NYT Reporter 'Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain' (msn.com) 145
"It's an unnerving sensation, being alone with your thoughts in the year 2019," writes New York Times technology columnist Kevin Roose, in an article shared by DogDude. "I don't love referring to what we have as an 'addiction.' That seems too sterile and clinical to describe what's happening to our brains in the smartphone era."
We might someday evolve the correct biological hardware to live in harmony with portable supercomputers that satisfy our every need and connect us to infinite amounts of stimulation. But for most of us, it hasn't happened yet... [S]ometime last year, I crossed the invisible line into problem territory. My symptoms were all the typical ones: I found myself incapable of reading books, watching full-length movies or having long uninterrupted conversations. Social media made me angry and anxious, and even the digital spaces I once found soothing (group texts, podcasts, YouTube k-holes) weren't helping...
Mostly, I became aware of how profoundly uncomfortable I am with stillness. For years, I've used my phone every time I've had a spare moment in an elevator or a boring meeting. I listen to podcasts and write emails on the subway. I watch YouTube videos while folding laundry. I even use an app to pretend to meditate. If I was going to repair my brain, I needed to practice doing nothing.
Another science journalist helped him through "phone rehab," and "now, the physical world excites me, too -- the one that has room for boredom, idle hands and space for thinking." After a final 48 hour digital detox, "I also felt twinges of anger -- at myself, for missing out on this feeling of restorative boredom for so many years; at the engineers in Silicon Valley who spend their days profitably exploiting our cognitive weaknesses; at the entire phone-industrial complex that has convinced us that a six-inch glass-and-steel rectangle is the ideal conduit for worldly experiences...
"Steve Jobs wasn't exaggerating when he described the iPhone as a kind of magical object, and it's truly wild that in the span of a few years, we've managed to turn these amazing talismanic tools into stress-inducing albatrosses. It's as if scientists had invented a pill that gave us the ability to fly, only to find out that it also gave us dementia."
Mostly, I became aware of how profoundly uncomfortable I am with stillness. For years, I've used my phone every time I've had a spare moment in an elevator or a boring meeting. I listen to podcasts and write emails on the subway. I watch YouTube videos while folding laundry. I even use an app to pretend to meditate. If I was going to repair my brain, I needed to practice doing nothing.
Another science journalist helped him through "phone rehab," and "now, the physical world excites me, too -- the one that has room for boredom, idle hands and space for thinking." After a final 48 hour digital detox, "I also felt twinges of anger -- at myself, for missing out on this feeling of restorative boredom for so many years; at the engineers in Silicon Valley who spend their days profitably exploiting our cognitive weaknesses; at the entire phone-industrial complex that has convinced us that a six-inch glass-and-steel rectangle is the ideal conduit for worldly experiences...
"Steve Jobs wasn't exaggerating when he described the iPhone as a kind of magical object, and it's truly wild that in the span of a few years, we've managed to turn these amazing talismanic tools into stress-inducing albatrosses. It's as if scientists had invented a pill that gave us the ability to fly, only to find out that it also gave us dementia."
Someday... (Score:5, Insightful)
For others of us, it happened a long time ago. I grew up computing, I met my first girlfriend in a BBS chat way way back in 1993 or so, and the internets are my happy place. Maybe that's the difference?
I find I can still do all of those things happily, but the people around me can't manage any of them. And I'm plugged in more or less constantly.
You're using them wrong. Stop watching stuff that pisses you off.
That would drive me nuts. My memory has always been craptacular, and I'd forget what I wanted to look up while I was thinking about "what else".
How about just selectively omitting the outrage porn that seems to be the big problem for most people? Drop Vice first, bunch of sensationalist wankers. Gawker used to be the big problem, but then HULKAMANIA RULED.
Re:Someday... (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah its weird, I grew up connected, early 90s AOL and was hooked immediately. I've been over social media for nearly a decade. I rarely log in, maybe 3 or 4 times a year. Youtube on the otherhand has DESTROYED TV for me. But im not really sure thats a bad thing. I watch tech, wood working and car stuff. I was able to change my clutch purely from Youtube, I feel like its an evolution of media. Going back to TV is like going back to dialup.
