Having your phone on you all the time, like many of us do these days, seems like both a blessing and a curse. It’s easier now than ever to do everything you could want from your phone whether it’s call friends or family, order groceries or items for your home, answer work or personal emails and texts, or just play Candy Crush and other games. That is a blessing in the sense that you can get a lot more done with one mobile phone now in a few minutes that it used to take a day or more to do with different means.
However, the result of that ease and efficiency given to us by the modern phone is also a curse where we are never out of reach or always expected to be ‘on’. Constant availability, being addicted to notifications that come up, and having our attention span scattered causes us to sometimes lose sight of what’s important to focus on.
This kind of constant dependence that we have on our phones in 2026 became apparent to me during a recent live comedy show featuring Jerry Seinfeld. Each guest was asked to voluntarily have their phone metaphorically locked away or at least stored in a plastic Yondr pouch that you can’t open without someone else helping you with the magnetic lock opener. You can still take your phone with you, but you don’t get the magnetic lock opener, and it’s stored in a pouch that you can either carry or put around your neck. Comedians obviously don’t want their live act or ‘bits’ to be recorded and spread around for free on YouTube or another platform and so it is a phone-free zone for at least 1-2 hours.
Since there is only so much observational comedy that Jerry Seinfeld can do without repeating his act repeatedly, the phone-free zone is key, so he doesn’t have any leaks of his new and older materials to audiences who don’t appreciate his legendary style of humor. Similar to live comedy shows, more places are becoming phone-free zones like certain bars, restaurants, and even nightclubs. This idea seems to have gained traction in the last year or two but especially now in 2026 as people are beginning to realize just how much we check out phones each day and how it takes away from our ability to do much else.
Why practice guitar when you can doomscroll your phone? Why buy a book when you can just use Audible? Why go to the grocery store when you can just order through DoorDash? The phone just seems to be crowding out everything else in modern life and I, for one, am glad that there’s some push back. While comedians like Seinfeld are just looking to preserve the act, putting the phone away for an hour or two really helps preserve one’s piece of mind as a side effect. You feel lighter once that attendant snaps your Yondr pouch shut with no means for you to get it open.
While many people succumbed to leave Jerry Seinfeld’s recent comedy show I was at to go out into the lobby to check their phone and satiate the burning desire to stare at the glowing screen of temptation, I felt much relieved instead. Leaving your phone off, in a pouch, or just at home is a real weight off your proverbial shoulders and I think this trend is only going to get more popular in the future. When you consider some schools banning phones in the classroom and certain restrictions at the office about which applications your phone can access, there is a balance that needs to be struck in terms of reachability vs. anonymity.
I believe it’s healthy to take a break from being with your phone all the time. You should leave it in the other room when you sleep, turn it off when you are with friends or family, and leave it at home when you go for a hike, walk, or run. I guarantee you’ll feel better instantly though the withdrawal can hit hard like it did for my fellow Seinfeld fans at the comedy show. You start to make eye contact with people, be more outwardly social and engaging, and feel better about the world when you see it through your eyes instead of through your screen.
Despite being more connected than ever, we are still more isolated from each other as ever before. The phone is to blame for both these factors but while the phone can never go away completely or should never suck up all our attention, we should be more conscientious of where and when to use the phone. If there’s a phone-free zone or event, leave it at home and I’m sure you won’t miss it. If there’s an emergency that comes up, I’m sure there will be ways for you to get in touch with the outside world without your phone too. It doesn’t have to be a long time away from the phone but putting it away or leaving it home for at least 1-2 hours a day is a healthy balance.
Throughout 99% of recorded human history, we did just fine in not having a mobile device on us 24 / 7 years ago and I think we were much less anxious and maybe even happier because of that. We will never go back to the pre-mobile phone days, but we can work to reduce the bandwidth that it takes up in our lives every day. Use your best judgment, enjoy some phone-free events that pop up, and remember you did fine without a mobile device earlier in life and you’ll be fine without it for a few hours if you decide to leave it at home or in a Yondr pouch.
