Smartphone addiction

Getting rid of the smartphone improved my life 52%. if your work and family life allows for it I would strongly urge you to live without one. It's such a relief not having it

it wouldnt be unusual for a human of 2018 to wake up, reach blearily for phone, scroll through
news feed, after shitting and showering return to phone over breakfast, stayed glued to phone
throughout commute, get to work, put down phone and sit IN FRONT OF A COMPUTER SCREEN
ALL DAY, phone over lunch, phone home, phone in bed before sleep.

not to mention socialising on whatsapp and orgasms with pornhub.

at that level of usage it is no exaggeration to say that SCREEN IS NOW PRIMARY ENVIRONMENT
and that, like in the phantom tollbooth, the world outside is disappearing.

Another way to put it is the phone is home now. and I don't like it, I'm addicted and I don't like it. I'd like to try to cut it out completely but there are some things that prevent me: work mainly, also whatsapp, spotify, citymapper and dating apps. Do you have any techniques to reduce time on your phone?
 

catalog

Well-known member
just a gag, sorry. i have tried leaving phone at home in past and usually fine but then something happens and people get annoyed with you
 
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yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
i have the same problem. it's the cheapest way and in many ways also the only way to stay in contact with family and friends. for me the solution would be to have a "smartphone" that only allows for whatsapp and maybe also google maps.
 

luka

Well-known member
I miss the camera too. I do buy cameras actually, at about £100 a pop, but I invariably lose them and it's an expensive indulgence
 
you could try getting an ipad

this is a good shout for home use only but too much home use is part of the problem. And if I cut it back to a brick and my laptop would I just sit at my laptop for hours on end? My teenage years say yes absolutely
 

luka

Well-known member
I spend a lot of time on the Internet and I don't really feel guilty about it so long as I'm here saying clever things and spending quality time with my imaginary friends but I do feel it is important to be able to leave it behind. Carrying the Internet with you is unhealthy. You don't want to be pulled between two places at once. In the words of my favourite band, Oasis, Be Here Now.
 

luka

Well-known member
The other thing, I've said all this before I know, the other thing is that it fractures your attention in an insidious way. You can't achieve the plateau because the smartphone keeps producing these breaks which are breaks even when resisted.
 

luka

Well-known member
Oh, let me just check, no, I won't check, stop it, naughty boy

That's as much of a break as if you do get it out your pocket
 
Turning it off and putting it in a different room is key of i need to maintain focus for a few hours. That’s one good technique
 

sufi

lala
you have all the skills you need to survive - urban orienteering, using your eyes to record pictures,
you are still allowed a regular phone to keep in contact with the folks, but ffs i don't really see that i need to carry it around all the time
Oh, let me just check, no, I won't check, stop it, naughty boy

That's as much of a break as if you do get it out your pocket
that is true,i found my own hand reaching for the phone for weeks or months after i got rid, then eventually the reflex was reduced to a twitch, and was gone
now i relish the free brain time on e.g. public transport
 

luka

Well-known member
"uncontrolled, self-replicating triviality is genteel and necrotic, a true language cancer and well able to invade across the mind/brain barrier."
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Cursed thin smartphones. The canny move by the makers was giving you a mobile phone, then adding layers of integrated software applications.

For work they excel, but for pers use a stone age Nokia works just fine out and about. Told everyone who is a pers contact it can’t read emojis but they still send them.

Ipad in the kitchen is as insidious a device. I get far more creative things going at night when every cunt’s in bed.
 

catalog

Well-known member
when i went for a walk yesterday i put it in pocket of jacket then jacket in bag, hard to reach, but once it was out, stayed in my trousers pocket and i was out of the forst and into the screen from then on
 
chuck it on the floor as hard as you can, worked for me, and you will feel much better afterwards

I have had the compulsion to throw it into the canal. A proper run up and 45 degree whip into the air arcing satisfyingly, twirling and plopping into the green water. Be great to do that, and then the regret would set in 40 seconds after but you’d have to pretend to yourself it was a good idea
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
you have all the skills you need to survive - urban orienteering, using your eyes to record pictures,
you are still allowed a regular phone to keep in contact with the folks, but ffs i don't really see that i need to carry it around all the time

that is true,i found my own hand reaching for the phone for weeks or months after i got rid, then eventually the reflex was reduced to a twitch, and was gone
now i relish the free brain time on e.g. public transport

Looking at the world through a moving frame, picking out the minutiae of everyday life, is akin to an act of resistance these days.
 
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