Re: Someday... (Score:1)
I have done the same thing, even though it wasn't until much later (2005 ish) that I first got online.
I do it because I really can't stand the ads on TV any more. To watch an hour long show, it feels like I am forced to watch 30 minutes or more of commercials. That has destroyed people's ability to focus more than anything else. And having cut back to almost not watching TV at all, I have noticed that I simply lack the endurance to sit through so much crap. It has to be built up to in order for people not t
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Re:Someday... (Score:4, Interesting)
We might someday evolve the correct biological hardware to live in harmony with portable supercomputers that satisfy our every need and connect us to infinite amounts of stimulation. But for most of us, it hasn't happened yet...
For others of us, it happened a long time ago. I grew up computing, I met my first girlfriend in a BBS chat way way back in 1993 or so, and the internets are my happy place. Maybe that's the difference?
I've spent.... well, a considerable amount of time in front of a computer, on the Internet and on my smartphone. When I first got my smartphone I got more or less addicted to Angry Birds, like if there was ever a dull moment I was on my phone. I don't like being bored, but never being bored brought my tolerance down to nothing. Like if a movie or a conversation had a dull moment, I'd want to pick up my phone and fill it with something. It was almost like inflicting on yourself an attention deficit disorder, even though I've never had one in the past.
Truth is, the only reason society accepts that is that automation has pretty much eliminated all the extremely routine tasks. I remember making firewood with my dad, it was pretty much the same over and over - fell a tree, cut it into segments, break down those segments into sticks of firewood. Over and over and over again. It was productive, but it was never exciting. It used to be totally legitimate work, here's an axe so swing it to chop firewood. Chop. Chop. Chop. Chop. We had a gas driven chopper but it was still like do this 1000x. And it was somehow okay, today I'd die from boredom.
Re: Someday... (Score:2, Insightful)
When I did stuff like that, my mind wandered and I could imagine all kinds of stuff. The more free time I had, the more imaginative I became and the less bored.
I couldn't imagine being in a world where imagination was lost and constant stimulation from outside stuff was required to stave off boredom. Who has the energy for that?
Re:Someday... (Score:5, Insightful)
You're using them wrong. Stop watching stuff that pisses you off.
This is my personal bias, obviously, but - I think when people talk about being "addicted to their cell phones" they are really talking about being addicted to the constant feedback loop of social media. It can even happen here on Slashdot... ever find yourself checking your comments multiple times, looking to see if you've gotten any new replies?
I'm not consistent about it, but I do try to limit my time spent with social technology. I gave up Facebook a number of years ago when it became obvious that 1) Zuckerberg is basically an evil manipulative person, and 2) the constant, shallow social sharing wasn't really keeping me in touch with people in any meaningful way. I use Twitter only sporadically, and mainly as a consumer of sports news. Honestly, the one that's giving me the most trouble is right here on this website... I'm here more than I probably should be, but I also think Slashdot is fairly benign - and I do occasionally learn something here.
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It can even happen here on Slashdot... ever find yourself checking your comments multiple times, looking to see if you've gotten any new replies?
Hell yes, I've been doing it today. But then, I've been doing laundry, and being interrupted repeatedly in other ways as well. I can't concentrate on anything important, so I'm Slashdotting, among other things.
I'm here more than I probably should be, but I also think Slashdot is fairly benign - and I do occasionally learn something here.
Yep, every so often, you find a gemstone between your toes while you march through the field of cow pies. I actually learn a lot on Facebook these days, but it's a function of which groups I spend my time in. I also do a lot of teaching, which doesn't make me any money, but does generate goodwill
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First rule of internet chat: never turn on message notifications.
Maybe they replied, maybe they didn't. Who cares? If I have time when I'm clicking on it, I'll click on it. If not, not.
