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We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

nytimes.com

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Re: We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

#51

Post by themodelplumber »

rambleramble wrote: post #20
vkjv wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite earning marginally more than minimum wage, being a lifeguard is still the happiest I've ever been at a job.

The summer after high school, I worked for the parks department of my city. I just did general maintenance things, sold tokens for batting cages, emptied trash, "ensured the safety of the people in the park". I remember being so thrilled when I got an offer for a "real job" doing software development. I miss working at the park. And I'm pretty sure it's not just nostalgia. I liked being outside. I liked working with…

You can get that feeling back, and usually you can do it without changing jobs. I've helped people make just this kind of change. The trick is, it's a mix of 1) abstracting the fun parts of the enjoyable job such that the individual elements can be spotted and "farmed" at the current job and 2) setting boundaries with and pushing back on any elements that compete against this process. (This is apart from work-external considerations, like having things to look forward to every day after work, etc.)

In learning to do this, people become more motivated than they would be if they just changed jobs. Patience, analysis, and cleverness are required but those skills when strengthened also tend to make people feel like they're in control of their lives again.

Believe me, you're not lamenting about growing up. Look at the details and it's probably closer to a situation that could genuinely use some rebalancing in your favor. Your career should be supporting you and not vice-versa.

Re: We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

#52

Post by [deleted] »

dictum wrote: post #10
rb808 wrote: post #5

> and about 11 hours a day looking at screens of any kind. That is so depressing, but thinking about it myself, 11 is probably a minimum. I have to change careers to selling ice creams at the beach or something.

> I have to change careers to selling ice creams at the beach or something You will learn to loathe ice cream, the beach, and even the nicest people you could see there. (Quoth Kierkegaard: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7141047-marry-and-you-will-... )

[deleted]

Re: We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

#53

Post by wastedhours »

vkjv wrote: post #8
rb808 wrote: post #5

> and about 11 hours a day looking at screens of any kind. That is so depressing, but thinking about it myself, 11 is probably a minimum. I have to change careers to selling ice creams at the beach or something.

Despite earning marginally more than minimum wage, being a lifeguard is still the happiest I've ever been at a job.

Same sort of thing, happiest I've been "working" was helping a mate with some labouring of a weekend back when I was 17. It's amazing the satisfaction you get at the end of the day feeling 100% exhausted, but with several tonnes of concrete mixed, or a few thousand bricks moved (even seemingly arbitrarily from one spot to another).

Not something you really want to be doing for 30+ years though, but to be fair, I'm not sure the prospect of staring at this screen for 30+ is especially appealing either...

Re: We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

#54

Post by azeirah »

cableshaft wrote: post #40
rb808 wrote: post #5

> and about 11 hours a day looking at screens of any kind. That is so depressing, but thinking about it myself, 11 is probably a minimum. I have to change careers to selling ice creams at the beach or something.

Think of it this way: we spend 16 hours a day looking at things in general. Over 50% of our brain's cortex is dedicated to processing visual information. It makes sense that we're going to gravitate towards devices that provide us with an easy means of giving us visual information. We're just structured that way. If over 50% of our brain's cortex was dedicated to processing aural information, or physical touch, or sm…

One slightly good thing about all of this is that at least the issue of light that is potentially harmful is fixable with technology.

We will at some point have colored high-refreshrate e-ink monitors, I'm convinced of it.

I'm looking forward to e-ink, paper-like laptops and phones that work well in the sun!

Re: We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

#55

Post by ForRealsies »

pc86 wrote: post #44
basejumping wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about if there was a locked down smartphone OS with only call/messaging/camera and maps functionality. No other apps possible

You can always just... not download the apps you don't want.

Bonus: Turn your phone's display to monochrome mode. Force it to become less visually stimulating to our monkey brain.

Re: We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

#57

Post by pcprincipal »

I've been using Moment (https://inthemoment.io/) for about a year and am really proud of how I've been able to reduce total screen time from 4 hours to 45 minutes per day. Most of the gains were due to deleting Safari and Twitter from my device (Moment breaks down app usage based on battery usage).

To anyone reading this, be aware of how grabbing your phone in the morning to read headlines or Medium digest can turn into 30 minutes or even an hour. Think about how checking e-mails can take you completely out of context and badly dilute the quality of your work. Consider how the amazing small interactions with other people that make life beautiful can be destroyed by even a glance at the phone.

Monitoring phone usage and actively cutting it down I really feel has improved my quality of life. Now that Apple has built in tools to do this, I hope more people will treat this as seriously as they treat exercise, nutrition, etc.

Re: We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

#58

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

I took a class in rapid prototyping earlier this spring. One question has resonated with me since: “How does a human appear to the computer?”

There was a grotesque drawing of an eyeball attached to an ear along with a couple of fingers. It’s not entirely inaccurate: most of our interactions with computers are with our fingers, eyes, and ears. But now that microcontrollers like the Arduino and SBCs like the Raspberry Pi are so cheap and accessible, we can begin to look at different ways to interact with computers, through sensors instead of touchscreens and keyboards.

In a few decades, we may see a shift in our human-computer interfaces as lasting and profound as the leap from mainframe terminals to personal computers.

Re: We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

#59

Post by ShabbosGoy »

sshtunnels wrote: post #30
LUmBULtERA wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a depressing quote.

It may sound strange, but I found it very funny. I've had the same thoughts myself. As someone who sometimes worries a bit too much about making the best life choices, it's darkly funny to think that for all my planning, I'll probably find a way to regret and hate my attempts at thoughtful and wise decisionmaking in the future no matter what path I choose.

I also found it funny. As someone who overanalyzes things constantly, I often get into thought loops that lead to regret before I’ve even taken an action.

Re: We Have Reached Peak Screen. Now Revolution Is in the Air

#60

Post by ab71e5 »

maxerickson wrote: post #41
tjr225 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made a similar comment like this a couple months ago...it seems like it would be hard to draw the line on what to include and what not to include. I'm considering getting a dumb phone for on-call and talking to my friends/family...but if I wanted all of that other functionality I could just delete the apps that are addicting off of my phone.

Just don't get a data plan. Then you can use maps stored on the device and get a modern camera and lots of storage and so on but you aren't constantly checking apps for notifications and whatever.

This is what I do. I use HERE WeGO for offline maps, check messages when there's wifi. Saves a lot of money too! Never experienced problems so far. I think it's easier when you never had a data plan, going 'back' might be tough as you've changed your habits to rely on a data plan.
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