I just placed on an order for my first mechanical watch since I last wore one in my mid 20s which was… oh boy, technically decadeS ago (though just). It’s my first step in my plan to divorce myself from my smart phone in what I imagine is going to be a pretty slow process. I’ve been looking at various “dumb” phone options (though I prefer to refer to them as phones of average intelligence) and oh boy, that would be an adjustment. I’ve always been an obsessive time checker, though, so I feel this is a good first step (and I get to buy a cool toy which I haven’t done in over a year!)
A thread on adopting “regressive” technology could be interesting, but I’m not quite sure how to word it (ahem, Aston?) I don’t really know how to talk about it without sounding crazy pretentious but what it mainly comes down to is: my brain hurts and I want a rest. I want to stop looking at my phone.
Since this is about developer health I think it warrants a dedicated thread, and the Dev Environment section seems like a good fit so have split your post here.
I’ll definitely come back to this topic when I’ve got five minutes! For now I will say I am pretty sure you’re not alone. Interested in hearing what others might add too..
Welcome to the club. I can heavily relate to “I’ve always been an obsessive time checker” and I have a dozen of different mechanical watches (I mean it, mechanical, not those having hands and a battery, but those you have to wind up) in very different designs. And I keep spending hundreds of euros to buy new (don’t tell my wife, she thinks all of them cost me two bucks a bunch.)
Unfortunately, to divorce myself from my smart phone is not an option for me, because I am an obsessive moment capturer, and I need an ability to take a photo of any weird street sign, or a signboard, or a cathedral, or a bird, or whatnot I occasionally meet. Another brick aside from the phone (and a pack of cigarettes) would not fit my pocket, and I hate bags. Hence I explicitly found and ordered the best cameraphone the money can buy (Xiaomi S12 Ultra, they don’t sell it in Europe, so I even went into a fancy journey with our customs.)
That all being said, I am forced to rely on my strong will. I have no social app installed on this cameraphone. I switched off the notifications for email on it, and I am fine not looking into it every then and now. It took me half of a year to drop a habit to look into it, but it’s definitely worth it.
hmmm, since I don’t carry around cigarettes means I do have room for another brick
Ya, for me camera isn’t a must but it’s a VERY nice to have. And of course GPS is a big one. Not only was it the primary reason I was excited about getting a smartphone in the first place, I’m likely moving to a new city soon so I’ll have a surge of using it a lot.
I’ve also deleted all my socials except I still have an instagram for my dog as it allows me to lie to myself that I don’t really have one I really gotta just delete it. I’ve otherwise gotten rid of all things Meta which I think everyone really should (this includes React ;P) although I understand there is a huge problem there in that some countries essentially run off of WhatsApp.
Interesting, though. You got me thinking about cameras now. I usually have to carry around a bag anyway because of my dog so, uh, ya. Interesting… another excuse to buy a new toy
Otherwise ya, you kinda got me with the will power comment. I kinda gave up on that but you’ve inspired me to at least try again.
Once you have social apps uninstalled, it’s relatively easy: several times in a row you grab your phone from your pocket, stare at it blankly and put it back. I am sure you also have noticed “it took me half of a year” in my confession above.
It was easy for me: I can’t read anything from my phone without putting my reading glass on. This small hassle of hunting my reading glass weans me off my phone.
I had mechanical watches too; but now I wear a solar powered watch. No battery, check. No surveillance, check. Also no need to wind up
I’m 44, lived in the same city for my entire life and I was still excited about GPS. I am incredibly “directionally challenged.” I can get lost by turning a corner, I’m not kidding. I rarely leave my neighbourhood at this point.
Ha, ya it’s hard, but I don’t want to support Meta in any way. As above, I realize it’s a bit of a privilege. I’ve been thinking of starting Pugstagram
Have not looked at anything yet but this is a good place to start!
I’ve never been on Twitter, keep deleting my Reddit account (I got my first one less than a year ago), fully deleted my Facebook, personal Instagram, I made a Bluesky account a few months ago and forgot about it until just now, and ya, just the one Instagram account left. Honestly my biggest “issue” is this forum
Technically, self-winding with a simple rotor was invented like a century ago, and the only occasion when solar watch wins is you sleep on the beach, or have a solar energy radiated directly by your wrist
I have self winding watches too. My experience is they are either too expensive for me, or tend to not work well after a few years. If your solar watch need that much power from sleeping on the beach, it will make me nervous of whatever shenanigan they are concealing.
