3 simple steps to a weekly digital detox \ stacker news ~alter

I've done this every Sunday for quite a few weeks in a row now. A digital detox - in other words, no random surfing/apps for one day a week - is a tremendously valuable thing. It's amazing how your mind clears right up.

And you realize that there's an evil little imp, called "let me just check this really quick", sitting on your shoulder all the time, and really messing with your focus.

For me it's both phone and laptop, they're equal in terms of time-stealing. It's important to take a break from BOTH of them.

Here's the steps I took. The goal was to avoid mindless distractions on at least one day a week, but still use the computer/phone as a TOOL - one that I control.

1- Make sure you can access the tools you need, without the internet. This is a preliminary step and may be time-consuming. But it's worth it. I want to USE my laptop/phone as a TOOL, I don't want to be used by them.

I used to have all the docs I regularly used on Google Docs, and used multiple note-taking/organizing applications that required connectivity. No more. I've switched everything to just plain text files, and use Notepad++ extensively, especially the folding feature. It's not that hard - honestly the fancy tools are not that much of an improvement.

2- Turn off internet on your laptop. I experimented with a few options, and found that turning off the network adaptor in Powershell works best on a Windows computer. Here's how:

Start powershell (must be run as administrator)
Run this command - Disable-NetAdapter -Name "Wi-Fi" -confirm:$false
(to connect again, run this command) Enable-NetAdapter -Name "Wi-Fi" -confirm:$false

You might be able to easily go into your bios and switch off your network adapter. I can do that sometimes, but it was frustratingly tough to get into the bios setup mode - my computer was temperamental that way. The powershell command always works.

And Airplane mode is just too easy to bypass - it's just one click, on my laptop.

3- Switch to an alternative, limited launcher on your phone. I use an Android (running GrapheneOS) and installed the Slim Launcher app. And it's easy to switch the launcher, just search for launcher in the settings.

Slim Launcher is a minimalist, black and white launcher app. I've set up some basic "tool" apps (phone, texting, a few others), but no browser, social media, anything like that. If you have notifications turned on from other apps, and they bubble up, you CAN get into those other apps. I don't generally have notifications turned on, so that's not a problem for me.

And there you have it. You'll note that I'm still using my phone and laptop during the digital detox - I do that because they're awesome tools. But that's what they are, at least on this one day of the week. They're my tools, that I control - I'm not controlled by them with infinite scroll or other distractions.

And there you have it - my prescription for more focus, calmness, and time, and better mental health.

89 sats \ 1 reply \ @TheMorningStar 12h

I've done it. I just fixed timings for being online. Otherwise the internet is off mostly it's around off for 20 hours.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 OP 3h

Thanks for the note.

I'd be curious, if you're willing to write it up, about the details of your setup. For instance, do you have a scheduled task to turn on/off the connectivity on your laptop, or how do you do it? How do you have things set up for your phone - do you also turn off connectivity on it? Do you need internet for your work?

68 sats \ 1 reply \ @LibertasBR 24 Feb

This guide is going to be very useful for me because I really want to detox from digital life.

My problem isn’t even social media, but rather articles and content about things I’m interested in. Sometimes I think, “It’s just a quick read,” and before I know it, an hour has passed.

This approach of using technology as a tool is a great insight, especially for the changes I want to make this year—of which there are many. Specifically, I want to shift towards using more private, decentralized, and open-source tools. Current platforms are great, they work well and integrate seamlessly, and that’s exactly where the trap of privacy loss lies.

Keep updating on your progress and new methods!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 OP 24 Feb

That's exactly my issue. Like you, my reading is actually on topics that I'm interested in, sometimes even obsessed with.

But that doesn't make it a good use of time. I often do too much reading, too little doing.

And that's what I'm trying to fix. It's amazing - if it's not convenient to go into the endless scroll options, your mind goes in different directions. You see things around the house that you should do. You pick up the rubik's cube, and try to solve it. You call friends you haven't talked to in a long time.