offline

I switched my iPhone off.

It was 1 pm on Friday afternoon and there I was. Without a smartphone, without WhatsApp, without Reddit, without emails on the go – and without push notifications for the next two days.

I wanted a break from my phone, which is full of apps that are greedy for my attention and trying to steal my time and to interfere with my personal life and relationships.

I wanted to enjoy the moments with my daughter and my wife, with nature or with a book. I wanted to escape from all the distraction, the push notifications and the continuous availability and the expectations of immediate reactions to messages on various platforms.

And I still wanted to be reachable. I was - with the Punkt. MP02. If somebody wanted to talk to me, they could call me – and we would talk on the phone.

I stopped multi-tasking, and I started being more mindful on that Friday afternoon. I started paying attention to one person or one thing at a time instead of (sometimes) sharing my attention with my iPhone, too.

Waking in the morning and having a look at the MP02 phone was… quick and boring: No news, no push notifications, no status updates. And it was a good motivation to get up fast and prepare breakfast for my family.

We went to a park, and I enjoyed being there, without the urge to take photos of every moment with my smartphone to share these moments on WhatsApp and always having the smartphone ready for the next shot. Instead, I took my camera with me that day and I took just a few photos. These photos are beautiful, and I had such a good time with my family. Moments with a lot of action, talking and laughing.

Making a shopping list without using a smartphone felt like in another time. And in the same moment it was such a good feeling to write down everything on a piece of real paper and sharing this handwritten shopping list with my wife.

Cooking is always the time for me to relax, to calm down. I enjoy the time being in the kitchen with my wife, to prepare the ingredients and cook lunch together. Due the lack of smartphones in the kitchen we did not look up things on the Internet while waiting for our lunch. Instead, we sat together and talked.

Usually, I use the time when my daughter takes a nap in the afternoon for reading the news on my laptop. This Saturday I grabbed a book and some chocolate. I can’t remember the last time I read that many pages without interruptions. And it felt so good to be in “different world” for a while.

On Saturday evening I already had the first thoughts of taking some more smartphone free days again. On Sunday the concept of the MP02 “digital detox cell phone” convinced me – and my wife, too.

At the moment I am not sure if I could completely swap my iPhone for the Punkt. MP02.

On the one hand I enjoy listening to YouTube Music on the way to work, sometimes I need to look up a route and my public transport ticket is stored in my digital wallet. 

On the other hand, this weekend I realized how much more time I have – for my family and for me. So I plan to use the Punkt MP02 as my “weekend phone” to slow down my life, be more mindful and spend my time with the people I love.

Thanks again, Punkt. for inviting me to this smartphone-free weekend challenge. It was a great experience – and the Punkt. MP02 is not only a fantastic looking cell phone, but also the concept of this phone convinced me 100%.

Lutz