How To Survive The Digital Zombie Apocalypse
The Day I Saw The Zombies
While vacationing in Japan in 2019, I got my first warning of the coming Zombie Apocalypse.
I saw otherwise normal-looking people turned into mindless husks in the blink of an eye.
And the infection rate has only skyrocketed since then.
Danger lurks around every corner, and if you’re not careful, you might get trapped yourself.
So, if you want to survive the Digital Zombie Apocalypse, read on, and I’ll tell you how.
Vacationers or the living dead?
This all went down in a small tourist town in Hokkaido called Otaru, where my wife, Carrie, and I stopped for lunch.
We found a tiny sushi shop - so small it could only seat about 16 people.
We arrived just before the tiny sushi shop opened and joined a line of eager diners.
After the shop opened, every seat was filled, and the servers quickly took everybody’s orders.
But once we placed our orders, we immediately noticed something bizarre.
Ours were the only voices cutting through the silence in this tiny, packed restaurant.
As we looked around, we saw that literally everyone else in the shop had pulled out their phones and was staring mindlessly down at them.
Not a single group was talking to each other. Every person was utterly transfixed by their phones.
And to be clear, these were not busy employees taking a break from work.
This was a super-touristy area, so I was confident they were also on vacation.
But instead of enjoying their precious vacation time, they just stared mindlessly at their screens, ignoring each other.
They had been turned into Zombies by Big Tech and were missing out on their own lives.
These were no longer vacationers —they were the walking dead, lost in the glow of their screens.
The meal was indeed delicious - some of the best sashimi I have ever had - but the experience left a deep impression on me.
And back then, I didn’t realize how much this epidemic would spread over the next five years.
The Spread of the Zombie Epidemic
These days, I see multiple tables of Zombies every time I go out to eat.
Groups of people, including whole families, completely ignoring one another throughout the entire meal.
Instead of enjoying time with their friends and family, they spend it consuming the same old content that is always available at home.
The tech companies have clearly won.
The allure of their products is strong enough to make them prefer it to spending time with their friends.
But I fear there may be something worse going on here.
People are so uncomfortable without stimulation that they can’t even handle sitting through a meal.
And they are so disconnected from themselves that they don’t feel comfortable engaging with each other.
It’s safer and easier to reach for the comforting glow of the screen.
The issue has gotten so out of hand that I’ve even seen people post online, flabbergasted by people on public transit who are NOT playing on their phones.
There's a woman on my Edinburgh to London train just doing the journey raw. No book, no laptop, no music, scrolls her phone a few minutes every hour or so, but otherwise just looks out the window. Incredibly powerful and kind of terrifying
— John Duncan (@Johntheduncan) June 24, 2024
Sitting and just being seems like a foreign concept in this modern world.
The walking dead aren't a fantasy—they’re sitting next to you in the restaurant or on the train.
It’s time we wake up before it’s too late.
The Death of Presence
The problem is that phones are too easy to grab, always available, and endlessly distracting.
Because of this, we are conditioned to reach for them at the first feeling of discomfort.
This is a mistake.
Your phone's greatest trick is making you think you're missing out by putting it down.
But actually, it’s what’s causing you to miss the most important parts of your life.
If you constantly take in new inputs, your brain won’t have time to process anything.
And if you reach for your phone every time you are bored, you’ll never have the focus you need to do deep work.
Learning to let go of your phone might be one of the best Life Hacks you can do, even if it goes against the mainstream.
Practices like meditation can give us some well-needed quiet to help calm things, but they’re not enough.
You need to make regular periods of disconnection a normal part of your routine.
A truism I’ve noticed is an inverse relationship between the amount of time I spend on my phone and my general level of contentment.
Indeed, my best days are the ones when I am out there directly experiencing my own life.
Ditching your phone will remind you of the simplicity of just being.
While Big Tech has tried to rob us of this time, taking it back is easier than expected.
Here are a few simple rules to help you survive the Zombie Apocalypse.
Breaking Free from the Zombie Spell
Don’t grab your phone during every bit of downtime.
For so many of us, it’s become a forgone conclusion to whip out our phones at the first sign of boredom.
This is a trap!
Can you resist the urge and instead just let yourself experience the moment of waiting?
Every time you reach for your phone, ask yourself: is this really how you want to spend this moment?
Initially, it might be uncomfortable, but you are training yourself to be present.
Little by little, you are eliminating the spell of technology.
Regularly leave the house without your phone.
A great way to make this habit more automatic is to have times when you go out without your phone.
This could start with a simple short walk, but eventually, you can go for longer and longer periods.
When you do, notice any irritation or anxiety that comes up.
This is direct evidence of your addiction to it.
But like anything, it will feel more natural after a few tries.
You’ll realize that the phone is an accessory, not a necessity.
Practice the “Phone Foyer” Method when you’re at home.
This is a technique I learned from Cal Newport, but it’s super simple and immensely effective.
At home, always have a designated place to leave your phone.
This should be somewhere that you can’t easily reach during your typical downtime, such as your house’s foyer.
Make it a rule to keep your phone in this spot.
The phone will still be there if you actually need it, but if you need it, you’ll have to get up.
The secret is always leaving it there and resisting the temptation to move it to your seat.
This one trick alone will massively reduce your screen time at home and give your brain some much-needed space.
Forbid using the phone while eating.
This is probably the most straightforward rule to implement because it’s so simple, but it’s the idea that inspired this entire post.
Simply don’t use your phone while eating. Ever!
You’ll enjoy the taste of your food so much more.
You’ll actually be present with your family and friends.
And you’ll be practicing yet another opportunity to weaken the Zombie curse that has been put on you.
Let yourself be present in the world.
The final step is the glue that holds all of this together.
As you wean yourself away from tech’s pull, you now have a golden opportunity to practice presence.
Notice the world around you and all of its input.
Take in all of the various sights and sounds that appear.
This perspective shift will make you the exception to the masses.
Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
The world wants to keep you distracted and disconnected.
Choosing to swim against the stream is not going to be easy.
But it might be one of the most rewarding things that you can do for yourself.
You’ll be rewarded with a better sense of focus and attention.
Life will move more slowly, and you’ll make more meaningful memories.
You will realize all the many ways you have been distracting yourself from something much more wonderful.
Most importantly, you’ll have survived the Digital Zombie Apocalypse—reclaiming your life from the undead grip of Big Tech.
