Hello friends! Today we're going to talk about digital minimalism and how to build a better relationship with technology.
I will share the approach, philosophy, rules and also resources
that help me be a bit more in control of my social media consumption instead of being controlled by it.
I'm going to walk you through how I now use my phone, instagram, youtube and netflix,
which are the apps that I used to use the most.
Some time ago, it became apparent that I had a bit of a problem with my use of technology and social media.
I was spending way too much time in front of a screen,
sometimes even mindlessly scrolling
and my eyes got irritated and started hurting a lot.
The sensation that best described what I felt was a total loss of control, and also I was just losing the track of time.
Somehow it felt I had just opened my phone five minutes ago,
but, instead, a couple hours had passed which made me feel really bad.
I did not wanted that anymore, so I decided to change how I use technology and for how long I use it.
My first thought was completely shutting myself off of any social media, but this felt quite restrictive to me.
I have been through some eating issues in the past
and I know firsthand that being restrictive was never a good thing for me.
I somehow got much more tempted to eat a ton of food, which ended up in a binge.
And funny enough, when I tried this with technology, the same happened:
Hours and hours of mindless scrolling and wasting my time.
So I thought about a metaphor with chocolate, which I have already shared with my patreon friends,
and it goes like this: I like chocolate. And I know that a lot of chocolate makes me feel bad
But being restrictive and not allowing myself to eat any chocolate at all,
has created a lot more desire and compulsion to binge it.
But eating and enjoying some, is great, and has allowed me to find balance.
So the problem comes when I cannot control myself and I eat the whole bar.
So, how can I trick my environment so that eating and enjoying just a couple of squares is possible?
How can I still eat some without completely losing control?
Now, if social media were the chocolate, how can I do this?
How can I apply the same principles to my social media consumption?
So I thought I should find balance instead of restriction.
I must create habits that allow me to have a much more intentional use of my tech,
to still be able to enjoy it and also to enjoy social media.
I also read the book 'Digital minimalism' by Cal Newport,
and I also listened to a podcast he did with Rich Roll, and these two things opened my mind on the subject.
I understood and rethought about the fact that social media is specially designed to capture our time and our attention as much as possible.
And it was much more clear to me why many of my attempts to stop using it so much were not working.
As you can imagine, I also started questioning all of the creative work that I do
and I even thought of closing my channel and all of my work.
And while I was trying to figure that out,
I reckoned that even if I were not to make more videos, I would still like to watch other people's videos.
I must admit, I really enjoy the work of others and I see true art behind some creators.
The music, the storytelling, the design and all of the effort that goes into creating videos
is something that I completely enjoy.
And I'm still meditating about this
and also I'm looking for some old-fashioned ways to make videos
but I do not have an answer right now.
So if I wanted to still be able to enjoy this, but not suffer many negative consequences,
I had to make a radical shift.
So I decided to establish very clear rules about my tech use
and have been following them for almost a month.
They're proving to be successful
and I really am changing the way I live my life.
This is basically what I did:
I thought that if social media is specially designed to be addictive, I should counteract that with some tweaks of my own.
So I somehow designed an environment that could help me out.
I read and listened to the resources that I have already told you about,
which once again will be linked down below,
and I decided to make some small changes with a big impact.
I'm not saying that these new technological habits will work for everyone,
but they might inspire you to rethink or reassess your relationship with social media and technology.
The main goal for me was to maximize the benefits and diminish the negative consequences
and I also had in mind that I wanted to still be able to enjoy it as an entertainment and as an expression of art.
Bear in mind that I'm not the most disciplined person, nor I have the strongest willpower.
And that is why, following an advice from James Clear, on 'Atomic habits',
I tried to use environmental design tricks to help me out, instead of completely relying on my willpower,
which I believe has a very limited capacity.
I decided that my phone would be primarily a utility device, so I erased some apps.
I use it for whatsapp, calls, occasional internet search,
taking pictures, editing them and other utilities like: spotify, google maps, emails and so on.
I had previously removed the Instagram and the Youtube app, but I was still using them from the browser.
To stop this behavior, I turned my phone into the grey mode for almost three weeks,
until the compulsive checking habit vanished.
Note that on days where I'm feeling especially like checking these devices on my phone, I do turn this mode on again.
And actually, a black and white screen is not very appealing to me,
so it kind of prevents me from the mindless use.
Somehow it counteracts the use of color of some apps that trigger me to tap them.
They are specially designed with special colors
and not having any color at all helps with the compulsive use.
Also I stopped taking my phone everywhere with me, even if I was in my house, which I am,
because I'm still in quarantine.
It has now a designated spot where it rests
and I'm able to walk freely in my home without having my phone on my pocket all day long.
For Instagram and also YouTube I decided I would access that from my computer.
I learned a few tricks on how to post pictures from it
and I can comment, like and answer messages there, as well as occasionally uploading stories.
This makes it a little bit more inconvenient, but I don't mind it.
