Re-entry Journal: 4 ways I'm trying to curb my tech addiction.

​​I started my weekend valiantly, armed with determination and a to-do list. With the end of the season just around the horizon, this to-do list is becoming more of a "find a damn job or become a sloth your parent's basement" list than just a simple to-do list. And yet, my weekend in civilization has gone by in a flash and my "peril in my parent's basement" list remains untouched. Yes, I have stumbled on the hard reality of re-entry into the normal world: despite my summer in the forest, my new found "inner focus" has quickly dissipated when reintroduced to technology. If this summer has taught me anything it's that there has to be a balance. I can't stay in the forest forever but I can't go back to being attached to my phone and living in a constant state of millennial FOMO (fear of missing out). Try as I might, I will not be able to do this without another handy list - this time less of a sloth in the basement list and more of a guide for reentry. Here are 4 ways I'm trying to break my tech addiction. 1. I'm trying to remember that despite constant FOMO, I'm not actually missing out on all that much. This summer I discovered that Facebook does this funny thing: if for some ungodly reason, you don't connect to Facebook at all during a 24 hour period, they will begin to inundate your account with "notifications". No, unfortunately this isn't because you are oh so popular (don't worry - I like you anyway) - it's because Facebook and other platforms are designed so that you keep coming back and what better way to make you come back than to inundate your brain with little flashes of good feelings caused by new notifications? Fun fact: a study at California State University found that people with a Facebook "addiction" had the same brain reaction to Facebook as drug addicts do to cocaine. So while you thought you were having a boring night in sweatpants, scrolling through feeds, you were actually re-enacting the Millennial version of Fear and Loathing (God our generation is just ugh...) Long story short, these notifications pushed by Facebook to bring you back to them? Well they're actually just mush, "So and so has just updated their profile" and "what and what has posted for the first time for a while" (this one is very tricky as FB is using the notification to get you back and THEN is trying to use YOU to encourage your "inactive" friend to come back to the dark side). It's all a bit desperate (sorry Zuckerberg) but it also proved something to me: that fear of missing out that I had whenever I put down my phone? Turns out, it's bullshit. So kids, let's drop the juice, turn off your notifications and live your god damn life. 2. I'm getting an actual alarm clock. This one might seem simple but it is so hugely important. To illustrate, here's my average day with the internet. Wake up to alarm, grab my phone to shut off said alarm, instantly scroll through emails, Instagram and Facebook. Play news podcast while making coffee. Look up a recipe for breakfast, text friends to make plans, drive to plans and play a podcast while driving, meet friends and swear we won't look at our phones...except omg have you seen "so and so's Snapchat"? Leave friend and search "healthiest fast food lunches". Drive to fast food place and justify eating fast food by using the Wifi to post my newest blog (yay productivity). Drive home listening to podcasts. Scroll through Instagram and Facebook to see if said friend posted about our date. Look up dinner recipe and stream Netflix while making dinner. Scroll mindlessly through everything and then finally set alarm and go to sleep listening to my meditation app (which I have to use because for some reason I can't seem to shut my brain off?) Yes, you read that right - almost every waking hour I am attached to my phone. God, even I annoy me. But every story starts with a beginning and an end and for me, that is my alarm. It sounds small but by getting an old school alarm and leaving my phone charging outside of my bedroom, I can change the beginning and the end of my daily technology binge. As they say, every great journey starts with a single step (although they probably meant that to describe marathon training or discovering a new country or something - god our generation has ruined everything). 3. I will give myself time to be a technological POS The reality is, we are growing up in a very different time than our parents did. Technology is now a necessity and for most jobs, you need to be able to dedicate at least some time to being "connected". This means that I have to do two things: one, I need to be firm with myself on the time that I will let myself be connected which means grabbing my handy dandy alarm clock (not the one on my phone you tweakers) and setting a real time limit for fun internetting. Two, I need to be upfront and clear with my job about times that I'll be available and have a separate phone dedicated to working (even if they don't provide this, you should at least buy an old iPhone and save yourself years of anxiety and unchargeable hours). This seems a bit dramatic but I promise you, if you don't make an effort, in the beginning, your online hours will creep up on you. At my previous workplace, I did not make this clear which resulted in numerous midnight email chains and 4 am tweaks to the website. I would end up walking into work Monday morning feeling like a never really left at all. In all honesty, there will be emergencies that require quick action BUT most things are things that can wait. 4. I will read a damn book I once read that recovering alcoholics should try to drink "fun alternatives" to alcohol when trying to kick the booze. While that alone seems like a depressing thought, it is actually based on a great idea (and to be honest, sparkling pineapple coconut water is the only thing that got me through my Dry August stint). Having an alternative for your addiction will help fill that space and in that way, reading is the sparkling pineapple coconut water to my internet addiction. So if you haven't heard of it, reading books is kind of like the original virtual reality minus to dorky head gear. But for serious though, this summer, after years of only buying books in airports and leaving them untouched in my suitcase, I actually had the time (and focus) to read a bunch of books and I finally realized how much I missed it. In the same way that I once reached for Netflix or a Podcast, I am attempting to instead reach for a real life, hold in my hands, smell the pages book.