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Stop watching stuff that pisses you off.
Pretty sure you hit it right there.
I've been plugged in since the late 80s and on my device for many hours a day. Was never interested in Social Media stuff but had a Facebook login from back in the day. I would log in once every couple months and add any "friends" that found me.
About a year ago I suddenly found that I was logging into Facebook several times a day to read political stuff that showed up on my feed. I started to get more agitated in general and got sucked into various FB political argument
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I've tried telling people this; stop reading things that piss you off, etc. and they turn it around saying that it's important to remain informed politically because we are in dire times.
While that may be true, there's a difference between remaining informed and constantly seeing the information every waking hour until you get angry and it adds stress to your life. There's very little any of us can do about politics, so there's no point in upsetting ourselves about it.
I've found a happy medium, staying info
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Spectacular algorithm. If you know that drinking three pints and three whiskey shooters per day makes you feel unwell, try drinking four pints and two whiskey shooters (do you really think that spooling some yellow police tape around the outrage-porn crop circle would result in less total consumption?)
And if that's not enough, I'm sure you'll propose getting rid of another whiskey shooter. (To also be repla
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For others of us, it happened a long time ago. I grew up computing, I met my first girlfriend in a BBS chat way way back in 1993 or so, and the internets are my happy place. Maybe that's the difference?
I find I can still do all of those things happily, but the people around me can't manage any of them. And I'm plugged in more or less constantly.
You're using them wrong. Stop watching stuff that pisses you off.
This, a thousand times this.
Not in the history of public media have we ever had so much control over what we do and do not see.
It's not like the bad old days where you could accidentally be exposed to things because they were broadcast, in the 90's you didn't have any control if Rikki Lake or Peirs Morgan came onto your television set. That decision was made by someone else and if it pissed you off you couldn't change it. Because TV pissed me off so much I stopped watching it. With the internet, conte
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Bad troll. No points awarded.
Happy medium... (Score:3)
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Re: Happy medium... (Score:1)
I only pay $35 with no contract for voice with enough data that I have never hit the cap. I think it's 5gb.
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just for a bit of context, what country is that,I need to look up the median icome to see if that is actually as hheap as il looks compareed to plams here in Norway, I suspect it might be
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keep the data plan, phone is useful tool sometimes. happy medium, just turn the ring/alert volume off and read a book or do exercise.
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Unfortunately most communication done on a phone pretty much requires the data plan.
Okay, with the exception of non-VOIP voice (which many don't like doing anymore) and SMS (which only Americans w/o foreign friends/relatives think is good... everyone else in the world uses some sort of data-based messaging solution).
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I have no problem with the data-plan. Main uses: Access my calendar (read only), occasionally check my email, like 3-4 times a day and use the phone as a hot-spot for my laptop. I also carry old-fashioned paper and that is what I used to make notes in meetings.
The online-junkies are really doing it to themselves. Time for them to grow up.
Re: Hard for some, not for others (Score:1)
Stockholm Syndrome (Score:2)
I can already predict the defensive hue and cry against this reporter's message.
Re:Stockholm Syndrome (Score:5, Insightful)
Or, maybe some of us just see the phone as a useful tool, and aren't enslaved by the damned thing.
Seriously, how many "I'm abandoning x technology/platform/company" have we read about in the past few months? Is 2019's theme going to be tech reporters telling us how they unplugged because they don't have the mental fortitude to say "no" to whatever they're breathlessly consuming at the expense of their well-being?
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The people you're reading about actually have developed the mental fortitude required – that's why they were able to self-identify a behavioral problem and fix it. It's usually written up as a warning to the people who don't.
Re: "Portable supercomputers" (Score:1)
Right, the engineers (Score:2)
at the engineers in Silicon Valley who spend their days profitably exploiting our cognitive weaknesses
If they were that good at that, I bet the 'socially awkward nerd' stereotype would have reversed itself a decade ago. It's not the engineers you have to worry about.
