Want to Get Off Your Phone? Mina Kimes Suggests Having a Baby

The best way to digital detox is to have a kid, because when I spend time with him I’m just not on my phone by necessity. I think that’s been the most helpful thing. So there you go, Zoomers. There’s a reason to have children. And honestly, I do notice when I spend a day with him, whether it’s hiking or at the beach, and I’m not on my phone, I’m infinitely happier at the end of the day than any other day in my life.

Music app: Spotify

I primarily use Spotify. The data is completely cooked because of the aforementioned 3-year-old. So when they do Spotify Wrapped, I swear to God, it used to be cool, but now it’s been hijacked by Raffi, Elmo, Ms. Rachel, Mickey Mouse. My son is really into Mickey’s Countdown lately. I feel like 99 percent of my Spotify listening now is just atrocious kids’ music. Raffi’s the GOAT though. I don’t want to lump him in with some of the people that I mentioned. Raffi stands alone.

Number of unread emails: 0

This is probably the thing where you’re going to learn the most about me. Zero unread emails and inbox 10 and under is how I live my life. It’s such an important part of how I work and get stuff done.

The number one thing I should lead with is, for a litany of reasons, I just do not let communication build up, which can be difficult, because I subscribe to a couple newsletters, and I won’t archive them until I’ve either read them or scanned them. But I can’t get to work until I feel like my mind is clear, and my mind isn’t clear if my inbox isn’t clear. I think it’s probably something I inherited from my dad, who was an Air Force major, and from a very young age he taught me the importance of to-do lists, which I also abide by. Sometimes, on a to-do list, I’ll set aside half an hour or whatever to get my inbox back down to sub-10.

Sometimes that means that when I reply to emails, my response is a fraction of the email that was sent to me. And I think people feel social pressure to match an email with a commensurate email. To live the Inbox 10 lifestyle, you cannot abide by that pressure.

Number of unread texts: 0

Same thinking, same principle, same possible OCD.

Last person you FaceTimed: My brother

I FaceTimed with my brother, who’s on vacation with his family in Delaware at the moment. I’m not a big FaceTimer. And candidly, I feel like FaceTiming someone who is outside of your family is insane behavior. But that’s another way in which having a child changed how I use technology, I suppose, because it really is a wonderful way for young children to see distant relatives and communicate with them.

Last thing you googled: “Hip thruster tips”

I recently, and I’m very late to this, started strength training at a gym for the first time in my life. For my entire life, I’ve only gone to the gym to run. And now I’m just learning what all these machines do and how to use them. But I’m like a child. I’m a total neophyte in this world. I have a trainer, but I’ve also found it’s a really encouraging and fun section of the internet.

Last photo you took:

It’s a picture of my son standing next to a tower he built in his room. I feel like at this point, 95 percent of the photos on my phone are of my son. It’s kind of sad; you can see the exact point where we had him because it used to be all pictures of my dog, and then it just completely switches to pictures of my son.

Last screenshot you took: The Adam Levine “Holy fuck, holy fucking fuck, the body of yours is absurd.”

I can’t even remember what I was using it as a meme for, but I clearly needed that screenshot to use as a meme.

Last thing you asked AI: “How to lift a paint stain off of a carpet.”

I don’t really use LLMs. If I do, it’s for either menial household questions or basic search. And I only use it for search because search is now useless due to AI.

I’ve read and listened to a lot of people talk about how it’s revolutionized their workflow, and they’re training agents to make appointments and they’re building these elaborate meal plans. And to me, that doesn’t sound interesting. That just sounds exhausting. We have this phrase in football called “looking for work,” when a player on the field is looking for work—looking for someone to block, for example. And I just think about that whenever I hear those stories. It just sounds like you’re looking for work.