Amy Green opens this episode with a warning that what she's about to suggest will make some people want to close the app in protest — and then makes the case anyway. She tells the story of 2016, when her GP suggested she leave her laptop at work, the meeting where that boundary was read as a lack of professionalism, and the fact that in all the years since, no one ever called. Her proposal is simple and, to some, unthinkable: that workplaces stop endorsing email on personal phones altogether, set clear times to check it, and flag the urgent ones so everything else can wait. Because there was a time before email lived in our pockets, and things were fine — so maybe what we created, we can uncreate.

In this episode, you'll explore

• You'll hear the 2016 story that started it for Amy — leaving her laptop at work on her GP's suggestion, and the meeting where that boundary was read as a lack of commitment.
• You'll explore how having email on our phones has reshaped our evenings, weekends and sleep in ways we've stopped noticing, and what that costs us over time.
• You'll consider Amy's actual proposal for workplaces: no email app on personal phones, set times to check it morning and evening, a shared signal for the truly urgent, and everything else on a 48-hour rule.
• You'll sit with the reassurance Amy keeps returning to — that if something is a real emergency, someone will pick up the phone and call.
• You'll think about Australia's right to disconnect laws as the backdrop to all of this, and why Amy believes the bigger shift is cultural, not only legal.

Chapters

00:00 A Controversial Proposal

01:03 The Day I Left My Laptop at Work

04:02 Taking Email Off the Phone

A few lines from this one

• "There was a time when email didn't exist, and things were fine."
• "It's not that urgent, people. Someone will ring you."
• "What if workplaces said: at no point do we expect or allow email on your phone?"
• "No one ever called me. In all those years, no one ever called."
• "We created this, and I think we should uncreate it."

About Amy

Amy Green is a futurist, keynote speaker, author, and founder of The Wellness Strategy. Her book The Wellness Paradox (June 2026) unpacks the six paradoxes keeping us trapped in a model of success that isn't working — and charts a different way forward. Amy works with organisations, schools, and individuals who are ready to stop chasing a version of success that was never designed to make them well.

Connect with Amy

• Website: amygreen.com.au
• Instagram: @amy_._green
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/amygreen
• YouTube: @amygreenofficial
• Podcast: Rethinking Success