To add to kb: there’s a difference between digital detoxing and digital minimalism. One is about considering what really matters to you, and choosing carefully which kind of tech to use, discarding the rest. The other is about going back to a Nokia because you lived like that before and you think you’ll manage. One requires figuring out what you really want from tech, the other is an attempt to fix tech with more tech. It takes more time and experimentation, but it’s worth it. I have, for example, uninstalled all social media for a few weeks, only adding back what I really missed. (Really, not a lot. Even though Insta is fun.) I never hear my phone ring or buzz unless I’m directly expecting a call. I have removed 90% of all notification, and my phone screen doesn’t light up unless someone calls me. After 10pm, my screen turns greyscale and I need to unlock any app that isn’t communication-related. All of it is to remind my brain that this grey box is designed to distract me from things that I really value (reading books, spending time with others) with short, meaningless bursts of dopamine. I once read that focus is not something you have, it’s something you escape to. During my Budapest trip recently, my colleague noticed that I didn’t check my phone for hours on end, even though I had it right there in my pocket. That was entirely intentional - I wanted to focus just on this trip and on getting to know my colleague better. That trip made me very aware of the benefit of silence. Not in the literal sense - the city was not exactly quiet - but in the sense of not distracting myself from the present with thoughts from other people. "A constant flow of thoughts expressed by other people can stop and deaden your own thought and your own initiative...That is why constant learning softens your brain. Stopping the creation of your own thoughts to give room for the thoughts from other books reminds me of Shakespeare's remark about his contemporaries who sold their land in order to see other countries." - Arthur Schopenhauer
What, with restrictions? The greyscale and screen time management things were part my phone’s Android P upgrade. I can now decide on a per-app basis how much time I allot myself per day, and it also shows me how often I unlock my device. (Which was genuinely an order of magnitude higher than I expected it to be.)
You know, it was only over the last year or so that I’ve come to realize smartphone addiction is a very real thing. I used to laugh at people who even used the term, but this whole digital wellbeing thing Apple and Google have introduced was enough to cement my thoughts about the topic. Now that I’ve restricted my phone so much I feel hyper aware just how often some people around me use their phones. They’re rarely people who are good at focusing and listening.
Day before yesterday, I was awoken by my roommate arising at 5:45 to use the bathroom. I also needed to use the bathroom, but I was sleepy. I dozed until 6:15. The fan was still on. He was still in the bathroom. I dozed until 6:30. The fan was still on. He was still in the bathroom. I got up, got dressed, got my bag ready, checked messages. It was 6:38 and I needed to get to fucking work. I knocked on the door, surprising him. The toilet flushed eventually and he mumbled out apologetically. Mutherfucker sat down to take a shit at 5:45 and browsed Twitter until damn near an hour later. Went to a concert with Other Roommate on Sunday. He was so busy texting someone as he crossed the street that he stone-cold kicked the curb and did an ass-over-teakettle. Dude couldn't keep his face out of his phone while crossing the street in downtown LA. Got another buddy. Brand new Tesla 3. Screen on that thing is an easy 17" of information overload; I had to talk him out of putting up a frickin' stalk so his iPhone could be in Carplay right next to it. 'cuz you know. When you're stuck in traffic for an hour you need two displays to keep you from driving. Shit's real, dawg. What's funny is that I haven't seen anyone in either of my two colleges who has much of a problem... other than millennials. GenZ is fine. GenX is fine. 'boomers are fine. But the millennials apparently got primed for that shit.