I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
nytimes.com
I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
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Re: I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
#2“I found myself incapable of reading books, watching full-length movies or having long uninterrupted conversations. Social media made me angry and anxious, and even the digital spaces I once found soothing (group texts, podcasts, YouTube k-holes) weren’t helping.”
So don’t take the call and keep having the conversation. Delete all apps that aren’t a net benefit. Is this really that difficult?
Re: I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
#3I'm 37, and I have never really had a smartphone, because I don't want one. I know I tend to be addicted to the internet (I can't resit my laptop when it's nearby with wifi), so I think it's more healthy for me to just not have a smartphone than to resist temptation (like an alcoholic simply not going into bars).
I'm a Software Engineer and I've never downloaded or used an "app" on a smartphone.
I did buy a new Android one for $20USD in Guinea, but I just use it to tether my laptop and it doesn't have a single app on it. I've never browsed the web on it or made a phone call because the interface sucks.
It's interesting to watch how addicted people are to their phones, and how much it invades everyday life. I think I have an interesting perspective looking from the outside in.
Whenever I'm out for drinks or dinner, every single other person checks their phone about every 1-2 minutes, often spending at least that long doing nothing other than staring at their phone, oblivious to those around them. During those times I really enjoy looking around to see who else isn't on their phone, and I make eye contact and smile to see what kind of human responses I can get. I have previously been at a table of 10 people and I'm the only one not staring at a phone.
I get that they can make life much easier in certain situations (coordinating meetups with people, locations, timing, etc.), but to be honest the more I observe from the "outside", the more I'm convinced the negatives outweigh the positives.
Of course everyone needs to make their own choice, and I'm by no means saying everyone should ditch their phone or that phones are stupid.
Re: I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
#4“I found myself incapable of reading books, watching full-length movies or having long uninterrupted conversations. Social media made me angry and anxious, and even the digital spaces I once found soothing (group texts, podcasts, YouTube k-holes) weren’t helping.” So don’t take the call and keep having the conversation. Delete all apps that aren’t a net benefit. Is this really that difficult?
By the sound of it, for them that was all apps. So just use a normal phone, no point in a smartphone without apps.
Re: I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
#5I followed almost the exact same track as this guy, slowly realizing that my phone was a problem, then the problem, and coming to the conclusion that real drastic intervention methods were necessary, something that went beyond vague "trying to do better" efforts.
I started a daily life 90% detox for a week or two then also did a completely phone free weekend, in my case at a Zen Buddhist monastery (and also in the Catskills, ironically).
I completely and totally agree with his ultimate conclusion. Having a smartphone had literally rewired my brain, and not in a good way. The inability (or unwillingness?) to hold concentrated attention on literally anything that requires more than 5 minutes of sustained attention is just a horrible way to live.
It's a tough thing to do, I freely admit that I have lapsed repeatedly since I started working on this seriously about two months ago. And I don't talk about it IRL with people since it's impossible to discuss without coming across as a holier-than-thou asshole.
But this is a real problem, and looking around it seems nearly everyone in modern society has it.
I think we're all going to look back on this era and what we've done to our mental health in abject horror, like we do on whatever era it was that the Romans decided sugar of lead was an awesome way to sweeten wine.
Re: I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
#6“I found myself incapable of reading books, watching full-length movies or having long uninterrupted conversations. Social media made me angry and anxious, and even the digital spaces I once found soothing (group texts, podcasts, YouTube k-holes) weren’t helping.” So don’t take the call and keep having the conversation. Delete all apps that aren’t a net benefit. Is this really that difficult?
Problem with the self discipline argument is that there are thousands of highly paid software engineers and designers who spend every working day aiming to break that discipline, and they have a mountain of data and a powerful low latency feedback loop as weapons.
Re: I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
#7“I found myself incapable of reading books, watching full-length movies or having long uninterrupted conversations. Social media made me angry and anxious, and even the digital spaces I once found soothing (group texts, podcasts, YouTube k-holes) weren’t helping.” So don’t take the call and keep having the conversation. Delete all apps that aren’t a net benefit. Is this really that difficult?
Yes, obviously, or they wouldn't struggle with it.
If you're addicted, rational thought isn't dominant.
Re: I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
#8I downloaded an app to track my phone usage on a daily basis, and the shame power of seeing how much time I wasted helped me cut down to the essentials.
Re: I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
#9“I found myself incapable of reading books, watching full-length movies or having long uninterrupted conversations. Social media made me angry and anxious, and even the digital spaces I once found soothing (group texts, podcasts, YouTube k-holes) weren’t helping.” So don’t take the call and keep having the conversation. Delete all apps that aren’t a net benefit. Is this really that difficult?
Yes. The system is designed to be difficult to ditch. For a lot of people, the little thrill of an unread notification badge is like mainlining heroin. It's a dump of happy chemicals right to their brain.
Re: I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
#10I've just setup a new phone and have decided to leave all of the dopamine triggering apps off of it. I installed one thinking "it won't be that hard to moderate" but my fingers were immediately flipping it open and scrolling unconsciously. So off it goes.
I'm already noticing myself not caring about those platforms and not even really checking them on the desktop.