CodeMacLife

Aug 31, 2023 ∞

Dumb phones are not the answer to digital minimalism

I’m not saying ‘dumb’ feature phones are bad if you want to partake in digital minimalism. However, there are a few drawbacks that will take up your time when you could be using it more effectively on things you enjoy. I spent eighteen months with a feature phone (technically three phones) and the experience made me appreciate the smartness of having a smartphone. The problem isn’t smartphones, it’s you. Sorry to be truthful, but like any tool, it is how you use it that counts.

Backstory

At the end of 2019, I had enough of my smartphone addiction. I was spending more time than I would like to admit on my smartphone. As I recall, I would use my iPhone for a total of 6 hours and 37 minutes per day, as Apple screen time would inform me. That’s roughly 100 days of screen time wasted per year on what I was consuming at the time — gaming, social media, YouTube and aimlessly searching for random stuff to feed my dopamine obsession.

I felt shocked and appalled when I thought about it. I was always running out of time to complete my responsibilities and jobs I had on hold. Why couldn’t I achieve anything? I was always ‘busy’, complaining that I never had enough time to do anything. My solution — stay up until 1am to cram in as many jobs as possible. As you can imagine, it wasn’t long until I made myself poorly with sleep deprivation and unregulated patterns. My diet was all over the place, and I was hooked on energy drinks to keep me alert.

Discovering digital minimalism

I knew I had to have a mental reset. I did what most people would do — I researched about social media, mental health and dependency on technology (on my phone, of course). I stumbled across some comments on X (formerly known as Twitter) about someone called Cal Newport. He had a book out called Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. I certainly needed focus, and there were plenty of things distracting me in my noisy world. I purchased the eBook and sent it immediately to my Amazon Kindle app on my phone. I read the book within a week, on my phone, and quickly realised I was responsible for my shortcomings. Even if Cal expressed developers were creating apps and social media platforms to be addictive, it was actually my fault for falling for it. Taking responsibility for my actions was the only solution I could take to put things right.

I felt anger, contempt, and frustration towards my iPhone. I hated it. Furthermore, I hated Apple and the whole tech industry. The hatred grew, and I spontaneously deleted all of my social media accounts. I disconnected myself from the world. My phone felt neglected, as I purposely left it uncharged and out of sight (to the annoyance of my family). I knew it couldn’t be a maintainable approach to my problem. Avoiding wouldn’t resolve the concern, but I was adamant I was not going to use my phone.

Falling down a rabbit hole on YouTube probably was the best thing I did at the time. Yes, I ‘wasted’ hours over a couple of nights on consuming content, but I came to the realisation that others were being awakened to the modern issue of technology co-dependency. This is when I saw videos of people resorting to going all in with a dumb phone, later to be known as a feature phone. These were the phones I grew up with before the smartphone era came along.

Enter Nokia

It was at this time I discovered Nokia were introducing remakes of their classics under an operating system called KaiOS. Within a week of browsing, I had a Nokia 8110 4G in my hand. The remake of the original Matrix phone, aka the Banana phone, was the answer to all of my problems. I loved it. I would show off how I was not hooked like a slave, unlike those around me. My preaching to others and high moral ground stance was embarrassing when I look back at it. I didn’t care at the time. I was enjoying life and looking down on those around me, who walked around like zombies glued to their smartphones.

Limited features meant fewer reasons to have a big data plan. I was able to go to a cheap data plan of £5 ($6.34) per month. I saved a lot of money in the fourteen months I was using a feature phone.

The 8110 4G wasn’t perfect, though. The number pad was tiny and awful to type on. I hated texting and calling people on it because there were multiple steps with every simple action. KaiOS is terrible — slow, bloated, ad-riddled, buggy and generally useless. I knew what I had to do. Search for a different feature phone! I did. I upgraded to the Doro 7060 flip phone. It had big buttons, KaiOS with Google Maps, and the novelty of flipping out the phone (quite literally) in front of others never grew thin. However, just like the 8110, the phone had its faults. The main problem was poor Bluetooth support for my car.

