’t required for a good smoke, the better it’s crafted, the better the experience.

The same goes for fountain pens. There are LOTS of factors that go into this particular writing implement:

• What is the size of the nib?

• What material is the nib made of?

• How is the body crafted?

• How do we feed ink into it?

• Can you post the cap?

• What are the size and weight of the pen?

All of these things factor into the writing experience. Use too fine of a nib and you won’t get the broad stroke you might want for writing — but it might be perfect for drawing.

Use a crappy metal and the writing experience won’t be smooth. Heck, if you use a soft metal like gold, I’ve heard that the nib changes ever so slightly based on how you write.

And we haven’t even gotten into the inks.

It Keeps Me Rooted in the Real World

There’s a quote towards the beginning of Fight Club:

I had it all. Even the glass dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections, proof they were crafted by the honest, simple, hard-working indigenous peoples of... wherever.

Now…if you’re familiar with the movie, you know this is a knock on consumerism (or whatever). But nearly 30 years on from the movie, the idea of imperfections and craft has taken on a different meaning.

Fountain Pens are both hand-made and machine-made, but no matter what, they are going to have little differences — maybe even some imperfections.

Those differences manifest themselves in the writing implement…whenever you write with it, clean it, fill it with a new ink.

It’s proof that what I’m doing is tangible and affected by my surroundings…something I don’t really get in my work life.

I like that.

I love the Everyday Carry (EDC) Culture. It’s such an obvious, inextricable connection to the physical world — even as more tech permeates what we carry on an everyday basis.

In other words, it’s the perfect collision of my interests, and the mission of this website.

So I thought it would be fun to go through my EDC — what I carry and why it’s important to me. There’s an accompanying video with this article too.

The Bag That Holds It All

First, I’m a bag guy. I have so many backpacks and messenger bags; I generally try to have a use for all of them, but I definitely have my favorites in the rotation.

For my EDC, however, I wanted a new (to me) type of bag: a sling/crossbody bag.

I did a ton of research1 on these types of bags because I wanted to get it right. Plus I was time-constrained. I wanted to take advantage of Black Friday sales without risking returning a bag and then having to pay full retail.

Ultimately I settled on one of my first 3 choices: the Bellroy Transit Sling 5L. I like the size and the number of pockets it has. I think it looks good on my back.

Plus, it fits well in my travel backpack, so I can shove it in there when I fly so it doesn’t count as my personal item2.

The reviews of this bag were nearly universal on its actual capacity being less than 5L, but when I’m not reading a massive book, it’s more than sufficient for my needs.

OK — let’s get to what’s in the bag3. I’ll more or less start on the left of the accompanying image (the same order I go in the video).

Smaller Core Items

My Wallet: The Bellroy Apex Note Sleeve. I like slim wallets that can hold a few cards and some cash. When I looked into a new wallet, the Apex Note Sleeve stood out for a few reasons.

It’s got a magnetic closing mechanism so the whole wallet seals. There are just a few card slots, and there’s a pull tab with a hidden card slot for my ID and a few other cards.

It’s usually in my bag, but when I put it in my back pocket, I don’t feel like I’m sitting on it. My back thanks me for that.

My Phone: The iPhone 17 Pro in Deep Blue (which is a nice navy that matches my brand colors). I like always having the latest phone because of the camera and battery life; I’ve decided to move to the Pro from the Pro Max because I like using my phone with one hand.

I’m also trying to work from my phone less, which was my justification for a bigger screen.

The case is the Bellroy Phone Case INNOVERA Edition; it’s yellow — coincidentally my other brand color.

My Watch: I actually don’t fully touch on this in the video, but I have the Apple Watch Ultra 3 in black, with a Nomad Rocky Point Band in Sol (also yellow).

I like my Apple Watch a lot because it allows me to leave my phone behind and get only crucial notifications; I recently did this for a school event and it was nice that I wasn’t grabbing my phone at any semblance of downtime.

Travel Creator Tools

Skipping around a bit, I wanted to touch on some of the creator tools I always have on me.

Hollyland Lark A1 Mics: I like having these super compact wireless lapel mics on me for a couple of reasons; the first is that I’m talking to my phone more, and having a more reliable mic than the built-in one gets me better transcripts. It also lets me talk to my phone without having to physically hold the phone up to my face.

But aside from that, in a weird way , I’m always “content ready.” This may cut against my credo that when you’re not working you shouldn’t work...but I have a strong governor.

I absolutely hate making obvious content in traditional settings. I would need a very strong reason to just start recording something.

Pens: My brother told me that people always need three things: a lighter, a knife, and a pen. I’m two for three here4. But I will always have a pen on me. Usually more than one, so I picked 3 pens representative of what I’ll keep on me:

• A Sharpie S-GEL pen, which represents an easy to acquire store-bought pen.

• The Mark One with Clip by Studio Neat. This is pricy for a ballpoint pen (body), but it’s easily my favorite pen. I have 5 different variations of it.

• The Platinum Curidas, which is a clickable fountain pen. I love fountain pens, and have a collection of about 15. I won’t always carry a fountain pen on me, but I do try to rotate them out every 1-2 days. I usually use them at my desk.

Field Notes Notebook: Pens are useless without paper, and I always have paper on me too. There’s a Field Notes notebook on me at all times. I like using these for jotting down quick notes or ideas; I love my reMarkable, but pen and paper is still faster.

This is also a perfect analog distraction device for my children when they get bored. I’ll usually let them scribble on the pages; this is another reason they’re great. I don’t have to be precious with them.

reMarkable Paper Pro Move: That said, I always have my new reMarkable on me. It’s compact and fits really nicely in my sling bag, and is prefect for meeting notes or bigger ideas.

You can read my full review here:

Portable Power

I have a (possibly irrational) fear that I will be without power at a time where I really need it. As a result, I carry a number of charging devices on me.

Anker Nano Power Bank: I LOVE this thing. It’s super slim and using Qi2 charging, which is compatible with MagSafe. It sticks right to the back of my phone in a very unintrusive way. And at 5,000 mAh (milliampere-hours), it’s about 1.25x my phone’s battery.

