If you can’t tear yourself away from your phone, you could do worse than pick up a leaf from Ed Sheeran’s book.
The singer developed some (ahem) bad habits with his cell phone, which became so distracting that he decided to take extreme measures and give up using it altogether.
Ed says he hasn’t looked back since making the decision six years ago after his mental health began to suffer from the stress of constantly receiving text messages and feeling the need to reply instantly.
speaking on The Collector’s Edition video seriesEd told host and series founder Ben Clymer that he was “really, really overwhelmed and sad with the phone”.
Keith MayhewKeith Mayhew/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
“I don’t carry a phone, no,” he said. “I haven’t had a phone since 2015. I just spent all my time in a very low place. I got rid of it, and it was as if a veil had just been lifted.
He continued, “I haven’t cut contact with people so much, I just limit contact with people.”
These days, the singer does it over email, which made him “feel better about everything.”
“Every few days I sit down and open my laptop and answer 10 emails at once,” he explained.
“And I will send them and close my laptop. And then I’ll get my life back and I won’t feel overwhelmed by it.
Ed told fans in 2015 that he was taking a break from his phone and emails and quitting all social media after feeling like he was “seeing the world through a screen and not my eyes”. .
“I’m taking this opportunity to not have to be anywhere or do anything to travel the world and see everything I’ve missed,” he wrote in a post on his Instagram account.
“To my family and my friends, if you love me, you will understand that I do not give a damn,” he added.
