I made my phone even more boring today. It's all in an effort to be more present in my life, and for my actions to be intentional.

Intentional, present. These words rub me the wrong way, because they make me think of a crystal wielding hippy. I know they shouldn't, but they do. Despite this, they are the right words to describe what I want out of life.

On Presence

I have twin two-year-old girls. I've come to the conclusion I'm sure many parents do. I want to be present for them and their moments. I don't want them to look at me upon some accomplishment only to see my eyes staring at my phone. And it's not just for them, I'd like to extend that presence to my wife, other family members and friends.

Additionally, I'd like to be present for myself - and you should want to be for yourself as well. A life lived for your own experiences, even if it's just admiring a yellowing tree on a Fall day, is worthwhile. Because it is you living your own life, not some simile of another person's "perfect" life on Instagram.

On Intention

Most people don't set out to scroll Facebook, Instagram, watch YouTube or read news articles most of their waking hours. Rather, they are co-opted into doing so. Psychologist have been employed at these firms as "UX Researchers" in order to design ways to keep users engaged. Engagement means collecting data and showing ads - the two ways these companies make money.

To focus on doing what it is you want to do with your time requires an act of intention, and the discipline to follow through on it. That act is what these apps divert from, to an activity that can be monetized by them. In order to live a life where you accomplish what you want, your intention must hold strong against those forces of diversion.

A Boring Phone

So I took three actions today in order to be more present and intentional by making my phone more boring. I encourage you to think about doing the same.

One, I removed the last of the news apps from my phone. It was the Wall Street Journal. I enjoy their business coverage and have learned some things from their articles. But opening the app had become a habit, something I would do out of boredom - not something that I did with intention. By deleting the app I have not lost my ability to read the Wall Street. I simply have to navigate to the website, which makes the barrier to higher and forces me to act more intentionally if I decide to read.

Two, I disabled the YouTube app. Studies have found that men are much more likely to be addictive users of YouTube than other apps, such as Instagram. This holds true for me as well, I can fall into a video rabbit hole and tell myself it is okay because the content I watch is educational. The problem is, I have other things I should be doing - or could be engaged in a more beneficial and thoughtful learning activity. YouTube simply is low friction and keeps throwing content that is interesting my way (there is also trashy content in there too).

Three, I took a measure that I have heard others rave about, but have not yet tried myself. I turned my phone to grayscale. So now what is displayed on the screen is essentially just black and white. I had never tried this before and was surprised at the immediacy of the effect. I looked at the phone after changing the setting and it was less interesting. Each time I've picked it up I've found this thought in the back of my head pipe up, "this is boring." I recommend anyone to give this a try.

On top of these things and as noted in my last post I have also:

• Turned off notifications for all apps except my work chat and email, WhatsApp (where my family chat is) and the text messaging app on my phone.
• Do Not Disturb is set to go on at 7pm each night. Then only messages and calls from my favorite contacts (family members) can get through.
• Changed my phone's launcher (on Android this is my home screen where the apps are displayed) to Olauncher - a free and open source launcher that does not display icons, but instead the names of the apps in a list.

A Better Life

Something I want you to take away from this post is not that you must follow suit and do exactly as I do. But to be intentional about what you are doing on your phone - and whether you want to be on your phone at all. For the goal of being present for your life and the opportunities that exist to engage with others in your home and community and with the wider world around you.

Because all of us know, inherently, that a life lived primarily on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or some other app is not a life well lived. And, if we know that then we should take the conscious action to ensure that we do not waste the one life that we have within these time sucks. That time is better spent elsewhere and ensuring that just takes some intention.