It has been a little over a month since I set out to improve my focus and attention span by setting myself a few rules. I'm on a plane without wifi and with my notebook so I thought I'd write a bit about how each rule has worked out and how my overall progress is.
TL;DR: I've adjusted to this new normal, with less of a knee-jerk desire to pull out my phone, but I've certainly broken most of the rules many times.
The explicit rules:
- Start every blog post in a notebook by hand
- This rule I have followed perfectly so far, and it is my absolute favorite one. Something about being able to flow with my ideas and being forced to slow down to my writing speed - whereas my typing speed tends to be faster - has really helped my focus. I like it so much I take this blog notebook on trips like the one I'm currently on. I cannot recommend it enough.
- No more phone during mealtime
- This one has been a 60-70% success. There have been times at work that I've been so busy I either eat at my desk with my laptop out or have my phone out to respond to messages or listen to a presentation in the kitchen. Not ideal. I've also allowed myself to pull out the phone for entertainment. I will continue to try to cut down on it though.
- Spend at least 15 mins outside every single day
- This one I have struggled with the most. I've probably spent the 15 mins almost every day, but I've consistently allowed myself to count the 20 mins spent walking the dog, which I told myself shouldn't count. Need to keep trying with this one. It was definitely easier 30 days ago.
General goals I had:
- Stop using Youtube Shorts
- This one never truly happened. I have a 30-min timer on Youtube and I use NewPipe to actually watch long-form content. I am glad to say youtube shorts is limited to 30mins before bed or while on the toilet, but the idea was that I would not spend 30mins before bed every day staring at my phone and either read or something. We'll see how I can manage to shift that habit.
- Move away from link aggregators to RSS feeds
- I've unfortunately realized that my Lemmy usage has not decreased since reducing my short-form video consumption. It still hover around 20-40mins a day on Lemmy. I think that is still maybe on-par or lower than the average Reddit user, but it's not ideal. I need to get my memes from somewhere else idk.
- This last month I managed to get my blog into powRSS! I was flattered by the comments the maintainer made about my site.
- I have added and read so many cute, interesting, and thoughtful blogposts and have something fresh to read almost daily. I hope to continue on the RSS binge.
Other metrics:
- Screentime
- My screentime has not lowered significantly. I still have 3-5 hours of time on my phone every day, but I do think the time has shifted positively in the direction of purposeful engagement, rather than algorithm-dictated scrolling.
I always do my best to keep a growth mindset, so I will continue to check in with myself and my habits to hopefully un-poison my consciousness and be able to be truly and meaningfully bored again without it being nerve-wracking.
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Thoughts? Send me an email!
kagumail.uselessly535@passinbox.com
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