Twelve South PowerBug: Over to the right of the image, you’ll see a puck-shaped device. This is the PowerBug by Twelve South. It’s relatively compact for what it does: it’s a MagSafe changer with a USC-C port on the bottom, and a foldable wall plug on the back.

That means I can plug it into the wall and charge my phone or AirPods with MagSafe, and then another device (like my reMarkable, iPad, or Laptop) with the USB-C port. I also carry a USB-C to USB-C cable on me.

Miscellaneous EDC

The rest is an assortment of more common EDC items:

• Sunglasses: These are the Shady Rays Jomboy Media collabs. Great price, and a little hint of Yankee pinstripes, which I love.

• AirPods Pro 3: I love listening to music and podcasts, so I never leave home without these.

• The James Brand Folsom: I always have a pocket knife on me (places that don’t allow knives notwithstanding). My criteria is that it must be easy to open, sharp, and lightweight. The Folsom ticks all of these boxes and looks beautiful. I love the bone-white handle with black blade.

• Whatever book I’m reading: Right now it’s Emily Wilson’s translation of The Iliad. This usually creates the move variability in my EDC as books aren’t all the same size. This one is much bigger than the typical book I’m reading, but I still manage to fit it in my bag!

• My Keys (not pictured): I also keep my keys on me. I try to limit those to only what I need so they’re pretty slim.

• Airtags: I usually have 2 airtags in the bag as well: one actually on/for the bag, and one that serves as my keyring.

That’s Everything!

That’s it for my EDC. This stuff is pretty much always in the bag and ready to go when I am. It’s nice that I don’t have to go hunting for anything when I’m ready to roll out the door.

What do you think? What’s in your EDC? Do you have any recommendations? Leave a comment and let me know!

If you liked this, let me know that too. I’m thinking about doing my travel recording setup, my backpack, and how I pack for flights too.

It’s snowing, and I’m playing a MASSIVE networked game of Call of Duty across multiple dorms. The CD is blaring as my friend runs into my room and says, “I see you,” before running back and then sniping me before I can react.

That’s the power of music. Just hearing a song transports me back to a very specific time over 20 years ago. It can elicit deep emotions with just a single lyric or a chord.

Building a Playlist

Music is an important part of my day. It can help energize me, focus me, or help me relax. I went on a journey this morning where I spent the better part of an hour building a playlist on Spotify called Happy.

This falls squarely into the, “energize me — the coffee isn’t strong enough today” camp.

There are no hard and fast rules to what makes it onto the playlist. Basically, I looked through all of my music, and if the song elicited a happy feeling, it made it on. It could be due to:

• A sick drum beat

• A band I loved seeing live

• A happy lyric

• Taking me back to a specific time in my life

It got me thinking a lot about how music is such an ingrained human experience, and why.

Music is Universal

Music is one of the few things that is universal to every culture. Historians aren’t really sure when music was created; it seemingly just came into being and might even predate language.

It also breaks language barriers; you don’t need to speak the same language as the song to enjoy it.

Dating back tens of thousands of years to the first bone flutes, music is incredibly diverse. It has evolved into hundreds of genres and subcultures. It has been used to:

• Start and advance cultural and political movements

• Convey messages and emotions

• Add extra dimensions to movies and TV shows

...and so much more. Because it’s universal, it connects us in ways other mediums cannot.

It’s also something that almost requires us to work together.

Music is Collaborative

Writing music is a truly collaborative process. Unless you’re a savant, it requires:

• Lyricists

• Composers

• Instrumentalists

• Audio engineers

Musicians often give songs to others who are more suited for it. For example, Ed Sheeran wrote songs for One Direction, BTS, and even Bon Jovi. It’s All Coming Back to Me Now was originally for Meat Loaf before it went to Celine Dion.

Good covers put a new spin on a song while maintaining its integrity. Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah is often considered the best, despite Leonard Cohen writing the incredible original.

Similarly, I believe Pearl Jam’s cover of Last Kiss better communicates the sadness of the story than the original version by Wayne Cochran or the recording by J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers.

You Form Bonds Over Music

Because music is universal and collaborative, it’s easy to form bonds over songs, artists, or genres. Whether it’s a bar full of people singing Piano Man or Don’t Stop Believin’, or finding out your neighbor also loved blink-182.

I was talking to a friend recently, and came to learn her husband and I both like this guy (let’s call him “Rob”), but she and my wife find him hard to talk to.

My friend’s husband and I find it easy to talk to him, and we realized why: we love talking about music in a way our wives don’t.

Why Am I Saying All This?

I’m worried that as we move deeper into a world of AI and isolation, we’ll lose touch with what makes us uniquely human. Music is a great antidote to that. It helps us stay connected to the real world and other people.

There are things AI simply cannot do:

• Tell real stories of heartache or elation

• Relay emotions the same way a human who has actually felt them can

• Create songs that will truly be remembered in 50 or 100 years

And for all the people who are screaming, “just wait 10 years,” I say this: you’re missing the point. Unless AI develops a soul and a body to experience human life, it lacks an ineffable quality that gives songs staying power.

There’s a story behind all music. Overcoming odds. Doing something incredible. Celebrating human ability and ingenuity.

As long as we keep producing original music by actual human beings, we will always have a way to form strong connections with each other.

I’m one month into my yearly theme on Digital Detox and something I want to do is monthly accountability reports. I mainly want to answer these 4 questions:

1. What’s going well?

2. Where can I improve?

3. What do I resolve to do in the next month to further my goals?

4. What’s one big problem I should try to solve related to digital detox?

Let’s get to it!

What’s Going Well?

As a reminder, the main tenets of my yearly theme are:

1. Using devices less

2. Leave phone in car more

3. Rely on GPS less

4. Read older books. More philosophy and biographical

5. Read books about doing things in the real world. How coffee is made, cigars, other crafts

6. Turn off symptoms radar/don’t let Oura Ring dictate how I feel

I would say I’m doing a few of these really well. I’m definitely relying on GPS less...only using it when I’m going someplace new, or someplace I don’t regularly drive myself to.

I’m also reading older books and interesting history. I just finished The River of Doubt by Candice Millard, about Teddy Roosevelt’s darkest/toughest journey. It was fascinating.

