131–140 of 141 posts
Shouldn't we rather call it the Distraction Economy?
Weapons of mass distraction: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=weapons+of+mas... (The pre-1980 instances appear to be OCR error artefacts.) The etymology of 'advertise" is "advert" -- to distract the gaze, attention, or focus. https://www.etymonline.com/word/advertise https://www.etymonline.com/word/advert
Relevant reddit community: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosurf/
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> The hardest part of doing nothing is learning to live with all the people who can't. Very true. Network effect doesn't only have effects online. I've missed out on quite a bit of real life socialization (friends, community, and business) because I never signed up for Facebook and refuse to carry a cell phone. At least in the last few years people are coming around on Facebook but I still get weird responses to not…
I think the more annoying part is being out in public, there is a vast decline in basic human interaction in places that are meant specifically for that purpose even. It is much harder to meet new people at a bar for example than it was even 5 years ago. The difference is dramatic. How are you supposed to meet strangers and have interesting conversation when they won't look up long enough to see that you are attempti…
Doing nothing is how I often stayed productive. I used to be able to stay and think about something for hours. If I encountered something difficult I would go for a walk or take a nap. Now that I've been forced, at work, to use Slack day in and out -- I feel like I can't spend 5 minutes without flipping to another window, checking this, checking that. It's counter productive and feels like torture. I get a hangover f…
> The hardest part of doing nothing is learning to live with all the people who can't. Very true. Network effect doesn't only have effects online. I've missed out on quite a bit of real life socialization (friends, community, and business) because I never signed up for Facebook and refuse to carry a cell phone. At least in the last few years people are coming around on Facebook but I still get weird responses to not…
You would like the book ‘Digital Minimalism’.
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> The hardest part of doing nothing is learning to live with all the people who can't. Very true. Network effect doesn't only have effects online. I've missed out on quite a bit of real life socialization (friends, community, and business) because I never signed up for Facebook and refuse to carry a cell phone. At least in the last few years people are coming around on Facebook but I still get weird responses to not…
That is why I use an Apple Watch. I can leave my cellphone at home, set the Apple Watch to ‘no alerts’, and just do a quick check for messages/emails once in a long while - when I want to. I can still make phone calls if I really need to. You would like the book ‘Digital Minimalism’.
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The key thing is electricity. Spend 48 hours on your own without it (and without any preparation). The first 24 will have you eeking out the last bit of battery from gadgets. You can also turn in early for the night, listening to a battery powered radio. Then in the second 24 hours, with no electricity, see what happens. You might use the daylight hours to tidy up or fix a few broken things. You might read those book…
You now have me wondering whether I should try shutting off all of my circuit breakers (except the fridge) for the whole of this weekend. Now that I've said it, I kinda want to do it.
I would say that going cold turkey on the electricity for 48 hours so you get a complete 24 hour cycle is well worth it. Apart from anything else electricity is taken for granted and it should not be.
With our computer backups we only know if the backups work if we can restore from them. We don't just assume it will be okay because we have everything on tape.
Recently the Russians closed off the internet access to the wider web to see if they could cope with the USA cutting the cord.
I would say that testing life without the electricity is one of those things, worth doing not just for 'personal growth' reasons but out of preparedness. It isn't prepper alarmism, there could be a flood, fire or other freak weather incident that puts you off grid.
In a sibling comment there is mention of candles. Most people don't have a lot of these, or, if in a built up area, an actual fireplace. I would advise against doing any preparation as in buying alternative supplies and in that way night is night.
There is an actual climate emergency going on right now and buying a Tesla isn't going to help. Going cold turkey on electricity for the thought experiment value does help. Afterwards you realise that you need little more than what you would normally waste on 'phantom power' losses. Time also becomes valued differently, as per the original article we have an 'attention economy' and electricity facilitates that. When you realise you have to read an actual book in actual silence for 'amusement' and then quite enjoy it, your value system changes.
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People I know who've quit dip did it by making themselves sick, packing a huge lip and swallowing instead of spitting. Usually ends in puke. Now just a whiff of the stuff makes them gag.
That sounds very effective; I'm trying to think how you might be able to apply that technique to social media. I want to gag every time I spend too long on Facebook.
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I smoked cigars and cigarillos for some time and it’s essentially the same. Maybe worse - you can easily fill an hour with a cigar. No idea about chewing or snuff I suppose.
People I know who've quit dip did it by making themselves sick, packing a huge lip and swallowing instead of spitting. Usually ends in puke. Now just a whiff of the stuff makes them gag.
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That is why I use an Apple Watch. I can leave my cellphone at home, set the Apple Watch to ‘no alerts’, and just do a quick check for messages/emails once in a long while - when I want to. I can still make phone calls if I really need to. You would like the book ‘Digital Minimalism’.
So your watch also has a 4G connection? Do you have to pay for that separately through your cell provider?
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Your step two is mindfulness meditation
Perhaps, but step 4 is definitely not; if you're freely daydreaming you're not developing awareness of the mind's activity.