4 ms·

If this is true Then it also presents a unique opportunity. I.e. There should be a very real and observable productivity boost from being able to ignore your ph

If this is true Then it also presents a unique opportunity. I.e. There should be a very real and observable productivity boost from being able to ignore your phone and working on career building/family-relationship projects. If you can tear yourself from your phone for 3 Hours a day and work on career building projects, you should be able to get far ahead of others in your social circles who can't break the addiction. You no longer have to wake up early to beat the world, just wake up and not Touch the phone!

someonewhocar3s 9y ago
Sazzy response. Way to ignore the problem.
crypt1d 9y ago
Last year I went on a 2 week long entrepreneur-ish conference on a cruise ship. Due to satellite internet limitations, my phone/laptop usage was limited to 1-2hrs per day, usually in the evenings. Rest of the time I spent mingling, joining workshops, talks, or just having fun on the boat. Now mind you, I'm not a particularly social person. Being around people so much was very much out of my comfort zone, but it still felt great! I felt productive and relaxed at the same time, probably because I was able to focus on a single thing at the time, and wasn't being constantly distracted by notifications on my phone or emails and Slack conversations on my laptop. It was sort of a detox from the constant information bombardment of the digital age. I really need to do that again.
- mgkimsal 9y ago
  and... you were on a cruise ship. had a similar experience on a cruise ship a few years back, and I don't think the feelings were entirely just 'info detox'. You're in a physically different space, probably exposed to the elements more than you normally are day to day (more sunshine, etc). You're around a whole other set of people, many of whom are more relaxed than the normally are (because many are on 'vacation' of some sort). Normal issues of food shopping, housework, etc are taken care of for you (well, those concerns are replaced with other concerns, at minimum). So... agreed that the 'info detox' aspect is not bad, but I suspect that just doing an info detox in your 'regular life' wouldn't give you the same boost you experienced.
peterhartree 9y ago
> If this is true Then it also presents a unique opportunity. I.e. There should be a very real and observable productivity boost from being able to ignore B J Fogg, who gets brief mention in this article, teaches his students to cause behaviour by making the behaviour easy and then delivering timely triggers [1]. If you find yourself behaving in ways you don't reflectively endorse, your basic approach should be to flip the Fogg model upside down – avoid triggers and make it harder. In my own case, that's meant disabling notifications and blocking websites and apps. I also hacked a Chrome extension which applies the "avoid triggers and make it harder" idea to Gmail [2]. The extension has several thousand users, many of whom reclaim 30-60 minutes of focussed work each week which would otherwise be lost to compulsive inbox processing. [1] http://www.behaviormodel.org/ http://www.behaviormodel.org/ [2] https://inboxwhenready.org https://inboxwhenready.org
- danohu 9y ago
  Easier than avoiding triggers -- and almost as effective -- is just to delay the response. Let yourself check your phone, but only 10 minutes after you feel the urge to do so. This is much easier than complete abstinence, but breaks down the habit-forming link between trigger and instant gratification. And just as you say, it's something I started doing after reading about training [1] and inverting the priciples [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31052.Don_t_Shoot_the_Dog_ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31052.Don_t_Shoot_the_Do...
afarrell 9y ago
This is the reason why https://freedom.to/ https://freedom.to/ exists
achompas 9y ago
This is the thesis of Cal Newport’s “Deep Work.” It’s an interesting book, I recommend reading it.
dtornabene 9y ago
love that the take away to an article like this is "well this presents me with an opportunity!! I can use others weakness to my benefit!"

someonewhocar3s 9y ago

Sazzy response. Way to ignore the problem.

crypt1d 9y ago

Last year I went on a 2 week long entrepreneur-ish conference on a cruise ship. Due to satellite internet limitations, my phone/laptop usage was limited to 1-2hrs per day, usually in the evenings. Rest of the time I spent mingling, joining workshops, talks, or just having fun on the boat. Now mind you, I'm not a particularly social person. Being around people so much was very much out of my comfort zone, but it still felt great! I felt productive and relaxed at the same time, probably because I was able to focus on a single thing at the time, and wasn't being constantly distracted by notifications on my phone or emails and Slack conversations on my laptop. It was sort of a detox from the constant information bombardment of the digital age. I really need to do that again.

mgkimsal 9y ago
and... you were on a cruise ship. had a similar experience on a cruise ship a few years back, and I don't think the feelings were entirely just 'info detox'. You're in a physically different space, probably exposed to the elements more than you normally are day to day (more sunshine, etc). You're around a whole other set of people, many of whom are more relaxed than the normally are (because many are on 'vacation' of some sort). Normal issues of food shopping, housework, etc are taken care of for you (well, those concerns are replaced with other concerns, at minimum). So... agreed that the 'info detox' aspect is not bad, but I suspect that just doing an info detox in your 'regular life' wouldn't give you the same boost you experienced.

peterhartree 9y ago

> If this is true Then it also presents a unique opportunity. I.e. There should be a very real and observable productivity boost from being able to ignore B J Fogg, who gets brief mention in this article, teaches his students to cause behaviour by making the behaviour easy and then delivering timely triggers [1]. If you find yourself behaving in ways you don't reflectively endorse, your basic approach should be to flip the Fogg model upside down – avoid triggers and make it harder. In my own case, that's meant disabling notifications and blocking websites and apps. I also hacked a Chrome extension which applies the "avoid triggers and make it harder" idea to Gmail [2]. The extension has several thousand users, many of whom reclaim 30-60 minutes of focussed work each week which would otherwise be lost to compulsive inbox processing. [1] http://www.behaviormodel.org/ http://www.behaviormodel.org/ [2] https://inboxwhenready.org https://inboxwhenready.org

danohu 9y ago
Easier than avoiding triggers -- and almost as effective -- is just to delay the response. Let yourself check your phone, but only 10 minutes after you feel the urge to do so. This is much easier than complete abstinence, but breaks down the habit-forming link between trigger and instant gratification. And just as you say, it's something I started doing after reading about training [1] and inverting the priciples [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31052.Don_t_Shoot_the_Dog_ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31052.Don_t_Shoot_the_Do...

afarrell 9y ago

This is the reason why https://freedom.to/ https://freedom.to/ exists

achompas 9y ago

This is the thesis of Cal Newport’s “Deep Work.” It’s an interesting book, I recommend reading it.

dtornabene 9y ago

love that the take away to an article like this is "well this presents me with an opportunity!! I can use others weakness to my benefit!"