Finish blog post about cell phone usage
Read the blog post for more information.
This commit is contained in:
William Carroll
parent
d8f0f3daf3
commit
87c7b31271
1 changed files with 237 additions and 59 deletions
|
|
@ -1,92 +1,270 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "Cell Phone Experiment"
|
||||
date: 2020-03-09T22:02:07Z
|
||||
draft: true
|
||||
date: 2020-04-02T02:02:07Z
|
||||
draft: false
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
### TL;DR
|
||||
|
||||
I will not use my cell phone during March to challenge myself and learn more
|
||||
about how much I depend on my device.
|
||||
I will not use my cell phone during March to learn more about how much I depend
|
||||
on it.
|
||||
|
||||
### Background
|
||||
### Explore/Exploit
|
||||
|
||||
Ever since I read Charles Duhigg's book, [The Power of Habit](poh), I try to
|
||||
habituate as many aspects of my life that I can.
|
||||
habituate as many aspects of my life as I can.
|
||||
|
||||
Making my bed every morning is an example of a habit -- so too is flossing at
|
||||
night before bed.
|
||||
|
||||
The *exploit* axis of the [explore/exploit tradeoff](exp-exp) endows habits with
|
||||
their power. If you are interested in learning more about the explore/exploit
|
||||
tradeoff, Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths explain this concept more clearly
|
||||
than I could in Chapter 2 of their exceptional book, [Algorithms to Live
|
||||
their power. Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths explain this concept more clearly
|
||||
than I can in Chapter 2 of their exceptional book, [Algorithms to Live
|
||||
By](algos).
|
||||
|
||||
One pitfall of overly exploiting an activity, however, is neglecting global
|
||||
optima in favor of local optima. Thus we must also explore. Is it possible to
|
||||
habituate exploration? I think so.
|
||||
Habits are powerful, but if I overly exploit an activity, I may settle on a
|
||||
local optimum in lieu of settling on a global optimum; these are the opportunity
|
||||
costs of exploiting (i.e. habits) versus exploring (i.e. spontaneity).
|
||||
|
||||
Every month since October 2018, I commit to a monthly challenge. In the past,
|
||||
monthly challenges have been things like:
|
||||
- sign up and take Brazilian Jiu Jitsu lessons
|
||||
- buy a guitar and learn [Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotton](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUK8emiWabU)
|
||||
But what if it was possible to habituate exploration?
|
||||
|
||||
### Monthly challenges
|
||||
|
||||
Every month since October 2018, I challenge myself to try something new. In the
|
||||
past, monthly challenges have been things like:
|
||||
- sign up and take Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes
|
||||
- buy a guitar and learn [Freight Train](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUK8emiWabU)
|
||||
- study Italian
|
||||
- attempt to learn a handstand
|
||||
- learn a handstand
|
||||
|
||||
Typically for an activity to qualify as a challenge, I must spend at least
|
||||
fifteen minutes working on it at least five days each week. Oftentimes
|
||||
challenges have concrete deliverables (e.g. playing the "Freight Train" song
|
||||
from start-to-finish). Other times, with Jiu Jitsu, the challenge consists of
|
||||
attending classes five days a week without any absences.
|
||||
Typically for an activity to qualify as a challenge, I must spend *at least
|
||||
fifteen minutes* working on it *at least five days* each week.
|
||||
|
||||
This month I'm challenging myself to avoid using my cell phone for the entire
|
||||
month. I am interested in partially digitally detoxing.
|
||||
This month (i.e. March) I'm challenging myself to avoid using my cell phone.
|
||||
|
||||
My parents gave me a cell phone when when I was a freshman in High School; those
|
||||
days, I was fourteen years old. I am now twenty-eight years old, which means I
|
||||
have been using a cell phone semi-daily for over ten years.
|
||||
My parents gave me a cell phone when when I was a freshman in High School; I was
|
||||
14 years old. I am now 28, so I have been using a cell phone semi-daily for over
|
||||
a decade.
|
||||
|
||||
While I enjoy the convenience that my cell phone provides me, I am curious to
|
||||
suspend my usage aiming to more clearly understand how much I depend on it.
|
||||
suspend my usage to more clearly understand how much I depend on it...