My wife would get fed up with my lack of ability to answer phone calls while driving. In the UK, using your phone while strictly forbidden. On top of this, my friends felt I was avoiding them by not being in the group chat. I was excluded from the WhatsApp group chat. It also caused issues with keeping up with my son’s football and basketball clubs. I had to get my wife to relay the meet-up information, which didn’t always get through to me reliably.

Back to the drawing board, I knew I loved the feel of a flip phone like the good old days. I set out to find a flip phone with smarter capabilities. I was in luck. Nokia released an ad trailer for their remake of the Nokia 2720. I was in awe. It had 4G, better Bluetooth options, a sleek design, and more importantly — WhatsApp. I could reconnect with my friends and groups. I bought the black edition because my default preference is always black. The phone was wonderful to hold in my hand. It connected to my car with ease. I was able to transfer some music across and everything was good.

Then the cracks started to show. The OS was buggy, the phone was generally slow, WhatsApp crashed, system navigation was terrible, and it was bloated with ads and Facebook. I have a problem with phones loaded with bloat.

Reverting to a smartphone

I managed to stick with my Nokia 2720 flip until the end of February 2020. There were too many issues. I was getting frustrated with the phone, and I was starting to consume hours of content on my desktop, which is no different to what I was doing on my smartphone before I switched to a feature phone.

I had my eye on a smartphone that was designed for the digital minimalist in mind. It was called the Blloc Phone. It was an Android phone without Google services, which ticked many boxes and used many more tricks I knew were good for blocking addictive practices on devices, such as greyscale and minimising what you could see on the home screen. I watched videos of the phone in action, read everything I could on the phone/OS, as well as reviews from numerous outlets like Android Authority.

The phone had came out a couple of years prior, and I managed to buy it second hand from eBay. This phone shaped how I use phones today. It taught me about design language, intentional use, minimalist philosophy, and above all, the power of using monochrome to remove the need for colourful apps. You see, apps are in colour for a reason. Our brains are hooked on colour. We crave colour to get that dopamine hit. The Ratio launcher on a Blloc phone is the best launcher I have ever experienced (review). The launcher is now available on other Android devices from their Blloc website. I was able to use a smartphone without being hooked to it.

The Problem with dumb phones

Dumb phones won’t address the problem within us. They can help us disconnect and re-evaluate what we are doing on smartphones. The feature phone breaks up our dependency on constant access to the internet. However, there are some drawbacks that I would like to share.

Feature phones are not secure

They don’t receive security updates like smartphones do. There’s no secure messaging option either, only SMS, which is easily accessible to those who want to gain access to your messages.
Google and Meta have access to what you use on modern feature phones. If getting away from these tech giants is your concern, then a feature phone is not the answer.
The web browser on the phones does not have the security features available on modern browsers. Welcome to ad city. Good luck trying to read page without the ads blocking your view.

Navigation

Google Maps, Waze, or Apple Maps are brilliant tools to navigate to places unfamiliar. The difficulty with features phones is they have a basic version of Google Maps, which is unless.
You will spend a lot of time researching your journey instead of actually working on important things (not productive at all).
Searching for the nearest place to refuel, shop and eat will require you to pre-plan your journey. I would have stacks of Post-Its and notebooks with directions, printouts and snippets to aid me on the journey.

Apps

The apps on features phones are outdated. You will not find anything useful. There were countless times I wanted to take a quick note, add something to my calendar or check an email. I couldn’t. Again, the apps are not available. You will need a pen and notepad, if you remember to bring them with you.
Phone operating systems like KaiOS are supported by Google and Meta. You will have a phone bloated with their apps. I wanted to get away from them, not have them as the only apps on the phone.
Ads are everywhere on these devices. I was inundated with ads popping up while navigating the complicated menu system. I even received push ads on the weather and music app.
Feature phones do not have multitasking available. Some of the phones won’t let copy and paste either.

Communication

Yes. WhatsApp is installed on some feature phones. However, there is limited in functionality. It is a lightweight version of the software. WhatsApp added group chat to some phones. It was a minefield to find out what phone supported group chat. Even then, waiting for the update to be pushed out was a real gamble.
You will not have access to other communication services and messengers.
Videos calls? Forget it.
The signal strength and call quality was poor in all the phones I tried out.
Bluetooth connections in a car can be temperamental. Dropped calls, no audio coming through, missing phonebook, distorted voices, to name a few.

