Follow up on Digital Detox Sunday \ stacker news ~alter

pull down to refresh

744 sats \ 3 comments \ @Signal312 19 May alter_native

I invited people to join me for my (semi) regular Digital Detox here: Join me for a Sunday Digital Detox! 3 easy steps

So, for me - nothing really exciting but a good day. In order to make it simple to not be online, I followed these steps laid out here: 3 simple steps to a weekly digital detox.

I had a nice constellation of social events happening - a neighbor visiting for a long talk, also got fresh eggs from another neighbor. And had a long phone conversation with a distant friend. The yard got a lot of attention, and I helped family with some organizing tasks.

I still did some work on the laptop. The switch AWAY from having all my personal docs online has been great. Now, even though I'm not online, I can plan and organize, I just do it all in text files, and it works just fine. Google or other online tools are no longer a requirement for me to be organized or do (some) work.

My brain is less "twitchy". When I say "twitchy" I mean that since I know I can't instantly open a website to entertain myself, my thoughts don't even go there. That's a really valuable thing. I'm able to stay more focused.

I don't have a problem with wanting to switch my phone launcher (Slim Launcher) to the regular launcher in order to use other apps, I'm happy to leave it if I've decided to do a digital detox day.

However, if someone sends me a link in a text, that WILL still pop up and tempt me to click it, don't know how to stop that.

view all related items

79 sats \ 2 replies \ @elvismercury 19 May

The idea of detoxing has been growing in my mind, though the form I'm considering is no screens at all. Also intrigued by going into the woods and not having any symbolic inputs - not even my journals, not even books.

These would be good ideas. But also it's the same shit I always do, waiting on perfection.

112 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 OP 19 May

Yeah, when I first started digital detoxes I completely put away both my phone and laptop for the day.

Then I felt resentful that tools like using my phone to call people was not an option. And these are, of course, tools I used regularly BEFORE the internet made the digital environment "dirty" (in other words, touching anything digital meant you were exposed to crazy stimulation).

So right now I draw the line at:

using the phone to make calls
texting (it's not an addictive thing for me, and nowadays it's hard to communicate day-to-day without texting)
using my laptop locally, not online - mostly just writing, reading. I don't have any video games on it.

I can understand the desire to be completely without stimulation. Now, when sunbathing, I've started to NOT bring a book, or listen to a podcast. I tried it just as an experiment, but now I'm hooked - it's cool to just be able to let your mind drift. I start focusing on clouds, birds, whatever noises I hear in the neighborhood. And I also think about my projects, and often get good ideas on them.

45 sats \ 0 replies \ @elvismercury 19 May

I think a lot about how when I used to have a really shitty car and the radio stopped working, and so I just drove around in silence whenever I went anywhere, and on my commute; and how that default, of having my mind untethered, with a task that absorbed just a bit of ambient attention, was important to my general mental ecology.

People feel like not doing all the modern shit is doing nothing. But the absence of all this is definitely something, like a nutrient you need but whose absence takes a while to show up, and then it shows up in a weird way that you can't attribute to the thing you're missing.