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For anybody interested in being more present while walking, I recommend photography. You will become more aware of your surroundings if you look for cool thing

For anybody interested in being more present while walking, I recommend photography. You will become more aware of your surroundings if you look for cool things to photograph. I recomand using an actual camera, the quality of it is irrelevant. Using your phone will be a distraction since you open it to take a photo, but see a notification from x and then you will at least think about how to respond, even if you don’t open it.

Zambyte 3y ago
Related to this: I have been working towards not carrying a phone around at all. Being a hyperconnected and reachable as we tend to be nowadays does not feel healthy. I recently set up a JMP Chat account so I can proxy SMS and calls to my XMPP account.
- blitzar 3y ago
  Super advanced pro level - keep the phone and just don't spend the whole time playing with it. Also when a notification comes in just ignore it. If it is important, they will leave a message. It's like having a cigarette in your mouth, a lighter in your hand and not smoking - if you can do that then you have truly kicked your addiction.
  - Zambyte 3y ago
    But why not get rid of the phone when I feel like I'll get to the same result (breaking my addiction) way faster than keeping it? I've tried not spending my time on my phone for years. Guess what I'm doing right now.
  - werrett 3y ago
    Not to be much of a shill but iOS’ focuses are great for this. Create a ‘chillin’ mode that kills all notifications and still lets you use maps. I am sure Android has similar.
  - ehnto 3y ago
    Cheeky intermediate hack, put it on silent and in your backpack. Helps kick the habit by making it less accessible. You have enough time for self-awareness and shame if you have to take off your backpack to get to it.
- Brajeshwar 3y ago
  The experiment part (proxy to XMPP) is interesting. Here is how I did the crude and manual way. - There are no social apps (Instagram, LinkedIn, etc) on my phone. I prune apps that I do not use, once a while and have set an arbitrary limit of less than 42 non-Apple apps on the phone. I will keep reducing that number and will negotiate my mind to less than 10. - The first thing I did on any new installation is disable notification[1]. The only notification I have on the phone is the critical ones such as Health, Calendar. I have been doing this for more than a decade. - I carry a phone but it does not even ring[2], except for some of my family and friends. I have left/forgotten and intentionally left the phone while walking around the neighborhood and had never missed it. I do have a watch on, at almost all the time and that also allowed me to de-tether the phone much more. 1. https://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activities-stop-notifications/ https://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activi... 2. https://phone.wtf https://phone.wtf
Brajeshwar 3y ago
I agree with the photography idea. I used to walk around Bombay with a camera just to shoot, which I might have missed on a general commute. With the improvement in phone cameras, I let go of everything since the iPhone 6. Of late, I have meaning to get back with an actual camera and start with street and landscape photography. I’m jealous of three of my friends: - A street photographer with a primary focus on London - A worldwide landscape photographer from Nepal - And travel photographer from Bangalore They are all non-professionals, but their work is well-praised, and I won’t be surprised if you have seen them, too. The idea of framing your view in pictures gives you the right amount of encouragement to walk a lot more. Recently, I walked about 15 km on a weekend, taking photos of the eerily empty weekends in San Francisco. https://www.instagram.com/p/CtpbIlJujAH/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CtpbIlJujAH/ Of course, my phone never makes a noise - no notifications.
Moldoteck 3y ago
Totally agree. And ideally it should be either something small like with 4/3 sensor or small aspc like fuji/sony/canon/panasonic. And it doesn't need to be expensive. Second hand Sony a6000 with a pancake lens can do wonders and doesn't cost a ton of money. Or the lumix gx80/gx85. Or if you are into film, idk Rollei 35 are small, or maybe something from Olympus if you want something automatic. *I'm not a professional photographer, just sharing my opinion, but I go on walks pretty frequently with a camera with no expectations, it's just more fun
janandonly 3y ago
After reading Digital Minimalism (or, possibly, already before it) I decided to switch off most notifications. If someone needs to reach me, just call. The calls from known numbers will come through. All else is mostly useless anyway.

Zambyte 3y ago

Related to this: I have been working towards not carrying a phone around at all. Being a hyperconnected and reachable as we tend to be nowadays does not feel healthy. I recently set up a JMP Chat account so I can proxy SMS and calls to my XMPP account.

blitzar 3y ago
Super advanced pro level - keep the phone and just don't spend the whole time playing with it. Also when a notification comes in just ignore it. If it is important, they will leave a message. It's like having a cigarette in your mouth, a lighter in your hand and not smoking - if you can do that then you have truly kicked your addiction.
- Zambyte 3y ago
  But why not get rid of the phone when I feel like I'll get to the same result (breaking my addiction) way faster than keeping it? I've tried not spending my time on my phone for years. Guess what I'm doing right now.
- werrett 3y ago
  Not to be much of a shill but iOS’ focuses are great for this. Create a ‘chillin’ mode that kills all notifications and still lets you use maps. I am sure Android has similar.
- ehnto 3y ago
  Cheeky intermediate hack, put it on silent and in your backpack. Helps kick the habit by making it less accessible. You have enough time for self-awareness and shame if you have to take off your backpack to get to it.
Brajeshwar 3y ago
The experiment part (proxy to XMPP) is interesting. Here is how I did the crude and manual way. - There are no social apps (Instagram, LinkedIn, etc) on my phone. I prune apps that I do not use, once a while and have set an arbitrary limit of less than 42 non-Apple apps on the phone. I will keep reducing that number and will negotiate my mind to less than 10. - The first thing I did on any new installation is disable notification[1]. The only notification I have on the phone is the critical ones such as Health, Calendar. I have been doing this for more than a decade. - I carry a phone but it does not even ring[2], except for some of my family and friends. I have left/forgotten and intentionally left the phone while walking around the neighborhood and had never missed it. I do have a watch on, at almost all the time and that also allowed me to de-tether the phone much more. 1. https://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activities-stop-notifications/ https://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activi... 2. https://phone.wtf https://phone.wtf

Brajeshwar 3y ago

I agree with the photography idea. I used to walk around Bombay with a camera just to shoot, which I might have missed on a general commute. With the improvement in phone cameras, I let go of everything since the iPhone 6. Of late, I have meaning to get back with an actual camera and start with street and landscape photography. I’m jealous of three of my friends: - A street photographer with a primary focus on London - A worldwide landscape photographer from Nepal - And travel photographer from Bangalore They are all non-professionals, but their work is well-praised, and I won’t be surprised if you have seen them, too. The idea of framing your view in pictures gives you the right amount of encouragement to walk a lot more. Recently, I walked about 15 km on a weekend, taking photos of the eerily empty weekends in San Francisco. https://www.instagram.com/p/CtpbIlJujAH/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CtpbIlJujAH/ Of course, my phone never makes a noise - no notifications.

Moldoteck 3y ago

Totally agree. And ideally it should be either something small like with 4/3 sensor or small aspc like fuji/sony/canon/panasonic. And it doesn't need to be expensive. Second hand Sony a6000 with a pancake lens can do wonders and doesn't cost a ton of money. Or the lumix gx80/gx85. Or if you are into film, idk Rollei 35 are small, or maybe something from Olympus if you want something automatic. *I'm not a professional photographer, just sharing my opinion, but I go on walks pretty frequently with a camera with no expectations, it's just more fun

janandonly 3y ago

After reading Digital Minimalism (or, possibly, already before it) I decided to switch off most notifications. If someone needs to reach me, just call. The calls from known numbers will come through. All else is mostly useless anyway.