|
||||
|
||||
### What was different?
|
||||
### April
|
||||
|
||||
Things that I am missing:
|
||||
- Alarm clock: I decided to avoid buying an alarm clock. I theorize that alarms
|
||||
and caffeine may distort my reality. An excuse to sleep in? Twist my arm...
|
||||
- Waking Up with Sam Harris: Thankfully, Waking Up supports web browsers, so
|
||||
this was easy to replace.
|
||||
- Banking with Monzo: Monzo has a web client for doing simple banking tasks. I
|
||||
needed to internationally transfer GBP to my USD account.
|
||||
- Spotify: I either read while taking public transport, attempted to briefly
|
||||
meditate, or (most commonly) started blankly.
|
||||
- Taking notes
|
||||
- Timers
|
||||
- Google Calendar for meeting room information
|
||||
Now it is early April, and I completed March's challenge. So how was it?
|
||||
|
||||
Things that I did miss:
|
||||
- Phone calls: My birthday is March 5, and I wanted to talk to my family then
|
||||
since I'm currently living abroad in London; I'm originally from a suburb
|
||||
outside of Washington D.C.
|
||||
Below I outline the parts of using a cell phone that I missed and the parts that
|
||||
I surprisingly did not miss. I will also mention the two times that I used my
|
||||
cell phone and why.
|
||||
|
||||
Things that I thought I would miss but I didn't miss:
|
||||
- Email: I prefer checking my emails minimally anyhow.
|
||||
- Text messaging: Maybe I enjoyed this because I knew the whole time it was
|
||||
temporary. I'm unsure if I'd feel this way if it was permanent.
|
||||
The first three things that I missed all relate to time.
|
||||
|
||||
Exploits
|
||||
- Telegram native client
|
||||
- Instagram's web client
|
||||
#### Timekeeping
|
||||
|
||||
### What was bad?
|
||||
On the first day I realized that unless I was near a computer, I did not know
|
||||
what time it was.
|
||||
|
||||
Not much.
|
||||
I exclusively use my cell phone as my watch; I do not wear a watch. To adapt, I
|
||||
started looking for clocks around my office and while I was taking public
|
||||
transportation. Thankfully London posts the current time on the digital train
|
||||
schedules. This oriented me while I was traveling, which was also when I needed
|
||||
to know the time the most.
|
||||
|
||||
### Will I use a cell phone in April?
|
||||
Most of the month, however, I never precisely knew what time it was.
|
||||
|
||||
Probably. I think this exercise removed some of the long-standing barnacles, but
|
||||
some of the old habits and triggers exist. Also with web browser and native
|
||||
client alternatives to mobile apps, the partial digital detox felt even more
|
||||
partial.
|
||||
#### Alarm clocks
|
||||
|
||||
While I anticipated living without an alarm clock prior to the experiment, I
|
||||
decided against buying a substitute. Prior to this month, I theorized that
|
||||
morning alarms probably disrupt the quality of my sleep. If I'm tired, shouldn't
|
||||
I keep sleeping?
|
||||
|
||||
As the month progressed and my 24 hour day morphed into a 25 hour day, I learned
|
||||
that I would prefer waking up at the set time every day.
|
||||
|
||||
I am still unsure if alarm clocks are helpful in the long-term. I would have
|
||||
slept with the curtains drawn to allow the morning sun to wake me
|
||||
up. Unfortunately, I live on the ground floor nearby a brightly shining street
|
||||
lamp that spills into my bedroom.
|
||||
|
||||
If I lived somewhere more remote (perhaps even a suburb would do) I would like
|
||||
to repeat an experiment where I live for a month without an alarm clock.
|
||||
|
||||
For now, I must return to the Temple of Chronology and supplicate until Father
|
||||
Time restores my sanity.
|
||||
|
||||
#### Timers
|
||||
|
||||
Using timers motivates me to do a bunch of short tasks like cleaning my flat for
|
||||
fifteen minutes, stretching, or reading before bed. Thankfully, I already owned
|
||||
a physical timer that I keep in my kitchen. This replaced my phone's timer
|
||||
application with minimal disruption.
|
||||
|
||||
#### Maps
|
||||
|
||||
Speaking of lacking orientation, what about living without maps software? On
|
||||
the few occasions where I traveled somewhere that was unfamiliar to me, I had to
|
||||
memorize the directions from my computer before I departed.
