Consumption Vs. Inner Curiosity: Who Else Got Their First Cell Phone in College?

I’m old enough to remember the pre-cell phone times. I didn’t get my first phone—a clunky thing that lived in the car—until my sophomore year of college. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I miss those times before constant connectivity was the norm and expectations for speedy responsiveness always hovered, sometimes oppressively and often aggressively.

We are now in a time when we could consume content all day every day and not even make a dent since “90% of the world’s data was generated in the last two years alone.” My mind can’t quite wrap around that stat, but the point is, we can go down any rabbit hole endlessly. We can learn anything we want, we can even master skills or knowledge bases in days or weeks instead of years. It’s truly an incredible time to be alive in human history.

Yet, all this constant noise, with dozens of different streaming devices, apps, and websites used daily, makes it a lot harder to tap into our inner wisdom. To listen to our heart’s truest longings. To hear our own unique thoughts and ideas that literally no one else has ever thought in quite that way, with your flavor of experience, uniqueness, and purpose.

Our minds are the greatest gift we could ever ask for, and we still have a very long way to go to completely understanding the brain’s full powers and functionality. Every successful invention or business or piece of art or anything created started out as just a blip of someone’s imagination. Which means that in any given second, another moment of imaginative brilliance is happening that will make an impact on the world.

And while learning from other’s minds is vital to continue your journey to success and self-actualization and mastery, in 2025, I encourage all of us to spend more time getting curious about our own thoughts and digging in to our own wisdom with daily self-reflection. Maybe you take up a morning or evening journaling habit or just spend some time asking and answering life’s biggest questions. Maybe you sit around with your friends or business besties and ask epic questions. Whatever you can do to spend more time hanging out with your brain because it has a lot to say and a lot to share, inspired by your unique heart, values, outlook, and experiences.

For me, I will be working on consuming less and pondering more. Creating more and watching less. Finding new ways to explore the playground of my mind instead of spending so much time in others’ imaginations. Tapping into my genius zone and deep work zone and best self zone by shutting off the outside world more.

If you too have been feeling like you’re just consuming too much, dragged into the despairs of humanity too much, or just plain interrupted too much, I encourage you to shut off all distractions and outside noise for at least 90 minutes a day. Back before cell phones when I was a teenager, 90 minutes of no interruptions or contact from the outside world was commonplace. Adopting this practice in the must-be-on-24/7-times will simplify your life and calm your nervous system.

Join me in this 90 minutes a day no cell phones or screens challenge for 2025. I can’t wait to see what you create during this you time!