Edit cell-phone-experiment blog post
After a full night's rest, I re-read my blog post and made some changes: - Fix grammatical errors - Clarify unclear passages
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@ -80,7 +80,8 @@ morning alarms probably disrupt the quality of my sleep. If I'm tired, shouldn't
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I keep sleeping?
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As the month progressed and my 24 hour day morphed into a 25 hour day, I learned
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that I would prefer waking up at the set time every day.
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that I would prefer waking up at a set time every day and synchronize my
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schedule with the rest of my timezone.
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I am still unsure if alarm clocks are helpful in the long-term. I would have
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slept with the curtains drawn to allow the morning sun to wake me
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@ -97,34 +98,34 @@ Time restores my sanity.
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Using timers motivates me to do a bunch of short tasks like cleaning my flat for
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fifteen minutes, stretching, or reading before bed. Thankfully, I already owned
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a physical timer that I keep in my kitchen. This replaced my phone's timer
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application with minimal disruption.
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a physical timer that I keep in my kitchen. This replaced the timer on my phone
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without disrupting my routine.
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#### Maps
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Speaking of lacking orientation, what about living without maps software? On
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the few occasions where I traveled somewhere that was unfamiliar to me, I had to
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Speaking of being disoriented, what about living without maps software? On the
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few occasions where I traveled somewhere that was unfamiliar to me, I had to
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memorize the directions from my computer before I departed.
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At least I didn't need to visit gas stations or museums to buy trifold tourist
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maps...
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I once left my office -- mistakenly assuming that I would download the
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directions to my destination while commuting. As I awaited the office elevator,
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I realized that I had no clue where I was heading.
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I once left my office mistakenly assuming that I would download the directions
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to my destination while commuting. As I awaited the office elevator, I realized
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that I had no clue where I was heading.
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Thankfully I wasn't far from the safety, comfort, and familiarity of my desktop
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computer -- with its fatty WiFi connection. In no time I was studying Google
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Maps in my web browser and memorizing the directions.
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Overall this was also hardly an inconvenience, and I think I even enjoyed
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Overall this was hardly an inconvenience, and I think I even enjoyed
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stress-testing my memory: a job that I so often outsource to hardware.
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#### Rendezvouses
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A couple of times I met friends in various parts of the city. Organizing these
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particular rendezvouses was a novel (read: anachronistic) experience. For all
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you young whippersnappers reading, take out your stone tables and chisels. I'm
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you young whippersnappers reading, take out your stone tablets and chisels. I'm
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going to explain how this works:
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First I would tell my friends where are when to meet me. I emphasized that I
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@ -134,35 +135,37 @@ commuting, which made the commitments unusually more binding.
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On one occasion my friend -- who is characteristically prompt, and even chides
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me for when I'm late -- was twenty minutes late for our engagement. My friend is
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German, so I figured I should do my civic duty of alerting the German embassy
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that my friend has broken German code, is obscenely late, and should therefore
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that my friend had broken German code, is obscenely late, and should therefore
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hand-in his passport and renounce his citizenship. After awhile my conscience
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advised me to reconsider.
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It was fortunate for both of us that I did not fully understand how late he was;
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I didn't know what time it was.
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It was fortunate for both of us that I did not fully understand how late he was.
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Remember: I didn't know what time it was.
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I decided this would be a useful opportunity to test my patience, so I loitered
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for twenty minutes outside of our meeting point. He couldn't text me to tell me
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that he was late. I couldn't listen to music, call family or friends to pass the
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that he was late. I couldn't listen to music, call family or friends, or partake
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in any of the other rituals that modern-day loiterers observe to pass the
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time. In the end he showed up, and it was scarcely a big deal.
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This experience made me wonder what the policy for abandoning plans is when
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someone is running late. Before smart phones, how long did people wait? Long
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enough to absolve themselves of flaking on their friend in the unlikely event
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that their friend showed shortly after they left.
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someone is running late. Before smart phones, how long did people wait? Maybe
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the proper etiquette is to wait long enough for you to absolve yourself of the
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guilt of flaking in the unlikely event that your friend arrives shortly after
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you leave.
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So... thirty minutes? I'll call my grandma tomorrow and ask her.
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#### Boredom
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My phone couldn't entertain me while I waited in line at the grocery store. Same
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too when commuted.
