Let’s chat about your phone. 

Nope, I’m not going to tell you to put your phone down or use it less or keep it in a different room from where you sleep. 

I want to talk about a simple phone joy that you’re missing out on. 

Quick side quest before we get to the good stuff: have you given your phone any TLC lately? Did you know that you can take the protective case off of your phone and clean underneath it? You can grab a toothpick and carefully clean all the gunk out of all the little nooks and crannies. You can even get a new case to replace the skanky one you’ve been using since you bought the phone. This quick makeover will make it feel like you have a whole new phone. 

How long have you been looking at the same lock screen/wallpaper on your phone?

I know it’s your wedding picture or favorite shot of your kids/fur babies/sweet ride. Perhaps it’s an image of art or a favorite vacation spot.

But you’ve looked at it sooooooo many times, it most likely doesn’t do anything for you. The thrill is gone.

How do I know? 

The average person picks up their phone roughly 145 times per day. That means you’ve looked at that image as many as 4350 times per month, or more. 52,200 times per year. That particular image no longer hits that sweet spot in the electric meat lump inside your skull.

When you first set it up, the visual was new and novel. As a result, your surprised and delighted brain gave you a wee hit of happy hormones to warm your squishy insides. For a few days. Your chemical noodle mass quickly acclimated to the image. That’s fun, it thinks. I like that. You still get a hit of groovy juice, but way less than the first day(s). Then Brain is all, wait, we saw that 12 minutes ago. And 12 minutes before that. In fact, we’ve seen it thousands of times.  Yawn.  That once precious image has become like, well, wallpaper; like gum you don’t know why you’re still chewing.

BUT WAIT, there’s such a simple solution: change it. No overthinking here. Pick up your phone, go to settings, and give yourself a new view. You’ll be amazed at the thrill it gives you. 

Sure, you can scroll through your pics and belabor the choice of the most perfect pic. Nothing wrong with that, but why not reach outside your comfort zone. Also, you’re going to change it again as soon as the joy wears off, so don’t be precious.

• Canva has heaps of free templates

• Movie/TV still/screen grab

• Famous work of art

• Not famous work of art

• Your art

• Your kid’s art

• Your friend’s art

• My art: for iphone xs, iphone SE, or android

• Street art

• Cool old illustration

• Tarot/oracle card

• Something beautiful

• Make your own vision board (canva or old school on paper, then take a pic)

• Quote/song lyrics

• Reminder of a goal you’re working towards

• Something that brings you joy

• Random

• iPhone gives you the option of randomly choosing pics of pets, people, nature, or cities. I found it cycling through the same dozen or so nature pics, when I have thousands available, so: yawn.

Don’t stop there! Change your clock font and color. Get crazy, besties.

see you in a few days

I’m always open to ideas, suggestions, shenanigans, tomfoolery, collaborations, cheese, snacks, and field trips.

You can find my art here and here. I offer custom workshops and design. I am the proud guardian/custodian of a 16 year old cheeseburger named Patty.

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words and images © Rubi McGrory 2021-2025