How often do you scroll mindlessly through your phone? A half dozen times in a day? Too many times to count? A 28-year-old law student found the habit concerning and did the unthinkable: he gave up his smartphone. In the latest installment of our revived series, What It Feels Like, he told us all about life without an iPhone. "There's something unsettling about being the lone person not looking at a device," he says. It's a radical idea nowadays—and a thought-provoking story – Michael Sebastian, editor-in-chief Plus: |
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Sick of algorithmic rabbit holes and compulsively checking emails, I switched to a flip phone for two months. It wasn't as easy as I thought. |
This wasn't born from some dramatic rock-bottom moment with technology. I wasn't doomscrolling myself into despair. But as a law student at the University of Michigan preparing for finals, I'd noticed something unsettling: Even after deleting Instagram and removing social apps from my iPhone 13, I was still burning through hours of daily screen time. YouTube videos about subjects I had a passing interest in. Compulsive news checking. The endless, algorithmic pull of just one more thing. My breaking point was quite mundane. I tried to focus on reading for class, and there was this itch in the back of my mind. My friend had run a marathon, and I wanted to check Strava right then to see how he did. It wasn't urgent information I needed, but that itch became overwhelming. Inevitably, I opened my phone for one thing and found myself scrolling through ten others, pulled along by the notification cascade. Recently diagnosed with ADHD, I figured I had enough trouble focusing without carrying a dopamine machine in my pocket. So I made the switch. |
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Imagine with me for a moment a ludicrous scenario. Let's say there's a stack of bills totaling $600 (or more, even a lot more) held together by a band that costs only $10. If I told you the bills are totally secure, would you believe me? You should. Because this silly hypothetical is what it's like to wear a NATO strap with your most treasured timepieces. The NATO strap is your watch's new best friend. Often coming in waterproof ballistic nylon, NATOs can withstand almost all conditions—and, most importantly, secure your watch—better than traditional two-piece straps or steel bracelets. It is a durable, practical, affordable, and, yes, stylish upgrade to any wristwatch. It's a signifier that you're a serious watch guy who knows what he's doing. |
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In the fall of 2003, I slipped on the ice leaving my office one night. My hip hurt for a year afterward, but mostly I ignored it. When the pain didn't go away, I saw my doctor, who ordered an MRI. I went to his office, and he told me there was a tumor on my hip. I was thirty-eight years old, pursuing a promising career in journalism, married to a woman I loved, and the first-time father of a seven-month-old daughter. At the time I was diagnosed with the type of cancer it turned out I have, a rare and incurable form of blood cancer called multiple myeloma, I was told I had eighteen months to live. That was more than twenty-one years ago. In those twenty-one years, I have undergone a barrage of treatments to combat my disease. But the most remarkable treatment I've had so far is a cutting-edge procedure, approved by the FDA for use in cases like mine only in 2022, called CAR-T therapy. This is the story of that treatment. |
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