Photos and video

Most of the feature phones on the market have poor cameras in them. VGA or 2MP is the best you will get.
You will miss important moments that you would have wanted to capture.
Getting the content onto your computer is difficult. Some phones record in a format not recognised without additional software.

The solution?

So, what is the solution then? I am not saying this will work for you, but I have a few lessons I have learnt from my experience. These rules still carry on today with my phone usage. You might find some of them useful.

No social media apps on your phone — I refuse to use social media apps on my phone. Delete all of your social media apps from your phone. The added level of friction is essential to make you question whether you need to access the sites in the first place. I only access my social media platforms through a desktop or laptop. Having to make the effort to sign in, launch the browser and sign into the site is tedious, but it works. I have added enough friction to make me question if I really need to access the social media site.

Set time to access social media sites. I started off with thirty minutes a week on a Wednesday. It was on my calendar for 8:30pm. If that is too extreme, why not set the time amount of time each day? I have tried a rule where I am not allowed to access any social media at weekends, so I am able to spend quality time with my family. You want to build a habit of not aimlessly scrolling through social media. Be intentional.

Have safe spaces for your phone at home. These are typically three locations in your home where you can place your smartphone out of reach. I call them stations. The idea is to not have your phone near you all the time. I have the island in my kitchen, an office charging dock (when I’m not working in there), and a stand in my bedroom corner. I never have my phone near me when I am doing jobs or relaxing.

Only have the essential apps installed. I think this can be a tricky one to build into a habit because there are so many apps you want to try or have access to. I get it. I once had an impulse to have everything installed ‘just in case’ I needed to access it. I now focus on the following — Calls, default messenger, calendar, notes app and to-do list manager. If you need something else, think cautiously why you need the app on your phone.

This doesn’t mean I don’t have other apps installed. I have Day One for journaling, Twos App for quick capture and Upnote for practising my coding or capturing an article for scheduled reading. Removing all games is a viable option to take because it is another reason to use your phone. My gaming challenge made me think of this idea. I’m so happy I made this choice.

By only using your phone with the minimal amount of apps, you will see your battery will last longer. My iPhone 12 lasts two days without charging. I know people with a plethora of apps on an iPhone 14 Pro Max who have to charge their phone each day. Don’t be that person.

Remove ‘always available’ apps. This is probably a hard area to master. You don’t need to be a social recluse, but take care of yourself. I removed my email client app and anything to do with work. Although I have multiple social media accounts, I refuse to have any of their messaging apps installed on my phone. I also recommend you use your phone’s focus mode to block communication between certain times in the day. I have my wife and son in the exception list for emergencies. Recently, iOS has added the ability to limit what apps are available within their focus modes. For example, at 9pm, all my apps are locked out apart from the Phone, iMessage, Reminders and Calendar apps.

Go monochrome. As mentioned above, with the Blloc phone, boring monochrome is king. I use monochrome on my phone for 99% of the day. The only time I use colour is when I want to take or view a photo. The Blloc Ratio launcher has a nice feature where you can select certain apps to have colour, like the photos and camera app. My iPhone doesn’t have this feature, unfortunately. With a triple tap of the back on my phone, I can switch between colour and monochrome.

Be mindful. You need to be mindful of what you are doing on your phone. Consistency, intentionality and minimalist thinking are key to your success in digital minimalism. It’s not about being all ‘anti-social media’. These platforms can be used for good. What you want to do is take responsibility for your actions. Your phone is a tool for you to use. Don’t let the phone use you.

Finally, I would like to thank you for reading my post. If you wish to use a feature phone, and it will help you become less dependent on technology, go ahead and experience it for yourself. Just be aware that the experience will require you to plan ahead, cause friction between you and others, and become a logistical nightmare in the world we live in right now.

Mark @ CodeMacLife

Aug 25, 2023 ∞

I’ve joined Medium’s Partner program

Why not get rewarded for something I love doing?

Today, I signed up for Medium’s Partner Program. I was waiting to get to my one hundredth follower before signing up, but Medium has changed the criteria. I am pleased about that, even if I am nearly there (99 followers as of this post).