I’m currently reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine, and intend to read some more classics next: Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey, then another book by Ryan Holiday. Most of what I’m reading are also physical books.

I turned off Symptoms Radar on my Oura Ring, and picked up my first eInk note-taking device: the reMarkable Paper Pro Move. I’m a huge fan of it so far.

Finally, I remain off social media, for the most part, and I went to (and spoke at) an in-person event. It’s really amazing what connecting in-person does for me.

As you might surmise, that means a few of these things I don’t feel I did great with.

Where Can I Improve?

The first is using devices less — namely my phone. It’s been kind of a tough month between work and current events, and a lot has been weighing on me. Usually when that happens, I retreat into my phone or iPad and watch an older TV show1.

Beyond that though, my brain is pretty much mush by the end of the day. That means even when I’m not feeling heavy, I’m watching TV I don’t have to think about. I fall asleep when I try to read, and my mind wanders too much if I’m watching something new; I just want to shut off.

Even worse than that, though, is I put some email/chat/social accounts back on my phone. I logged in to LinkedIn and Bluesky to “check something.” LinkedIn, super annoyingly, doesn’t let you fully log out of your account when you do this unless you clear all of your browser data.

I have removed all of those accounts from my phone, but the bigger problem is how do I stop myself from logging in at all?

The same thing goes with Symptoms Radar. While I have turned it off, I will sometimes go in and turn it on just to see what it says. This really cuts against the idea that I’m not letting my phone dictate (or in some cases, reinforce) how I feel.

I need to figure out a way to stop doing this.

Finally, while I spent some time Friday at a school event with no phone (just my watch), I haven’t left my phone in the car/at home as much as I would have liked. I definitely want to be better at this.

What Do I Resolve to Do in the Next Month to Further My Goals?

The other part of my Yearly Theme note in Bear Notes is a running list of ideas to implement. They include things like, “no phones in the bedroom” and “get a real alarm clock.” Based on January’s performance, I have a few specific tasks I’d like to perform in February:

1. Remove distracting apps and accounts from my phone (check)

2. Start Bricking my phone more often. This should help me not log-in to distracting accounts .

3. Leave my phone at home at least two times. Ideally, once per week.

4. Watch a documentary or read a book on a subject I know nothing about.

For that last point, something else I didn’t do a good job on this past month is learning more about how stuff is made in the real world. Yes, I read all about the transatlantic telegraph cable, but I want to get into the details of how something like coffee is made, or how cigars are rolled.

Which brings me to the big problem to solve.

What’s One Big Problem I Should Try to Solve Related to Digital Detox?

For February, my big problem will be:

How do I manage my energy so that my brain isn’t mush after the kids go to bed?

This is prime time for me to do something for myself, or with my wife. We could start a new show, or read together. Or if she’s doing grad school work, I can read whatever I’m reading.

Right now, I basically just watch the same 5 TV shows2 and go to bed. I’d like to make better use of this time, and will think about how I can best do that this month.

You probably know the parable of the “Two Wolves” you have fighting inside of you — the one the represents positivity and the one that represents negativity. The one you feed wins.

I have two other animals fighting inside me: an eagle and an ox.

The Eagle represents my desire to adopt technology; I’ve been a technologist for most of my life. I first started working with computers when I was 10-11, and made my first website at 13.

Technology made me who I am today, and I often joke that without computers, I’d have no marketable skills. It helps me see farther and reach new heights. It’s as useful as it is convenient.

But I’ve been feeling a different pull lately: that of the Ox. The Ox represents the real world, and doing hard work in it. It’s often associated with the agrarian lifestyle. For me, the Ox represents my desire to digital detox1.

I’m trying to feed the Ox more than the Eagle lately, but as someone who does pretty much all of his work online, finding this balance is difficult.

I feel like I found this perfect balance in the reMarkable Paper Pro Move.

Why I Bought the reMarkable Paper Pro Move

The first time I saw a reMarkable eInk tablet in real life was at Craft + Commerce 2022. I loved the idea of it, but never really pulled the trigger on getting one.

I’ve also tried other writing and paper-like products. Since I already have an iPad, for example, I’ve tried a number of screen protectors and Apple Pencil tips to recreate that paper feel.

I also picked up the 1st Generation Kindle Scribe, which was...big and slow. I have no doubt that the latest one is easily the best one, but it didn’t really work out the way I wanted it to. It was too big to comfortably read on, and I found myself reaching for pen and paper more than the Scribe.

In fact, if I really think about it, size was almost always a determining factor in why digital notebook replacements didn’t work for me. Between carrying a laptop, a phone, a notebook, and an iPad, I just didn’t see how a large eInk device slotted into that lineup.

Then in November, as I was thinking about my Year of Digital Detox, I was served up an ad for the reMarkable Paper Pro Move. It’s a device I can hold in one hand, and it fits perfectly in my sling bag. At 7.7” tall x 4.2” wide and about a 1/4” thick, it’s the perfect portable size.

Size wasn’t the only factor though. While I love paper notebooks, 3 times last year I lost them — one went through the wash and the others are at large.

I still always carry a Field Notes notebook on me, but having a paper-like device that syncs to the Cloud solves the problem of losing my paper notebooks before I have time to transfer those notes to something more permanent.

That desire to stay analog while also having a digital backup is a regular struggle for me. I decided the reMarkable would be a great device to help me feed both the Eagle and the Ox.

So...how is it going?

What I Like About the reMarkable Paper Pro Move

One of the big risks of idealizing technology before you have a chance to try it out is its inability to live up to the expectations.

This was true of the Kindle Scribe, the Rocketbook, the paper-like screen protectors, and countless other devices I thought would help me bridge that gap between paper and digital note-taking.

I also know that there’s a honeymoon period with any capable device. Unless the experience is straight up terrible from the get-go, like with the Ozlo Sleepbuds, there’s going to be a period of a week or two where the new device has “solved” all of your problems.

That’s why I waited a month to write anything about it. I wanted to see if I would actually use it, take it with me out of the house, and if getting stuff out of it was as easy as getting stuff in.

The verdict? I’m giving reMarkable Paper Pro Move a solid 7/10 after a month.

I take it pretty much everywhere with me — it even fits into my coat pockets.

