Disconnect. Offline only

For those interested in managing online time and getting ourselves offline regularly, the book Deep Work, by Cal Newport, has some very useful ideas. One that I plan to start experimenting with is the idea of scheduled internet access - allow yourself to get online only at certain times of day. This isn't just for work. Even if you're, say, standing in line at the grocery store, you don't get to pull your phone out and check your email.

As the author points out, we've forgotten how to be bored. We need to learn to engage that part of our brain again.

https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/...

Serious, non-snarky question: In what way is a book better than a link on Hacker News or Facebook?

The problem I see (and have yet to get a good answer for) with all of these extreme productivity tactics like shutting off all internet access is that carry a value judgment that older > newer, for all values of information absorption. It reminds me of how some of the financial advice for people in debt is to eschew all forms of credit and live on cash only. Which is fine until you need to buy a house...

If the problem is being distracted from the real world, and that's truly a negative, rather than filling dead time that couldn't really be used for anything else (waiting in line, etc), being absorbed in a book is functionally no different from being absorbed in a newsreader app. With that in mind, where and why is this value judgment coming from?

I see a poster upthread mentioning we've "forgotten how to be bored".

I don't know about people here, but I saw boredom as an awful state of mind even before the proliferation of smartphones. Could someone help me understand what the bigger picture here is?

I am probably one of the few techies in the world that does not own/use a smartphone. Since 2011 I have used a cheap Verizon flip phone for exactly this reason; I want more control over my life. NOTHING is that important that I need to be plugged in 24/7. My wife has a smart phone which is great for when we travel (maps, Yelp, Fandango, Uber, etc.) Don't get me wrong, I was standing in a long line outside the Apple store the day the first iPhone came out. However, over the years I came to realize that in order to have the amount/type of work/life balance I desired, technology would have to take a back seat to my relationships and interests outside of my career.

I haven't looked back.

Do you text?

EDIT: someone downvoted me, probably interpreting my question as a snark. It was a serious question: I'm considering to do what you are doing and I'm wondering whether you ditched texting too and whether that got you social repercussions.

In my country it's a bit more complicated even because everybody WhatsApps and nobody uses SMS, so a true dumb phone won't cut it if you want dumb + text.

in your console put

> window.dispatchEvent(new Event("offline"))