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On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

calnewport.com

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Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

#31

Post by pard68 »

I am a good dancer, well only Lindy and East coast swing. Not much weight for me to lose. I have a black belt in Kenpo. But I am also a systems administrator, enjoy my Switch, and generally spend at least a few hours looking at a screen each day, more than 12 hours on a work day. So I fail to see the correlation...

Seems like less about tech minimalism being the key and more, learning how to have self control. I am not knocking that, I believe that if you do not have the self control to manage a habit than you should remove that habit if it is a detriment. Nonetheless, the article, IMHO, is off the mark.

Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

#32

Post by upofadown »

If you want to distract yourself while not doing anything you will find a way to do it. Before smart phones there were computers and video games. Before that there was television. Before that there was printed fiction of many sorts, most of it of no personal or social value at all.

It is good to strive to do worthwhile things. The worthless things you do to fill your time are not preventing you from doing anything else. You do what you do...

Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

#33

Post by coldtea »

scotty79 wrote: post #29
coldtea wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel bad for people older than me that never got adjusted to the smartphones when they have to wait staring blankly into space or trying to start up a monologue to random stangers because they can't stand how dull the inside of their head is. Looks like you have it backwards. You should feel sorry for them for how "dull the inside of their head is" -- not for not being used to having smartphones to compensate.

I don't feel sorry for people for being worse. Not everybody is the same, noone is perfect. But I feel sorry to see them suffer while they might have not if they were able to use smartphone for entertainment.

>But I feel sorry to see them suffer while they might have not if they were able to use smartphone for entertainment.

Well, they also might have not if they have gotten a hobby, learned to read books, and so on.

Why feel sorry that they're not accustomed with one of the worse options? And one that everybody and their dog seems to want to cut down these days?

Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

#34

Post by andai »

Veen wrote: post #12
JosephJoestar wrote: post #11

Interesting topic but is this not just an advert for this guys book?

Is there information in the article that you find useful or interesting? Or that someone else might? If so, then what does it matter that he wrote a book on the same topic and mentions it? Would it have been better if he'd written exactly the same article but not mentioned the book?

If the article was valuable, it follows the book is even more valuable.

Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

#35

Post by ryanmercer »

wortelefant wrote: post #22

The article is quite optimistic about peoples' abilities to transform their newfound boredom into something creative, but as in the example with books, this digital minimalist "healthy" boredom also has its prerequisites to make it work. By likening social media use to addiction, only the negative effects are highlighted. For example, the waiting line in the supermarket used to be full of aggression, it has become mu…

>the waiting line in the supermarket used to be full of aggression, it has become much calmer with phones,

What?

Grocery lines used to be people reading magazines/tabloids/tv guides or sending their kid to go get something they forgot, now it's people yacking loudly on their phone or playing candy crush waiting for the person in front of them to finish self checkout.

Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

#36

Post by [deleted] »

dan00 wrote: post #10
scotty79 wrote: post #2

Funny how younger people don't even know how the true boredom looks like. They think they get bored on their phones. Only after they go on screen detox they realise how much more fucking boring the life is. Especially if you don't have an obsessive hobby and do not want to bother other people just because you personally are bored. I feel bad for people older than me that never got adjusted to the smartphones when the…

I think you got it completely the wrong way. You can get a lot more bored if you're used to be entertained the whole time. I can only tell from my own personal experience, that reducing entertainment also influences my consciousness, that I'm feeling less easily bored and I'm better able to just enjoy and see the beauty of my surroundings.

[deleted]

Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

#37

Post by scotty79 »

dan00 wrote: post #10
scotty79 wrote: post #2

Funny how younger people don't even know how the true boredom looks like. They think they get bored on their phones. Only after they go on screen detox they realise how much more fucking boring the life is. Especially if you don't have an obsessive hobby and do not want to bother other people just because you personally are bored. I feel bad for people older than me that never got adjusted to the smartphones when the…

I think you got it completely the wrong way. You can get a lot more bored if you're used to be entertained the whole time. I can only tell from my own personal experience, that reducing entertainment also influences my consciousness, that I'm feeling less easily bored and I'm better able to just enjoy and see the beauty of my surroundings.

You are right that you can build up resistance to boredom by reducing entertainment.

I gained a ton after sitting through family dinners at my SO parents and grand parents. Initially I was bored out of my mind. Gradually I adapted and suffered less and less.

But I don't see it as something positive. I feel like it broke my mind in some way. It replaced frantically struggling against boredom with nearly catathonic apathy.

It feels more like a learned helplessness than improvement.

If you are in the rain for few minutes you are running and hiding. If you are in the rain for few hours you can no longer give a fuck as your feet melt in swampy shoes.

Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

#38

Post by folkrav »

ryanmercer wrote: post #35
wortelefant wrote: post #22

The article is quite optimistic about peoples' abilities to transform their newfound boredom into something creative, but as in the example with books, this digital minimalist "healthy" boredom also has its prerequisites to make it work. By likening social media use to addiction, only the negative effects are highlighted. For example, the waiting line in the supermarket used to be full of aggression, it has become mu…

>the waiting line in the supermarket used to be full of aggression, it has become much calmer with phones, What? Grocery lines used to be people reading magazines/tabloids/tv guides or sending their kid to go get something they forgot, now it's people yacking loudly on their phone or playing candy crush waiting for the person in front of them to finish self checkout.

I can't remember the last time I heard someone "yacking loudly" at their phone in line at the supermarket. The Candy Crush part is accurate, but not very different from reading magazines.

Not sure what was the point both you and OP were trying to make.

Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

#39

Post by seedie »

scotty79 wrote: post #2

Funny how younger people don't even know how the true boredom looks like. They think they get bored on their phones. Only after they go on screen detox they realise how much more fucking boring the life is. Especially if you don't have an obsessive hobby and do not want to bother other people just because you personally are bored. I feel bad for people older than me that never got adjusted to the smartphones when the…

True boredom seems to be something that we learn over the years. Watching my 3y old daughter she never seems to get bored. If shes not entertained and realizes she won't get entertained anytime soon she starts singing (improving songs with her own text ;), telling herself stories that evolve while shes talking, exploring things that are around her. She grabs everyday things and looks what she is able to do with them and what the charecteristic of the object is. She knocks it on the table, sees if she can bend it, if they can be stacked etc. Shes not looking at them for what she learned they are, but what she can do with them. I often caught myself when I wanted to say "that won't work or that's not how it is used" just to see her doing something wonderful or funny or stupid.. She does that to not be bored. Getting creative is a wonderful smartphone replacement.

Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens

#40

Post by mancerayder »

How about the pleasures of life without other people's music and TV, which adults and children play aloud with no headphones in NYC, on a subway and in a forced, enclosed space?

Should we thank the geniuses who designed phones with amplified speakers and no headphone jack (some people are too poor/cheap for Bluetooth I suspect)? Or do we thank Facecrook and Instascam for out-loud videos cranked up at a higher volume on Android?

Or a breakdown of norms due to being a permissive, some call freer society?

Whatever it is, it's a quality of life detriment for those of us in dense areas, and a personal pet peeve.

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