I use it for random ideas, book notes, longer-form writing, and meeting notes. And moving notes to different notebooks is just as easy as I expected it to be.

The marker is particularly good. It feels really nice in my hand. Plus, I opted for the “Marker Plus” which has an eraser on the other end.

It’s a color eInk device, which has been good for highlighting/calling out specific notes.

It also has integrations for a number of services, including Google Drive and Slack, as well as iOS, iPadOS, and macOS apps. This allows me to view, and even edit, my notes from any of my devices.

It’s been a perfect note-taking companion for me — so much so that I haven’t felt the need to bring analog notebooks with me most places.

That’s not to say I don’t use notebooks. I do. A lot. But the main assignment for the reMarkable Paper Pro Move is to be a travel companion — whether I’m going to a conference, or just getting out of the house.

It performs its job nearly perfectly.

Why I Didn’t Give It a Perfect Score

So if I love this thing so much, why didn’t I give it a perfect score? There are a couple of things — some of which I recognize are either out of the device’s control or better suited to bigger devices.

One is the refresh rate. Using the iPad as my primary digital note-taking device for a long time, the slight delay I see on the reMarkable sometimes is enough for me to take notice.

I suspect a big part of this is the color screen. Color eInk is known to refresh less efficiently than Black and White eInk. In fact, when I’m writing with certain colors, the drawing will show up as black first, then refresh to the desired color2.

There is no non-color version of the reMarkable Paper Pro Move, but I’m not sure if I would have opted for it if I had the option. For example, even though the resolution isn’t as crisp on my Kindle Colorsoft as it is on my wife’s Kindle Paperwhite (which is not color eInk), I still go back and forth on my preference.

The other big drawback for me is likely impossible to reconcile given I optimized for portability. When trying to mark up documents like PDFs, the experience isn’t great. You can pinch to zoom, but I found that holding it horizontally was the best way to work with documents on it. That’s less than ideal for me.

But that’s kind of like saying I want sugar-free cotton candy. It’s maybe technically possible to reconcile, but you’re getting all compromise with no benefits.

Finally, the macOS software isn’t the best. This isn’t a huge deal since it’s not the main mode for using the reMarkable, but getting it working for the very basics took too much effort.

On reMarkable Connect

There is one thing I considered placing in the “things I don’t like” category, and that’s reMarkable Connect. It’s reMarkable’s subscription service, and it’s not required (which is one reason I don’t hold it against them). You get:

1. Unlimited storage

2. More templates

3. Handwriting search

4. More AI and Integration features (like better search and sharing to Slack)

5. A protection plan that covers defects3

This is a decent list of benefits for a subscription, and I understand that monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is basically the holy grail for most businesses.

But the other reason I don’t hold it against them is because it’s $30/year or $3/mo, tax included.

That’s a pretty small amount to pay for everything you get — especially if, like me, you come to rely on it on a daily basis.

Moving Forward

After a month with the reMarkable Paper Pro Move, I’m excited. I’ve been thinking about potential automations (something I cover for my main gig), and being better about organizing the notebooks and how I’m using it. With a few tweaks this can be my primary note-taking device.

That said, I am really curious about the experience on the bigger reMarkable. Looking at both the Paper Pro (color, 11.8”) and the reMarkable 2 (black and white, 10.3”), I’m inclined to try the 2. I don’t love another nearly 12” device in my arsenal, and I’m curious to see how much better the refresh rate is on a non-color device.

I know this sort-of contradicts my entire justification for getting the Move, but I promise there’s good reason.

Both the bigger reMarkable tablets support the Type Folio, which attaches a keyboard. I’ve been considering an eInk writing device like the Freewrite, but it’s clunky, and the screen is small. The reMarkable 2 + Type Folio might be a perfect solution for me.

I haven’t made a decision yet; it very well may be overkill. But I’d like to try it.

And either way, it won’t be a replacement for the Move. I believe this has a permanent spot in my lineup.

We’ve been reprogrammed to thing we need it at all times. Even my parents, who spent almost as much of their lives without cell phones as with them, think they are a necessity.

Here’s my case against that idea.

You can read the full article here:

Ringo Starr is perhaps one of the greatest drummers of all time. I’d argue he’s perhaps the most influential rock drummer of the 20th century.

He also teaches one of my favorite courses on MasterClass, Drumming and Creative Collaboration. In it, he tells a story that has stuck with me for several years.

He was doing a gig with His All-Starr Band — a group of guys with true music bona fides — when the monitors went out.

If you don’t know, the monitors are what musicians (or anyone using a mic) use, either in their ears or with speakers facing them, so they can hear how they, and everyone else, sounds.

Many of the band members said they couldn’t go on with the monitors out. It was technology that they relied on. Then Ringo said:

And I said, come on...even the Beatles, we didn’t have monitors and huge speakers. We had the house PA at Shea Stadium...

He pointed out that The Beatles, one of the greatest bands in the world, didn’t use monitors...they just didn’t have them. And they still put on amazing shows. He goes on to say:

And we did the gig. And...everyone said, oh man, that was great.

They realized they didn’t need this technology that they always used once someone pointed out there was a time where it didn’t exist.

Leaving my Phone at Home

I recently posted on LinkedIn that one of my goals for The Year of Digital Detox was to leave my phone at home more often.

There were comments about getting lost or needing it. One stood out to me: “I don’t know if I could just leave my phone at home. It was drilled into me to keep it on me at all times when I first got it.”

My response was very similar to Ringo’s. Cellphones were invented within my lifetime. Throughout my entire childhood, I lived without having a phone on me.

You had to leave the house without your phone because you couldn’t bring it with you.

Now, we’ve been told we need to keep it on us at all times.

I challenge that.

Are Phones that Convenient?

I get why people think that. “What if someone needs to get a hold of me?” “What if I get lost?”

What if I miss something?

These are all insecurities or misgivings.

For one, I totally get the fear of getting lost. If you’re going on a long trip, GPS is far superior to paper maps for lots of reasons.

But if you’re going on a short trip, or driving around town, you’re not going to get truly lost. And if you are, you can do the old fashioned thing: ask for directions.

As for the other questions...

What if Someone Needs Me?

