How Monica Lewinsky Manages Her Digital Life — and Why She Hates Notifications
Monica Lewinsky keeps her screen time intentional, her notifications minimal, and her inbox gloriously chaotic. Here's a look at her digital routine.
Monica Lewinsky's Digital Life Is More Intentional Than You'd Expect
From her iPhone to her overflowing email inbox, Monica Lewinsky has developed a surprisingly mindful relationship with technology — one built on boundaries, self-awareness, and a firm refusal to let apps dictate her attention.
Her Devices of Choice
Lewinsky is a committed iPhone user, currently carrying the iPhone 15 Pro, and says she doesn't see that loyalty changing anytime soon. On the computer side, she works from a 13-inch MacBook Air and also keeps an iPad Air in rotation. Living in Los Angeles, she's found a clever workaround for the city's notorious traffic: rather than making unnecessary crossings of the 405 freeway, she loads up her iPad and handles Zoom calls from her car using a small tablet stand — keeping her schedule intact without the commute chaos.
Intentional Screen Time
Her average screen time clocks in at 4 hours and 28 minutes per day, though she admits she doesn't pay close attention to that figure. What she does pay attention to is why she's on her phone. By her own estimate, roughly 75 percent of her phone usage is purposeful rather than passive. When she catches herself doomscrolling — or what she calls "otherwise-scrolling" — she takes it as a cue to check in with herself. "Am I trying to escape something?" she'll ask. She gives herself grace when the answer is yes, particularly given the current state of the world.
A Long-Standing Aversion to Notifications
Lewinsky's distaste for digital interruptions goes back further than most people's mindfulness journeys. She made a conscious decision early on to opt out of Google news alerts, and today she limits her notifications exclusively to text messages. Social media alerts are entirely switched off, and she never agrees when apps ask permission to send push notifications. She credits this early instinct to a growing awareness of how technology was affecting her nervous system — long before "nervous system regulation" became a wellness buzzword.
Music, Podcasts, and the ADHD Advantage
Lewinsky uses Apple Music as her go-to music platform, though she admits that over the past year and a half, podcasts have taken over much of her listening time. As preparation for her own podcast interviews, she makes a habit of listening to her guests' previous conversations or audiobooks before sitting down with them — often at double speed. She attributes her ability to process audio quickly to her ADHD, calling it one of the condition's underrated advantages. Music itself tends to take a back seat, as she prefers to use her walking and driving time in New York and Los Angeles for phone calls.
The Inbox Situation
Her unread email count currently sits at a staggering 3,916 messages — a number she's actually proud of, given that it once ballooned to around 40,000. She laughs off the milestone, confessing she wishes she were the kind of person who maintained inbox zero but has accepted that she simply isn't. Her unread texts tell a similar story, with 1,025 messages waiting for a response.
Family, FaceTime, and the Little Things
The last person Lewinsky FaceTimed was one of her nieces or nephews, aged 7 and 10. When she lived in New York while they were based in Los Angeles, she made it a ritual to read to them over FaceTime, purchasing two copies of every book so the kids could follow along in real time — a genuinely sweet use of technology in an otherwise notification-free existence.
Recent Phone Activity
Her last Google search? "Tide times Malibu." Her most recent photo was a candid snapshot taken at a bar mitzvah — she spotted a cast member from The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, a show she executive produced, attending with her new girlfriend. The two were holding hands, and Lewinsky thought the moment was worth capturing. Her last screenshot was an Instagram meme making the rounds that reads: "Your bank balance in 2026 is $75 million. Send this to yourself."
A version of this feature appears in the June/July print issue.
