The phone buzzes on the kitchen bench.
Nothing urgent. Still distracting.
We’ve trained ourselves to flinch at every sound.
A tap on the wrist. A red dot. A quiet pressure to respond now.
There was a time when messages waited.
When night stayed quiet.
When being unavailable wasn’t a failure of character.
You don’t need a detox or a dramatic exit.
Just fewer doors left open at once.
Notifications trimmed.
The phone charged somewhere out of reach.
Messages answered on your terms.
The world coped before instant access.
Your nervous system will too.
