Getting rid of my smartphone

[RawJudah]

Hi all,

I’ve been wanting to do this for ages now, but due to smartphone addiction and fear of missing out I haven’t got rid of my smartphone yet.

So, I was wondering if anyone has done this? And the pros/cons of doing this?

Deep down I know this will majorly benefit my life but I need some clarification from someone who’s been there and done it. Because I don’t want to regret getting rid of it. I do have an old Nokia that I might use again.

I just constantly feel available to everyone and I really don’t like it anymore and all the notifications and calls stresses me out and might even cause me to feel depressed... I want to live in the real world more and experience things without the ball-and-chain of a smartphone always in my pocket. But I feel I’m addicted!! Like my brain needs to see the screen! How is something that can be so helpful be so damn addictive and annoying!?

Any replies would be great and I’d love to hear if anyone’s done this and benefited.

[RossE]

Look inward for the solution. The phone is not the issue, it's you.

If you're addicted there's work to do on yourself. There's years of programming to be undone. Contemplate why you became addicted, what things you feel compulsed to do while on it etc. Notice how you feel while using it.

Once you've worked through the addiction, you can then contemplate if it's useful to use the phone.

If you ditched the phone completely now it would likely make your predicament worse because you are dodging the core issue.

A healthy place to be is being able to use this wonderful technology for practical effectiveness and enjoyment while being detached to it - not needing it.

 

[RawJudah]

@RossE @RossE Ok, I understand what your saying.

but I feel like it’s distracting me from looking inside myself.

And I see everyone else who’s always on theirs and it’s like they’re just zombies, me included!

Is there any way back to authentic conversations and austhentic relationships with people without the smartphone/social media???

[molosku]

the world is not to blame for your addictions to stuff, it's always within you. Smartphones are supposed to make your life easier and they do if you know how to use them responsibly and consciously. I would advice to install a usage-app, so you get to see how much of your life is actually draining away staring at it. You are living in "the real world" even with a smartphone in your pocket. Who knows if you suddenly get lost in the real world and begin to miss google maps

[HII]

I've had times where I didn't own a smartphone. It took away zero from my quality of life. You have an old Nokia flying around, so just try it out for a week and then you'll see how it goes.

Another strategy that I've used successfully with screen-technology in general: Whenever you want or need to use your smartphone, you can write in a notebook or on a piece of paper what you are going to use it for in that moment. Then you can go ahead and use it for that thing. And after you're done with that thing, you turn it off. And you don't turn it on until you want or need it the next time and not before you've written down again what you're going to use it for. The important thing is to not check and respond to notifications before you've fulfilled your purpose of switching it on. You either allow yourself consciously to do it afterwards or you devote an extra on-switch for that purpose (again, having it specified before in written form).

This works because the main problem of unhealthy smartphone usage is that you fuck up your reward system by hashing passively for novelty, which gives you dopamine spikes (that's why it makes you lethargic and depressed). By forcing yourself to use your phone actively, you take back control and your dopamine system can recover and get you more motivated to do actual activities which benefit you

If you don't want to be that strict, I would at least always have it in silent mode with vibration turned off (unless you need or want to be available for a period of time), holding it in the hands as little as possible, keeping it in a separate room as much as possible. If all of that feels too hard in the beginning, you can still go with "awareness alone is curative". You can do it

[deci belle]

Those are some really practical tips, as well as the powerful insight in the last line offered by HII.

It really is fine to get rid of your smartphone if you want to simplify your life a bit temporarily. RossE and molosku are quite correct, but cutting out sources of distraction is an easy and obvious way to target for those wishing to make a commitment toward concentrating attention on psychological hygiene.

Renunciatory methods are universally applicable at all stages of development— especially for those who have already penetrated the absolute.

Why? Because in the aftermath of the sudden, real knowledge, or lead, in terms of taoist spiritual alchemy, must be gotten rid of. That bit of stripping away took a long time even for Gautama buddha. That's why he continued to sit under the Bodhi tree after his enlightenment.

Surely it's ok to temporarily eliminate the major distraction that an over-developed electronic media device insidiously provides!

I think that would be an easy and limited bit of renunciation to implement. I have never had a smartphone myself. I only have an old iPod for music and pictures.

This being my first post on this forum I can say that I haven't posted on any forums dedicated to spiritual refinement in 2 years or more~ so I have exercised an aspect of inner/outer renunciation for a limited time too.

You can alway get a better smartphone some day if you need to again.

 

 

ed note: added line about HII's suggestions

Edited January 13, 2018 by deci belle

[BjarkeT]

I recomend checking out cal newport  he talks about for example quiting social media and digital minimalism

 

[exhale]

I don't know if my story will be helpful for you because it revolves around social media usage via cell phones, not cell phones themselves.  I don't personally have an issue with texts/calls/being available, but perhaps you have a larger social circle than I

One of my goals for 2018 is to become in control of my social media usage.  As many (most?) people, I found myself spontaneously checking my 'newsfeeds' on my smartphone somewhere between 50-80 times per day.--at any moment where I was bored.  I have beenaware of this addiction for some time, and have long desired to overcome it, as I am aware that this addiction is robbing me of time, serving as a distraction from what is actually important to me.   

On December 31, I changed all my passwords to a lengthy numerical password so that I cannot access my social media without climbing on a chair, reaching for the paper on the top shelf of my cupboard and inputing the password.  This means, that I am completely in charge of my time spent on social media.  

As social media is not bad per se,  and has some valuable qualities, I am not forbidding it.  But, I find that I am most successful at making changes in my life when I draw clear guidelines.  I do not forbid or condemn the things I am going to change.  Rather, I make a promise myself to comply with the guidelines, and observe how my life changes/improves.  

I allow myself to check it on Saturdays for < 1 hour, after the kids have gone to sleep.  Used in this manner, it is not interfering with the things that are important to me: career, family and friends.  

To be clear, I am only 12 days in.  But what has my experience been so far?  Last Saturday, I was genuinely excited to check my newsfeeds because I felt like I was missing out on many things.  No messages, nothing important happened, I missed out on nothing.  I ended up logging off after 8 minutes--wondering why I wasted those 8 minutes.  

It will be interesting to see how this evolves for me throughout the year.  



 

[star ark]

buy the lamest, cheapest phone and use it as a means of telephoning people and nothing else