Re:Right, the engineers (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is you. Lots of us manage balanced lives using our electronic gadgets without being obsessively dependent on them. I forgot to bring my phone with me to work and shopping yesterday, and didn't have access to it until about 8pm. It was a little inconvenient, but no big deal. If you're unable to do that and are going into what are basically withdrawal symptoms when you disconnect, *you* have a problem. And the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Only after you've identified the true source of your problem, is recovery possible. As long as you keep blaming other people and other things instead of yourself, you won't be addressing the true cause of the problem, so you'll never be able to resolve it.
Re:Right, the engineers (Score:4, Insightful)
Exactly. Do you carry your phone around when you're at home? Is it always by your side? If so, you are the problem...not the phone.
Re:Right, the engineers (Score:4, Interesting)
Exactly. Do you carry your phone around when you're at home? Is it always by your side? If so, you are the problem...not the phone.
^^^^This this this.
That's always been kind of a secret litmus test for me- does a person carry their phone on them everywhere all the time, even at home? Is it always always always in reach?
If so, that tells me something about them, and it's almost never a positive thing.
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When am I supposed to leave it at home according to you? When I'm out doing stuff, like running errands or riding my bike, I'm not using social networking. But I may still want to use the GPS function, or take a photo, and I can't do that if I don't bring it with me. Slashdot can wait until I get home, unless I find myself sitting around the car dealership while I'm waiting for service, in which case I might as well slashbot.
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When am I supposed to leave it at home according to you?
We weren't talking about leaving it at home- just the opposite.
We were specifically discussing people that can't put the phone down at home, carrying it around with them from room to room while they presumably do other things, but who are still constantly fiddling with their phone at the same time. Pretty much the exact opposite of what you asked above.
When I go out I take my phone with me (always), but when I'm at home it just sits on a counter, I don't carry it around with me at home.
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Yep. I'm always blown away by people who lie awake in bed messing around on their phone until they pass out way too late, only to wake up and lie there messing around on their phone until they're late getting up too. (See the twitter in chief for a great example.)
If your phone and social media is the first and last thing you see every day while in bed, yeah, you personally have a god damn problem.
And if adults have this issue, their kids likely have no chance. If you can't put your phone down for any length
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I carry mine in my shirt pocket, and normally do wear a shirt. Technically, that's not at my side, but it's easily available. I'm also perfectly capable of ignoring it.
Of course, if I'm reading a book, it's quite likely to be through the Nook app on my phone. (I've had too many problems with the eInk Nooks.) Let's see, reading books is good, using a phone is bad....
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Could not agree more. And anyways, it is not "the engineers", it would be marketing people and designers.
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I don't see what you're complaining about, other than just using this as an opportunity to whine about the damn kids these days. The author identified what was causing them issues and took steps to address it. Oh, look:
[S]ometime last year, I crossed the invisible line into problem territory
Admitted he has a problem.
I've used my phone every time I've had a spare moment in an elevator or a boring meeting. I listen to podcasts and write emails on the subway. I watch YouTube videos while folding laundry. I even use an app to pretend to meditate.
Identified the issue causing it
Catherine encouraged me to set up mental speed bumps so that I would be forced to think for a second before engaging with my phone. I put a rubber band around the device, for example, and changed my lock screen to one that showed three questions to ask myself every time I unlocked my phone: âoeWhat for? Why now? What else?â
And took steps to address it.
It's not a huge conspiracy, but Facebook, twitter and others absolutely try to get you to spend as much time as possible on their platforms, because you're profit to them.
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If I have a phone problem, it'll just have to wait in line with my other problems. I've got a fairly impressive list of problems by now.
Re: Right, the engineers (Score:2, Interesting)
The "socially awkward nerd" stereotype is very much liked by the media because it's profitable, but real engineers are actually very good socially-wise. They're fun to hang around with, they have many interests and enjoy sports and social life. Real nerds are a nightmare: self-centered, obsessed, asocial and loud with a chip on their shoulder the size of mount Everest. Those lovable goofy geniuses you see on TV are just a fantasy.