Writing on Medium has a joy. I love the writing element as well as reading on the platform. The community provides so much insight into a large array of topics. This is what keeps me coming back each day to read. My average reading time has significantly shot up since signing up to Medium. I consume less YouTube connect, less social media content and a lot more reading.

I’m not expecting to buy a house with the Partner Program, but if I could achieve any of the following, I would be a happy person:

Goal 1: Earn enough to pay for my annual Medium subscription.
Goal 2: Pay for my Ulysses subscription.
Goal 3: Buy my son the Xbox Series X he keeps pestering me for.

The process of signing up wasn’t too bad. I had to dig out a bit of information and read through plenty of fine print. Other than that, Medium and Stripe have made the process relatively easy.

Anyway, I hope this new adventure with Medium grows with each year. I am sure looking forward to what the future holds on the platform.

As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read my post.

Mark @ CodeMacLife

Aug 23, 2023 ∞

My Digital Detox — Week 4 Update

Time away is the ultimate mind reset

This week, I have been away to the east coast of Yorkshire. Reighton is a quiet area south of Filey and Scarborough. There is very little to do in Reighton apart from explore the beach. That’s precisely where I have been most of the week.

There were two mornings where I was privileged to witness a small pod of dolphins carrying of the routine breakfast heist.

Each morning started off with a light breakfast, coffee, and gentle core exercise in the holiday home. I walked down the beach with my family. Beach access is not the easiest to get to, with a steep descent to the gorgeous beach (the uphill climb is truly challenging).

The morning exercise on the beach consisted of a twenty-minute walk along the coast, playing football, cricket and swimming in the sea. By 9am, I was ready to relax with a book while listening to the calming waves in the background. There were certainly moments of gratitude while knowing I was in my ultimate definition of relaxation.

Health

As mentioned above, the week away was a time to focus on my health. Early nights, healthy food, plenty of exercise, meditation, and relaxation by the sea made the week a healthy one.

I don’t remember the last time I walked so much, let alone experience the joy of running along the sea front.

I know when I get home I will have to increase the amount of exercise I do and change the variety. Likewise, I aim to lose more weight, gain muscle mass and improve my core strength.

Analog journaling

I chose to journal in a physical notebook this week while I was away. I enjoyed the change and the freedom to write wherever and whenever I wanted, including random doodles. My journal entries have been scanned into Day One for future reference.

I miss my journaling in a bullet journal. The time sitting down with my Bujo was deeply personal, freeing, and calming. However, I remembered quickly why I decided to go digital — media, links, locations, mood-mapping and ease of access. Still, the experience this week has been fun.

Medium networking

I said I would avoid all forms of social media during my digital detox. I see Medium as a publishing platform for writers to post and readers to consume. I guess those who use Medium frequently would say they are both.

I caught up with my reading list on Medium and explored other material on Medium. I have clapped, made a few comments and followed writers on Medium. So, does this make it a social media platform? Have I gone against what I had originally set out at the start of my digital detox?

My aim was to network with people who share similar values. The platform is fantastic. I enjoy reading content on the platform more than I like any other platform, including YouTube and traditional social media outlets.

Thoughts for the final 10 days

I have ten days until I finish the digital detox. Most of the things I wanted to accomplish during my challenge have been completed.

Technically, I could finish the challenge now, but that would not be a challenge, would it?

I’m not missing the usual platforms like X (Twitter), Twos World and Mastodon. Instead, it’s the lack of YouTube, which has been the greatest challenge for me. I want to watch a few videos about an app I have been using recently for my content management- Anytype. As much as the written tutorials are good, watching a video can sometimes be more than effective for learning for me.

I am excited to interact with others online. A lot has happened over the past month, and I am sure plenty has happened online.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Mark @ CodeMacLife

Aug 22, 2023 ∞

I was going to mention Anytype, too.

Aug 22, 2023 ∞

Thanks for your thoughts.

Thanks for your thoughts. I bought the physical copy of the book. I’ve managed to read the first part before heading off on holiday. I see this book as something to pass to colleagues and friends who ask about the PARA method when I mention it.

