Finding a hobby to do at home as downtime has been a game changer in creating time away from digital activities. I started watercoloring and can easily spend an hour+ in a flow state without thinking about my phone or checking social media. I love your comment about reading 100 books but not readying anything. I listen to a lot of info-rich podcasts while I'll walk and drive and honestly, I am hearing the information but don't really feel like I'm LEARNING it. Anyways, thanks for the great read!
Thanks Chelsey! Yes totally - same with podcasts for me. It's interesting to because when I multi-task I usually do so to 'make the most of time' but the outcome is that I wasted at least some of it because there's no retention 😅 And yay on the watercolor! Isn't it so special to have activities where time stands still and flies by at the same time?? For me it's been embroidery lately. It's so meditative.
Thanks for this reminder. I recently did a digital detox where I completely avoided screens after 5pm and before 9am for a week. It was a beautiful experience. I noticed so many differences - better sleep, a more peaceful mind, deeper connections with my partner. Screens are robbing us of so much...
Last year I spent a week with only minimal access to a cellphone, and that impression still lingers in my mind every time I'm mindlessly looking for that dopamine hit. This is a very useful list!
Glad you found it helpful, Sara! These times offline are so helpful in showing us another way (and have been instrumental in motivating me to make changes 😇)
offline a little over a year ago but recently found myself checking instagram on my browser. I have since gone back to strict restrictions of not using but this article was the extra reminder I needed to get stay consistent with this routine!
Hi Isabella, so great to connect! I feel you on this... every few months I slowly get sucked into it again, only to soon be reminded why I want to stay away. But that's still so much better than not even trying to stay off! It's a practice 🙏
These are so helpful. I've been turning to mindless scrolling lately as a way to dissociate from the grief of the fires, but at the same time, the social media scrolling is making me more upset about the fires. I need to put limits on the scrolling, it sucks up too much of my day, especially when I'm getting ready in the morning.
Glad to hear it, Elizabeth! It was exactly the same case for me with social media & the fires. As I mentioned I think it's so important to cut ourselves a break in light of a natural disaster, but it definitely showed me what doom scrolling does to my brain 😶🌫️
I found this article extremely beneficial. I think many of us know we want and should lean into offline (I am distressed at my low attention span for reading yet I want to ingest and respond to good thinking that has taken time to create rather than snippets) and sometimes creative ideas on the how aren't so easy to find. You present a plethora of possibilities. I particularly like the one about taking on a craft. Cross-stitching and paint my number are calling my name. What a journey.
Hi Alison, so glad to hear you've found it helpful! 🥰 I've been really getting into embroidery (a lot of people seem to love punch needle too), I imagine cross-stitching is similarly meditative!
I had to google punch needle! I feel like we had another name for it when I was young but I can't remember - rug hooking? Embroidery is beautiful - causes me a bit of stress so I like the structure of the cross stitch or rug hooking... already feeling more centred thinking about it!
Hiya, I'd like to thank you for this excellent article. I found it this past January preparing for my own long-term tech reformation, and have read it three times and thought about it even more.
The bit about complexity and empathy has become perhaps my biggest motivator: how more attentive and present human connection, a good for everyone involved, is worth setting the phone down for. More time in the day doing nothing has often meant more time to think and care.
> "Our media diet may be the single biggest external factor determining the quality of our minds."
I'm very much feeling this, always in disbelief at the parttime job's worth of "screen time" my iPhone keeps track each day: under two hours means I'm doing particularly well. I've heard the same from other people, and nobody yet has defended their all-too-common screen time attachment: to the idea of going offline for a while, I've seen some of the biggest internet users I know respond with nothing but praise, maybe a bit of jealosy, too.
> "The experience reminded me of my first sip of wine after my inaugural Ayahuasca ceremonies following weeks of abstinence, when every inch of my body screamed: I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!"
This is my favorite quote of this article, and perhaps of any tech fast literature I've read so far. Losing myself in the internet, rather than in the world, has felt a bit like this to me, too. Having grown up online, the question of what I'll do with my time, and the place the internet will have in my life, still feels a bit like a mysterious abyss; but to love new things and despise old traps of illusory comfort is a transformation I want to make in my life.
Whether it's time with others, with nature, with the written word, with creating; I've found that doing it in the real world or non-skimmingly feels much more wholesome. For it to make such a difference suggests that our consciousness is indeed under siege, that some of richest, most brilliant minds are indeed putting their genius into making phones irresistable.
