I think total abstinence is tough with respect to the Internet in general, but it's very possible (if tough and/or scary initially) for social media use. I think literally everyone benefits from some stretches of total abstinence; if you haven't gone on a long camping or outdoors trip with zero service, make it a goal ( I'm aware that the author has!)
I don't like Twitter. Never have. Don't use it much. It is just a snark machine. But I do look at trending stories every now and then. I am paying attention to Twittergate for example. I don't spend any time on Instagram. I don't like Facebook because of the algorithms that feed groupthink. However, Facebook has a connection to all of my friends. I am not hooked on the app, the app has hooked me by exploiting my friends. Where I am hooked a bit is videos. Facebook has a video feed, and then there is Youtube, Rumble, Vemo and others sites. I will never have the TikTok app installed, but TikTok videos show up in other feeds. I used to read more... now I watch more videos. Many of them are educational, but some are just crap entertainment. Youtube and Facebook have gotten way more aggressive on advertising, and this is causing me to stop watching... because generally the value of the video does not rise to me being forced to watch a 15 or 25 second ad.
My real screen addiction is Substack and other news sources that have open comment capability. Because there is the ability to learn by reading the piece, and the commenting and then responding to replies on the comments... which all enhance learning and understanding.
Frankly, I think that is positive. Although my wife would prefer we go on more walks and play more cards.
Great article. If you think it's bad now, just wait until AI really kicks in. And it won't take long. The world of AI has grown and changed immensely in the LAST FEW WEEKS. Literally. Text-to-image and chatbot AI is taking great leaps forward literally almost overnight.
The people supplying addicts with tech know what you want. AI will know what you want before you do.
until now I hadn’t read a book in 10 years after getting my first iPhone. the smart phone had shorted out my attention span so badly that I couldn’t read more than 2 pages. I used to be a voracious reader.
now I’ve read at least 8 books.
Smart Phones are straight up Evil.
I can tell U as a recovering heroin addict, the addiction is very real. different. but real.
once I got clean from drugs, I quickly realized I was also addicted to my damn phone.
it was kinda pathetic.
at least with heroin I felt really good half the time.
with the phone it’s closer to 5-10% of my day, haha...
I think the next big step is going to be augmented reality. Instead of a phone that people look at, we'll be able to tune each other out with glasses that project what we want to see.
I think total abstinence is tough with respect to the Internet in general, but it's very possible (if tough and/or scary initially) for social media use. I think literally everyone benefits from some stretches of total abstinence; if you haven't gone on a long camping or outdoors trip with zero service, make it a goal ( I'm aware that the author has!)
It took several paragraphs thinking, I’m not on my phone! before I recognized that hey, I’m on my ipad, at least as long as the article says.
I don't like Twitter. Never have. Don't use it much. It is just a snark machine. But I do look at trending stories every now and then. I am paying attention to Twittergate for example. I don't spend any time on Instagram. I don't like Facebook because of the algorithms that feed groupthink. However, Facebook has a connection to all of my friends. I am not hooked on the app, the app has hooked me by exploiting my friends. Where I am hooked a bit is videos. Facebook has a video feed, and then there is Youtube, Rumble, Vemo and others sites. I will never have the TikTok app installed, but TikTok videos show up in other feeds. I used to read more... now I watch more videos. Many of them are educational, but some are just crap entertainment. Youtube and Facebook have gotten way more aggressive on advertising, and this is causing me to stop watching... because generally the value of the video does not rise to me being forced to watch a 15 or 25 second ad.
My real screen addiction is Substack and other news sources that have open comment capability. Because there is the ability to learn by reading the piece, and the commenting and then responding to replies on the comments... which all enhance learning and understanding.
Frankly, I think that is positive. Although my wife would prefer we go on more walks and play more cards.
Great article. If you think it's bad now, just wait until AI really kicks in. And it won't take long. The world of AI has grown and changed immensely in the LAST FEW WEEKS. Literally. Text-to-image and chatbot AI is taking great leaps forward literally almost overnight.
The people supplying addicts with tech know what you want. AI will know what you want before you do.
I had to finally walk away and get a flip phone.
that was six months ago.
it was life changing.
until now I hadn’t read a book in 10 years after getting my first iPhone. the smart phone had shorted out my attention span so badly that I couldn’t read more than 2 pages. I used to be a voracious reader.
now I’ve read at least 8 books.
Smart Phones are straight up Evil.
I can tell U as a recovering heroin addict, the addiction is very real. different. but real.
once I got clean from drugs, I quickly realized I was also addicted to my damn phone.
it was kinda pathetic.
at least with heroin I felt really good half the time.
with the phone it’s closer to 5-10% of my day, haha...
I think the next big step is going to be augmented reality. Instead of a phone that people look at, we'll be able to tune each other out with glasses that project what we want to see.
Talk about disassociation...