I haven’t kept up with the blog and newsletter, so some bits are sort of ‘new’ to me. Other parts, though, can be found on Tiago’s YouTube channel. I guess the book offers the idea of PARA to new audiences.

Aug 21, 2023 ∞

All of your suggestions are spot on.

All of your suggestions are spot on. I follow them all, and I have done since the start of the year. The difference it has made has been life-changing. I would say the exercise and planning the day ahead were the most positive changes I made.

Aug 20, 2023 ∞

Thanks. I like what I have used so far.

Thanks. I like what I have used so far. I’m only scraping the surface with what Anytype can do, but what I have done has worked perfectly.

Aug 16, 2023 ∞

My Digital Detox — Week 3 update

Another week, another week of events.

Switching to AnyType for content management

I noticed the way I was processing my blogs — from ideas to published — was causing me a lot of confusion because I couldn’t find the right workflow with the least amount of friction.

I tried all sorts- spreadsheets, Notion, Obsidian, Twos, Upnote, Evernote, and Apple Notes, to name a few. The problem was multifaceted. I wanted quick access, cross-platform availability, drop-down menus for progress, database structure, and above all, offline access. AnyType uses E2EE and P2P for synchronisation, so I know my blogs are protected.

Anytype is the perfect solution for me. I have managed to create a content management page that manages, organises and tracks the progression of my blog posts. Within each listed post, is the content, links, tasks, outline, and media required. Once I feel the content is ready, I export it to Ulysses, where I will use the proofing reading tool. I use it to resolve any issues before publishing from the app.

The combination of AnyType and Ulysses together has reduced the friction, saved me time, and stops me having to look in different areas for my content. I am so happy with my setup.

Health

I have managed to stay away from the sugary snacks I wanted to avoid. It has been stressful because I am at home all day with plenty of treats in the cupboard. Once I go back to work, I will be too distracted to think about eating.

My exercise has been consistent over the summer holidays. Fitness is an area of focus for 2023. I want to improve my fitness through cardiovascular exercise, core toning and weight training. The fact I have a cross trainer at home has helped massively. If I feel bored, I can go on the cross trainer for half an hour or 10K, whichever comes first.

I’m enjoying my daily walks. The fact I am getting outside more, instead of looking down at my mobile screen, is a considerable bonus. Dare I say I am more sociable with people in the community?

Reading

I thought I would revisit my Building a Second Brain book by Tiago Forte this week. I’ve read it twice already. Furthermore, I wanted to pull out some information from the book, preparing for the PARA method book arriving.

The PARA Method by Tiago Forte arrived in the post.

Tiago Forte’s PARA method book arrived on Tuesday morning. I was excited to receive it after waiting a few weeks since pre-ordering it. I have managed to read part 1, which talks about the fundamentals of PARA.

Tiago is right about creating a system that is easy to maintain and simple to use. Only the simplest, frictionless habits endure long term, as he put it.

I like how Tiago emphasises the need to break projects into bite-sized actions. I get where he is coming from. Not only that, but I have experienced projects, both personal and work-related, where the actual project is seriously overwhelming. Breaking the project into smaller chunks and identifying the actions needed to complete it helped significantly.

Learning

With the spare time, I had gained through purposely avoiding social media, my time has been used to catch up on learning. I mentioned in my last post about my intention to complete Your Digital Life 3.0 course by Carl Pullein. The course had me intrigued, especially with his Time Sector System.

I completed the course and must say the Time Sector System (TSS) is incredible! I have fully implemented the key principles and I feel organised, which is something special.

Completing the course unlocked more courses by Carl Pullein. I have used the codes to get the other courses for free. I’m currently working through a course on social media strategy, with the hope to complete another by the end of August.

My progression on Carl Pullein’s course dashboard.

Week 4 update

I’m away next week and the place has next to no phone signal. This is a great time to ditch my phone, like I had done on my last trip to the coast of Yorkshire, England. Hopefully, it will give me time to handwrite my experience and journal without any distractions. I will most likely publish my week 4 and 5 posts together at the end of August.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Mark @ CodeMacLife

Aug 10, 2023 ∞

My Digital Detox — Week 2 update

Boredom and creativity are the perfect mix for a productive week.