Thank you for doing and inspiring such contemplation, the counterweight to such a scary situnation, for an issue very present in seemingly everyone's screengazing life. ☀️
Thank you so much for your reflections, Keshet! I'm so glad that you've found this to be a helpful resource. I'm with you that the question of how to live a fulfilling life while participating in the internet still feels like unsolved mystery to me... and the answer keeps evolving 😊
Ok so this an amazing post! Your content really resonates with me! I actually just finished 2 amazing books that I think you would really like that is regarding this post. One is called the Finding Your Third place. Imagine that show Cheers. That is a really good example of a Third Place. These are dying out in our society and our communities are craving more Third Places! The other one is Filter World: How Algorithms are Flattening Our Culture. My mind was blown! I recently deleted all social media from my phone from Cal’s Digital Detox and it’s been great! I took it a funny step further and instead of deleting my Facebook account I just unfollowed and unfriended everyone! Hahahahahahaha! It was like 4500 people. A pain in the ass but I feel like I kind of checkmated the Meta algorithm a bit! Hahahahahahahahaha! If you decide to read those books, let me know as I’d love to know your thoughts about them! Keep the writings coming as I feel like we could be on parallel journeys.
Amazing Joey thank you for the shares!!! Totally agree with the Third place, I luckily have something that I would call just that here in LA - so many communal coworking and wellness spaces have opened because people recognize the lack for thirdspaces. The book on algorithms sounds right up my alley and is going on my reading list :) Thanks again!
Hi Bruce, I'm not sure I fully understand your question - are you asking if my attempts to lower my screen time are controlling me? It's quite the opposite. Once I put these things and habits into place I felt much less pulled to my phone and was able to be present with what is in the real world a lot better 😇
Is this just thought or thinking controlling you? All the things you describe take time and attention. Does being fully present take time? Could the absence of all the things you describe occur when you are present to what is? Rather than working at it. Poof! Is it the difference between becoming and being? I'm sorry if none of this makes sense. Just be! Not try to become! Poof! I'm giggling as I write. Do you think I am losing it completely or is this insightful? How can not being fully present prepare one to be fully present? Krishnamurti describes the state of "choiceless awareness" as having no boundaries, intention or thought. That's the closest I can come to explaining.
Finding a hobby to do at home as downtime has been a game changer in creating time away from digital activities. I started watercoloring and can easily spend an hour+ in a flow state without thinking about my phone or checking social media. I love your comment about reading 100 books but not readying anything. I listen to a lot of info-rich podcasts while I'll walk and drive and honestly, I am hearing the information but don't really feel like I'm LEARNING it. Anyways, thanks for the great read!
I also started watercolouring last year, and the focus you need is so fulfilling and so different from writing. I am enjoying it very much!
Thanks Chelsey! Yes totally - same with podcasts for me. It's interesting to because when I multi-task I usually do so to 'make the most of time' but the outcome is that I wasted at least some of it because there's no retention 😅 And yay on the watercolor! Isn't it so special to have activities where time stands still and flies by at the same time?? For me it's been embroidery lately. It's so meditative.
Thanks for this reminder. I recently did a digital detox where I completely avoided screens after 5pm and before 9am for a week. It was a beautiful experience. I noticed so many differences - better sleep, a more peaceful mind, deeper connections with my partner. Screens are robbing us of so much...
I love that! What's in the way of making it the default? (Also wondering: how could I try this? 😇)
Self-discipline, and the addictive pull of the online world! 🙃 I do recommend trying it though 😊
This was such a lovely piece. I haven’t had a flow state in a while. I’m looking forward to making some changes. 💜✨
Thank you Shaunté so glad it resonated 🥰 Always good to have a little reminder!
Last year I spent a week with only minimal access to a cellphone, and that impression still lingers in my mind every time I'm mindlessly looking for that dopamine hit. This is a very useful list!
Glad you found it helpful, Sara! These times offline are so helpful in showing us another way (and have been instrumental in motivating me to make changes 😇)
This was a timely and helpful post Julia. Thank you. Really enjoyed it
Thank you Jason, so glad you've found it helpful! 🙏😊
Great suggestions!
Thanks Robert! 🙏
I’m so happy I found your substack! I got
offline a little over a year ago but recently found myself checking instagram on my browser. I have since gone back to strict restrictions of not using but this article was the extra reminder I needed to get stay consistent with this routine!
Hi Isabella, so great to connect! I feel you on this... every few months I slowly get sucked into it again, only to soon be reminded why I want to stay away. But that's still so much better than not even trying to stay off! It's a practice 🙏
These are so helpful. I've been turning to mindless scrolling lately as a way to dissociate from the grief of the fires, but at the same time, the social media scrolling is making me more upset about the fires. I need to put limits on the scrolling, it sucks up too much of my day, especially when I'm getting ready in the morning.
