This morning I had one clear thought. It felt important. I grabbed my phone to look it up, and within seconds it was gone. Completely erased. Not because my memory failed, but because my thumb opened LinkedIn out of habit. By the time I noticed, I was already scrolling, checking updates, chasing nothing in particular.
That is what I call appstraction.
Not abstraction. Not distraction.
App-straction.
The moment an app pulls you away from
the very reason you picked up your phone.
It happens almost every day. You reach for your device with a purpose, but your muscle memory takes over. The wrong app opens. Your brain switches to autopilot. Your original intention dissolves before you even realize it.
It is such a small thing, but it reveals something big. Our phones are designed to guide our attention the moment the screen lights up. And somewhere along the way, our own thoughts started losing that competition.
I still have no idea what I wanted to look up this morning. But the moment made me pause. If I am not choosing where my attention goes, then something else is choosing for me.
Maybe the first step toward any kind of sovereignty is simply noticing that.
What's on your mind?