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Bringing Back the Landline
Randy Ginsburg
June 11, 2025
Welcome to the 13 new readers who have joined us since last week! If you haven’t subscribed, join 2400+ smart, curious folks by subscribing here:
Announcement: Tomorrow (Thursday, June 12) at 6:30pm ET, I’m hosting Before You Block—a free live workshop to help you rethink your screen habits from the inside out.
We’ll identify your why, get clear on what you’re actually making space for, set focused screen time goals, and build a personal plan of attack (all before you try another tool or app)
If you’ve ever downloaded an app blocker and still found yourself scrolling, this is for you.
Reply to this email with the word “Workshop” and I’ll send you the invite (yes, it will be recorded too).
We’ve got a fun one today…
A few weeks ago, multiple friends sent me the same podcast episode from a show I’d somehow never heard of called Search Engine.
I trust their taste, so I gave it a listen.
Spoiler: it was excellent.
Not just because the host’s voice was suspiciously soothing (it was), or because the advice was sound and surprisingly actionable (it was that too).
What caught me was one suggestion buried in the middle of the episode. Something I hadn’t heard before in the ocean of recycled digital wellness content.
Unfortunately, most of the advice you’ll come across about beating tech addiction is the same. Turn on grayscale. Install app blockers. Keep your phone out of the bedroom.
These tips aren’t wrong, but they’re rarely enough. Everyone tells you what to do, but few explain how to make it stick or acknowledge how hard it is to unwind habits reinforced thousands of times a day for over a decade. There’s little nuance, and even less discussion of the inner work required to rewire the psychology behind our tech use: the boredom, avoidance, and anxiety we keep outsourcing to our phones.
What stayed with me was one suggestion buried in the middle of the episode. A workaround so obvious it felt a little profound.
Before smartphones, the internet had a physical boundary. It lived in a room or an office. You’d walk down the hall, sit at a clunky desktop computer, and enter the internet the way you’d enter a library.
There was friction and, more importantly, a boundary.
random photo from Reddit that perfectly describes what I’m talking about
That boundary is gone now. The internet follows us everywhere. We’re never not online.
Which is exactly why this suggestion felt smart: buy a 10-foot charging cable. Plug it in somewhere central in your environment, like the kitchen (aka not your couch, bed, or desk).
Then set a simple rule: when you’re home (or at work), your phone stays plugged in. If you want to use it, you go to it. But you don’t unplug it and take it with you.
Yes, it’s basically reinventing the landline. But hey, everything old becomes new again right?
It takes restraint, and it’s not a magic fix, but it reintroduces something we’ve lost: designated spaces for designated behaviors.
This is one I know I personally will have a near-zero success rate with, but still worth aspiring to.
As James Clear writes in Atomic Habits, behavior is often shaped less by willpower than by design. Friction (or the lack of it) is what makes a habit effortless or impossible. The easier it is to reach for your phone, the more likely you will. The harder it is, even by a few seconds or steps, the more room you create to make a better choice.
Just bought two 10-foot cords for my new apartment and excited to give this a shot. Will report back once I’ve lived with it for a bit. Lmk if you end up trying it too!
Pumped to see some of you guys in the workshop tomorrow!
— Randy
If you’re looking to build a healthier relationship with tech and the people around you, here are a few places to start:
Kanso Experiences - Phone-free social experience for ambitious people craving real connection. We create curated gatherings where strangers become friends through thoughtful conversations, shared moments, and intentional time offline. See all upcoming events here.
Kanso Reset45 Cohorts - A cohort-based bootcamp to reprogram your tech habits in 45 days. If you’re interested in joining our next cohort, reply to this email.
Kanso 1:1 Digital Wellness Coaching - Personalized, high-touch coaching to help you take control of your tech use. Get daily accountability, habit tracking, and expert guidance to reduce screen time, stay focused, and build a more intentional digital life.
The Digital Reset Journal - A guided daily journal to help you rethink your tech use, stay present, and build healthier daily habits.
an awesome photo of the Digital Reset Journal sent to me by one of our customers after his morning pages!
Digital Detox Tools - A free directory of 100+ digital wellness tools to integrate into all areas of your life.
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You can find Kanso across Instagram and TikTok @getkanso too.
That’s all for this week! Now stop scrolling & doing something great :)
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