Ai, curumba. Como usual, estou tentando evitar meu telefone, até mesmo subconscientemente. Os últimos dias têm sido especialmente ruins. Minha vida está reganhando momentum. Mas há o constante enfraquecimento daqueles 80+ notificações com que acordo por dia. E o pinging constante. Sim, sim, talvez não seja tão ruim para você. Eu recebo muitas, muitas mensagens de amigos e família. Mas eu com certeza recebo muitas outras coisas também. Aparentemente, 361 outras coisas surgiram apenas nas últimas 24 horas, de acordo com o menu Configurações > Notificações no meu Android. Sim, é isso mesmo. 361 vezes um pequeno ping irritante soou para chamar minha atenção. Isso não é tão legal, certo?

Então, eu meio que sinto que tenho que postar isso. Quanto às redes sociais, muitos de vocês podem ter notado meu desaparecimento. Talvez não tenham, eu não sei. Neste ponto, todo o meu uso de 'redes sociais' se resume a mensagens individuais com pessoas. Costumava postar o tempo todo na minha história do Snapchat. Agora, em grande parte, desapareci dos olhos do público.

Mídia Social é um Vício em Jogos de Azar

Parte desse desaparecimento tem sido o quão ocupado estou. Mas grande parte disso é que percebi que, em sua essência, a grande maioria das mídias sociais é um vício em jogos de azar. Recarregando para mais um tópico, rolando para mais um vídeo. O próximo pode ser bom, então você pode parar e ir dormir ou qualquer coisa. Mas na realidade você só vê aqueles posts realmente satisfatórios talvez, o que, 5% dos posts no máximo? Provavelmente mais perto de .5%. E então você aposta por outro. É só rolar infinitamente pelas notícias ruins, na minha opinião, é um vício em jogos de azar, exceto que é o seu tempo, saúde e oportunidades em vez de dinheiro. Especialmente porque tudo que os 5% geralmente fazem é te dar energia para rolar de novo. E como bônus, todos nós sabemos como é distorcida a versão da humanidade que vemos, porque todos reconhecemos que sensacionalismo e antagonismo são transmitidos mais do que qualquer outra coisa. E ainda assim é bombeado em nossos olhos 24/7.

Stepping out of the Game: Buy... *The Shit Phone*

My strat? In all seriousness, it's as simple as getting a second phone. A shitty one. And put it on vibrate; or, better yet, Do Not Disturb. And now you can actually have your ringer on the main one for important shit.

My second phone is a OnePlus 5t. It is $95 on eBay with Buy it Now listings (no worrying about auctions). A lot of online influencers will tell you to buy a flip phone or something. That's bullshit and we all know it. No regular person has the luxury of entertaining that. Really, though, you don't need to, just get a second one and toss all the distracting shit onto it. Snapchat Discord Facebook Signal etc? All on the shit phone. And then you can just turn it off when you need to.

The battery life is shit because it's from 2017 and not designed for 2024 apps. And guess what? That's great. Built in non negotiable time limit. It was the top of the line model at the time so is still powerful enough to run anything I need as long as I dismiss apps I'm not using. The screen is only passable compared to new phones, so content is nowhere near as beautiful, and therefore nowhere near as addictive.

I also don't have a phone plan for it. Wi-Fi only. It's great, when I'm out and about, I can only do phone calls text and email on my real phone. And music! And music. I have to actually pay attention to my surroundings and experience life. If I'm lonely, I phone call a friend or family. We should be doing that anyway, but we don't. No Do Not Disturb necessary; biggest reason I couldn't get away from stuff before is I was worried about getting an emergency call from family or friends while my phone is off. Give any of those people your real phone number. Just text them randomly, they'll live. I mean come on, one text from someone they'd probably like to talk to more, vs yet another TikTok notification? Which one do they really prefer? Both of you, just be honest.

And, if you want to go the extra mile, root the shit phone and get lsposed modules for all of your social media apps and you will probably be able to disable doomscroll features; I can in Snapchat, anyway, and there are modules for facebook and telegram as well, off the top of my head.

Celebrity Status

Another thing? This is something rich people do!!! Bill Murray, Tom Cruise, Elton John, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael Cera, Dolly Parton, and George Clooney all have their agent contact them if someone needs something, and otherwise have no phone. And guess what, they're successful as fuck. Being a celebrity is stressful enough as it is, and with all the death and destruction we get beamed directly into our retinas day in and day out, life is stressful enough for Gen Z, too. Plus we have to make ends meet, which they don't. And usually our work is far less fulfilling, far lower paid, or both. You really owe this to yourself.

Really reflect for a few minutes. $95 dollars? With free shipping? Is getting some control over the constant soul sucking draw of social media and notifications commanding your attention worth $95 dollars? For me it sure was. Oh boy, did I get so much more productive, and did I enjoy relationships and daily life sooooooooooooo much more. Just take the plunge.

Maybe look for free returns, try it for 14 or 30 days or whatever.

Numbers

Shit Phone: 253 Notifications in the last 24hrs Main Phone: 57 Notifications in the last 24hrs

Perfect? No. But I get 22.5% as many notifs on my real phone as my shit phone. Wow does it make a difference.

Bonus Round

Unsubscribe from some fucking emails, guys. Seriously. A lot of the ones you feel like you're "forced" to be subscribed to have multiple mailing lists (shipping and delivery alerts, targeted ads, shopping cart followups, etc.) and you can axe a few and get yourself some peace and quiet. It's simple. Get an email that sucks. Open it. Scroll to the bottom. Click unsubscribe. Gain some peace of mind. Really, it's great.

Thank you for your time, Seb <3