How to Create a Distraction-Free Phone

Jake Knapp loves tech. He grew up using Apple II and then Mac computers, browsing bulletin boards, and making his own games. As an adult, he worked at Microsoft on the Encarta CD-ROM, before being hired by Google, where he worked on Gmail, co-founded Google Meet, and created Google Ventures' Design Sprint process. Today, he's a venture capitalist and consultant for start-ups, as well as a writer.

But, if Jake was an early adopter and booster of the upsides of technology, he was also early in sensing its not-so-positive side effects. Twelve years ago, unhappy with the pull his smartphone was exerting on him, he decided to curb its distractions. He continues to use this distraction-free phone today.

Today on the show, I talk to Jake about what motivated him to change his relationship with his phone over a decade ago and what steps he took to do so, including how and why he lives life without a web browser or email app on his phone. We get into what realizations about work and life Jake's gotten from having a distraction-free phone, why he doesn't think using tools like Screen Time or a dumbphone are always the best solutions to reducing the phone itch, and how he also cuts down on distractions on his desktop computer.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
• Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp
• AoM Podcast #450: How to Make Time for What Really Matters Every Day With John Zeratsky 
• AoM Podcast #972: Down With Pseudo-Productivity: Why We Need to Transform the Way We Work With Cal Newport
• AoM Article: The Complete Guide to Breaking Your Smartphone Habit
• AoM Article: 5 Concrete Ways to Develop a Healthier Relationship With Your Phone (No Blocking or Deleting Apps Required!)
• AoM Podcast #420: What Makes Your Phone So Addictive & How to Take Back Your Life
• Freedom app
• How We Feel app
• Light Phone II
• Time Timer

Connect With Jake Knapp

• Jake's website