Good afternoon friends!
St Valentine’s Day may have stolen up on us, but today, let’s turn our attention to the patron saint of the telephone, the Archangel Gabriel! This fortnight, since we’re slap bang in the middle of our viral Phone Free February challenge, here are 5 telephonic ideas, tips and tools to help build a better relationship with your phone. Please enjoy!
1. What we’ve recorded: Phone Hacks for iOS and Android – together with my Phone Free February co-creator, Charlotte, we’ve prepared a number of quick and easy tutorial videos to guide you through ‘dumbing down’ your phone for a distraction-free phone experience. Check them out here and see how far you can ‘downgrade’ your phone.
2. Quote I’m sharing: Phone Free Participant 2025 – “A few days into February, as soon as I started the Phone Free February challenge, as if the universe wanted to make this transition seamless, my phone broke. What first seemed like an inconvenience quickly revealed itself as a gift—an effortless invitation to a quieter, more intentional rhythm. Without the constant distractions, I felt more connected to my body and the world around me. Navigating without GPS, checking messages only when I’m at home, and simply being in the moment—what a gift it has been. I felt more centered, calm, and alive.“
3. What I’m using: Niagara Launcher – This free download available for Android has brought me so much relief and focus over the past couple of years since I started using it. With one click, change your phone interface to reduce distractions, bring calm and boost intentional phone use – a must-try for anyone on an Android device!
4. What we should all be doing: Buy an alarm clock – Perhaps the most easy and effective change many people are making this Phone Free February is to simply buy a good old fashioned alarm clock and keep your phone out of your bedroom. It is such a quick, easy fix and ensures that the bookends of your days aren’t filled with irksome blue light and mental overstimulation!
5. Where we’ve been featured – All around the world! – While ‘viral’ might be going a little too far, Phone Free February clearly hits a social nerve. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve been overjoyed to be featured in hundreds of articles, videos, podcasts and blogs, from El País, Público, India’s Telegraph, Código Nuevo, the Washington Post, the Huffington Post (Japanese edition!), Greece’s Marie Claire… the list goes on! We’ve received exuberant messages from all around the world from participants who clearly long for a community to help them take the step towards a better relationship with their phone. Clearly the prevalent zeitgeist of ever-closer, unavoidable phone madness has its counterpart, to be found in a global community looking to re-establish intentional control over phone use so as to ensure that these ubiquitous and addictively-designed devices can really become tools at the service of higher-quality and meaningful social, working and personal lives.
📣 Opportunities from me and my network
🔥 Check out this new fund to support leadership in the migration section
📖 Don’t forget to order your copy of Remnants of War, Migration, Love by Taha Salim.
🎨 Looking for fabulous art to gift? Support my brilliant friend and artist Nadine here.
⭐️ Know someone critically-minded? I’d love to nominate them for Aspen Rising Leaders.
💻 Time for a new website? Pick us, the non-profit agency for a more sustainable and fairer world.
That’s it for this fortnight! As ever, please let me know your thoughts and feedback – and send anything you’d like me to include in upcoming editions this way.
