HeyJaredEmmy Laybourne Fights Her Phone
I’m a novelist who fell so deep into her phone she had to stop everything to climb out. If your phone use feels out of control, you’re not alone. Join me here and let's help each other find our way back to real life.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 11, 2026
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- Jul 8, 2026
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Why social media is bad for creativity (opens the original)
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Here’s the thing about social media and creativity, and picture me writing fast and furious over here, ‘cause I’m super fired up about it all.Social media sucks the life out of your OTHER creative projects.Social media is designed to be addictive to use and difficult to break away from, yes, we all know this, but it also wants you to think about it all the time. It wants you to create for it. You watch content creators making CHARMING, DELICIOUS videos with tips for traveling, or how to repot yo
The nest is empty, but the bingo card? (opens the original)
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My husband and I are at it again, headed off to Europe for a couple months.For those of you who don’t know, we’ve recently become empty-nesters, and to ease the pain, we decided to Airbnb our (too big, too empty) house in Los Angeles and travel around, staying in other people’s Airbnbs. (Hey, look at the brand name Airbnb, working as both a verb and a noun in the above sentence. Ain’t language fun?)Airbnbing* all over the place brings some odd challenges, but mostly it’s fun. I share snapshots f
Your Phone is not your Friend (opens the original)
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Occasionally when I tell someone about the work I’m doing teaching people how to break away from addictive apps, they will clutch their phone to their chest, trying to be funny, and say something like, “But I love my phone!” or “My phone is my best friend!” Now, I understand they’re just trying to be playful, but it’s happened so many times it does make me think…Let’s say you had a super nice, incredibly helpful friend, let’s call them Joan (rhymes with Phone, is female in English, but male in C
Is It The App, or Is It The 11pm You? (opens the original)
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My pals!Last week I told you that I’d like to play around here on Substack with different types of material. You all had the opportunity to vote and 50% of you asked for exercises from my new book.I’m here to deliver! I hope you enjoy!A bit of setup — in the book, I lead readers through a process I call The 30-Day Phone Fight. They reflect on their app use, pick 1-3 apps to abstain from for a 30 day period, put lots of support systems in place, and then get started. This excerpt is taken from ar
This Week, You're the Editor (opens the original)
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Pals, I’ve been enjoying posting every week, but I’d like to have even more fun with this Substack. And I’d like you to tell me what would be fun/helpful/interesting for you.Here are three ideas:Substack Live with my Gen Z studentsI loved teaching at DePaul this spring. It was one of the most challenging and creativity-nourishing things I’ve done in a long time. And my students — so smart, so interesting. I’d like to bring a few of them on here, one at a time, to do a Substack live with me. I’d
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