The watch I have coming is solar! I was going to get automatic but solar was much cheaper and apparently exposure to even a synthetic light source will power it for months.
Yeah, I cannot relate but I can surely understand this. I drove from Moscow to Barcelona (through Saint-Petersburg, Helsinki, Turku, Stokholm, Lübeck, Karlsruhe, Lyon, and Montpellier) and when I told my new colleagues I came here by car, they were literally freaked out. I didn’t even have a map, let alone GPS (it was 10+ years ago.)
I know who you might call to help you quit Or shall we start Anonymour Elixiraholics within Pugstagram initiative?
Ya, I did know someone who was much the opposite of me. We could walk for a long time in a city we were completely new to, find a pub, he’d get very, very drunk and then lead us back to where we were staying, no problem. Was very impressive. All I know is that he would actively internalize landmarks as we were going.
Uh, hope it’s not Aston deleting my account And I’m not against starting either of those projects, though managing an image hosting service seems like it might be stressful. A little better with modern image recognition capabilities, but still, they aren’t perfect.
The fatigue is real, and I think a lot of people feel the same way. There are ways to break free though so don’t despair.
A good first step is removing all dopamine-hit type apps and putting them on something like an iPad, i.e a device that isn’t easy to use all the time (so not your phone). That initial break will help you remove them completely later on.
I’d also log out of youtube and just bookmark any favourite channels and just check them every now and again. If you make it harder to do the things you don’t want to do, you’ll start to do less of them.
Combine that with meditating:
Close your eyes, think of nothing, and slowly count to 20 - if any thoughts come into your mind, put them aside and start again. Keep doing that until you can count to 20. Then do it again, and then once again (so three sets of counting to 20). I recommend reading a book immediately after meditating as it will keep you on that same wavelength.
Give it a try and let us know how you get on!
IIRC the person who created WhatsApp (or one of the senior team members) left when he didn’t like the direction it was heading following the acquisition and so he went on to create Signal - that might be worth a look?
I find most people nowadays though use iMessage if they’re on iPhone, Snapchat, or even TikTok for messaging. iMessage is the most convenient for me because I can reply straight from my Mac.
It can be arranged
Seriously tho, I think forums fall into a different category as they don’t have the same kind of negative effect as social media - unlike social media which is largely about consuming, forums encourage you to write (and therefore, think). I’ve been a user of chat rooms and forums (was addicted to chat rooms when I first got on the web) and neither of them have had the same dopamine-depleting affect as modern apps/social media, i.e those that trap you into endless scrolling for your next dopamine hit. I feel sorry for the younger generation, the impact on their brains is potentially terrifying.
That’s not the main difference. There are enough lurkers on any forum, including this one. IMHO, the fundamental difference is size. A social media pretends to be the whole world and people willingly or unwillingly fall for it.
I’ve tried meditation before and never quite succeeded. I’ve never tried it exactly this way, though, so I will!
Already using Signal! So far I’ve managed not to invite any reporters into group chats And yes, one of the founders left giving up 1 billion in shares, so that says something (not that I need anymore proof of what kind of a company Meta is).
Mostly agree with this, and also agree with @derek-zhou, though there is certainly now the chance that more and more posts are going to be fully AI-generated (as opposed to simply AI-aided of which I’ve started seeing recently).
That’s only part of it (there are many specific or specialised apps that also employ dopamine-hit algorithms, e.g, dating sites). The main differentiating factor (when it comes to the kind of negative effects I was referring to) is exactly that, that forums do not employ those types of algorithms and so in general do not have the same kind of negative mind-numbing impact:
Do you mean here? We’ve been keeping a log of any we spot so we can keep tabs on it, most of the time it’s spam related, so if you spot any which you think is suspicious or lowering our standards please let us know. One place where it has been noted is docs related stuff (so sometimes we see this in the Libraries section)… but it doesn’t seem so bad there…
I really gotta just delete it. I’ve otherwise gotten rid of all things Meta which I think everyone really should (this includes React ;P) although I understand there is a huge problem there in that some countries essentially run off of WhatsApp.
That’s a lame excuse 
And I’m not against starting either of those projects, though managing an image hosting service seems like it might be stressful. A little better with modern image recognition capabilities, but still, they aren’t perfect.
And yes, one of the founders left giving up 1 billion in shares, so that says something (not that I need anymore proof of what kind of a company Meta is).