Maybe it's you (Score:2)
You're doing it wrong (Score:2)
I even use an app to pretend to meditate. If I was going to repair my brain, I needed to practice doing nothing.
Practicing doing nothing is, well, a part of actually meditating. So:
Self-focus unaffected (Score:5, Insightful)
Are all NYT reporters this full of themselves? Or is this particular person just pretending because it makes for a more dramatic essay?
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Every few weeks it seems like some reporter somewhere was assigned the task of ditching some specific ubiquitous tech thing for a week or two, and then writing an inspirational article about their experience. After which they probably resume using it and go about their normal lives.
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When I was a kid they'd do the same thing, but they had to wear a blindfold for a month to go without their eyes. Then they'd take it off, and go about their normal lives.
Sometimes wags would question it, but they'll only shame you for being small-minded if you go that route.
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He got us to look...that's his job. More revenue for the rag.
Re:Self-focus unaffected (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, yes they are. Look at this interview with an NYT journalist and Joe Rogan. [youtube.com] She is so full of herself and 100% convinced she is *right about everything*. She is used to being in an echo chamber and is badly affected by Rogan asking her questions about what she believes. She smears Tulsi Gabbard for being a Russian sycohpant, and then can't tell us what a sycophant is.
I love how she thinks Tulsi's stance on gay rights as an indoctrinated teenager, prior to her political career, is somehow pertinent, but Hillary's anti-gay and racist positions, in office, as a grown-ass politician, for most of her adult life, are somehow unfair to bring up.ï
The NYT journalist uses words without knowing what they mean, and she is in an influential position at the New York Times. This explains a lot.
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No, usually they're made into editors if they're smug enough.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0... [nytimes.com]
Sounds like (Score:2)
Someone with a serious lack of self control who wants to blame their devices rather than themselves.
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There's an app for that.
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Well, is addiction a disease, or a choice? The situation clearly begins with choices.
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I'm not personally convinced that he has an addiction. I'd classify it more as a neurosis than a disease. Chemical dependencies are closer to diseases, which is why the medical community prefers to label addictions as a disease. But I feel that addiction gets over and misused these days and this is one instance of that. This dude just needs a bit of therapy and a good vacation. Not a lifetime of struggle.
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And yet, nobody has any citations, because the experiment is still running.
Personally, I'm just glad that I refused in the first place because "No way in hell you need my phone's ID just to connect to a web service! No, no, and no!"
The zombies are no longer human. They used to be human. Blaming them doesn't actually mean that they can change back. Maybe some can. I'm not convinced.
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Most of us have limited self-control, and compensate for it in various ways. If I make something less available, it isn't the something's fault; it's because I don't want the temptation.
I'm not a Trumptard (Score:1)
No, it's not (Score:3)
"It's an unnerving sensation, being alone with your thoughts in the year 2019," writes New York Times technology columnist Kevin RooseM
No, it's not...unless you don't have a brain that can amuse or entertain itself.
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I for one can still worry about whether there's something wrong with me whether I'm playing with my phone or not. Perhaps some people can't multitask. I'm not saying I do it well, mind you. I might only be able to be half as disturbed my by thoughts as usual, but that's plenty to work up a good head of self-loathing.
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I like exercise, but since I crushed my toe it's hard to do anything but bike, and it's been mad rainy of late. Hmm, and I need new pedals, I should look into that. Broke one riding with a cam walker on.
HOT BREAKING NEWS! (Score:2)
Breaking News: Guy goes without his phone for a while, doesn't actually die; film at 11.
Oh wait, he already uploaded it to Twitter, Youtube and Instagram, never mind.
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It's not you (Score:2)
" I found myself incapable of reading books, watching full-length movies or having long uninterrupted conversation"
It's not you, it's the movies that suck.
wrong - not 6 inch (Score:2)
Actually 4.5 inch glass-and-steel rectangle is the ideal conduit for worldly experiences. 4 inch is too small, 5 inch too big.