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My phone couldn't entertain me while I queued at the grocery store. Same too
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when I commuted.
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I also found myself listening to less music than I usually do. I decided to read
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to occupy the void when I could; this helped me progress towards completing my
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[GoodReads annual reading challenge][gr-annual].
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to occupy the void when I could; this helped me progress towards completing this
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year's [GoodReads challenge][gr-annual].
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#### Cheating
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### Cheating
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I used my phone twice during March.
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@ -179,9 +182,9 @@ are useful reminders that habits don't distinguish between helpful and hurtful;
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they just exist.
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In total I would estimate that I spent somewhere around fifteen minutes using
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my phone in March.
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my phone in March. While not perfect:
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I consider this a success.
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> Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without (Confucius)
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### Substitution = Dilution
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@ -189,9 +192,9 @@ While the explicit goal of this challenge was to avoid using my cell phone for a
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month, the implicit goal was to disengage from many of the
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[nonessential][essentialism] activities that compete for my attention.
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There were some things that I didn't miss about not having a cell phone. This
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wasn't because I don't value these things, but rather because I can adequately
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replace them with alternatives.
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There were some activities that I didn't miss while living without a cell
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phone. This wasn't because I don't value these activities, but rather because I
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can adequately replace them with alternatives.
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For texting and making phone calls, I used [Telegram][wtf-telegram]. Telegram
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helped me sustain a healthy relationship with my girlfriend while still honoring
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@ -209,15 +212,18 @@ habitually avoid boredom and seek entertainment. On its face this may not sound
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like a harmful practice. My generation drills the aphorism "you only live once",
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suggesting that we may want to embrace a Hedonistic lifestyle.
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A life spent indulging may or may not be a wise way to play the game of Life,
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but living a life where I am often stimulated but equally distracted appeals
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increasingly less to me as time progresses.
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Hedonism may or may not be a wise way to play the game of Life. All I know is
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that living a life in which I am often stimulated but proportionately distracted
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appeals increasingly less to me as time progresses.
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During March I noticed that once I freed my attention from sending/receiving
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texts, my brain quickly reassigned my attention to maintaining a vigil over
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texts, my brain quickly reassigned my attention to maintaining a vigil over the
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other social media outposts that I maintain.
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For example, once I discovered that I could use Instagram in a web browser
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I should also admit that I habitually checked Telegram now that it served as my
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new cell phone. Didn't see that coming...
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In another case, once I discovered that I could use Instagram in a web browser
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instead of on my phone, I filled my newfound time and attention on
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[Instagram.com][ig] (don't click!): displacing the time that I spent on an app
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on my phone to time that I spent on a website in a web browser.
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@ -236,9 +242,11 @@ friendships that you easily form can just as easily be destroyed.
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Habits invert this creation/destruction relationship. In my experience "easy
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come" implies "difficult to go".
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For example, you might be able to easily form the habit of eating chocolate
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around 15:00 at work. Compare this to the difficulty people experience
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habituating a meditation practice.
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For example, I could to easily form the habit of eating chocolate around 15:00
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at work; curbing this habit would require more effort. When I compare this to
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the difficulty I experienced habituating a meditation practice, and how easily
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I can dislodge my meditation practice, it seems to me that the laws of habits
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dictate "easy come, difficult go; difficult come, easy go".
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I suspect that while my cravings for using a cell phone have temporarily ceased,
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they will return shortly after I start using my cell phone. And as if nothing
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@ -251,9 +259,10 @@ to live a mostly normal life: one where I am not unnecessarily straining the
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relationships of my friends and my family. After all these are the people who
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matter most to me and those who drive me to explore new ways to improve.
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I recognize that the "self" in self-experimentation is a misnomer. My decisions
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impact the people in my life, and I want to thank everyone who tolerates my
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eccentric and oftentimes annoying experimentation.
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I recognize that the "self" in self-experimentation is a misnomer. Can you truly
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conduct an [N of 1 trial][nof1]? My decisions impact the people in my life, and
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I want to thank everyone who tolerates my eccentric and oftentimes annoying
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experimentation.
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Thank you for reading.
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@ -268,3 +277,4 @@ Thank you for reading.
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[wtf-availability]: https://landing.google.com/sre/sre-book/chapters/availability-table
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[essentialism]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18077875-essentialism
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[ig]: https://instagram.com
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[nof1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_of_1_trial
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