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I Used to Be a Human Being

nymag.com

21–30 of 230 posts

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#21

I'd be interested to hear everyone's strategies to combat this, as I assume many of us that work in the industry encounter similar problems of distraction and inundation. First, I don't use any devices directly after waking up. I meditate for about 20 minutes upon waking and then try to read fiction for 40 minutes. So, all in, somewhere around an hour of no device distractions before starting my day. Slack is one of…

I don't have the self-control and willingness to impose organization to safely have a smartphone without it turning into a skinner box. So, I just don't own a smartphone. I sometimes carry a flip-phone, though usually I leave it at home.

It's really easy to get caught up in optimizing the process you have, rather than choosing which processes best fill your needs.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#22

I'd be interested to hear everyone's strategies to combat this, as I assume many of us that work in the industry encounter similar problems of distraction and inundation. First, I don't use any devices directly after waking up. I meditate for about 20 minutes upon waking and then try to read fiction for 40 minutes. So, all in, somewhere around an hour of no device distractions before starting my day. Slack is one of…

I practice two small repeatable activities throughout the day:

1. Spend five minutes looking out a window, not doing anything, not talking, not looking at your phone, not thinking about work or errands, but just trying to be present. I focus on breathing evenly and relaxing my muscles wherever I feel tense, and I find that my brain appreciates the break from its usual stressors.

2. If I'm experiencing negative emotions, I take 5-10 minutes to think about why I am feeling those emotions, and what I'm going to do about it. No communication, no phone, no computer. Like the author of the article said, the goal is to let myself feel bad and move on rather than to avoid it. This is sometimes harder than other times. For example, after a breakup "5-10 minutes" might actually be a 30 minute walk through the park to sort out my feelings before going back to work.

I find that both of those exercises help me reduce my emotional dependence on technology so that while I do still feel the impulse to reach for my phone, I don't find it hard to resist because I have no emotional investment in the phone, apps, etc.

Also helps that all of my friends know that I am often slow to respond to texts. When there are no expectations of immediate responses, it's much easier not to feel pressured into eternal communicative vigilance.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#23
post #20

I'd be interested to hear everyone's strategies to combat this, as I assume many of us that work in the industry encounter similar problems of distraction and inundation. First, I don't use any devices directly after waking up. I meditate for about 20 minutes upon waking and then try to read fiction for 40 minutes. So, all in, somewhere around an hour of no device distractions before starting my day. Slack is one of…

> Slack is one of the biggest interrupting factors while coding these days, more so than IRC ever was for me, so I try to have chunks of time during the day with it closed. I used a client which enables me to mute most of the notifications, which is pretty nice. > For personal things, I deleted Facebook and feel quite a bit better. I like it, but I only check it once in the morning and once in the evening, from my de…

Surprisingly, I think you can fully disable G+ on Android.

But somehow, G+ has never been in the way for me. It almost feels like a grown up version of Facebook.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#24
I fixed my brain by cancelling my internet services. All I had was 1gb of cellphone data.

Never been happier.

Right now I am back with an internet subscription and I'm miserable. I am an internet addict and having internet at home is very bad for me. I strongly consider cancelling my internet suscription again.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#26

I'd be interested to hear everyone's strategies to combat this, as I assume many of us that work in the industry encounter similar problems of distraction and inundation. First, I don't use any devices directly after waking up. I meditate for about 20 minutes upon waking and then try to read fiction for 40 minutes. So, all in, somewhere around an hour of no device distractions before starting my day. Slack is one of…

Since you already experiment with things like meditation and psychedelics, you should look more into finding out more about your psyche and feelings, and other self-development themes. Find out more about your inner being, about the structure of your (and in general, human) soul, what motivates you, what deep fears you have, in what ways are you still unconscious about yourself. There are tons of books, trainings, coaches that can help with this. Basically you should do more "self-development".

There is no innate problem with facebook, slack, or computers or screens or any other similar thing. The problem is that you are getting distracted. You are not fully present with what you are doing. Thinking that facebook is a problem is just grossly misleading.

When you have fixed your internal issues, you will not care how many websites or LCD screens are around you. You will do what you want, when you want it.

Telling this to an average person is next to pointless, because they are so unconsciouss that they will not understand it. They have lost touch with the notion that they actually have a choice of whether to be distracted or not, they have a choice in how to feel in every single moment. Since you already experiment with the stuff you wrote about, you just might though.

For someone who is in deep unconscioussness, who lacks knowledge about themselves, who is constantly distracted and who eats junk food that does not provide their brains with enough nutrition, etc. - trying to do simple dumb things like "I'll only look at facebook 10 minutes a day" - sure it might give some results. But once you've gained some basic groundedness - it just becomes ineffective to look at specific distractors, and much more effective to look at deeper issues within you that cause distraction in the first place.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#27
post #11

I'd be interested to hear everyone's strategies to combat this, as I assume many of us that work in the industry encounter similar problems of distraction and inundation. First, I don't use any devices directly after waking up. I meditate for about 20 minutes upon waking and then try to read fiction for 40 minutes. So, all in, somewhere around an hour of no device distractions before starting my day. Slack is one of…

One thing that has helped me is a "digital purge." I do mine on New Years Day, and I go through every app and ruthlessly un-follow/unfriend anyone who doesn't isn't contributing positively to me in some way (sometimes deleting entire apps). At the end of the day I'm offering these people direct access to me multiple times daily. If I don't get a positive outcome from these interactions, why keep them around?

Sounds like a great idea. I am going to try this!

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#28

I'd be interested to hear everyone's strategies to combat this, as I assume many of us that work in the industry encounter similar problems of distraction and inundation. First, I don't use any devices directly after waking up. I meditate for about 20 minutes upon waking and then try to read fiction for 40 minutes. So, all in, somewhere around an hour of no device distractions before starting my day. Slack is one of…

I'd be interested to hear everyone's strategies to combat this

I started a business that requires me to binge on everything I'm interested in online.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#29
post #5
post #3

> I couldn’t check my email or refresh my Instagram > ... trying to describe what I was feeling. The two words “extreme suffering” won the naming contest in my head...

The "extreme suffering" was in relation to his emotional crisis, not because he was unable to use his phone.

Hyperbole makes a point weaker, not stronger.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#30
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'd be interested to hear everyone's strategies to combat this, as I assume many of us that work in the industry encounter similar problems of distraction and inundation. - Close any social media account not used for your job. - Stop using GPS unless in dire emergencies, even in foreign cities. Buy a map, ask directions. - Read physical newspapers and books. - Text people only for coordinating where to physically me…

Always fun watch someone go cold turkey, since it becomes obvious to them their an infozombie really quick; reaching for a phone in their pocket that's not there every few minutes, going through withdrawals from not being able to read feeds/email, etc.

Somewhat unrelated, but I think it's funny how quickly these devices have turned us into their slaves.

Among people who can afford a smartphone, which is a wide swath from the working poor on up, it seems like _everyone_ is swiping at their phones all day. I like to imagine them in as many variations as possible: judges, programmers, hells angels, movie stars, school children, cops, window washers hanging from a rope...[1]

It then becomes fun to try to think of people you don't see using phones as much: construction workers (too busy with hands), surfers (in water and heavy surf), astronauts maybe ?...

[1] http://www.boredpanda.com/portraits-holding-devices-removed-...

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