Opting out, without missing out

Do you live your life extremely online?
At a time, when the majority of our time is spent online, increasingly it’s becoming harder and harder to disconnect. In our latest blog post, author Jadelin Pikake Felipe discusses the benefits of unplugging and focusing on interpersonal contact.
Is possible to unplug without missing out? Let us know your thoughts.

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  • Employee Life:
    I live my employee life online.
  • Writing Life:
    I live my article- and book-writing life
    • off of computers (e.g., with the Freewrite Traveler),
    • on a computer but offline (e.g., with Scrivener), and
    • online (e.g., with WordPress but no longer with MailChimp, the account for which I closed after MC told me that it would unilaterally close any account for anything that it decides is “hateful”).
  • Otherwise:
    I otherwise live now increasingly offline, as I have closed all these accounts:
    • Facebook
    • Netflix
    • Instagram
    • Goodreads
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Blogger
    • Pinterest

I never had an Apple account, although I long ago wrote code for Mac 6.5 through Mac 8 OS. I would like to close my Google account after I get my Mudita Pure, which will let me stop using my Android phone, but I sell ebooks on the Google Play store. I also sell ebooks (as well as paperbacks) on Amazon, where I often shop and through which I watch Prime videos, so extracting myself from Amazon might be the most difficult!

I am not ready to quit the Mudita Forum, though! :grinning:

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@kirkmahoneyphd I can’t believe you closed your Netflix account :flushed: I have to say, I do admire your commitment to digital minimalism. We hope you never quit the forum! Although I do have social media accounts (I like being snarky on Twitter), I do limit my TOTAL social media time to less than 1 hour per day. Usually it’s more like 30min.

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What I found that worked for me instead of instantly shutting all accounts down, is finding meaningful, inspirational content and spending a little time watching something that motivates you to be active, creative, work with your hands, meditate , beeing in the present or whatever you find meaningful, instead of aimlessly searching for the quickest dopamine fix.
Slowly you start to activate your “deep thinking abilities”. The trick (for me) was not to stay on the phone after I watched something that encourages thought and contemplation, but rather put away the device and let whatever seed that was planted in my mind linger on and develop. Asking myself questions related to the topic was also helpful; “what’s my position on this?” Or “what would I’ve done in that situation?”.

There are plenty of great independent writers/filmmakers out there, we just have to find them.

One example below is “Green Renaissance “ on YouTube. Short movies about people that have stories to tell or made choices in life that make them stand out from the crowd.

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Great suggestion, John!

I especially liked this statement:

It caught my eye because I never used Facebook, Netflix, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube on a smartphone, which I assume is what “device” means here. I used a Web browser on a computer or, in the case of Netflix and YouTube, an app on Amazon Fire TV.

You could say that I walked away from the device (computer or TV set) instead of putting away the device (smartphone) when finished.

This prompts the question:

  • Is it easier or more difficult to walk away from a good video on a computer or TV set than it is to put away a smartphone that plays the good video?

I don’t know the answer, but your sentence about putting away a device made me wonder whether I am old-school when it comes to video and social-media sites, using them first on computers and never installing their apps on smartphones.

Having to use a password safe to launch and log in to a video or social-media site on a computer requires more intention than touching an app on a smartphone and then perhaps touching a fingerprint scanner to access its content. But, does this need for more intention with the computer-based approach lead to more addictiveness or to less addictiveness? I don’t know.

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This is interesting. I noticed, that I almost completely shifted from the phone to the computer, because all seminars are online and messengers to stay in contact with other students work on the computer, too. As other here mentioned, I never installed apps on the phone to consume videos/movies (the screen is just too small, the sound is just too bad and headphones over a longer period not so comfortable); only small youtube-clips sometimes.

And I started an experiment with my smartphone some weeks before I heard about the Mudita Phone: I deinstalled many apps: Twidere (Twitter client, and closed Twitter-account entirely after that), Mastodon (an p2p alternative to Twitter) where I noticed that I stopped checking for new messages (last time must be weeks ago). I quitted Facebook years ago (no trouble here to leave it behind) and as for messangers, I explicitely only use those which can connect to the service without a phone online (so Whatsapp is gone since half a year). Additionally I disabled calender/contacts/tasks sync. My last phone call is from a week ago and was the only one within months. I only pick up the phone to have the Corona Tracing app with me collecting anonymous contacts. Even checking the weather is a daily routine that shifted to my computer.

At the same time, I feel, this was very easy to let go from the smartphone during pandemic times. What will I do when this is all over and “normal” life is kicking in again? Will I miss out after the pandemic? I don’t know.

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Interesting questions! I’ve actually found it increasingly easier to disconnect (and harder to enjoy or maintain online interactions) since beginning to work from home exclusively - the fact that nearly all my work is online and it takes up a lot of my day means it’s much harder for me to want to do “fun” things online. These days I’m actually trying to get online a little more than I have been, and maybe recapture a little of the sense of fun and discovery I had ten or fifteen years ago. But it’s something I have to write into my schedule or I just won’t do it. I love my job, but it burns me out a little on typing with my eyes on an LED screen.

I guess I don’t worry that much about missing out these days? I’m mortal and need to sleep, and it’s not possible to see and do everything and keep in touch with everyone. I just try to maintain my good relationships and enjoy what I have the opportunity to enjoy.

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Uh…

(Here is Kirk’s post on that.)

I dislike Mailchimp and I’ve never had an account on any of those services you list, but I’m not into this Fox News type stuff. I’m gonna take a break from here. Thanks all.

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Take a break? To use Mudita Pure only and go offline? Then come back in a couple of weeks and give us an update! :slight_smile:

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