By Amy Heinz

One night last week I caught myself cooking up taco meat, declining the fifth pitch of the week I’d received from a company who desperately thinks I need to diet and share my experience with the world, and getting a ballet demonstration from my 3-year-old daughter…all at the same time. That’s right folks, I’m a modern multi-tasking mom.

But here’s the thing. When you’re doing three things at once, is there really any chance that you’re doing them all well?  I asked myself this very question and stopped to re-evaluate the situation. The taco meat? It was fine, but it turns out it didn’t really care. The diet company? Well, I felt better having (somewhat) respectfully replied and unsubscribed, but based on the pitch email I received from them first thing the next morning, they didn’t much care either. The ballet dancer? Well, she was pretty darn annoyed. “Maaa-maaa…watch me! Right. Now!” I was failing the one part that really mattered.

As a part-time working mom, I often find myself trying to squeeze in an email or check feedback on a Facebook post I published hours earlier when my kids are home from school and needing me. And while my mind is in a number of different places at any given moment, my smartphone is almost always in the same place: my hand—or at least within reach.

So when I heard about the OSOMBOX (pronounced “Awesome Box”)—a modern, leatherette box where you put your phone to keep it Out of Sight, Out of Mind—I knew I needed to try it out. It fits right on our kitchen desk, where I usually put my phone when I’m home to charge anyway, and includes padding to help protect and soundproof the box, as well as a convenient hole for the charging cord to reach your phone inside (or up to 6 of them if you’re a truly tech-savvy family).

The first day alone, it led to an interesting conversation between my 8-year-old son and me…

Son: “Mom, what’s this Live OSOM box?”

Me: “OSOM stands for Out of Sight, Out of Mind. And it’s a place for me to put my phone when I’m home so I can focus on the things that really matter to me.”
Son: “Nice!”
Me: “You think I need it, huh?”

Son: “Yeah. Usually you’re like texting or whatever and say, ‘Just a second!’, but it’s never just a second.”

As a corporate mentor of mine once told me, perception is reality. So if my son thinks that I’m texting or playing games (and not, you know, doing very important work like declining overzealous product pitches), I might as well be. And what kind of mom does that make me? Well, at the very least, a distracted one. Right then and there, I dedicated myself to truly embracing the OSOMBOX.

It turns out, the theory of out of sight out of mind really does work for me. And when I’m tempted to peek in on something, the physical barrier of the box reminds me to take a deep breath and refocus on family (or The Good Wife, as the case may be). As far as I can tell, the main design flaw is that the box doesn’t greet me at the front door, take away my phone, and send me on my way.

While I still have work to do, I’m determined to turn using my OSOMBOX into a habit. Not just because it’s what’s right for my family, but because checking in with technology less truly seems to calm this mama’s busy mind.

Amy Heinz is a San Francisco Bay Area mom of three and the writer behind Using Our Words—a parenting blog filled with lessons she’s learned (usually the hard way), laughs she’s enjoyed (mostly at her own expense), and tears she’s shed (this mama’s got heart). You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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