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The Greg McKeown Podcast

309. The Hidden Power of Opting Out from Technology with Erin Loechner (Part 2)

The Greg McKeown Podcast

Greg McKeown

Education, Business, Self-improvement

4.81.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2024

⏱️ 37 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

About the Guest: Erin Loechner is the founder of the Opt Out Family, a global movement advocating for a tech-free lifestyle. She transitioned from being a social media influencer to embracing a life centered on simplicity and genuine human connection. Erin’s work has been featured in prestigious outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, and The Today Show. With her latest book, "The Opt Out: How to Give Your Kids What Technology Can't," she offers practical strategies to help families reclaim their time and foster meaningful relationships away from screens. Episode Summary: Greg sits down with Erin Loechner to discuss the pervasive role of technology in our lives and how families can reclaim their space by adopting an "opt-out" approach. Greg and Erin explore the societal norms that have made smartphones and apps ubiquitous and burdensome, examining the unintended consequences of technology on our well-being and family interactions. Throughout the conversation, Erin Loechner emphasizes the importance of creating engaging, real-life experiences to counteract the influence of technology. She shares personal anecdotes and practical tips on how her family has successfully minimized tech usage, opting for more meaningful and tangible interactions. Listeners will gain valuable insights into reclaiming their time and attention by being deliberate about technology use and fostering deeper connections within their families. Key Takeaways: The detrimental impact of smartphones and apps on daily life, and how they were never intended to be as pervasive as they are today. The concept of the opt-out family: why and how Erin Loechner's family opts out of excessive technology use. Practical strategies to create engaging, sensory-rich experiences that can draw family members away from screen time. The value of maintaining open communication through eye contact and genuine interactions, to foster better relationships and understanding. The importance of a "suggestion box" or similar mechanism to encourage kids to share and discuss their digital interactions. Notable Quotes: "I would like to get creative and figure out how do we incorporate some of those sensory experiences? How do we make sure that this generation gets to live more of their memories than watch other people's memories?" - Erin Loechner "If we're throwing a batch of cookies in the oven, our kid is gonna trickle out and see something smells good, what are you making?" - Erin Loechner "What is getting in the way and maybe how are the ways that we have kind of adopted this technology for all of the progress?" - Erin Loechner Resources: Erin Loechner’s Website: Erin Loechner Opt Out Family Movement: Opt Out Family Book: "The Opt Out: How to Give Your Kids What Technology Can't" by Erin Loechner Join my weekly newsletter. Learn more about my books and courses. Join The Essentialism Academy. Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Facebook, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

I still come back to this idea that that just it does feel overwhelming as I hear you talking about it, like I, okay,

0:15.8

I'm imagining now every single thing you sign up for now,

0:19.8

anything, it doesn't matter what it is,

0:21.6

the gym that I go to, of course they have an app and of

0:25.0

course that's the way that you schedule your classes every single place has this I find

0:31.9

that extremely tiresome. Everyone finds that tiresome.

0:36.1

Apps were never intended when Apple design, when Steve Jobs announces the iPhone, the only apps available were designed by Apple.

0:46.8

It was never imagined to be what it is today.

0:50.1

Now they made a shift with that because they could see the opportunity in the marketplace but when you go forward you know it's more than 10 years now and you look at what was intended with the iPhone, you know in one sense the first smartphone that was out there and what we have today

1:06.2

in it is extremely exhausting. Everybody listening to this, you know this is true,

1:12.1

it's so sick of having to have every single thing you do,

1:15.0

you have to go back to that app

1:16.4

and then maybe you have to update that app

1:18.6

before you can even use it because you haven't used it for a while.

1:20.6

Okay, so I get the idea that new apps coming in pushing back. But when you say Uber, for example, when I hear that, if I think of my honest reaction to that, I travel all over the world. Uber has been so useful to me. I think wherever

1:36.0

I am, no matter what the situation, okay, Uber can solve the problem in most countries. Now, that goes to the heart of the problem as far as I'm concerned.

1:46.4

I don't mean the unintended cost problem. I mean the utility, the utility of the device in our pockets is the is the problem that I

1:58.2

don't know fully how to solve it's like the utility of the car. The car kills unbelievable number of people every year.

2:06.0

It's just unreal. If we invented something today that killed that many people, we would not approve it, I think.

2:12.0

But the car is so so much utility there's so much

2:16.0

symbolism around it for people the world over we put up with it in the externalities that

2:21.5

follow because of the utility. The utility of the phone

...

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