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I am happy it's working for you! The key really is to make the phone holistically boring. Like, the first few times you mindlessly reach for it out of habit, when you remember there is nothing (!) for you to do, you need to feel a very sobering disappointment. That's the feeling to aim for. Sadly music is a casualty. (If anyone really needs a personal soundtrack, maybe consider local files and VLC?) Also, whenever I am tempted to reinstall the suck, for whatever "important" or "exceptional" reason, I try to ask myself "Is it important enough to risk messing up your life? Is it really important to do this instant?", or "Is avoiding these unexpected five hours of idle boredom worth reinforcing the toxic habit, enslaving your mind again, adding to the tragic loss of lifetime?". In regard to "research", removing all web browsing is an easier sell, if you can still look up the odd, timely (actually) important information somewhere. I keep Kiwix (for Wiktionary and Wikipedia*), Dict.cc and the Google Maps app around. Google Maps usually has more, and more up-to-date POI information, and better search results, than Apple Maps. E.g. you can find a doctor's phone number, or a store's opening hours, reliably. This covers 95% of my "look up" impulses and the remaining 5% are better done on a larger screen and with a keyboard anyway, so they get postponed to a note or reminder, same as you do. (I rarely do follow ups later, go figure...) I guess mail and messaging really depends on your use case and social sphere. At least, I need to send emails from my phone sometimes (if only to get it done immediately). > Note that I definitely do spend more time on these websites on my laptop than I would have before. Yes, but it's much less reinforcing and invasive. And on the desktop you can modify those streams to tingle your dopamine receptors less. Like mentioned, ublock-ing the 'next' button, or 'related/suggested content', internet points, and so on. --- * Yes, without the suck "content" cached, I got space for offline wikis lol... |
Yes exactly! I feel like we need to start a movement here.
I did try Kiwix, but honestly I don't need any reference material on my phone unless I'm going on vacation or something. In which case I almost certainly need a browser for the trip, and that's fine.