How did this advocate of the wrong screen size even get on /. ?
It doesn't surprise me the least ... (Score:2)
... that Kevin Rose has this problem. He's a fairly successful silicon valley founder and investor and as such is used to solving problems by taking action. The problem he describes however was being unable to chill the f*ck out. Strong measures such as ditching your smartphone are a good way to get closer to that goal.
One of his buddies is the author Tim Ferriss (4-hour Workweek, etc.). Just the other week I listened to the Tim Ferriss Show Podcast were he interviews Greg McKeown and listen in to a roughly
I ditched the NYT (Score:3)
Funny, because I ditched the NYT and it "Unbroke my brain".
SteveJobs strove to create... (Score:2)
objects people could love. Jonathan Ivie understood why people find a thing imitably attractive; by design.
SteveJobs hated his cell phone. It had a keyboard whose keys would malfunction and break. Its screen was too small to read. It required buying a new cell phone to get the latest feature. Steve Jobs hated features. Features were an artifact leftover from the automobile industry. He thought features were a bullshit way to treat customers; a leftover from the industrial age. Built in software, he c
More entirely predictable commentary (Score:2)
It's nice to see the slashdot crowd chiming in with another round of entirely predictable commentary.
It IS addiction (Score:2)
Unlimited data (Score:1)
If you want to cure your "phone addiction," just downgrade your plan from unlimited data to something more restrictive.
You'd be surprised how little importance all these distractions have once they start costing you real money to use.
I use my phone to check the weather, look up bus schedules, occasionally check e-mail or texts of the "arriving soon" nature, and a few other useful things, but all the other bandwidth-sucking distractions are out.
\o/ (Score:1)
Re: NYT reporter blames phone instead of TDS? (Score:4, Insightful)
Old people tend to ignor it as they don't usually fully appreciate what it is.
Or maybe we see it for exactly what it is, which explains our lack of interest.
By and large I see social media as a relatively uninteresting, shallow, and not very well done. Honestly, I just don't see the point. (??)
However, if that's your thing, I say bravo to you and carry on. Whatever floats your boat.
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"By and large I see social media as a relatively uninteresting, shallow, and not very well done."
So, exactly like most face to face interaction!
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"By and large I see social media as a relatively uninteresting, shallow, and not very well done."
So, exactly like most face to face interaction!
I suppose my definition could apply to me as well, at least according to my first wife.
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First of all, "social media" only exists to collect data so it can be sold to advertisers. Second, the designers od "social media" sites deliberately design them to be as addictive as possible...the more that you use these data mining sites, the more data that they can collect...and the more $$$$$$$$$$ that they can make!
Third, "smart" phone addiction is a real thing, and it doesn't depend on the "social media" data mining sites. A while back, I had a room mate move out suddenly, and some friends were ki
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Old people tend to ignor it as they don't usually fully appreciate what it is.
Or maybe we see it for exactly what it is, which explains our lack of interest.
No, you dont.
I know plenty of old people who have adapted, embraced modern technology and ideas... OTOH there are always those who just don't want to change, rejecting new ideas and technologies. The latter group are the ones left behind, fortunately the former are more numerous.
By and large I see social media as a relatively uninteresting, shallow, and not very well done.
RIKKI RIKKI RIKKI RIKKI.... Ugh.. I can still remember that bollocks from 20 fucking years ago.
What you have described is popular culture. It's always been shallow, uninteresting and never very well done (or even medium rare).
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I know plenty of old people who have adapted, embraced modern technology and ideas...
Yes, like me. I'm a pretty techy guy and I use it daily. I'm in a tech field doing tech stuff. When I go home there's lots of fun tech stuff to play with (for example, I just got a 3D printer and I'm in the process of tricking it out).
But here's the thing: tech doesn't rule my life, and I don't start to shake if I can't find my phone or if the battery is low. I don't fondle my phone 24/7 like a lot of people do.
There's a difference between embracing technology and giving it blowjobs.