|
||||
|
||||
At least I didn't need to visit gas stations or museums to buy trifold tourist
|
||||
maps...
|
||||
|
||||
I once left my office -- mistakenly assuming that I would download the
|
||||
directions to my destination while commuting. As I awaited the office elevator,
|
||||
I realized that I had no clue where I was heading.
|
||||
|
||||
Thankfully I wasn't far from the safety, comfort, and familiarity of my desktop
|
||||
computer -- with its fatty WiFi connection. In no time I was studying Google
|
||||
Maps in my web browser and memorizing the directions.
|
||||
|
||||
Overall this was also hardly an inconvenience, and I think I even enjoyed
|
||||
stress-testing my memory: a job that I so often outsource to hardware.
|
||||
|
||||
#### Rendezvouses
|
||||
|
||||
A couple of times I met friends in various parts of the city. Organizing these
|
||||
particular rendezvouses was a novel (read: anachronistic) experience. For all
|
||||
you young whippersnappers reading, take out your stone tables and chisels. I'm
|
||||
going to explain how this works:
|
||||
|
||||
First I would tell my friends where are when to meet me. I emphasized that I
|
||||
would be quite helpless to any changes they might make to the plans once I began
|
||||
commuting, which made the commitments unusually more binding.
|
||||
|
||||
On one occasion my friend -- who is characteristically prompt, and even chides
|
||||
me for when I'm late -- was twenty minutes late for our engagement. My friend is
|
||||
German, so I figured I should do my civic duty of alerting the German embassy
|
||||
that my friend has broken German code, is obscenely late, and should therefore
|
||||
hand-in his passport and renounce his citizenship. After awhile my conscience
|
||||
advised me to reconsider.
|
||||
|
||||
It was fortunate for both of us that I did not fully understand how late he was;
|
||||
I didn't know what time it was.
|
||||
|
||||
I decided this would be a useful opportunity to test my patience, so I loitered
|
||||
for twenty minutes outside of our meeting point. He couldn't text me to tell me
|
||||
that he was late. I couldn't listen to music, call family or friends to pass the
|
||||
time. In the end he showed up, and it was scarcely a big deal.
|
||||
|
||||
This experience made me wonder what the policy for abandoning plans is when
|
||||
someone is running late. Before smart phones, how long did people wait? Long
|
||||
enough to absolve themselves of flaking on their friend in the unlikely event
|
||||
that their friend showed shortly after they left.
|
||||
|
||||
So... thirty minutes? I'll call my grandma tomorrow and ask her.
|
||||
|
||||
#### Boredom
|
||||
|
||||
My phone couldn't entertain me while I waited in line at the grocery store. Same
|
||||
too when commuted.
|
||||
|
||||
I also found myself listening to less music than I usually do. I decided to read
|
||||
to occupy the void when I could; this helped me progress towards completing my
|
||||
[GoodReads annual reading challenge][gr-annual].
|
||||
|
||||
#### Cheating
|
||||
|
||||
I used my phone twice during March.
|
||||
|
||||
1. Once to use my bank's mobile app to internationally transfer money from my
|
||||
U.K. account to my U.S. account. I could have used [TransferWise's][tw]
|
||||
website, but I didn't.
|
||||
2. Another time I used my phone to take pictures of an item that I wanted to
|
||||
sell on [CraigsList][cl]. I could have and perhaps should have used my laptop's
|
||||
webcam, but at the time, I didn't want to. I am accustomed to using my phone
|
||||
to take pictures, and I wanted to sell something.
|
||||
|
||||
In both of these cases, prior habits eroded my resolve to stay the course. These
|
||||
are useful reminders that habits don't distinguish between helpful and hurtful;
|
||||
they just exist.
|
||||
|
||||
In total I would estimate that I spent somewhere around fifteen minutes using
|
||||
my phone in March.
|
||||
|
||||
I consider this a success.
|
||||
|
||||
### Substitution = Dilution
|
||||
|
||||
While the explicit goal of this challenge was to avoid using my cell phone for a
|
||||
month, the implicit goal was to disengage from many of the
|
||||
[nonessential][essentialism] activities that compete for my attention.
