8 ms·

breaking the phone habit is imho one of the best things anybody can do these days. Phones often are an all-in-one coping mechanism for other issues: boredom, st

breaking the phone habit is imho one of the best things anybody can do these days. Phones often are an all-in-one coping mechanism for other issues: boredom, stress, loneliness, etc. One of the best things I ever did was get off all social media, force myself not to even pick up my phone except to respond to a call or text, and just confront the boredom. After a few minutes of no phone you find yourself actually doing things and focusing again. After a few days you wonder how you could ever have wasted so much time infinitely scrolling through videos or articles that you can't even remember the next day, let alone 4+ years later. In contrast, I've been able to make so many memories gaming, playing music, watching movies with an actual sense of immersion, art, reading, exercising, and so much more. The childlike sense of wonder and excitement that I had as a child all came back as soon as I learned to focus and be in the moment again

nine_k 6y ago
Boredom, as they say, makes you creative. So you can of course use your phone to cope with boredom — install a couple of good drawing / painting apps, music creation apps, study-something apps. Use them when bored. Just stay away from the endorphin-pedal games which teach you nothing and are not a work of art to be experienced. With that, a conscious act of putting down your phone and looking around is important. You can make it a habit without abandoning the phone altogether.
- IndySun 6y ago
  >Boredom, as they say, makes you creative. I have never heard this maxim. Is it well known? The Pet Shop Boys sang, I would never find myself feeling bored 'cause we were never being boring.
  - nine_k 6y ago
    (1) https://www.google.com/search?q=boredom%20required%20for%20creativity https://www.google.com/search?q=boredom%20required%20for%20c... (2) Ask any animal trainer, like a dog trainer.
    - IndySun 6y ago
      Aah, yes, of course. I'd call it 'blue sky thinking'. I definitely came at the expression and not what it was saying. Thank you.
an_opabinia 6y ago
> ...Phones often are an all-in-one coping mechanism for other issues While I agree in principle for healthy people, it's a waste of time, but for people for whom light entertainment is their medicine... would you rather they be drinking? This comes up a lot re: video game addiction. The jury's still out on the impact of social media and light entertainment (i.e. YouTube) on mental health. UK teens for example are doing far fewer drugs, getting pregnant from unsafe sex much less often, rising in school rankings, despite less sleep and higher levels of reported anxiety from watching more YouTube and Instagram. "Everything in moderation" is kind of reductionist, of course we'd prefer that an asinine activity whose harm must be marginally declining the more people use it, not less, for the average person, substitute a harmful one like, I don't know, smoking meth. That's definitely happening for some people.
- jjulius 6y ago
  >... but for people for whom light entertainment is their medicine... would you rather they be drinking? While I don't find anything wrong with light entertainment being one's medicine, why make the assumption that drinking is the next viable 'medicine' in line? Are there not countless alternatives to drinking to remedy "boredom, stress, loneliness, etc."? Picking up hobbies? Sports? Anything else? Edit: I want to clarify I'm not judging those who cope with alcohol - I'm 5 years sober, I've been there, I get it. I just don't know why we should assume OP wants people to become alcoholics.
  - mrcartmenez 6y ago
    These are all fair points reasonably made.
  - themacguffinman 6y ago
    Isn't a similarly low-effort activity like drinking the more likely alternative for the kind of person who relies heavily on social media to fill their lives? Higher effort activities like hobbies and sports and such are obviously healthier alternatives, but anyone can already do them and they probably would if they had any inclination to do them in the first place.
TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
> and just confront the boredom "If you are bored, you are not paying attention."
foobarian 6y ago
I realized that having an older phone (Nexus 6P) helps not use it because it is so slow and annoying to use that I dread having to interact with it. So I still have the necessary features like navigation, on-the-road connectivity, company VPN authentication etc. but past that don't get addicted to time wasters at all.
offtop5 6y ago
Reading a fantastic book called Digital Minimalism on this very subject. Back when I used social media I noticed I'd be very angry arguing with people I didn't even know. Never meet anyone with a job. Deleted all that crap, moved , and had an amazing partner( she had a JOB) within a month. Life is right here, if your at a coffee shop and you notice someone reading a book that seems interesting ask about it. Works out much more often than chatting with bots. Even when snapchatting with a "real" person, the "typing" notification felt like a raw anxiety machine. Now I only meet people in real life, text her once if she'd like to get dinner at 8 or so and then move on with my life. Feels really good to hop off the social media hamsterwheel. Me a few years ago: Gotta get more followers to get more likes to get more followers to get more likes to get more followers. Then maybe my matches will see how cool and popular I am. It's very much pointless. You'll never be popular enough. Without question I've removed the vast majority of stress from my life by ditching social media. Frankly my life is amazing. But if I'm staring at what other people have all day I'll never recognize it. Everyone will post 'just engaged' photos , no one is posting 'our marriage has been really rough, but I don't want to move back in with my parents'.
- earthboundkid 6y ago
  HN is social media.
  - incompatible 6y ago
    I don't think it would qualify, since there's no connection between users' profiles. You can't set up a "friends" list, or any other kind of group.
    - briefcomment 6y ago
      Regardless of whether it's social media or not, HN is a huge digital waste of time. Try to think of more than 10 posts that really improved your life over the years. Now realize that you probably look at more than 50 HN posts a day. I would spend much less time on HN, but it's an addiction, like most things digital.
bridanp 6y ago
It's sounds silly, but the way I've broken the phone addiction is with a watch. I've got it paired as a family member through my wife's phone, and it has a cell plan so the only phone number I have is through the watch. My work requires me to have a mobile "phone" and I get a stipend for having the service, so I'm required to have something. This serves that purpose, but for my mental health, the mindless scrolling and surfing are gone because the apps on this thing are too small for my middle age eyes to bother with. And with work internet access being restricted, I've pretty much broken the smartphone habit. Yes feels like an expensive way to break a habit. I agree, but all things factored in, it meets every requirement and gives me a lot of hours back in the day for what you mentioned: reading, exercising, study.
- mlac 6y ago
  This is also my experience. Since getting a watch (with LTE) I’m much more willing to leave my phone in the house or car on walks or when I’m out. I have a phone too - it’s just necessary for when I travel for work / if I need to do anything while away from the computer. I guess it’s phases of connectedness - an iPad let’s me be more mobile than my computer. My phone let’s me be more mobile than my iPad, and my watch covers the rest. Do I need this level of connectedness? Probably 3x per year. But those three times are absolutely critical and it gives me peace of mind if I’m on vacation - if my watch isn’t ringing I’m free to do whatever it is in front of me. I did the digital minimalism thing (and need to do it again soon), but a watch is a nice forcing function. And calls have to be short because they are on speaker phone (or EarPods / Bluetooth, which overall is a good setup). If apple keeps going the way they are going, I will need a very strong argument to get my kid a smartphone in 10 years when I can get them a watch that allows them to make calls, send limited texts, and not get wrapped up in social media / taking photos all the time.
- redisman 6y ago
  What watch? Apple? I like that idea
Waterluvian 6y ago
Boredom is amazing. I spent four hours today demolishing a deck alone. I was afraid to break my phone so I left it. Four hours of work without music or podcast. My brain went to all kinds of places and I solved like five different coding problems I was faced with at work. I should really bill my employer.
tommilukkarinen 6y ago
I am trying to cure myself with a surrogate. The surrogate is Facebook Oculus Quest VR. This might seem funny at first, but there are some advantages: while you stare at the screen, you also move at the same time, which I feel is important for health. The battery runs after an hour or so, and you have to put the device away. At this point I usually feel the need to do something again, but I'm no longer 'after work tired', and can do something productive like go jogging or do house chores. The experiment is still going on, I feel it is promising.

