Dear Catherine, thx for your newsletters and your book.
I would like to share with you an experiment I started three weeks ago to great benefits.
I MADE MY IPHONE a "DUMB PHONE ". They key point is that I asked my wife to set a new code which I don’t knew. Of course, I also deactivated face unlocking. I could still perform key activities with locked screen thx to my super geek powers ;-)
- taking pictures: easy from locked screen
- keeping in touch: with Siri you can start a facetime, call or send a message (including via WhatsApp)
- seeing and replying to recent messages: you can do that via your notification centre on your locked screen
- reading/replying to "old" messages: I use my apple watch, it works directly with iMessages. For WhatsApp you can add the app WatchChat which is ok (WhatsApp does not offer an apple watch app) NB for WhatsApp of course the web version on your computer is the best solution
- adding notes and reminders: Simply use Siri (add a memo, remind me to … on list …), in notes you can do as usual with writing, scanning docs, drawing…
- play music and podcasts: you can use Siri but I find taht using the apple watch is really better, using Spotify apple watch app for the podcasts and music works like a charm for ex.
- you can also do some of the above tasks via the control centre
All that allowed me to free myself from a key problem: watching far too easily YouTube videos when I was stressed or drifting on Safari, possibly buying useless stuff on amazon. For me the above activities were the ones I found positive when you asked us to be clear about it in your very good book. Thx to you, my geek tricks and understanding wife, I am more available to my kids, I relax with books, podcasts and woodworking. I still watch sometimes YouTube (I learn quite a lot with their educative videos) but on the TV, not anywhere anytime. The first week was tricky, I found myself having the phone in my hands and trying to unlock it with my old code. On second and third week, I started to be more and more liberated, ok with being alone with my ideas and sometimes stress. This morning I even left all the devices in my bag when I went to the gym. I will see how long it makes sense to continue this, feels at the moment to be a good long term solution for me.
NB Tricky is still to send pictures, I found a complicated workaround via setting the picture as favourite after you take it, opening pictures on apple watch and sending it via iMessages. Tricky was also listening to audible, I used a workaround via Sonos loudspeaker and remote app on my apple watch
NB: My kids find this approach quite surprising which led to interesting discussions.
NB: Feel free to contact me by email if you are interested in the settings details
NB: hope my English is ok, I am not a native speaker…
This is fascinating -- I've never heard of this approach and it's so creative! Thank you for sharing. (Also, my next newsletter is actually all about how I made my own phone more "dumb" -- but yours is even more dramatic!) Very inspiring!
Thanks for your help with my smart phone addiction. So far I’ve removed instagram from my phone and added the screen zen app which lets you limit access to certain apps (you set how many times you can open the app in a day and for how long, as well as a wait time before it actually opens). These have both been very helpful for me. At first I kept using my iPad to check instagram and was still mindlessly scrolling, but over the weeks, I’m doing this less and less. The screen zen app has been great too as it also asks you if you’re sure you want to open the app and often I realize that I don’t really need to and so I stop it. That little question plus the five second wait for the app to open seem to disrupt my habits and make me more mindful of what I’m doing.
Comfort with being bored is a lost art and one I'm working on. That's when the dots in the brain have the best chance to connect.
The mini-dopamine shot from the phone is infuriatingly addictive. My favorite deterrent is turning off almost all notifications. If I'm going to be derailed I at least want self- determination in the process.
I received the email earlier today as a subscriber. I took a photo, as they used your quote, “Fun is the secret to feeling alive.” It made me so happy to see two forces of positive in my life intertwine for a brief moment.
Love your writing, it manages to keep my squirrel brain engaged. I find it interesting to be reminded of the habit loop research because I think it informed “Hooked” the oft referred to book for getting customers hooked, the author (Nir Eyal) is now writing content and courses to help get us unhooked. He was questioned about this and didn’t see it as a conflict as he believes there are good reasons to hijack our brain eg. Duolingo. I enjoy his writing about hooking and unhooking and he provides a lot of free resources. It’s interesting how he has both contributed the problem and the cure - a bet each way.
Dear Catherine, thx for your newsletters and your book.
I would like to share with you an experiment I started three weeks ago to great benefits.
