How to beat your iPhone addiction

BY KEVIN HOLESH

I got my first iPhone when the 4 came out, and in the three years since, I’ve become addicted to my iPhone. I crave being constantly connected to everything and I’m anxious when I’m not. I like being able to check my email, tweet this picture of my meal, or answer the text from my sister from anywhere in the world.

I knew that as soon as I got my iPhone, I would have a tough time letting go. Once I was connected, I couldn’t ever be disconnected. It was a one-way street that I knowlingly went down.

So I did what I do best. I came up with a solution.

I named my iPhone “Walden” to be ironic.

That didn’t help much.

Fast forward to a year ago

I moved into a two-bedroom apartment with my high school sweetheart and got engaged. Our evenings were filled with unpacking, hanging pictures, and cooking meals together. All was good.

As we settled in to our new lives together, our evenings got progressively lazier. We’d only take a two-block walk with our dogs and we’d have a movie queued up before we even microwaved leftovers for dinner. We would sign off our work computers at 6pm and immediately wander into the living room and open up our iPhones. Bring on the distractions.

Relaxing meant whipping out our iPhones and catching up on the latest happenings in social media. Her drug of choice is Instagram. Mine is Twitter. We stopped doing fun and productive things and chose the path of least resistance.

I’m picking on the iPhone right now, but it could be any device, like a laptop and an iPad. For me, it is always my iPhone.

About six months ago, I realized I had a serious problem. I was addicted to my phone, exactly like I predicted when I first waded into these always connected waters. I felt naked if my phone wasn’t weighing down my right pocket.

That’s when I decided to build a real solution. I’m an iOS developer and knew there was something that could be done.