We’re far from the days where a man would go to a bar and wait for the call that his wife gave birth. You should be there for the birth of you child, so that’s a situation where someone actually needs to get a hold of you.

But here’s the thing: unless you’re a head of state, or your immediate decision can affect hundreds or thousands of people, there are very few times in our lives when that situation arises. And there’s a very simple solution.

Before you leave your phone at home, tell people how to get a hold of you if they need you. Tell them who you’ll be with. Tell them where you’ll be. Then, if someone truly needs you, they’ll know where to find you.

If you’re going for a 20 minute walk, guess what: pretty much everything can wait 20 minutes1.

My brothers and I leave our phones off when we go to the movies. We tell our parents and each other when we do that. After all, what’s the point of paying $20 to see a movie in a theater if you’re not going to pay attention to it?

What if I Miss Something?

This is really similar to the question of if someone needs to get a hold of you. It’s probably the root of that question.

FOMO is a very strong motivator. Social Media companies rely heavily on it to keep their users addicted. News Organizations rely on it with their not-really-breaking news and clickbait headlines.

But if you’re constantly attached to your phone, you are missing something. You’re missing what’s right in front of you. You’re sacrificing real world experience for digital information overload.

When I was at Disney World, we had a strictly no phone/tablet policy. I used a device called The Brick to lock my phone and used it only for the Disney World app and coordinating plans with my brother and his girlfriend2.

While we were at lunch at Beast’s Castle, my kids were floored by the setting. It’s an exact replica of the castle you see in the movie, with Beast coming in every 30 or so minutes to say hello to those dining with him.

The family of 4 next to us, with kids similarly aged to mine, were all on devices. The parents on their phones. The kids on tablets. They were squandering a unique experience because they couldn’t put down their devices.

“What’s the point of even being here,” I said to my wife. The phones were making them miss something — not preventing them from missing something.

I’m at Fault Too

I’m not going to act like some self-righteous Luddite who’s given up his phone. I’m far from that.

Part of what gives me the confidence to leave my phone at home is my watch, which can also get calls, send texts, and play music. I’d like to get to a point where I can leave both at home for short walks, at least.

While I love listening to music or podcasts on walks, I’m trying to embrace silence more.

I recognize that day-to-day, the phone has become an important tool. When my wife is at work, for example, my kids’ school may need to get a hold of me.

And there are invariably times when I’m distracted by a text, an email, or a news story. I try to remind myself to be better next time; whatever is on my screen is not as important as what’s happening right in front of me, in real life.

You Don’t Always Need It

Just like Ringo and His All-Starr Band likely continued to use their monitors in subsequent shows, we can and should use our phones as what they are: helpful tools that make our lives easier.

I’m not saying give up your phone completely. I’m not saying always leave it at home. I will still use GPS. I’ll still use it for work. I’ll still check my email3.

What I am saying is that it’s misguided to think it impossible to be without your phone for periods of time.

Ringo opens that video by saying this:

I love playing live. I mean, that’s what it’s all about for me. You know, it’s, that’s the gig. You know, if you want to connect with an audience, you’ve got to love them...There’s a magic moment when the band and the audience are just on.

Being there live, in the moment, with the audience. There’s nothing better.

I challenge you, some time in the next week, to pick a time to go on a 20 minute walk without your phone. Or run to the store without it. If you’re really worried that you’ll miss something, tell a friend or family member how to get a hold of you (as in, tell them where you’ll be).

Then see how you feel afterward. It’s incredibly liberating for me. I’m more present; I’m not worried about every ding on my phone; my watch, separated from my phone, gets virtually no notifications. I also put it in Do Not Disturb mode.

I’m not concerned with capturing the moment on film. I’m actually living in the moment.

I trust you’ll feel the same way.

I finished reading FROM SILK TO SILICON: The Story of Globalization Through Ten Extraordinary Lives by Jeffrey E. Garten and enjoyed it.

He tells (as you might surmise) the story of how we became a globalized society through the lives and accomplishments of ten people throughout history (up until the year 2000). The book was written in 2016, with a new preface added in 2017.

He starts with Genghis Khan and goes up to Deng Xiaoping (the Chinese dictator who opened up China for world trade), with lots of interesting people in between.

What I like about the book is it’s essentially 10 mini biographies weaved together, and it gives you the long view of the evolution of our interconnected world.

It gave strong Spaceship Earth at EPCOT Center vibes.

Note: You can also listen to this article here.

Who’s Who

I won’t get into gritty details of everyone (you can read the book if you’d like to do that), but there are a couple of overarching themes with each person:

1. They were doers, not just thinkers. They actually performed some act (like building the Silk Road, creating the transatlantic cable, privatizing government businesses).

2. They were also deeply flawed (greedy, murderers, slave traders)

The book also quotes Lord Acton, who said, “Great men are almost always bad men.” This is from his same letter that brought us, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

All of these people were highly focused on achieving a single goal, essentially at all costs.

But we are all flawed, and as Ryan Holiday says in his book Courage is Calling, “let us look at the courageous moments…rather than focusing on another’s flaws as a way of excusing our own.”

The people were:

• Genghis Khan

• Prince Henry the Navigator

• Robert Clive

• Mayer Amschel Rothschild

• Cyrus Field

• John D. Rockefeller

• Jean Monnet

• Margaret Thatcher

• Andrew Grove

• Deng Xiaoping

Aside from the overarching themes the author highlights, I noticed a few common threads with most, if not all, of the people listed in the book.

They Understood the Importance of Effective Communication

The first thing that struck me was the high priority these people put on clear, fast communication.

Genghis Khan set up a postal system (called “Yam”) along the Silk Road and made sure it was safe for people to pass messages along.

Prince Henry shared what he learned with other explorers so they could use their shared knowledge to push further than ever before.

Mayer Amschel Rothschild set up offices around the world, and had his brothers and sons send letters in specific color envelopes noting good or bad news with the markets. This allowed his courier to go to the post office a few days before the mail was actually delivered and get the news earlier.

Cyrus Field dedicated a lot of his life to building the first transatlantic, underwater telegraph cable so that news could travel from the United States to Europe in minutes, not weeks or months.

