She locked her phone for 7 days

A CNN reporter just published a piece on going smartphone-free for a full week. Burner phone, paper planner, the whole thing.

She made it about four hours.

Not because she doomscrolled. Because her card payment bounced and the only way to move money was through the banking app.

Day two, she tried to buy groceries on her laptop instead. Her bank sent the two-factor code to her phone. Back on the phone.

Day three is where it gets interesting. She was exhausted. Not a little tired. Wiped out.

The neuroscientist advising her explained why: the constant stimulation from her phone had been masking how depleted she already was. Take the stimulation away and the real fatigue surfaces. Researchers say it takes roughly four weeks of abstinence to reset the brain's reward pathways.

Four weeks. For a device most of us pick up before our feet hit the floor.

Here's what I took from her experiment:

Quitting your phone through pure willpower is nearly impossible, and not just because of dopamine. Your bank, your boarding pass, your work, your family all live inside it. The phone isn't just addictive. It's infrastructure.

So the goal was never "use your phone less." The goal is to stop letting it regulate your emotions for you. To reach for it because you chose to, not because you're anxious, bored, or avoiding something.

That's exactly what we built Mindless to do.

Download Mindless on iOS

Android users: you're up next. Mindless is launching for Android in the first half of July!

Talk soon,
Sam

P.S. If you want to work on this alongside people doing the same thing, the free Mindless community is open. Join here