Monica Lewinsky has always hated notifications

If there's one thing that could convince someone to be careful with their news consumption, it's becoming the maligned subject of a political scandal at age 24. So when Google began offering news alerts in 2003, Monica Lewinsky made a conscious decision not to participate. “In the early years, when there were still legal matters, I panicked if I was away from my phone and had a lot of missed calls,” Lewinsky says. “I would think: Oh, I was charged, or something happened. » So it's no surprise that Lewinsky was "never a notification expert." Now the editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair and host of the Reclaiming With Monica Lewinsky podcast, she tells WIRED how her draft folder helps with impulse control and why an iPad is essential to surviving LA traffic.

I've always been an iPhone girl, and probably always will be.

I also have an iPad Air. Everyone in Los Angeles knows that if you have to cross the 405 one way or the other, you don't want to have to go back and forth during the day. So I probably mostly use my iPad when I know I'm going to go out for the day. I have a little doohickey iPad holder so I can zoom in from the car.

I'm not someone who pays attention to these numbers. The only notifications I receive are for text messages. I don't do anything for social media. I never accept a “Can we send you alerts?” » I would say that 75% of the time I spend on my phone is because I need to. If I spend too much time doomscrolling or otherwise doing something, I usually notice it and try to pay attention, like, "Okay, am I trying to escape something?" I allow myself a lot of things. Especially these days. Early on, while it was possible to have Google notifications for news, I very consciously chose not to. This relationship with technology and my nervous system started to become very clear to me before I even understood anything about taking our nervous system into account.

I would say over the last year and a half, most of the podcasts I listen to are part of the research I do for my own [podcast] interviews. I like to listen to people before having a conversation with them. I often do this, or listen to a book written by someone, at double speed – that's where I think my ADHD comes in handy: “Oh, I can process really quickly. » I also tend to answer a lot of my calls while driving in Los Angeles or while walking in New York. I try to walk everywhere. I tend to make calls rather than having downtime to listen to music.

I think it was 40,000 at one point. I wish I was a person without an inbox. I would love to be that.

They are 7 and 10 years old. When I lived in New York and they were in Los Angeles, I read to them on FaceTime very often. I received two copies of each book so they could follow along.

I was at a bar mitzvah. One of the kids from the Amanda Knox show that I produced was there with his new girlfriend and I stole a photo. They were holding hands and I thought it was cute.

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