Glad to hear it, Elizabeth! It was exactly the same case for me with social media & the fires. As I mentioned I think it's so important to cut ourselves a break in light of a natural disaster, but it definitely showed me what doom scrolling does to my brain 😶🌫️
for sure, i’ve been feeling so “crunchy” lately because I’m not giving myself space to be alone to process my thoughts
I found this article extremely beneficial. I think many of us know we want and should lean into offline (I am distressed at my low attention span for reading yet I want to ingest and respond to good thinking that has taken time to create rather than snippets) and sometimes creative ideas on the how aren't so easy to find. You present a plethora of possibilities. I particularly like the one about taking on a craft. Cross-stitching and paint my number are calling my name. What a journey.
Hi Alison, so glad to hear you've found it helpful! 🥰 I've been really getting into embroidery (a lot of people seem to love punch needle too), I imagine cross-stitching is similarly meditative!
I had to google punch needle! I feel like we had another name for it when I was young but I can't remember - rug hooking? Embroidery is beautiful - causes me a bit of stress so I like the structure of the cross stitch or rug hooking... already feeling more centred thinking about it!
Yes it is basically rug hooking technique from what I know!!
Hiya, I'd like to thank you for this excellent article. I found it this past January preparing for my own long-term tech reformation, and have read it three times and thought about it even more.
The bit about complexity and empathy has become perhaps my biggest motivator: how more attentive and present human connection, a good for everyone involved, is worth setting the phone down for. More time in the day doing nothing has often meant more time to think and care.
> "Our media diet may be the single biggest external factor determining the quality of our minds."
I'm very much feeling this, always in disbelief at the parttime job's worth of "screen time" my iPhone keeps track each day: under two hours means I'm doing particularly well. I've heard the same from other people, and nobody yet has defended their all-too-common screen time attachment: to the idea of going offline for a while, I've seen some of the biggest internet users I know respond with nothing but praise, maybe a bit of jealosy, too.
> "The experience reminded me of my first sip of wine after my inaugural Ayahuasca ceremonies following weeks of abstinence, when every inch of my body screamed: I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!"
This is my favorite quote of this article, and perhaps of any tech fast literature I've read so far. Losing myself in the internet, rather than in the world, has felt a bit like this to me, too. Having grown up online, the question of what I'll do with my time, and the place the internet will have in my life, still feels a bit like a mysterious abyss; but to love new things and despise old traps of illusory comfort is a transformation I want to make in my life.
Whether it's time with others, with nature, with the written word, with creating; I've found that doing it in the real world or non-skimmingly feels much more wholesome. For it to make such a difference suggests that our consciousness is indeed under siege, that some of richest, most brilliant minds are indeed putting their genius into making phones irresistable.
Thank you for doing and inspiring such contemplation, the counterweight to such a scary situnation, for an issue very present in seemingly everyone's screengazing life. ☀️
Thank you so much for your reflections, Keshet! I'm so glad that you've found this to be a helpful resource. I'm with you that the question of how to live a fulfilling life while participating in the internet still feels like unsolved mystery to me... and the answer keeps evolving 😊
Ok so this an amazing post! Your content really resonates with me! I actually just finished 2 amazing books that I think you would really like that is regarding this post. One is called the Finding Your Third place. Imagine that show Cheers. That is a really good example of a Third Place. These are dying out in our society and our communities are craving more Third Places! The other one is Filter World: How Algorithms are Flattening Our Culture. My mind was blown! I recently deleted all social media from my phone from Cal’s Digital Detox and it’s been great! I took it a funny step further and instead of deleting my Facebook account I just unfollowed and unfriended everyone! Hahahahahahaha! It was like 4500 people. A pain in the ass but I feel like I kind of checkmated the Meta algorithm a bit! Hahahahahahahahaha! If you decide to read those books, let me know as I’d love to know your thoughts about them! Keep the writings coming as I feel like we could be on parallel journeys.
Amazing Joey thank you for the shares!!! Totally agree with the Third place, I luckily have something that I would call just that here in LA - so many communal coworking and wellness spaces have opened because people recognize the lack for thirdspaces. The book on algorithms sounds right up my alley and is going on my reading list :) Thanks again!
YES! Let me know what you think of the book. It really opened my eyes to some juicy stuff!
Isn't all the time you focus on this controlling you and your attention? What would happen if you "noticed" "what is?" in each moment?
Hi Bruce, I'm not sure I fully understand your question - are you asking if my attempts to lower my screen time are controlling me? It's quite the opposite. Once I put these things and habits into place I felt much less pulled to my phone and was able to be present with what is in the real world a lot better 😇
Is this just thought or thinking controlling you? All the things you describe take time and attention. Does being fully present take time? Could the absence of all the things you describe occur when you are present to what is? Rather than working at it. Poof! Is it the difference between becoming and being? I'm sorry if none of this makes sense. Just be! Not try to become! Poof! I'm giggling as I write. Do you think I am losing it completely or is this insightful? How can not being fully present prepare one to be fully present? Krishnamurti describes the state of "choiceless awareness" as having no boundaries, intention or thought. That's the closest I can come to explaining.