July 21, 2026

Truly Unplugging Is About to Get Harder

A clear alpine lake sits in a rocky basin in the Idaho backcountry, ringed by evergreens with snow-streaked granite ridges on the right and layered mountains fading into the distance under a bright, cloud-scattered sky.

I just got back from a week in the Idaho backcountry with my boys. My home state. Zero AI, zero email, no signal at all.

After two-plus years on the AI rollercoaster, where every day felt like a race, it was something I badly needed and didn’t know how much.

Here’s what stuck with me on the drive home. In a couple of years your phone will talk to satellites instead of towers. “We’ll be out of range for a while” stops being a thing. Truly unplugging gets harder. It becomes a decision you make on purpose.

I think always-on connectivity is mostly a good thing. I also think balance matters more than we let on.

So take the break. Leave the Starlink at home. Turn off the phone. Get out into the trees.

You won’t regret it.