It actually helps me to be more mindful.
And if I ever need to do something that I cannot do with my computer,
I can just download the app, do that, and then erase it again.
I enter my work Instagram roughly three times a week for about five to seven minutes each time.
I post and check some comments, messages and so on
and I also have a little look at the pictures that other people that I follow posted and what they have been up to.
So I have made the rule of not tapping the search button on instagram,
which was what led me to mindless use before.
Now this rules might seem super simple,
but I have been able to keep up with them and maximize the purpose of the app
without going through the rabbit hole that I used to go through before.
Youtube was a difficult thing for me.
I have been watching youtube videos for years, and I must say, it is my favorite app.
I love to watch the work of other fellow creators and I find that super entertaining.
I just love it, I must say.
But it got to the point where I realized that I was spending way too much time on that
So I still wanted to keep watching videos since they are art pieces to me, but I needed a healthier approach.
So I considered how I used to use netflix.
In the past, I was totally able to watch one chapter during the weekends without binging or watching any during the week.
It was just a chill weekend activity for me.
I would just put play, enjoy, and then keep on with my life.
So I thought: ' I see youtube videos as art, and I somehow enjoy them as I enjoy a chapter of a series,
how can I possibly combine these two things?
So I decided to try something a bit radical for me and I stopped watching any youtube videos during the week.
There is one special day, Sunday, where I allow myself to watch as many videos as I want in a one hour and a half window period.
Now you might think that one hour and a half is too much,
but since I'm not watching any on the weekdays, this is totally okay for me.
I now find a lot of joy in putting videos on my watch later list
and mindfully selecting the ones that I want to watch on Sunday.
I am still able to totally enjoy the work of fellow creators, who I support,
since watching videos is calming and a fun activity to me.
And I must say that the first weeks, where I had a bit of the need to go check the youtube page, I just saved videos for the watch later list.
So I also somehow created some expectations for Sunday, which was nice.
I'm going to tell you about my Netflix use and then something that I do for both series and youtube videos.
As I said, it was easy for me to stop watching a series after the chapter ended
but I don't know when Netflix redesigned the interface,
and suddenly there was a new chapter after three seconds or less, I don't know.
So one day, without noticing, I watched three chapters in a row, which was a bit crazy for me.
So I decided to use some reverse environmental design to change this.
And I use the same for my 'Sunday Youtube hour and a half':
I watch these things exclusively from my couch which is my designated entertainment area.
Not my bed, not the table, the sofa.
Before sitting down, I put a one hour to a one hour and a half timer,
and I leave my phone far away.
For the first weeks, I also told my brother to come say hi after an hour
and to help me stop if I felt like spending more time.
I actually never ended up needing this, because the peer pressure and also the bothering alarm sound made me stand up and turn it off.
I guess I somehow wanted him to see how well I had been able to keep up with my 'technological use promise',
so it was an effective method.
For the first time in years, I am feeling great about how I use my technology.
It is not a perfect system, I know this. It can still improve.
There are days where I'm not feeling the best and I'm not that motivated.
But it overall uses very little willpower and a lot of environmental designs to help me out.
Once again, there are days where I feel like watching videos,
but then I just go on youtube and save them to the watch later list,
and I enjoy that on Sundays.
During the week, I might use Youtube for timers or just putting some music but that's pretty much it.
And on Sundays I have a complete hour and a half for my youtube joy.
I can watch somewhere between five to eight videos so it does not feel restrictive at all.
And also I guess that my main motivation for this was touching rock bottom and saying:
'Hey! you need to change some things Victoria! you can not longer feel so bad!'
And that is why I was so committed and I overcame the first days which were kind of hard.
I guess I was super used to checking my phone and using it at any spare moment I had,
and also I was really used to binging on social media.
I have been also rediscovering some of my analog hobbies and passions like crafting.
I am a very creative person and I felt the need to reconnect with this a lot more.
And as Cal Newport suggests in his book,
I have been also facing some time in solitude.
Once again, I totally recommend the book.
I believe it is life-changing and it is a really good one to read.
Before leaving I want to say that I am not touching on Facebook or Twitter because the first one I don't really use that much,
and the second one I do not even have an account on,
so they were not a problem for me.
that's why I don't have any tips or recommendations for those.
On another note, if you like the content that I post and you find value in it,
you might want to stop by my Patreon page, and find a way to help me keep creating.
I would really appreciate that! and I'll have the link down below or in a card in the right top corner.
I have made a printable that might help you out, so you can just download it and fill it in.
And if you have any similar experience with technology, with social media binging, and so on,
or maybe some tricks that have helped you out, just leave a comment down below,
because I'm always open to new ideas and suggestions,
and I really like to run some experiments on myself and try things out. So yeah, just leave your comment.
I wish you all the best, and thanks for watching!
This was a very important topic for me, which kind of got me to rethink a lot about my work and my life,
and I still question everything up to this day.
And I will continue to meditate about that,
so hugs for you! and please stay simple.