We’re hopelessly addicted to our screens I was sitting alone without my phone and I couldn’t shake off my hankering for hitting the app with a little red button We’re the product
Yeah 😅 In February, I reset my phone, set it up with a new Apple ID, and only used default apps with the exception of a few “necessary” apps such as ride sharing. That week-long experiment felt great. Will repeat
Had similar thoughts lately. Almost all apps are made to capture our attentions as much as possible. We are often drawn into this “infinite loop” that we fear we could have missed sth important if we don’t check them often. Instead, all they do is just tear our focus apart from what really matters.
I always (except 2x/day) have my phone in mindfulness mode where only my immediate family, best friend, & grandparents can contact me. To take this mode off I have to consciously click that I don’t want to be mindful anymore and then all of the red dots reappear.
I've recently installed the Kindle app on my phone and when I've got some spare mins (eg waiting in line) I read a few pages of an edifying book. Substitution is easier than abstinence.
Eventually, I deleted all the addictive apps (Reddit and Instagram, in my case) from my phone or hid them in the depth of UI. And that made my everyday life a lot better.
Takes some time to get off the grid but typically after 2-3 days of detox you might forget that you have a phone :)
I fantasize about springtime walks without my phone only to snap back to the @blobs induced prisoner’s dilemma that my steps would be meaningless and lead inexorably to dooky drops
Skill of the future will be concentration. Digital pollution broke our inner focus completely.