FAQ
Questions, answered.
What you can expect from One Room — and honest answers to the objections people usually raise.
Benefits
What can I expect?
Most people notice the change within a few days. More presence with partners, kids, and friends. Longer stretches of uninterrupted thought. Better sleep (no scrolling in bed). More reading, more cooking, more staring out the window. A quieter, less twitchy mind. You're not gaining superpowers — you're getting back the attention that was always yours.
Objections
But what about…?
Most of the objections people raise are versions of the same thing: a worry that something bad will happen if the phone isn't within reach. Almost always, it doesn't. And there are ways around that if you're still worried.
What if I miss an important call or message?+
You probably won't — and if you do, the world typically keeps turning. Most of us check our phones hundreds of times a day to avoid missing something that almost never comes. If you're genuinely on call for a family emergency, take the phone with you for that window. Alternately, connect your phone to a smartwatch so that if something truly urgent happens, you don't miss it.
I use my phone as an alarm clock.+
Buy a £10 alarm clock. It's the single best investment you'll make this year.
I listen to music / podcasts on my phone around the house.+
A cheap Bluetooth speaker, a radio, or a small smart speaker covers this. Or — and this is the point — try the quiet for a week and see what it does to your thinking.
I need it for two-factor authentication.+
Walk to the room. The minor friction is a feature, not a bug.
What about kids / school / nursery emergencies?+
Make sure the school has your partner's number too, and keep the phone's ringer loud enough to hear from the next room. This is a totally reasonable case where the phone might need to live somewhere you can hear it — that's still One Room.
I work from home and need my phone nearby.+
Then your One Room is your office. The pledge isn't about banishing the phone — it's about giving it a fixed home so it stops following you around.
Won't I just be on my laptop instead?+
Maybe. But laptops are deliberate — you sit down, open them, and close them. Phones are ambient. They fill every gap. One Room forces you to think about when you really need to be connected.
My partner / housemate won't do it with me.+
That's fine. You can do this alone. They might notice the change and join in. They might not. Either way, you get your attention back.
Isn't this a bit extreme?+
It's the opposite of extreme. You're not deleting apps, going greyscale, setting screen-time limits, or buying a dumbphone. You're putting an object in a room. That's it.
I live in a one-room studio or share with other people.+
One Room is about limiting where your phone can go, so why not try setting a rule that yours has to be plugged in near the door whenever you're at home?
What about when I'm away from home?+
It's entirely up to you. One Room is about what you do — and don't do — with your phone when you're at home. We're not asking you to stop using Google Maps to get places (though we highly recommend trying it some time — you'd be amazed at the good that can come from getting "lost"), nor to give up your podcasts on your evening walk. And you'll likely want to use it to pay for things or when you travel. That's fine, of course. But, if you're anything like us, you'll find that once you're untethered from your phone at home, you start reaching for it a lot less even when you're out and about.
What if I genuinely can't do this?+
Then don't. If you have a real reason — caring responsibilities, a job that requires you to be reachable instantly, a medical alert — One Room isn't for you, and that's completely fine. The pledge is for people who could put their phone down and just… haven't.
If you've read all that and you still think it's not for you — that's a perfectly good answer. One Room only works if it's easy.