Guys, I'm not a digital minimalist.
To recap, I tried to do a 30 day fast from all optional technologies. It... hasn't gone well. I've messed up and restarted about a bazillion times over the last month. It's pretty ridiculous, actually. But I'm just more attached to technology than I ever realized!
But here I am, trying again... another day 1 I suppose. I think part of what I need to do is set clearer parameters. Sometimes in the modern world, you have to access optional technologies, and right now it's fuzzy for me when I'm doing something reasonable, and when I've broken the fast and need to start over.
Also, I probably need to allow myself some little slip-ups. Part of what's happening is I'll mess up just a little bit, go out of habit to a website and spend a few minutes there or something. Then instead of just getting off and resolving harder to stay away, I'll decide the day is already moot so I might as well visit my other favorite websites. 😅
Okay, so here's some basic rules/steps for success:
1. StayFocusd--This gem of an add-on blocks you from accessing your list of banned websites during certain hours of the day. I have it set up to run with my work hours, 8 am to 6 pm (I don't work quite that long, but typically somewhere within that window).
Issues with this: for starters, I need to extend the hours it runs to go beyond my work day to protect my evenings too. I need to run the nuclear option more often--when you turn it on (and you can turn it on anytime for as long as you like) all websites on your banned list are blocked. If you try to go there, you get an animation of a screaming man saying, "Shouldn't you be working?"
Also, I need to limit how many minutes I'm allowed to access those sites per day. Right now it's set to a generous hour--you can't set it to 0 minutes, but I'll bump it down to 10.
Then, even if I slip up and visit a website I shouldn't, I'll be blocked! ...As long as I'm on my computer. You have to pay to use the phone app version of StayFocusd (called Freedom). Freedom will even block app usage, but I don't want to pay the monthly subscription fee to use it. I'll just have to be disciplined about not accessing the internet on my phone.
2. Acceptable visits to banned sites--sometimes I have legitimate reasons to visit a website. As long as it's a quick visit, I think it can be permissible:
- Pinterest--I can't surf it, but I can come here to access a recipe or look at a particular pin I have saved. I use this as a storage place for my links, and there are times I need to access one for a perfectly good reason like making dinner or doing some car maintenance.
- Goodreads--I can record my reading to keep that accurate, and I can spend a little bit of time here looking for new books to read. No mindless surfing--I've caught myself doing that a lot recently since it's one of the few social media sites I didn't ban.
- Facebook--I can visit for a specific, quick purpose, like posting something for work, checking someone's birthday, reviewing a post in the Relief Society group. I had Trevor change my password, so I can only get on when he's with me--he can help me stay on track. It's hard for me to resist looking at my notifications while I'm in there. Fine, take a quick quick look if I must--but can't spend more than 5 minutes on Facebook ever, and definitely can't scroll around my newsfeed. If at all possible, I need to navigate directly to the page I need (HRC page, or RS group page) rather than the newsfeed.
- Facebook messenger--it's still okay to communicate with people here and through texting. But, I need to be careful not to overly rely on this. And I need to be mindful that I don't neglect the people in front of me in favor of messages on my phone.
- News sites--Can't spend hours reading the stories like I used to be guilty of. But I can check in briefly when something big has happened. Like, it's okay to read an article or two about the Democratic debate the day after. It's fine that, when I heard about the 2 shootings last week, I went to read about what happened. Again, the key is to go with a purpose, and keep the visit brief.
- Surfing the web--mindless surfing is a no. But some searches are helpful and necessary and therefore allowed. Intent is the key.
- Blogger--I still think it's okay for me to write blog posts, and read people's posts. I just can't spend time mindlessly surfing here just because it's a site I'm allowing myself to access.
3. Handling slip-ups--StayFocusd helps a lot with these, but not on my phone. If out of habit I access something (or in a moment of weakness, I pull something up) I don't have to completely restart the 30 days, as long as I catch myself and stop pretty quickly.
