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Earlier this year, I attended a Vipassana meditation course. At the beginning of the course, the attendees are asked to relinquish their phone, computer, tablet, etc.. The purpose of this rule is quite obvious: these devices are incredibly distracting, and by relinquishing oneself from their grasp, one can focus much more intently on the practice of meditation. Indeed, when I told my friends and family about my experience at the course, mentioning that we did not have access to digital technology, I was invariably met with a mixture of amazement and longing.

Everyone wants to escape their phone, but no one knows how.