There is a um something like a thing to do in Christianity where you set a theme for a week and reflect on how this theme fits into your whole life (e.g. suffering, grace etc). I want to do something similar but make it just much more personal. I struggled with phone addiction for some time and it seems that bursts of work can’t solve that issue. So this week will be the week of reflection on my phone addiction.
This would probably rub many people here the wrong way, but I would like to see some overview of Christianity “tech”, without the religious lingo, with an explanation/speculation why it works. Seems to me that we are often reinventing the wheel (e.g. gratitude journaling), so why not just take the entire package, and maybe test it experimentally piece by piece.
(Last time I suggested it, the objection seemed to be that ideas associated with religion are inherently toxic, and if they have any value, we will reinvent them independently without all the baggage. Of course, that was before half of the rationalist community jumped on the meditation bandwagon, where apparently all the religious baggage is perfectly harmless.)
I’m interested, what form do you anticipate this reflection taking? Do you intend to structure your reflection or have any guidelines or roadmaps? How will it manifest at the most concrete level? (Well, ya know, concrete as an internal process can be): Quiet contemplation? Are you a visual thinker or do you have an internal monologue or both or neither? Or will your journal it? Pen and Paper or in a word processor? Or will you discuss it with an LLM?
I didn’t intend to structure it in any way. I was actually just hoping to see how my life changes when I purposefully inhibit other goals, like exercising, and just focus on this one. So far, I’m not getting much, since I already know a lot about my phone habits. I like my phone because I can chat with other people and read stuff when I’m bored and ignore whatever is going on inside my body. I do have an internal monologue all the time.
The core point I had was about the inhibition of other goals – it’s not a time to worry about sport or a healthy diet; it’s time to think about your phone and how it changes your life. I still live my normal life, though.
Think as in just let it stay in the background and let you interpret things with it in mind.
I also bought this device:
I think it reduces the time I spend on my phone a lot. Much more than reflection alone.
I don’t think I could have quit checking it more than 20 times a day without this device. It’s great! This one is expensive, but you can probably make one on your own using a box and a lock with a timer.
I watch YouTube videos more. The space left by my phone is getting filled with YouTube videos, which I think is fine, since they are more… they require sitting in front of a PC, as my phone is locked. I take slightly more walks.
Next week, I want to reflect on this quote:
In any game, a player’s best possible chance of winning lies in consistently making good moves without blundering.
I usually don’t discuss things with LLMs; I haven’t found it useful. Though, I need to try it with the new Claude.
There is a um something like a thing to do in Christianity where you set a theme for a week and reflect on how this theme fits into your whole life (e.g. suffering, grace etc). I want to do something similar but make it just much more personal. I struggled with phone addiction for some time and it seems that bursts of work can’t solve that issue. So this week will be the week of reflection on my phone addiction.
This would probably rub many people here the wrong way, but I would like to see some overview of Christianity “tech”, without the religious lingo, with an explanation/speculation why it works. Seems to me that we are often reinventing the wheel (e.g. gratitude journaling), so why not just take the entire package, and maybe test it experimentally piece by piece.
(Last time I suggested it, the objection seemed to be that ideas associated with religion are inherently toxic, and if they have any value, we will reinvent them independently without all the baggage. Of course, that was before half of the rationalist community jumped on the meditation bandwagon, where apparently all the religious baggage is perfectly harmless.)
I’m interested, what form do you anticipate this reflection taking? Do you intend to structure your reflection or have any guidelines or roadmaps? How will it manifest at the most concrete level? (Well, ya know, concrete as an internal process can be): Quiet contemplation? Are you a visual thinker or do you have an internal monologue or both or neither? Or will your journal it? Pen and Paper or in a word processor? Or will you discuss it with an LLM?
I didn’t intend to structure it in any way. I was actually just hoping to see how my life changes when I purposefully inhibit other goals, like exercising, and just focus on this one. So far, I’m not getting much, since I already know a lot about my phone habits. I like my phone because I can chat with other people and read stuff when I’m bored and ignore whatever is going on inside my body. I do have an internal monologue all the time.
The core point I had was about the inhibition of other goals – it’s not a time to worry about sport or a healthy diet; it’s time to think about your phone and how it changes your life. I still live my normal life, though.
Think as in just let it stay in the background and let you interpret things with it in mind.
I also bought this device:
I think it reduces the time I spend on my phone a lot. Much more than reflection alone.
I don’t think I could have quit checking it more than 20 times a day without this device. It’s great! This one is expensive, but you can probably make one on your own using a box and a lock with a timer.
I watch YouTube videos more. The space left by my phone is getting filled with YouTube videos, which I think is fine, since they are more… they require sitting in front of a PC, as my phone is locked. I take slightly more walks.
Next week, I want to reflect on this quote:
I usually don’t discuss things with LLMs; I haven’t found it useful. Though, I need to try it with the new Claude.
Thanks for answering my question—it reminds me of the phrase—“It’s not what you say “yes” to, focus is what you say “no” to”.
And it’s great that it sounds like the device is working. Best of luck with next week’s reflection.