Preface
Beeri and I traveled around the world and asked people on the street one simple question:
"Where should we put our phone when we go to sleep?"
For most people, the question drew their attention for a moment, and they answered in different ways: "Away from us", or they just made a sharp hand gesture, pushing the device away from their body.
Then we asked: "And where do you put it when you go to sleep?"
This is where the story changed, and the answers went like this: "I fall asleep with it in my hand," "Under my pillow," "Under the bed," "On the nightstand," "In the other room." Often, an embarrassed smile came with the answer. Sometimes there was also a tangled explanation for the dissonance, or a justification for the gap between what should be and what is actually happening, an explanation that we never asked for.
When we asked a similar question about young kids, "Where should kids put their phone at night?", there was no disagreement at all. "Away from the kid", they said right away, and most of them specifically: "Outside the room!". Research data on what actually happens with kids and teens didn't surprise them. They knew it up close.
"So, now what?" we pushed. What's the solution?
What you're holding in your hands right now could only have come out of an ongoing dialogue between a father and his son, sharp, honest and alive. A father who grew up in a home where a mobile phone was a distant dream, with rich experience developing leaders around the world and expertise in social-organizational psychology. And his son, a Gen Z entrepreneur and social leader, who grew up with a screen in the palm of his hand, breathes the digital pace and knows his generation's flow closely.
Who Is This Book For?
If it truly matters to you to live your own life, and not the one that happens to you – this book is for you.
If you're happy to go with the flow and designing something new isn't urgent for you – this book is not for you.
If the feeling that you're here in body but not really here bothers you – this book is for you.
If you're comfortable staying the phone's victim – this book is not for you.
If you're ready to take responsibility for the architecture of your decisions – come with us.
If you're bothered by who's the boss right now – you or the device? – this book is for you.
If you think you're "addicted" to your phone but you choose to give up on yourself – this book is not for you.
If you're looking for new words to understand what's going on – this book is for you.
If you think we're on a slippery slope with no way back up – try just one move.
We challenge you to design your defaults.
