My Digital Detox day yesterday - a day of no connectivity. \ stacker news ~alter

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My Digital Detox day yesterday - a day of no connectivity.

973 sats \ 11 comments \ @Signal312 16h alter_native

Yesterday I did a digital detox. I haven't done one in a while, and it felt rejuvenating. As a matter of fact, I had some serious hesitation when turning on the internet again, even though I have work to do. I cherish my digital detox time, it feels like a polluting fog has been, temporarily, removed from my mind.

What did I do? I got a hike in with my spouse - a hike we've done a lot - but this time we discovered a little detour to a spot with some wonderful views. I marked the spot with some cairns, hopefully we'll find it again.

I also:

Reorganized the camping section of the garage - a lot of stuff was on the floor, and had been for a while. When I'm not distracted by connectivity, I actually see problems around the house, things I can and should fix. And I fix them!
Fixed some rubber gloves with holes in them. It turns out that it's very easy to do, with shoo goo.
Fixed some camping equipment - a set of folding chairs were really hard to assemble, I added a pull strap to make it easier.
Reviewed my EDC (every day carry) and added items that were missing
Had a solid ukulele session
Read a couple books (nonfiction, really I skimmed them for some specific information).
Had a long conversation on the phone, with a friend I haven't talked to in months.

How does my digital detox work? I actually do use my phone and my laptop, during a digital detox day. However, I limit usage, as described below.

Phone - I switch to an alternative launcher app on my Android (graphene) phone - I use Slim Launcher. The only apps I use are the phone and texting. I enjoy having long phone converstations on my digital detox day (I prefer meeting people in person, but that doesn't always work out). I've thought about NOT using my phone at all during a digital detox (and have tried it) but not being able to make phone calls is a hassle, and I don't see that as a useful part of a digital detox.

Laptop - I run this command in powershell: Disable-NetAdapter -Name "Wi-Fi" -confirm:$false Later on, when I want to turn the network card on again, I run this: Enable-NetAdapter -Name "Wi-Fi" -confirm:$false

So basically I have all the functionality of my laptop EXCEPT it has no connectivity. No email, no websurfing, no constant checking of news, etc.

THIS is the real benefit - I'm cut off from even the temptation to "check" something. It's amazing, when I'm writing something on my laptop during a digital detox, how often I think to myself, "I'll just check XYZ website", or "Let me see what the bitcoin price is" or "I wonder what the weather will be tomorrow".

If I had been connected at that point, I would have immediately opened up another tab, and distracted myself. I would have lost focus on what I'm doing, and focus is IMPORTANT.

So, what I can still do on my laptop is a lot. I can edit docs, and write docs. I have all my ukulele music on my laptop. I keep a ukulele tab open in the browser (www.ukebuddy.com) that actually works, even though there's no connection.

Doing digital detox days was one of the reasons that I switched away from tools like Google Docs, that require you to be online in order to write and manage your docs. The switch was a lot of work, but now that I'm off Google docs (and won't go back), I can do whatever writing I want, while offline.

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44 sats \ 1 reply \ @Myshkin 11h

Digital detox shall be part of every internet user's life. I like your compromises. As a side note with regards to writing and accessing documents offline, it's mental to see how many people use cloud-based services to do a simple thing that is writing. You shouldn't need an internet connection to write, cmon. To me the best writing setup - if you're willing to do typing and not handwriting - is to use plain text formats like markdown. No need for "no distraction mode" or any other thing...simply a blank page and the cursor. Then you can decide to upload files wherever you want or you can even do the chad thing of syncing them with a Versioning system like Git and self host or use a privacy oriented Git remote service. To me that's the best writing setup and it's innately offline.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 OP 11h

Agree. That tiny bit of convenience of having decent tools online is NOT worth the actual need to be online - along with all the distraction that implies.

I use Notepad++, along with a user defined language for "folding" - in other words, being able to just see the section headers. It takes care of 99% of what I need.

34 sats \ 0 replies \ @JesseJames 8h

Great job. This should be a standard "day off procedure." Shut down the laptop, don't pick up the phone, and do house chores (that garage or shed won't clean itself :-) ... I plan to be serious about it too. I remember when we had no cell phones and used to go on hikes all the time. "Oh my God! But what if something happens?" Oh, well, then you crawl yourself out of that ditch or friggin die...lol We have survived so far, so don't let these devices dictate your life. Personally, I need to re-learn how to say "NO" more often or say I'm unavailable on Friday (or whenever) end of the story. Good job, mate!

34 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei 8h

I think you were the one who told me that you have come to find podcasts a distraction, preferring to immerse yourself in your own thoughts. Seems that you have levelled up.

It also goes to show how the grip our technological devices have on us is so strong these days that you have to really plan to set yourself up for success.

Well done!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 OP 8h

Thanks!

I forgot to mention in the original that I also put my podcast device away on a high shelf, when doing a digital detox day.

(I don't listen to podcasts on my phone, I listen on an old repurposed tablet, just to have a separate device that doesn't go places with me, like my phone does).

34 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 8h

I do a version of this every October. It's really more of a news fast, but I don't watch or read any current events commentary.

34 sats \ 2 replies \ @User21000000 11h

How often do you do these? And for fun how much digital time per day do you average?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 OP 8h

Goal - once a week Reality - once every two months.

And honestly - when I'm not restricting time, I'm on the laptop a lot. Researching, writing, working, surfing news sites...

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @User21000000 8h

Nice work

68 sats \ 1 reply \ @HardRich 13h

Thanks for the post! I love reading (or watching on YouTube) people go without tech for a period of time. Motivates me to follow suit.

It’s so easy to get into a digital rut and all of a sudden realize you can’t read a book due to lack of attention span. A good detox seems to solve that.

I don’t know about you but when I leave devices out of my room I start reading books and feel cozy in a way I never do with a phone.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 OP 13h

Yes, it feels like my brain changes a LOT when I don't have the option to instantly entertain myself with a news nugget, or a video.

I'm seriously pondering ideas of how to seriously just DO this every week, once a week. I know it's valuable, I just need to do it.

Like a "digital detox Sunday". I actually have a recurring reminder in my calendar, to do a digital detox every Sunday. But it seems like things often get in the way.

A wonder if some kind of group accountability thing, here in Stacker News, would be a good option. Agree to do a certain regularly scheduled digital detox, and then if you don't do it, pay up (or something like that).

Maybe similar to that fitness app that people have been talking about, where you pay a penalty in lightning, if you don't do the workout...what was that one called?