One recent morning, I found myself in a position that I wasn't happy about. I was on my phone, scrolling through apps, trying to find something to do or to check. There was nothing. I realized I was developing a smartphone addiction. Though I don't see myself becoming one of those people who walks the streets head-down and oblivious to the people they’re passing, idle phone-checking is the most potent gateway drug to that affliction. I needed a cleanse, and I needed it now.

So I took my morning walk sans phone. Here’s what occurred to me.

Though I always walk the streets head-up and looking at the people I pass, doing so on this day took on more meaning in that there wasn't anything else to look at. I didn't have a phone to distract me from noticing all the details of a person. People just seemed more human this morning.
I felt lighter on my feet, free of the 6.14 oz weight of the iPhone X, and then there’s something happening online that I can notice! mental weight of constant “connection.”
I had 3-4 ideas come to me that I lost, as I had nothing with which to write them down. I don't know if I am even still capable of writing with a pen a paper anymore.
I noticed a lot more -- people, more details of buildings, more sounds, more colors.
The walk went by faster, probably because, without a phone, I couldn't stop and Instagram Story anything I saw.
I don't feel I’m as phone-addicted as some people I've seen, so I was not traumatized nor suffering from withdrawals from not having electronics close by.

I haven't done the phoneless walk again since that day, but I will. Maybe I’ll try some other things, too, like phoneless workouts, phoneless meals, and phoneless driving.

One step at a time.