📱surviving life without texting on the low phone diet📱

in #mindfulness5 years ago

the text is the smallest form of digital communication. it is the atom, the base unit of information. much can be said with a single text — even one character, like a 👍 or a 🍆, can imply a large amount of information.

on the low phone diet (LPD) you only check your phone three times per day. this eliminates the ability to have ongoing text conversations.

note: the low phone diet protocol can be found here


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breaking the text habit

one thing becomes clear right away: texts are a distraction. when you keep your phone off, other people start to look crazy. people are just lost in their phones, staring deep into them, breaking away mid-conversation and in the middle of the street to type out texts.

be careful tho, don’t get cocky.

you might start thinking like this:

you, the enlightened one: these silly people are like zombies, trapped staring into the comforting glow of the phone!

there is a sense of superiority that can emerge. you are breaking free of the matrix, man! wake up sheeple 🐑🐑

but then the next thing happens.

oops now nobody cares, nobody wants to text you anymore. jokes on you 😂

once your friends realize it isn’t fun to text you anymore, they will stop. you will receive way less texts than you used to. this is where the other shoe starts to drop.

losing all of your texting relationships can feel like losing a limb. no more texting for fun? how will we entertain ourselves when we’re bored at work, on the train, or in line at the grocery store? how will i stay in touch with people?

you need to come to terms with two core facts:

  1. text conversations are lame
  2. half the reason that we text so much, is to avoid the present moment

texts are no fun. they aren’t entertaining or useful. most texting is just a passive way to kill time when we’re bored. we get validation by having a lot of texts in our inboxes.

everybody: 😟😟nobody has texted me in 4 hours 😟😟 do i have no friends? 😯😯

without text, we have to be more patient. we have to let serendipity come to us when it will, rather than trying to text our way to transcendence. we need to commit to whatever is right in front of us — jobs, frugality, patience, fear, etc — without using texts as a way to escape from life every few minutes.

it’s a total lifestyle adjustment to stop texting all day. to accept what is right in front of us as the base layer of our reality.

self-help technique (very advanced): pay attention to the world around you 🌎🌎

when your friends stop texting you, it creates a lot of space in your social life.

go into that open space boldly. be courageous and be patient. sit with what you experience and remember that these kinds of experiments can be highly psychedelic in nature — no drugs needed!

your friends will still be there for you. your communication methods will evolve and expand. you'll meet new people, deepen relationships with current friends, and find new outlets for boredom and creativity that don't involve your smart phone. and the phone is still there for you, when you really need it.

nothing is lost. much is gained.

is the phone a big part of your life? how often do you text?

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If I didn’t answer texts, I would get fired. When you work with friends, lines get blurred, text expectations become blurred, and accountability gets confused. Over communication has a time and place. It’s good to take a break. Not a break from text to scroll infinitely on the FBook, more like a break into reality.

True, friends will still be there. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

Oh and by the way, if you only use Godzilla GIFs to respond to text messages, most friends will probably leave you alone/text less.

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yeah that's rough. it sucks when a job requires you to have your phone all the time. do you have to answer texts even when you aren't "at the office"?

No, I don’t have an out of office reply, but I want to get the auto reply that kicks in while I’m driving. I think iphone has it, not sure.

Anyway, I don’t even have an office. If it’s late at night, I usually check the text and then ignore it if it’s not urgent... if it wakes me up. 😁
Theoretically, as a musician/freelance, I should be extremely responsive to the phone and possible gigs... If I miss the gig, then I guess that’s just the way it is. Better not to stress me and loved one. I’ve never missed a gig like that though. My “boss” is compassionate.

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That's cool, makes sense that you need to do that. I do miss picking up shifts sometimes when my phone is off, and its always annoying.

Not as much as college life used to demand of me, a couple of times a day now. I think it’s exactly what I needed in terms of weakening the smartphone dependency. I want to say I’ve picked up better habits, but that’s a work in progress.

a couple times a day is pretty good. that might be the perfect amount.

LOL. I text maybe once a day. "I'll be home in half an hour, can you put something in the oven?"

Email, text, social media - it's all a bare minimum.

The downside is that nothing that comes through my phone is ever fun. Maybe it's a message from my accountant. Maybe it's my mother telling me I need to take care of some other bit of family business. Or it's a workman about the next round of crap going wrong with the house.

Whenever my phone vibrates I have an instant feeling of dread. God, what am I going to have to do now?

I use it to read ebooks, listen to music, and take pictures. But never, by choice, to connect with people.

You're a rare case of a person who isn't addicted!