This email is coming to you from a hill up in the mountains of Finale Ligure Italy where we’ve been riding bikes, and enjoying the food and views all week! This place has mountain biking ingrained into its core, and it’s amazing!!
Here’s what I found fun, interesting, or noteworthy this week…
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What it’s like to not have a phone for a month –
After having my iPhone die on me the first week of our trip and not staying in one place long enough for Apple to ship me a new phone (5-10 business days) (the iPhones are different in Europe so I couldn’t get one of them here) I’ve been without my normal always connected life.
The nice thing is that when I’m with other people I have nothing to do but chat with them. No pings, vibrations, or ability to avoid the weird silence. And the weirdness has actually gone away. I think this is something we’ve adapted to from phones.
The downside is that I live by my calendar and have missed birthdays and work deadlines. And probably the biggest downside is not having my iPhone for videos and pictures at a moments notice.
What I’ve learned is that I think the phones we have can be used to make our lives much easier to connect and create awesome things BUT that we use them in ways that make our lives less connected to others and avoid great conversations and connections with other people because of them.
Because of this I’m going to implement rules about how I’m using my phone. I got this from good friend Jeremy, so thanks Jeremy!
The simple rule is that I can only check my phone for social media or email 3 times a day for 15 mins each time. Zero checking my phone to fill time. Period!
The phone can be used for creating or communicating (text/calls) as much as needed.
I’ll check in with you in a few months to let you know how this is going.
Our NEW YouTube Video –
Sunset Ride at Durazno Bike Park in Santiago Chile
This is a shorter video with AMAZING Santiago sunset views just before we came down with one of the worst sicknesses of my life. I’m hoping that I have all that drama on video, but we’ll see. I haven’t checked out the footage.
Enjoy the amazing riding footage!
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That was kinda a long chat about my phone, so we’ll leave it there for now. If you need anything let me know!
Cheers!
Joe
