Get rid of these smart phones and limit internet use.

Hey, I am on the same thing on the moment! I realised how much I just look at the phone whenever I am bored, instead of being alone with the mind even for seconds.
But going to a non-internet phone seems impossible to me, how do you handle things like whatsapp?

 

WhatsApp is only a few years old and it's so essentially addicting, that one cannot see themselves living without it.

I remember days when I was a kid when we had things called rotary phones. Not even cell phones, no, those analog landline ones. And yet... life was not THAT bad, was it?

 

Hey
of course you can put it like that, but if everybody is using WhatsApp (including groupChats) you either will leave out a bit or have to use it.
And WhatsApp itself is not any worse than texting on rotary phones.

 

WhatsApp can be good, of course. Maybe I'm too old fashioned, but I only use it to set up meetings with people; I prefer conversing face to face, over a coffee or dinner, it brings you closer to people, you can see their physical reactions, not some standard emojis.

Crap, I'm old! haha

 

Yes that's my approach aswell. So I need Whats App to set up meetings, I like conversing face to face more. But with this I can't go back to the old phones, as they are not WhatsApp compatible...

Anyway, have a good night!

 

I use phone for nofap, calls, texting and some videos when bored... And spotify. Before I used to watch a lots of series, memes and spend a lot more time on phone. Now I feel just comfy without that.

 

When it's time for a new iPhone I will instead get a flip phone. I know my life will be better, and I won't be a slave to the technology and the technology industry.

 

I support any effort at addressing this, but I think this is where the simple old model of abstinence for addiction runs into a wall. It is simply not possible for some people to quit tech entirely due to their job, and a lot of that does involve internet use if nothing else. That said, a period of abstinence like rebooting may be a good idea even for them, and I'd say it's worth the effort to set aside the time for that, like maybe when they take vacation.

I guess there are people like Tristan Harris trying to rally support for humane design, and personally if for example the Ubuntu smartphone ever took off that's an option I'd seriously consider, but short of that I would simply be discriminating with the specific software being run, and look at the features and settings in detail and choose accordingly. I have an older smart phone and a lot of times it's just on Airplane mode, and very limited number of apps largely due to the limit of system resources and is limited based on actual need. Specifically I deleted WhatsApp because I was left with only one person on it, and I can just text him (he even lives locally FFS) so there was no point using up storage for it when I was already low. But if someone was using it for international communication to save money I can see keeping that one, but of course if people on your list also consists of people who waste time or otherwise even drag you into PMO like I have heard before then that's something you'll have to consider.

 

On the same line as @Awedouble, technology is just a tool and how you use it makes the difference. Technology is amoral, it is neither good, nor bad, but what we make of it.

As analogy, the hammer!

Good usage of hammer: drive nails into walls
Good usage of technology: work more efficiently, learn new things

Wrong usage of hammer: smash one's own balls
Wrong usage of technology: spend hours on the internet without aim

Same with, say, clothes; yes, clothes are technology. The good use is to keep us warm and cover our shame, the bad use is to go and buy new outfits every week, because the ones you bought last week are out of fashion.

 

I've been off all of social media for some time now. The only website I use is NoFap. Been off of Facebook since April 1, 2019(no pun intended) Really, though, I can't figure out how to use a smart phone, and I will never buy one. The other social media I will never use is Twitter, Instagram, whatsapp (whatever that is). When I learn something (like reading) I end up forgetting what I've jsut read. Even little bits at a time, I will still end up forgetting. I get discouraged easily so I say 'forget it'. Which leads to something else that doesn't belong on this topic. #@$% everything.

 

I'd say you're kind of half way there though, the mental concentration is not going to come overnight and there is just also a matter of discovering what you're passionate about, which can be a process in itself.

 

I tried not to use smart phone and laptop two years ago during Msc but trust me It was awful because I had lots of assignments and I was trying to live in the library. Firstly It was going well and reached my longest streak 17 days but then I could not control my urges and I tried to watch sex related videos at the library. I was afraid of so much caught in that stupid situation and bought a computer. Sometimes I am considering again to give up but could not dare again.

 

You know what guys, the bigger challenge is to discipline your mind. We all know this but we look for the easier stuff to control, things outside of us, which is the computers, software and all that. It's the pink elephant in the room isn't it?

You wanna do both sure, and if someone can totally get away from the tech great and I respect that decision, whether as an experiment for a period of time or permanently, but whether you give it up or not you can't give up your mind, and you gotta work on it at some point (really all the time) and ultimately that is the way to deeper recovery.

 

I believe the same way because If you do not fix your mind you can be sure one day it will trick you again.

 

FU*K NO. Whatsapp is 10 years old

 

I guess it depends on how desperate you are. I tried to quit P for a long time and realized I simply couldn't if I was sitting at a computer all day for work. So I quit my 20-year IT career in order to get away from electronics of all kinds. I took a 60% pay cut and became a plumber instead! There are no computers at the bottom of a soil pipe.

Radical lifestyle change may be required in order to break free of a habit, especially if it is one that has been held for a long time. Saying something is "simply not possible" may be just one more refuge for the unwilling. When the pain of staying stuck in PMO becomes greater than the pain of change, then change will occur -- no matter how costly it may be.

 

I was saying it's not possible in the context of working with tech for obvious reasons, since you no longer work in that industry it doesn't apply. And yes one has to be willing to do whatever it takes, however in terms of complete abstinence from tech neither of us are doing that given how this exchange is taking place.

Of course it may be a question of where someone is at in the process, maybe at one point you or someone in a similar situation would want to abstain even from an online recovery forum, but it doesn't mean that has to be the case all the time or forever.

 

Absolutely! My two years away from electronics is what I needed to "jump start" my recovery. I am obviously back at the computer now, but I am at a different place than I was those years ago. One of my favorite things about the recovery community is that we get to witness every day the great truth that people *can* change.

 

I really do want leave these modern slavery technology but i need whatss app for working