nine_k 6y ago

Boredom, as they say, makes you creative. So you can of course use your phone to cope with boredom — install a couple of good drawing / painting apps, music creation apps, study-something apps. Use them when bored. Just stay away from the endorphin-pedal games which teach you nothing and are not a work of art to be experienced. With that, a conscious act of putting down your phone and looking around is important. You can make it a habit without abandoning the phone altogether.

IndySun 6y ago
>Boredom, as they say, makes you creative. I have never heard this maxim. Is it well known? The Pet Shop Boys sang, I would never find myself feeling bored 'cause we were never being boring.
- nine_k 6y ago
  (1) https://www.google.com/search?q=boredom%20required%20for%20creativity https://www.google.com/search?q=boredom%20required%20for%20c... (2) Ask any animal trainer, like a dog trainer.
  - IndySun 6y ago
    Aah, yes, of course. I'd call it 'blue sky thinking'. I definitely came at the expression and not what it was saying. Thank you.

an_opabinia 6y ago

> ...Phones often are an all-in-one coping mechanism for other issues While I agree in principle for healthy people, it's a waste of time, but for people for whom light entertainment is their medicine... would you rather they be drinking? This comes up a lot re: video game addiction. The jury's still out on the impact of social media and light entertainment (i.e. YouTube) on mental health. UK teens for example are doing far fewer drugs, getting pregnant from unsafe sex much less often, rising in school rankings, despite less sleep and higher levels of reported anxiety from watching more YouTube and Instagram. "Everything in moderation" is kind of reductionist, of course we'd prefer that an asinine activity whose harm must be marginally declining the more people use it, not less, for the average person, substitute a harmful one like, I don't know, smoking meth. That's definitely happening for some people.

jjulius 6y ago
>... but for people for whom light entertainment is their medicine... would you rather they be drinking? While I don't find anything wrong with light entertainment being one's medicine, why make the assumption that drinking is the next viable 'medicine' in line? Are there not countless alternatives to drinking to remedy "boredom, stress, loneliness, etc."? Picking up hobbies? Sports? Anything else? Edit: I want to clarify I'm not judging those who cope with alcohol - I'm 5 years sober, I've been there, I get it. I just don't know why we should assume OP wants people to become alcoholics.
- mrcartmenez 6y ago
  These are all fair points reasonably made.
- themacguffinman 6y ago
  Isn't a similarly low-effort activity like drinking the more likely alternative for the kind of person who relies heavily on social media to fill their lives? Higher effort activities like hobbies and sports and such are obviously healthier alternatives, but anyone can already do them and they probably would if they had any inclination to do them in the first place.

