Digital Detox Accountability Report for February
2 months into my Year of Digital Detox. How's it going?
Time for the Digital Detox Accountability Report for February! I’ve decided to update my weekly and monthly notes in Obsidian to better track this throughout the month. As a result, this should be more complete and more accurate!
As a reminder, the main tenets of my yearly theme are:
Using devices less
Leave phone in car more
Rely on GPS less
Read older books. More philosophy and biographical
Read books about doing things in the real world. How coffee is made, cigars, other crafts
Turn off symptoms radar/don’t let Oura Ring dictate how I feel
Let’s see how it’s going!
What’s Going Well?
This month saw a great continuation in my attempts to digital detox. I wrote at length about how I’m giving up Amazon for Lent. That’s been going well so far, and I feel like I’m already thinking past Easter to see how I can continue this trend.
I’m also extending it to other “instant gratification” apps, like Uber Eats1.
I’ve read a lot more; my challenge for the month was to figure out how I can manage my energy better so that I could read in the evening after the kids go to bed. I don’t think I made a concerted effort, but I did read in the evening a few times throughout the month.
I’m about 65% of the way through The Iliad, which is like 700 pages long. I want to finish it before I travel on March 14th.
I have left my phone in the car several times. This was a big one for me, and something I’ve caused a stir over on LinkedIn. I was already leaving it in a locker at the gym, but there were a few times where I actually went out into the world without it. And you know what?
No one died.
I really enjoyed the Olympics. I know this isn’t strictly digital detoxing. But watching human beings demonstrate incredible feats of physicality felt like it. I also learned a bunch about the Olympics, so that goal was also fulfilled!
Finally, I purchased a non-streaming, downloads only music player. Now I have a completely disconnected way to listen to music, and as an added bonus, I actually own a lot of the music I listen to.
Overall, I would call February a bigger success than January. That said, not everything went perfectly.
Where Can I Improve?
I did end up logging into a work account on my phone. I was out doing a job away from my computer and had some obligations I had to attend to. I don’t want to do that at all, so in the future, I need to manage both my time and expectations a little better.
I also want to reduce my dependency on sleeping with headphones. I’m susceptible to a lot of noise/distractions, and as a result I’ve been watching TV or listening to YouTube as I fall asleep. I’d like to try harder to not do that…especially since ultimately I’d like to sleep with my phone in a different room.
Speaking of, I’ve been using my phone at the dinner table too much — not during dinner per se, but too much. I’m in a bad habit of eating while I watch TV and vice versa. Having a device-free zone in the dining room would go a long way to breaking that really strong association.
I also didn’t Brick my phone more…though I have some bigger ideas in the works with respect to contextual use of my devices.
What Do I Resolve to Do in the Next Month to Further My Goals?
I think there are 3 major areas in which I can advance my goals for March:
Continue not to use Amazon or instant gratification apps
Sleep without relying on listening to/watching something
Give my iPhone a revamp similar to (but definitely not the same as) my iPad
The first should be easy, since it’s what I’m doing for Lent too. But I’m also traveling for a week in March; I will need Uber…I just need to remember I don’t also need Uber Eats.
#2 will be hard, no doubt. I’ve done this my entire life pretty much. I hear everything, my brain runs wild, and I have tinnitus. I’m going to have to ease into this one.
And for #3, I will probably spend a lot of time thinking about the contexts in which I use my phone. I can’t turn off all notifications, and there are several legitimately useful apps (like Flighty). It won’t be as locked down, but it will be as locked down as it can be.
What’s One Big Problem I Should Try to Solve Related to Digital Detox?
Picking up the Innioasis Y1 got me thinking more about owning my media. If all of my streaming services disappeared right now, my ability to consume the music I want to listen to would be severely degraded2. So my big problem:
How am I going to own more of my media?
I want to own all of the media I consume, and digitize my movies and music. I’ve begun digitizing my music. But I have lots of DVDs that need some love.
I also picked up a UGREEN NAS over the summer, which has the ability to stream owned media. I also upgraded it to have 20TB of storage…so I have the space.
Alright — that’s it! What do you think? Comment and let me know.
I don’t use these much, but I am very susceptible when it’s super cold out, or when I travel.
Books, Movies, and TV shows would actually be OK