Rockefeller had near perfect processes in place because he was communicating standards across continents. Making that as clear as possible was important to keep everything running smoothly.

Jean Monnet and Margaret Thatcher understood that in order for their ideas to catch, they needed to distill those ideas into something simple to understand and clearly communicate.

Without effective communication, they could not have built their empires, their companies, their global advancements. They wouldn’t have been able to reimagine and evolve long-entrenched ideas.

Communication was at the heart of what each of these people did, and it enabled them to take world-changing action.

You Can’t Go It Alone

Another strong trait in each of these people was understanding the need to cultivate good relationships.

Without good people to work with, you cannot accomplish much. These leaders knew that, and made sure to build good relationships.

Genghis Khan’s empire was reminiscent of what the United States did hundreds of years later. He had a small set of rules, but knowing he was uniting many independent tribes, he encouraged freedom of religion and culture. He appointed people whom he trusted and then rewarded them handsomely for their loyalty.

Deng Xiaoping, seeing the very opposite under Mao Zedong, encouraged the people under him to work and experiment freely (under some guidance) in the realms of economics and science. Whereas Chairman Mao ruled with an iron fist and fear, Deng ruled more openly in some areas during his rule.

Rothschild and Monnet knew the importance of building relationships with powerful people, then diligently serving those people behind the scenes. Monnet astutely observed that politicians wanted credit for big ideas, but didn’t necessarily want to do the work, so he put leaders’ names on his plans to encourage adoption.

Cyrus Field built a ton of relationships in his paper business and travels, which he then leveraged when it was time to fund his transatlantic cable project. Those relationships gave him the runway of over a decade’s worth of work, and several failures before he finally got it working.

On top of being a clear communicator, Margaret Thatcher’s ascent to becoming the first female UK Prime Minister and one of the most influential world leaders in the post-WWII era could not have happened without good relationships.

As a result, most of these people were also excellent at delegating. They knew they had limited time, skill, and resources. So they recruited people to help them. The strong relationships they built allowed them to do that, and know their important work was being done as well as possible.

They Were Focused

Garten makes this point at the end of his book: each of these people were doggedly focused on their mission. Rockefeller wanted to control the entire supply chain and spent decades building it. He lived in a tumultuous economic time and wanted to protect against losing everything.

Field’s sole focus was on getting the transatlantic cable working and spent years of his life making it happen, failing many times along the way. He knew that reducing the time it took to send a message across the Atlantic to near instant would change the world.

Andy Grove put Intel on the map by focusing fully on building smaller microprocessors — even letting go of other parts of Intel’s business because he knew he wanted to dominate this one niche (which he did).

Thatcher wanted to reduce the reliance on government as much as possible, privatizing much of what was government-run in post-WWII Great Britain.

Monnet wanted a more unified Europe, and dedicated nearly his entire life to it — a dedication that continues to pay off decades after his death.

Robert Clive was focused on expanding the British Empire and the British East India Company, pioneering methods for global commerce along the way.

Some would argue that these folks were too focused. Hearkening back to Lord Acton’s quote about great men, they were focused on their goals at all costs.

Grove was a harsh and paranoid manager. Monnet worked his team to the bone. Thatcher’s approach was considered cold and callous to the less privileged. Clive, Khan, and Prince Henry all did objectively evil things.

That doesn’t void the fact that focusing your time and energy on achieving a goal you truly believe in makes you highly motivated. Many of these people had everything to lose if they failed. Some did end up losing a lot. But their lasting legacy shaped the world.

They Actually Did

And that brings me to the last point — another one that Garten specifically called out. They were all doers.

They didn’t just think about stuff. They actually put their plans into action. It’s easy to sit online and think about what you should do. And it’s even easier to make excuses.

It’s a lot easier for critics to reach us these days. But what I try to remind my clients, my kids, and myself, is that it’s easier to complain than it is to create.

My friend Chris Lema says, “hope is not a strategy,” but too many people “hope” for stuff to happen. They “manifest” and “pray” they’ll get what they want.

These people actually did. They had big dreams, and they achieved those dreams.

I’m under no delusion that what I do will change the world like these folks. What some of these people did came at great cost. I’ve said several nice things about Genghis Khan, but we should not forget he was a vicious murderer...more so than most in a time basically defined by brutality.

I don’t condone everything these people did, but it’s undeniable that they changed the world for the better in many ways. I also try to remember that we don’t know how we would act during those time periods.

Instead, let’s separate the mechanics from the methods. By biasing towards action, we’re doing a lot more than just wishing things would change.

Take the good lessons and do something great: communicate well, build good relationships, and take focused action on something you truly believe in.

He tells (as you might surmise) the story of how we became a globalized society through the lives and accomplishments of ten people throughout history (up until the year 2000). The book was written in 2016, with a new preface added in 2017.

He starts with Genghis Khan and goes up to Deng Xiaoping (the Chinese dictator who opened up China for world trade), with lots of interesting people in between.

Here are my biggest takeaways.

Read the full article here: https://paperandsmoke.com/p/common-traits-of-some-of-the-worlds

Buy the book: https://amzn.to/3LnFPgc

Read about it here: https://paperandsmoke.com/p/my-2026-yearly-theme-the-year-of

Show Notes

• My 2026 Yearly Theme

• My 2025 Yearly Theme

• Yearly Theme Archive

• My Interview with Amanda Goetz (It was 496, not 498!)

• My Favorites of 2025

• Paper & Smoke

• My AI Manifesto

There comes a time in everyone’s life when they’ve consumed too much of something, and they find the very notion of consuming more sickening.

This could be the college student who drank too much vodka and can’t have it anymore. Or the person who ate far too much sushi, got sick, and is now repulsed by it.

Someone who’s seen a movie or TV show so many times they just pick it apart now. Or someone who realized their favorite author just regurgitates the same ideas over and over again.
Beyond overconsumption, sometimes our priorities/tastes/desires shift. I used to play video games daily. Now that ritual is basically reserved for long break1.

My brother used to drink Coke almost exclusively. While he still enjoys it, he opts to drink water most of the time now because he’s prioritized his health.

