phones aggregate utilities, and we embed them in our routines and spaces accordingly. when we disaggregate some of these utilities, it becomes easier to dislodge phones from those routines and spaces as we choose.
alarm clocks are a good example. using the alarm clock utility is a commitment to making a place for my phone in my bedroom, and, more significantly, time for my phone immediately at the beginning of my day. half a second, maybe, if i’m careful, but 7am willpower vs. shiny notifications is not a conflict i want to engage in daily! and as soon as i see any notification, i’ve begun my day in reaction to something unknown and unchosen, rather than in the calm of a familiar space or in pursuit of something chosen. plus, i assume sunlight > lamplight > phone light in terms of what my eyes want in the morning?
right now, i leave my phone on a record stand in our living room. i think there should be a more elegant storage solution? i would like to drop my phone somewhere i can’t see it and let it charge there overnight.
tangentially: curious how disaggregating functions/utilities works as a way of getting us off of phones in comparison (or in combination) with e.g. brick, which reduces a phone to utilities.