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You, yes you. Put down your phone. Remove all electronics from your person and exist for a moment.
Sing a song. Or jump up and down. Scream. Or go outside and take a deep breath. Pet the damn dog. Feel connected to humanity by disconnecting. The skin where you wear your Apple Watch needs some sun so go outside and get some. Donāt track that workout this time; donāt worry it still counts even if you donāt close your rings.
Yes this post is advice for myself as much as it is for others.
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i have been on a journey to untangle my tasks from my iPhone.
i'd be out in the world someplace, pull out my phone for something as menial as checking the time, or as well intentioned as capturing the moment in a pic, and immediately get sucked into texts and instagramā¢ļø and all the virtual things happening in this tiny lil demon light box.
the goal: pull my phone out of my bag ONLY for phone things. that's texting, calling, and apps that can't be replaced
the solutions so far:
š°ļø i started with a watch (shoutout Casio) and i wear it every day. once I broke the habit of checking my phone for the time, I felt legitimately freed from something Major
š· I bought a small digital camera to leave in my bag. the pics look better and I donāt get distracted by the virtual world when I'm trying to capture something in the now
š I bought a kindle. It fits in my jacket pocket (literally) and gives me something to do when I'm on the train or waiting for an appointment that isn't scrolling
I just realized so much of the time I spent on my phone was not intentional. It was a thing I was doing in between Other intentional moments. my screen time is still several hours a day (donāt get me wrong) but I think my brain has healed at least 3%.
welcoming other ideas as wellš”
Sep 24, 2024
š±
Do anything but be on your phone! post recs and asks on a laptop or public computer! Find new hobbies! Make art, call your sister, tell someone you love them, eat your favourite meal, make a paper chain, read stone butch blues, get into analog music, get a pen pal, make a tiny horse out of clay, think about your survival, drink juice, take a vow of sincerity, apologise for lack thereof, smile at people in the street, wave at babies, lie in the sun, do anything!
Feb 11, 2025
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I like to let my phone dieā I often donāt charge it overnight, and try not to plug it in during the day. If youāre able to access work/school through only your laptop, let your phone die, or leave it on the plug in another room.
I also delete most apps from my phone for periods of weeks, and minimally use social mediaā if this works for you, it can feel very liberating, and makes me feel much less constantly accessible (which I think is a good thing).
Something that helps me is thinking about the flattening of correspondence; before social media, if you wanted to communicate to a friend, it was one-on-oneā you might write a letter, or call, or email, but what you were doing was conversational and relational. When we use social media, we flatten a lot of individual relationships into one relationship between us and our āaudience.ā Instead of sharing a thought or comment intended for one person, and designed for them to reply and continue the correspondence, we put out press releases on our own lives: āthis is what I had for breakfast,ā āthis is a meme about my mental health,ā and we become part of a passive audience in our friendās lives. We end up feeling like weāve just seen our friends, because weāre āviewingā their lives, but actually apps leave us feeling very isolated and anti-social. Try deleting your most used social media apps, and also schedule a walk/movie night/coffee with a friend.
Outside of radical deletion, pick an audio book to listen to, and pair it with a hands on/tactile activity: you could load the dishwasher, or draw, or try embroidery.
Jul 29, 2024
Top Recs from @stvn
Get and keep a copy of a movie on a hard drive or Blu-ray somewhere. If you āpurchaseā movies through sites like Amazon Prime or Apple TV/iTunes (RIP) youāre merely licensing it and they can take away your access at any time for whatever reason they want.
I donāt advocate pirating movie content you donāt already own, but if you own a copy of a movie or show, go ahead and download a digital copy to back it up somewhere so they canāt take it away from you.
Feb 22, 2024
Makes cooking so much easier. Spend the money on a good chefās knife and a good utility knife. Those will be the only knives you need for 99% of your cooking.
Feb 1, 2024