I’m a Little Sick of Technology

I consider myself a technologist; I’ve always been an early adopter. I had one of the first “digital” notebooks2, where the pen was massive because it had a small camera in it. I had a foldable laptop/tablet in 2005, 5 years before the iPad came out.

I was on Facebook as soon as I could be and Twitter less than a year after it launched — back when you had to text it to tweet from your phone because there was no iPhone, let alone an app.

All of this is to say that I’m not anti-technology…not even close. But I am getting a little sick of the constant connection. I have other priorities. And as I’ve learned from my Year of Being Present, I’m ready to do something about it.

So this year is the Year of Digital Detox. I want to reduce my reliance on connected technology, do more in the real world, and focus on actually doing (not having AI do for me) and connecting (with real relationships, not transactional ones).

This is definitely the sequel to my last year’s theme, so let’s grade that first.

Grading The Year of Being Present

After coming off the utter failure that was (or really, was not) the Year of Control, I was extra motivated to make 2025’s yearly theme work.

How did I do overall? Since moving away from the Craft app 2 years ago, I stopped with the Good — OK — Bad rubric. And 2024 was so bad I didn’t need to actually track my goals know I failed.

But I did want to bring some sort of grading back this year, so I decided to weight my goals and grade each one, then assign myself an overall grade. But first, let’s give a quick assessment.

There were a few things I said I’d do that I didn’t end up doing:

• I abandoned the weekly, monthly, and quarterly prompts, as they felt forced.

• I didn’t call my parents every other day. We did visit them more though.

• I also can’t say I did more friend trips.

As for the overarching goals:

• Reduce screen time: I think I did this pretty well. I got rid of most social media, and all social media apps from my phone. But I did find myself at times mindlessly checking email. I was also inconsistent about Bricking my phone. On balance, I used both my phone and my computer less, though.

• Create stronger boundaries: Overall, I feel like this was where I advanced my yearly theme the most. I didn’t bring my laptop on family vacation, and didn’t work when I said I wouldn’t. We also implemented a timer “trick” that Amanda Goetz recommended to me: tell the kids to set a timer, and no matter what, I’d be done working when it went off.

• Stop doing other stuff on calls: I didn’t do great at this. I did better than the previous year, but I didn’t really form a long-term habit, or implement a process to ensure I’d be more present on calls. That said, I was definitely more mindful when my attention wandered, and snapped back to attention because of it.

• Stop deferring to the future: This one is hard to quantify because the guidance was vague. The biggest win here is getting my Type 2 Diabetes back under control. I will say I did more “justice” type stuff — not letting bigger institutions take advantage, calling my representatives more, and pushing big societal issues at school.

• Always have cash: This one was mostly a failure. One problem I never ended up solving was that I got a new card and forgot my ATM pin3, So I was hindered every time I went to the ATM. It’s a problem I will solve after I finish writing this.

• Manage assumptions: The consummate struggle for me, I feel like at times I was more combative, assuming the worst in people. In general, I think these assumptions help me discern bad behavior and threats. However, I don’t just apply them to fear or situations directly affecting me; they’ve made me cynical. Over the course of the year I think I got better at letting stuff go and not always assuming people were doing things out of selfishness.

Grade: B+

Overall, I’d give myself a B+. Over the course of the year, I formed long-term habits that made a positive impact on my life. I also made several changes for the betterment of my physical and mental health.

But I wasn’t perfect, and the grade reflects that there are places for me to improve. Here’s how it breaks down:

My best grade since the 2022 Year of Retreat, and a huge bounce-back from the failure of The Year of Control.

Part of what made it so successful is learned a few crucial lessons that lead to my 2026 yearly theme.

What I Learned from The Year of Being Present

The first, biggest lesson is that I don’t need social media…for anything. I don’t need it to grow my business, I don’t need it for the news. I don’t need it to stay connected to the people who matter most to me.

After leaving Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads, I’m left with just LinkedIn and Bluesky. The only thing I really miss is baseball Twitter, and Bluesky is doing an OK job of filling that void.

The next is that you can and should log off of work for an extended period of time. Very few things in my work life constitute an emergency. By communicating clearly with my clients, people I work with, and other folks in my professional life, I could reasonably shut down without worry.

In fact, there were 4 weeks in 2025 where I was pretty much completely offline:

1. Disney World, which was a great success.

2. The week of Thanksgiving, where we visited my parents upstate.

3. The last 2 weeks of the year (Christmas/New Years), where I created a single sponsor video at terms I deemed very much worth it.

It’s no exaggeration to say that this did wonders for my mental health. And it definitely helped me be more present with my kids.

One great rule I implemented was no phone at the gym. I download playlists onto my Apple Watch and connect my AirPods directly to that, then leave my phone in my car or a locker (I wish Planet Fitness still offered keychain barcodes).

That coupled with my “Fitness” focus mode means I only get the most crucial notifications.
This brings me to my final lesson: I don’t need my phone as much as I thought I did. I’ve spent a lot of time this year optimizing my phone for its most crucial functions: communication, idea capture, and memory-assisting. While I still use it for reading articles and watching YouTube, I consume much, much less content on it, and I’m better off for it.

I only get breaking news notifications 3 times per day. Very few apps at all can notify me. This is the way.

And these lessons are why I decided to parlay my Year of Being Present into my 2026 yearly theme: The Year of Digital Detox.

The Year of Digital Detox

If you couldn’t tell, far and away my favorite result of The Year of Being Present is that I finally cut off most social media. I have an article coming out on my new publication, Paper and Smoke where I spent 2,000+ words talking about it.

But over the summer I also mused that I was losing my critical thinking skills through the overuse of LLMs. I’ve been using them basically since ChatGPT launched in December 2022, but I fell into the trap of letting it do too much for me.

I even let it plan my yearly theme last year. While I thought it did a good job of surfacing some aspects I didn’t think of, I don’t feel I was as committed to those aspects.

Thankfully I realized it, and my already healthy skepticism of AI took over.

What kicked all of this off for me was The Anxious Generation, which I read in April. It had such a profound effect on me that it set everything else in motion.

As a result, I want to do as much as a digital detox as possible in 2026. Here’s the gist:

Continue the trend of less social media. Do more with physical world.

A pretty simple charge, but with big ramifications. The goals are more concrete and instructive. There are two big themes.

