Digital Detox Accountability Report for April
Time for the Digital Detox Accountability Report for April! I feel like a lot is in flux — there’s a lot of good that happened…but definitely some improvements needed. I also consider the charge of this publication.
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?
I bricked my phone a lot more in April. That was a huge win. I’m checking is less when I wake up, and I’m not using it as much when I go to sleep. I left my phone behind more too. Running into stores, going to the gym, or even for errands. I plan on going on more walks without it next.
I sat in silence more. I went on walks without headphones, or just sat without music or noise. I’d like to do more of that too. Tinnitus makes hard sometimes, but I suspect there are some ways I can fix that.
Though Lent ended, I still haven’t purchased anything from Amazon. I’m completely reluctant to go back and have opted to buy more from stores. When I couldn’t find something IRL, I questioned how badly I needed it.
And a couple of miscellaneous notes:
I’ve had cash on me more often.
I’m going to confession more. This isn’t really part of it, but waiting for confession and then the act requires quite reflection. It’s another place where I’m leaving my phone behind.
Where Can I Improve?
Admittedly, while I did a lot of good for the goal, I feel like I took a few steps back.
I didn’t do any appreciable reading. Walden is a slog and I haven’t had much desire to read it. I think I need to put it down for a bit.
Despite bricking my phone, I’m still relying on falling asleep with something...though I’m not wearing headphones as much. I haven’t replaced my sleep headphones and the AirPods are uncomfortable.
I haven’t written here as much as I’d like to. I’m fully focused on the business so that’s OK, but I do want this blog to be a different outlet that my other content properties. It feels like everything’s converging a bit.
I’m using AI more again — though I think this has helped me solidify my philosophy around using it. However, as a result, I’ve been on my laptop at night a lot more. I don’t want AI to encroach on my actual work, so I’m experimenting outside of work hours —especially on nights when my wife has grad school work.
The biggest struggle has been learning and writing about the real world, which was one of the original charges of the theme and this blog. I think I need to adjust my approach to writing and learning…
What Do I Resolve to Do in the Next Month to Further My Goals?
A few simple resolutions for May:
Go on walks more. Shouldn’t be too hard now that the weather is getting nicer.
Get back into a reading habit.
Adjust the writing schedule for Paper & Smoke to make it more of a conduit and forcing function for the yearly theme
What’s One Big Problem I Should Try to Solve Related to Digital Detox?
Restate and reframe the real mission of Paper and Smoke. I spent the last 2 months focusing on my business content strategy. How does this fit into that and help it? Or is it somethign totally different?
I thinl this a better schedule:
Week 1: Accountability update on digital detox
Week 2: Observation about society/tech/digital
Week 3: Analog Hobby / Highlight
Week 4: Recommended Reading
Alright — that’s it! What do you think? Comment and let me know.