|
||||
|
||||
There were some things that I didn't miss about not having a cell phone. This
|
||||
wasn't because I don't value these things, but rather because I can adequately
|
||||
replace them with alternatives.
|
||||
|
||||
For texting and making phone calls, I used [Telegram][wtf-telegram]. Telegram
|
||||
helped me sustain a healthy relationship with my girlfriend while still honoring
|
||||
the constraints of the challenge.
|
||||
|
||||
While I appreciated the convenience Telegram provided, I felt that I remained
|
||||
about as [available][wtf-availability] during March as I was in February. If I
|
||||
ever experiment with drastically reducing my availability, I will be more
|
||||
explicit about my objectives.
|
||||
|
||||
### Distraction displacement (whack-a-mole)
|
||||
|
||||
Because cell phones and other electronics have conditioned my behavior, I
|
||||
habitually avoid boredom and seek entertainment. On its face this may not sound
|
||||
like a harmful practice. My generation drills the aphorism "you only live once",
|
||||
suggesting that we may want to embrace a Hedonistic lifestyle.
|
||||
|
||||
A life spent indulging may or may not be a wise way to play the game of Life,
|
||||
but living a life where I am often stimulated but equally distracted appeals
|
||||
increasingly less to me as time progresses.
|
||||
|
||||
During March I noticed that once I freed my attention from sending/receiving
|
||||
texts, my brain quickly reassigned my attention to maintaining a vigil over
|
||||
other social media outposts that I maintain.
|
||||
|
||||
For example, once I discovered that I could use Instagram in a web browser
|
||||
instead of on my phone, I filled my newfound time and attention on
|
||||
[Instagram.com][ig] (don't click!): displacing the time that I spent on an app
|
||||
on my phone to time that I spent on a website in a web browser.
|
||||
|
||||
Holy whack-a-mole!
|
||||
|
||||
Halfway through the month, I wrote a [program to block websites][url-blocker] on
|
||||
my computer. Surprisingly this worked and forced me to more deliberately fill
|
||||
this hard-fought, foreign time with other activities.
|
||||
|
||||
### Easy come, easy go?
|
||||
|
||||
As the saying for making friends goes, "easy come, easy go", implying that
|
||||
friendships that you easily form can just as easily be destroyed.
|
||||
|
||||
Habits invert this creation/destruction relationship. In my experience "easy
|
||||
come" implies "difficult to go".
|
||||
|
||||
For example, you might be able to easily form the habit of eating chocolate
|
||||
around 15:00 at work. Compare this to the difficulty people experience
|
||||
habituating a meditation practice.
|
||||
|
||||
I suspect that while my cravings for using a cell phone have temporarily ceased,
|
||||
they will return shortly after I start using my cell phone. And as if nothing
|
||||
happened, I return to where I was at the end of February just before I decided
|
||||
to curb my cell phone usage.
|
||||
|
||||
Because of this, I'm planning on keeping my cell phone in my closet where I
|
||||
stored it during the month of March. As noted, enough substitutes exist for me
|
||||
to live a mostly normal life: one where I am not unnecessarily straining the
|
||||
relationships of my friends and my family. After all these are the people who
|
||||
matter most to me and those who drive me to explore new ways to improve.
|
||||
|
||||
I recognize that the "self" in self-experimentation is a misnomer. My decisions
|
||||
impact the people in my life, and I want to thank everyone who tolerates my
|
||||
eccentric and oftentimes annoying experimentation.
|
||||
|
||||
Thank you for reading.
|
||||
|
||||
[pod]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12609433-the-power-of-habit
|
||||
[exp-exp]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-armed_bandit
|
||||
[algos]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25666050-algorithms-to-live-by
|
||||
[gr-annual]: https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/19737920
|
||||
[cl]: http://craigslist.com
|
||||
[tw]: https://transferwise.com
|
||||
[url-blocker]: https://github.com/wpcarro/url-blocker
|
||||
[wtf-telegram]: https://telegram.org
|
||||
[wtf-availability]: https://landing.google.com/sre/sre-book/chapters/availability-table
|
||||
[essentialism]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18077875-essentialism
|
||||
[ig]: https://instagram.com
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
Loading…
Reference in a new issue