Use Devices Less

I have a lot of devices. One of them, my CGM, is life changing. But I’ve come to rely on them in a worrying way. Much like when I was using ChatGPT for everything, I worry that I’m losing real, tangible skills.

In my AI Manifesto, I wrote that we risk becoming tourists in our own lives. That Wall-E is becoming a cautionary tale. This part of my digital detox is crucial for preventing that. Here’s how I’ll do it:

Leave my phone in car more: I don’t want to be tethered to my phone, or even the outside world, as much. I already leave it in the car for church and the gym. I basically turned it into a Camera and Walkie-Talkie in Disney World. I want to leave it behind more often.

I have my Apple Watch Ultra 3 for communication. I can get texts, take phone calls, and listen to music on it. The battery life is great.

I purchased the DJI Osmo Action 6, which is a great, portable video camera that also takes photos. When I feel like I want to take photos, I will have that on me.

The only hiccup is that my CGM relies on my phone; but I also don’t need a constant read out of my blood sugar the same way Type 1 Diabetics do. And leaving my phone in the car more doesn’t mean never have it on me. It means I don’t have it on me when it will be too much of a distraction.

Use more E Ink devices: On top of that, I want to use more E Ink devices. I love the idea of E Ink. A digital way to have an analog experience. My phone, and my iPad, and my laptop, are all distraction devices. I can access anything, which makes it hard to do focused work.

There’s something great about having a device that is focused on one task; that doesn’t refresh as often. That can’t get push notifications4.

Rely on GPS less: Something I feel a little ashamed of is the fact that rely on GPS far too much. Like, for simply driving around town.

I tell myself that it gives me real time traffic data, which is why I use it. But the truth is I don’t know how to get around the place I live as well as a 9-year resident should.

When I was a kid we moved, and my dad would take us out and just drive around to get to know the area. No maps, no devices; just the road and a waypoint to eventually get back home. Sometimes we’d get lost, and that’s OK. We were never truly lost, after all.

Part of the reason I use the GPS so much is “efficiency.” I don’t want to get lost. I want to get where I need to get as quickly as possible. No minutes wasted.

But it’s OK to waste some minutes. I don’t want to live a life of no margin.

Turn off Symptoms Radar: I love my Oura ring. It’s had a net positive effect on me. It has helped me sleep better, and much like my CGM, it gives me insights into how food affects me.

But I also noticed that if it said I was getting sick, I was more likely to believe I was sick...even if I felt fine. The Symptoms Radar takes a number of signals from biometric sensors in the ring, and then guesses if something is “straining” your body — which is most associated (in my opinion, at least) with getting sick. Sometimes this can be a canary in the coal mine; but more often, I would let it dictate how I felt.

So I’ve turned it off. I like having the Readiness Score and understanding how I slept...but I think doing a check-in with myself to see how I feel is better than having a computer on my finger tell me.

Reducing my use and reliance on technology is only one aspect of the yearly theme though; the other has to do with actually living in the analog world.

Learn About the Real World

I often joke that without computers, I’d have no marketable skills. This is (hopefully) obviously not true, but it feels like that sometimes. The first time I realized I didn’t know a whole lot outside of my area of expertise was around 2011. All of my friends knew otherthings.

Worse, we all went to The University of Scranton, a liberal arts school that emphasized this sort of learning so much that we were forced to take at least one philosophy class per year. I had clearly squandered that side of my education.

Since then, I made a concerted effort to learn more outside of Computer Science. Today, 15 years later, I think I’m a much more rounded individual. But I still don’t know how a lot of stuff works, or how it came to be.

Something else I’ve been doing more in the last two years is reading fewer business books. Since my 2023 moratorium on business books, I’ve been making an effort to read a less homogeneous group of books. Of the 30 I logged reading, 8 were business books, and 5 were deeply disappointing. One is the worst I’ve read in recent history.

This will be a core tenet of my Year of Digital Detox.

Read different books: More specifically, I want to read older books. More philosophy and biographical books. Last year I listened to a podcast where Ryan Holiday said this:

If I think back, I can’t remember a single news article I read 10 years ago, but my life was profoundly changed by books I read 10 years ago. And so I think people are just consuming way too much contemporary information and not enough information that’s designed, first and foremost, to be worth paying for now, but to have continued to hold its value over a long period of time.

It was in response to a question about how to deal with all the bad news of the day. And it really resonated with me.

He went onto say that there are so many books that are hundreds or thousands of years old, that can have a profound effect on us. They were written for long-term impact, not short-term clicks.

I want to read more of those books.

Read books about doing things in the real world: On top of that, I want to learn more about how my favorite things are actually made. How is coffee roasted? What’s the process for blending tobacco into a cigar? How do you mix the perfect cocktail? What makes Jazz music different from Rock music?

Maybe this is an overcorrection from a year where AI took a massive leap in usage. It has become ubiquitous in our society. And I fear it has many negative ramifications for understanding and appreciating the craft of actually doing the work.

With that in mind, I’ve also decided to start a new publication, which I’ve alluded to, called Paper and Smoke. Its charge...in fact, its inception...has come out of my yearly theme: write about doing real-world craft.

The name comes from my love of analog hobbies: writing with pen and paper, smoking cigars, drinking coffee. Real, tangible things, that require time and patience to craft.

No AI Generated Roadmap this Year

I didn’t use AI to generate a roadmap for my yearly theme this year. In the long-run, I didn’t use last year’s. I didn’t like it as much as I initially thought. And it didn’t feel right to rely on AI for my Year of Digital Detox.

Instead, Paper and Smoke will be my accountability. I have a loose idea of how I’ll implement my weekly writing schedule:

• Week 1: Accountability update on digital detox

• Week 2: History Lesson

• Week 3: How something is made

• Week 4: helpful non-tech, analog, or E Ink tool

I don’t think I need to follow this format exactly. Consistency will be better than rigidity here. But it’s a starting point, and I’m excited to see how it evolves.

Like last year, I’m full of optimism, and highly motivated. I’m excited to see where my Year of Digital Detox takes me, and even more excited to share the journey with you.

Note: This was originally published on January 2, 2026, over on Casabona.org