The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast | Episode 1KHO 556

Title: I Gave Up My Smartphone and Found My Soul
Guest: Andrew Laubacher, Executive Director of Humanality
Host: Jenny Eric
Release Date: August 25, 2025
Network: That Sounds Fun Network

Episode Overview

This episode features Andrew Laubacher’s remarkable journey from touring musician attached to his smartphone, to a flip-phone-only advocate and the executive director of Humanality—a movement challenging individuals and communities to reclaim their humanity from the grasp of digital overdependence. The conversation explores the profound personal, spiritual, and communal transformation that comes with stepping away from incessant screen use, the details of the Humanality “village” digital detox and wellness program, and the foundational “11 Humanality Ways” for living a richer, more human life.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Andrew’s Journey: From Smarphone Addiction to Simple Living (03:37–09:02)

• Initial Motivation: Andrew details how social comparison, time waste, self-image issues, and struggles with pornography led him to evaluate his relationship with technology. He noticed, “the more I was looking at myself, the more unhappy I was” (06:19, Andrew).
• Spiritual Angle: Andrew emphasizes, “I actually think science is pushing us forward into a realm that it’s actually very logical and reasonable to believe that there is a designer, a mind that has created this, that is love” (06:56).
• Difficult Leap: Despite recognizing the negative effects of social media, Andrew and Jenny agree that making the actual leap to step away is an enormous challenge, partly due to business and family dependencies (07:37–08:49).
• Business Impact: Giving up his smartphone and social accounts did not stall his career; in fact, “I actually got busier. I had more international events; my band was playing at in Canada, South America, Europe...” (09:13, Andrew).

2. The Promise vs. Peril of Technology (07:40–11:05)

• The concept (from Dr. Nicholas Kardaras and Andy Crouch) that every technology comes with promise and peril is central. “But also, you have to weigh in the peril, and you were honest to say the peril outweighs these promises.” (08:40, Jenny)
• Online platforms are “review-centric” and amplify negativity and comparison, as well as hate comments and faceless criticism (10:10–11:05).

3. Memory, Presence, and Social Comparison (11:05–13:30)

• Andrew reflects on the phenomenon where others “knew” more about his life through social than he himself recalled, pointing to research about digital memory blurring lived experience.
• “My life just kind of felt like a blur because I was not actually living in the moment. I was capturing it for someone else to… consume” (12:35, Andrew).

4. Faith as a Framework for Digital Detachment (13:30–15:31)

• Spiritual surrender – Andrew and Jenny both discuss taking leaps of faith as biblical acts (“Let’s see what God can do”).
• Removing screens facilitates “soul growth” and authentic connection.

5. Humanality and the Power of Community (19:25–27:39)

• After music touring and a stint in seminary, Andrew meets the Schneers (founders of Humanality), leading to his current role.
• Humanality initially offered college students scholarships to give up smartphones, with “amazing fruit that was coming out of these students’ lives...it just kind of blew up” (22:12, Andrew).
• Sacrifice enables greater creativity, connection, and inner peace.

6. “11 Humanality Ways” and the Village Detox Program (30:50–61:47)

• Humanality's program—open to families, businesses, and schools—is an “11-part digital detox wellness program” introducing fundamental lifestyle shifts for lasting change.
• The “village” component brings people together for in-person support, accountability partners (“neighbors”), and a series of “real life victories” and “community adventures.”

Sample Real Life Victory:
“Idle hours”—resisting the phone during daily downtime like doing laundry or waiting in line (“These are actually incredibly difficult” – 33:38, Andrew).

• Behavioral Change Science:
  “Two ingredients [crucial for change]: transforming your environment and accountability. Those are incredibly important in behavior change science…” (35:36).

• Sample Challenge:
  Phone-free dance nights, phone-free hikes, sauna and ice baths, and “sun Sundays.”

• Addressing hard topics:
  Open conversation around pornography, gaming, digital overwhelm—“you really need interpersonal, relational healing. And you only get that with people” (36:59, Andrew).

7. The Uniqueness and Benefits of Opting Out (39:00–42:47)

• Jenny remarks that Andrew is the only person she knows in her circles with a flip phone/light phone.
• Andrew highlights the burgeoning “dumbphone”/wise phone movement, especially among students: “It’s a real movement… we're hoping to kind of spearhead this thing” (29:18, Andrew).
• The appeal of being different and how “social media is a conformity engine,” but those opting out develop more distinctive personalities and substance (40:06, Jenny).

8. The 11 Humanality Ways (52:41–61:47)

1. Be Light:
Optimize your light environment, embrace natural sunlight, reduce blue light at night (“Light is… the greatest healer input we have on planet Earth.” – 52:41).