TedDoesntTalk 6y ago

> and just confront the boredom "If you are bored, you are not paying attention."

foobarian 6y ago

I realized that having an older phone (Nexus 6P) helps not use it because it is so slow and annoying to use that I dread having to interact with it. So I still have the necessary features like navigation, on-the-road connectivity, company VPN authentication etc. but past that don't get addicted to time wasters at all.

offtop5 6y ago

Reading a fantastic book called Digital Minimalism on this very subject. Back when I used social media I noticed I'd be very angry arguing with people I didn't even know. Never meet anyone with a job. Deleted all that crap, moved , and had an amazing partner( she had a JOB) within a month. Life is right here, if your at a coffee shop and you notice someone reading a book that seems interesting ask about it. Works out much more often than chatting with bots. Even when snapchatting with a "real" person, the "typing" notification felt like a raw anxiety machine. Now I only meet people in real life, text her once if she'd like to get dinner at 8 or so and then move on with my life. Feels really good to hop off the social media hamsterwheel. Me a few years ago: Gotta get more followers to get more likes to get more followers to get more likes to get more followers. Then maybe my matches will see how cool and popular I am. It's very much pointless. You'll never be popular enough. Without question I've removed the vast majority of stress from my life by ditching social media. Frankly my life is amazing. But if I'm staring at what other people have all day I'll never recognize it. Everyone will post 'just engaged' photos , no one is posting 'our marriage has been really rough, but I don't want to move back in with my parents'.

earthboundkid 6y ago
HN is social media.
- incompatible 6y ago
  I don't think it would qualify, since there's no connection between users' profiles. You can't set up a "friends" list, or any other kind of group.
  - briefcomment 6y ago
    Regardless of whether it's social media or not, HN is a huge digital waste of time. Try to think of more than 10 posts that really improved your life over the years. Now realize that you probably look at more than 50 HN posts a day. I would spend much less time on HN, but it's an addiction, like most things digital.

bridanp 6y ago

It's sounds silly, but the way I've broken the phone addiction is with a watch. I've got it paired as a family member through my wife's phone, and it has a cell plan so the only phone number I have is through the watch. My work requires me to have a mobile "phone" and I get a stipend for having the service, so I'm required to have something. This serves that purpose, but for my mental health, the mindless scrolling and surfing are gone because the apps on this thing are too small for my middle age eyes to bother with. And with work internet access being restricted, I've pretty much broken the smartphone habit. Yes feels like an expensive way to break a habit. I agree, but all things factored in, it meets every requirement and gives me a lot of hours back in the day for what you mentioned: reading, exercising, study.

mlac 6y ago
This is also my experience. Since getting a watch (with LTE) I’m much more willing to leave my phone in the house or car on walks or when I’m out. I have a phone too - it’s just necessary for when I travel for work / if I need to do anything while away from the computer. I guess it’s phases of connectedness - an iPad let’s me be more mobile than my computer. My phone let’s me be more mobile than my iPad, and my watch covers the rest. Do I need this level of connectedness? Probably 3x per year. But those three times are absolutely critical and it gives me peace of mind if I’m on vacation - if my watch isn’t ringing I’m free to do whatever it is in front of me. I did the digital minimalism thing (and need to do it again soon), but a watch is a nice forcing function. And calls have to be short because they are on speaker phone (or EarPods / Bluetooth, which overall is a good setup). If apple keeps going the way they are going, I will need a very strong argument to get my kid a smartphone in 10 years when I can get them a watch that allows them to make calls, send limited texts, and not get wrapped up in social media / taking photos all the time.
redisman 6y ago
What watch? Apple? I like that idea

Waterluvian 6y ago

Boredom is amazing. I spent four hours today demolishing a deck alone. I was afraid to break my phone so I left it. Four hours of work without music or podcast. My brain went to all kinds of places and I solved like five different coding problems I was faced with at work. I should really bill my employer.

tommilukkarinen 6y ago

I am trying to cure myself with a surrogate. The surrogate is Facebook Oculus Quest VR. This might seem funny at first, but there are some advantages: while you stare at the screen, you also move at the same time, which I feel is important for health. The battery runs after an hour or so, and you have to put the device away. At this point I usually feel the need to do something again, but I'm no longer 'after work tired', and can do something productive like go jogging or do house chores. The experiment is still going on, I feel it is promising.