I MADE MY IPHONE a "DUMB PHONE ". They key point is that I asked my wife to set a new code which I don’t knew. Of course, I also deactivated face unlocking. I could still perform key activities with locked screen thx to my super geek powers ;-)
- taking pictures: easy from locked screen
- keeping in touch: with Siri you can start a facetime, call or send a message (including via WhatsApp)
- seeing and replying to recent messages: you can do that via your notification centre on your locked screen
- reading/replying to "old" messages: I use my apple watch, it works directly with iMessages. For WhatsApp you can add the app WatchChat which is ok (WhatsApp does not offer an apple watch app) NB for WhatsApp of course the web version on your computer is the best solution
- adding notes and reminders: Simply use Siri (add a memo, remind me to … on list …), in notes you can do as usual with writing, scanning docs, drawing…
- play music and podcasts: you can use Siri but I find taht using the apple watch is really better, using Spotify apple watch app for the podcasts and music works like a charm for ex.
- you can also do some of the above tasks via the control centre
All that allowed me to free myself from a key problem: watching far too easily YouTube videos when I was stressed or drifting on Safari, possibly buying useless stuff on amazon. For me the above activities were the ones I found positive when you asked us to be clear about it in your very good book. Thx to you, my geek tricks and understanding wife, I am more available to my kids, I relax with books, podcasts and woodworking. I still watch sometimes YouTube (I learn quite a lot with their educative videos) but on the TV, not anywhere anytime. The first week was tricky, I found myself having the phone in my hands and trying to unlock it with my old code. On second and third week, I started to be more and more liberated, ok with being alone with my ideas and sometimes stress. This morning I even left all the devices in my bag when I went to the gym. I will see how long it makes sense to continue this, feels at the moment to be a good long term solution for me.
NB Tricky is still to send pictures, I found a complicated workaround via setting the picture as favourite after you take it, opening pictures on apple watch and sending it via iMessages. Tricky was also listening to audible, I used a workaround via Sonos loudspeaker and remote app on my apple watch
NB: My kids find this approach quite surprising which led to interesting discussions.
NB: Feel free to contact me by email if you are interested in the settings details
NB: hope my English is ok, I am not a native speaker…
This is fascinating -- I've never heard of this approach and it's so creative! Thank you for sharing. (Also, my next newsletter is actually all about how I made my own phone more "dumb" -- but yours is even more dramatic!) Very inspiring!
Thanks for your help with my smart phone addiction. So far I’ve removed instagram from my phone and added the screen zen app which lets you limit access to certain apps (you set how many times you can open the app in a day and for how long, as well as a wait time before it actually opens). These have both been very helpful for me. At first I kept using my iPad to check instagram and was still mindlessly scrolling, but over the weeks, I’m doing this less and less. The screen zen app has been great too as it also asks you if you’re sure you want to open the app and often I realize that I don’t really need to and so I stop it. That little question plus the five second wait for the app to open seem to disrupt my habits and make me more mindful of what I’m doing.
Thanks for another great newsletter, Catherine.
Comfort with being bored is a lost art and one I'm working on. That's when the dots in the brain have the best chance to connect.
The mini-dopamine shot from the phone is infuriatingly addictive. My favorite deterrent is turning off almost all notifications. If I'm going to be derailed I at least want self- determination in the process.
Catherine! I just saw you quoted at the bottom of the Nice News newsletter!
Thanks for letting me know -- do you happen to know which one it was? (And I didn't know about that site or newsletter -- it looks great!)
I received the email earlier today as a subscriber. I took a photo, as they used your quote, “Fun is the secret to feeling alive.” It made me so happy to see two forces of positive in my life intertwine for a brief moment.
Love your writing, it manages to keep my squirrel brain engaged. I find it interesting to be reminded of the habit loop research because I think it informed “Hooked” the oft referred to book for getting customers hooked, the author (Nir Eyal) is now writing content and courses to help get us unhooked. He was questioned about this and didn’t see it as a conflict as he believes there are good reasons to hijack our brain eg. Duolingo. I enjoy his writing about hooking and unhooking and he provides a lot of free resources. It’s interesting how he has both contributed the problem and the cure - a bet each way.