2. Be Present:
Recover your attention span and minimize distraction.

3. Be Outside:
Connect with nature—improves every domain of wellbeing.

4. Be Moving:
Combat chronic disease by embracing regular movement.

5. Be Simple:
Simplify communication and possessions; minimize overtexting and digital clutter.

6. Be Free:
Understand and break free from digital addiction; special focus on pornography and big tech’s “big tobacco” tactics.

7. Be Human:
Prioritize arts, music, and actual human experiences.

8. Be Mindful:
Practice mindfulness and embrace silence and boredom.

9. Be Connected:
Cultivate authentic friendship (Dunbar’s number, empathy, etc).

10. Be Giving:
Generosity—not just with money, but also time and presence—is a happiness “hack.”

11. Be Silent:
Silence as superpower (“Most young people… are too terrified to enter into silence.” – 61:49, Andrew); includes special warning on EMF.

• Most of these ways are “back to basics, ancestral wisdom—things that made people feel good in the past are still going to make you feel good today” (52:07, Jenny).

9. Book Recommendations (46:20–51:42)

• Glow Kids / Digital Madness by Nicholas Kardaras
• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
• The Tech Exit by Claire Morel (on Humanality’s board)
• Good Energy by Dr. Casey Means
• Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
• Reclaiming Conversation and Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
• How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price
• Indistractable by Nir Eyal
• Restless Devices (a “must read” for Jenny)
• The Happiness Curve / From Strength to Strength by Arthur Brooks
• The Light Doctor by Martin Moore
• Several key wellness/behavioral science and faith-focused works mentioned throughout

10. The End Game: Living for What Matters (62:26–67:23)

• Andrew: “I’m falling in love with people again, Jenny. …When I’m at airports, I’m looking at people like, they’re so amazing… the chances that we exist are just a little absurd” (62:34).
• At the end of life, “we’re gonna care about people. And I think a lot of these 11 humanity ways are gonna help you be healthy, happy, and prioritize people in your life. And it’s gonna change your life” (65:11, Andrew).
• The importance of positive, collective action—“people unite more over the things that they're for” (65:23, Jenny).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I actually got busier. I had more international events my band was playing at... It was wild. It was totally God, you know. It was this moment where I took the leap…”
  — Andrew Laubacher (09:13)

• “The more I was looking at myself, the more unhappy I was.”
  — Andrew Laubacher (06:19)

• “Let’s see what God can do if you hold off on phones... for your kids, for your teenagers, whatever.”
  — Jenny Eric (14:21)

• “I would have gained the world and I think I would have lost my soul.”
  — Andrew Laubacher (25:13)

• “When you talk about the social comparison, there’s also all of the hate comments and you’re like… people are so mean.”
  — Jenny Eric (10:40)

• “My life just kind of felt like a blur because I was not actually living in the moment. I was capturing it for someone else…”
  — Andrew Laubacher (12:35)

• “We aren’t asking people to be Luddites or Amish… we’re asking people to use technology intentionally.”
  — Andrew Laubacher (30:50)

• “One of the greatest hacks to happiness is giving.”
  — Andrew Laubacher (59:29)

• “Most young people I talk to are too terrified to enter into silence. I’d say one of the greatest fruits in my life… has been silence.”
  — Andrew Laubacher (61:49)

• “At the end of our lives, on our deathbeds… I think we’re going to regret the scrolling.”
  — Andrew Laubacher (64:18)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:37 – Andrew’s life leading up to the switch & motivations
• 06:19 – The psychological impact of constant self-image/screen time
• 09:13 – Increased career opportunities after leaving social media
• 13:30 – Faith as courage for digital detachment
• 22:12 – Formation and explosion of Humanality
• 30:50 – Introduction to the Humanality “village” program
• 33:38 – Real life victories—practical habits for digital wellness
• 39:00 – Uniqueness and benefits of living differently from the crowd
• 46:20 – Book recommendations and foundational literature
• 52:41–61:47 – The 11 Humanality Ways and practical application
• 62:34 – Falling back in love with people and living intentionally
• 65:23 – Uniting communities for the good

Episode Takeaways

• Radically reducing (or entirely replacing) smartphone use can not only preserve mental and spiritual health but increase real connections, creativity, and opportunity.
• Humanality's village model is a scalable, adaptable blueprint for communities to reclaim meaning, wellness, and human connection in a digital age.
• The 11 Humanality Ways provide a clear, practical framework for detoxing digitally and reinvesting in meaningful, life-giving pursuits.
• While opting out of digital norms may seem countercultural, it actually fosters the kind of uniqueness and fulfillment that today’s conformity engine—social media—inevitably erodes.
• Action trumps opposition: build local and family-based communities around what you want to embrace, not just what you want to avoid.

Learn More or Join a Humanality Village:
Visit humanality.org for program details, resources, and how to launch a “village” in your community.