My year with a distraction-free iPhone
medium.com
My year with a distraction-free iPhone
1–10 of 189 posts
Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone
#2Or just turn off mobile data and Wi-Fi. Re-enable when you have time to kill for social media.
Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone
#3I'm usually at my desk at home or the office, or in bed, or some other place with a real computer, or doing something I actually want to be doing, or driving. In none of those situations do I want my phone.
In the remaining cases of "waiting for something but not equipped with a full sized computer", I'm quite happy to use the phone.
The greater problem is "spending time doing less-productive stuff on the Internet" -- I just prefer doing so with a real computer.
Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone
#4I haven't gone as far as this guy, but I recently removed Facebook and Twitter from my Android phone and it's been a breath of fresh air.
I still use both apps via their websites when I've got my laptop out, but not having them in my pocket all the time is really freeing. You don't realise how much of a slave you are to these things until you force yourself to let them go. I waste a lot less time on my phone now. Wouldn't go back.
Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone
#5I think going so far as to disable Safari outright and deleting email accounts is too extreme but I definitely agree that most Apps are counterproductive.
It's important to moderate use of addictive services that provide a stream of instant gratification like facebook, twitter, reddit, 9gag, pinterest, etc. The first step is being conscious of excessive use.
Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone
#6In a similar vein, I almost always have my phone set to silent without vibrate. This small change has made a huge difference in my interaction with my phone. I reach for it less and just generally think about it less.
The downside is people are sometimes annoyed at me not reacting to calls/messages immediately. I should probably experiment with the iOS Do Not Disturb feature, but it hasn't been too big of an issue so I've put it on the back burner.
Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone
#7You know what would make my life really distraction-free? Ban Hacker News on every device I have access to for a prolonged period :)
Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone
#8In a similar vein, I almost always have my phone set to silent without vibrate. This small change has made a huge difference in my interaction with my phone. I reach for it less and just generally think about it less. The downside is people are sometimes annoyed at me not reacting to calls/messages immediately. I should probably experiment with the iOS Do Not Disturb feature, but it hasn't been too big of an issue so…
I used Do Not Disturb a lot during the peak hours of my dissertation writing. It was pretty helpful. That of course means I would miss new emails and phone calls but those could be responded to later
Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone
#9I did something similar.
All I had to do was use a Blackberry 9900 as my primary phone.
I did not have to disable anything. I primarily use it for emails, calls and SMS. Those are also the only things that seem to work.
When travelling out of town I usually carry my backup devices as well(iPhone/Nexus)to find directions etc.
Re: My year with a distraction-free iPhone
#10You know what would make my life really distraction-free? Ban Hacker News on every device I have access to for a prolonged period :)
I haven't found HN to be a particularly bad offender. The front page doesn't change quickly enough to require excessive attention.