Thailand Made Me Rethink My Phone

Holidays are often seen as a time for rest and relaxation.
For me, they’ve usually been the opposite. Traveling, planning, and navigating constant surprises always left me feeling more stressed than working.
But somewhere in that chaos, I’ve realised that holidays could also be a pause — a chance to reflect. What’s working in my life? What’s draining me? And increasingly, I noticed the same answer popping up: my relationship with technology.

During a recent holiday in Thailand, I found myself reflecting on my relationship with technology. I thought about the current digital landscape, what technology can truly do for me, and how I should manage it instead of letting it manage me. Out of that reflection came a framework — a set of strategies to help me improve my life and make the most of technology, without becoming its slave.

My Realizations

On that holiday, I noticed three things about my phone:

• Phones are terrible devices for deep or meaningful work. Typing, editing, or creating is just clumsy. That’s why I minimize work apps on my phone and rely on my laptop instead.
• Because phones are with us everywhere, they carry the highest risk of digital addiction. They sneak into every gap in our attention.
• We keep stuffing more and more features into them, and as a result, we’re becoming increasingly dependent on them.

My Principles

From these realizations, I developed a few guiding principles:

Analog First

One of the most liberating choices I’ve made is to go analog first for planning and to-dos. I follow the bullet journal method, but with a few tweaks that fit my lifestyle:

• Pocket-sized notebook. I carry a small notebook with me everywhere. It’s always accessible, never runs out of battery, and lets me jot down ideas the moment they appear.
• Daily planning ritual. Each morning, I open my notebook and sketch out my day. This short ritual anchors me, gives structure, and keeps me intentional about how I spend my time.
• Weekly goals and reviews. At the start of each week, I set clear goals. By the weekend, I sit down and review what went well, what didn’t, and what I want to improve.

Going analog first creates a sense of calm that no productivity app has ever given me. My tools don’t ping, buzz, or tempt me into endless scrolling — they just wait until I need them.

No Social Media or News on the Phone

I’ve removed all social media and news apps from my phone. They’re engineered to keep me scrolling, not informed. Instead, I rely on a combination of RSS feeds and language models that periodically summarize the most important updates for me. If something catches my attention, I’ll dive deeper later — on my laptop, when I can read with focus instead of in passing.

I’m fortunate that my work doesn’t require me to be on social media every day, and I know not everyone has that luxury. For me, keeping in touch with people happens directly, through messaging, rather than through feeds or timelines. This approach won’t fit every lifestyle, but for mine, it has been a huge relief.

No Work on the Phone

Phones are terrible for real work — cramped keyboards, constant typos, and endless distractions make them a poor workspace. I’ve removed Slack and other work apps entirely. Work happens only on my laptop. If I need to work on the go, I bring my laptop and use my phone just for mobile tethering.

This clear boundary has reduced stress and improved focus: my laptop is for deep work, my phone is for quick communication and connection.

Tips to Reduce Phone Usage

Some small changes have made a big difference in my daily life:

Treat Your Phone Like a Landline

I keep mine in a small Ikea box at the entrance of my home. It charges overnight there, and I only use it when I physically walk to it. The ringtone stays on so I don’t miss emergencies.

Use a Watch with an Alarm

A simple watch removes the need to check my phone for time or to use it as an alarm in the bedroom. My Casio quietly does its job without distracting me.

Switch to Grayscale

For a while, I set my phone to grayscale, making it far less enticing. I’ve since reverted to full color for navigation, but it was helpful

Handle Social Media Intentionally

Avoid visiting social media sites directly — they’re designed to suck you in. Browser extensions can help hide distracting elements. For example, I’ve stripped my YouTube homepage of everything non-essential, so I only consume content intentionally.

Be Mindful

Cutting phone usage doesn’t magically remove distractions — they just move elsewhere. I noticed I started spending more time on YouTube via Apple TV. Journaling and reflection help me catch these habits and adapt strategies accordingly.

Minimize Distractions with a Dedicated Launcher

iOS pushes lots of features to make your phone visually engaging. My goal is the opposite: make it boring, ugly, and untempting.

1. The lock screen doesn’t show time or notifications or any other app. It’s a simple black screen
2. I use a minimal launcher to keep a short list of useful apps in my main screen. If I need something else, I search for it manually.

Conclusion

Rethinking my phone in Thailand taught me that technology doesn’t have to control our lives — we can design our relationship with it instead. By going analog first, keeping work and social media off my phone, and being intentional with usage, I’ve significantly drop on screen time, going from an average of over 4 hours per day on my phone to less than 1 hour.

These strategies won’t look the same for everyone, but experimenting with small changes can reveal what works best for you. The key is reflection, intention, and making your tools serve you — not the other way around.

I hope sharing my journey inspires you to consider your own digital habits. In future posts, I’ll share scripts and practical setups that make this approach easier to implement.