As promised, I have logged what I did in my second week of taking a step away from social media, YouTube, etc. It’s been a productive week. I have managed to complete jobs I have been putting off for months, which is always a positive.

Writing

I haven’t done as much writing this week because I wanted to focus my attention on reading and exercise. I have set up a content management system in Apple Numbers. In addition, I have worked on a system (the process) of how I turn thoughts into actual posts (more to come on that one). I think writing had always been a chore. Now I find it quite therapeutic and perfect for me daily routine. I write in my journal each day, which is nice to start the day and end the day on.

My blogging process - 2023 — My blogging process — 2023

Reading

I have been reading into digital minimalism, catching up with the articles I had saved on Medium, as well as going through all the articles I had saved in Upnote. I have a habit of collecting articles, studies, information snippets and tweets, only to not read them. They have been collecting dust and I decided to reduce the amount of content I have gathered as part of my digital minimalism adventure. I found there were 16 articles on Medium that were not relevant to me any more because they covered topics such as Obsidian, Todoist and Windows 11. I don’t use any of them now. By deleting them, I was able to focus on reading four articles a day this week. Now my Medium reading list is set to zero. What an achievement for me!

My Upnote articles, which are clipped using an extension, have been organised, deleted or read. They were mostly related to meditation, coding, exercise and minimalism. I had half a dozen articles related to ASC/ADHD for work purposes. I’ve kept the coding and exercise material for reference.

Obviously, I can’t do anything about my tweets currently with my digital detox in full swing, but I have set a time in September to go through those. I’m sure it will be similar to Medium and Upnote, where a handful of tweets are not relevant to me.

Learning

I had a discount code for Your Digital Life 3.0 Online course by Carl Pullein. It covers the essential four areas of digital organisation — calendar, to-do list manager, notes app, and cloud storage. Carl also teaches his Time Sector System and COD System (Collect — Organise — Doing) to optimise productivity. I had aimed to complete one part (six parts in total) of the course each night. It turned out my note-taking had stretched the evenings, so I managed to complete one section over two nights. I have three parts to complete, and they will be completed my the end of this week.

I have changed how I process my information each day. Before going to bed, I know exactly what I am doing on the next day. The Time Sector System (TSS) suits me because my time feels restricted. Knowing when I have to do something and not feel pressured to complete everything at once is highly important to me. TSS had helped me organise my tasks logically.

Health

The no sugar challenge is becoming increasingly challenging at home during the holidays. The combo of boredom and high amount of energy used this week has made me pine for sugary snacks. I’m not caving in, though. I’ve been working on all areas of my body, even my family have noticed the weight loss and muscle tone. There is a chance of a local group of men coming together to start a boot camp of sorts. I’ve listed my intention to go, as I feel the social element will encourage me to workout more. I have never done anything social like this before, so I am interested to see how it goes. Hopefully, the boot camp comes to surface, and I can add it to my weekly schedule.

Home improvements

I’m not a fan of home improvements, particularly painting. I did it, though. Not only that, but I managed to clear two rooms, paint them and reconfigure them. I decorated the master bedroom and our office. I say office, but my son’s Xbox is in there, so I refer to it as the games room. I think the thought of painting is worse than the actual doing of it. Once I get into it, I enjoy painting while listening to my music. My new Apple Music discovery has made listening to music so much more pleasurable.

Music

I read an article about a new station on Apple Music. It’s called the Discovery Station. Apple has curated a list of music they think you might like. I didn’t like it, I love it (puts on a Simon Cowell voice)! The station is truly remarkable, and I found myself hitting that heart button to say I love the music.

A lot of the tracks were added to a few of my playlists I have created over the years. I would definitely recommend checking the station out on Apple Music. Navigating to the station is not easy, though. To find it, you have to go to Listen Now, find Top Picks and search for the cover under Made For You. I wish there was a way of pinning the station to the sidebar for quick access.

Apple Music - Discovery Station offers music for you. — Apple Music — Discovery Station offers music for you.

As always, thank for taking the time to read my post.

Mark @ CodeMacLife

Aug 8, 2023 ∞

What I learnt from going phone-free for a week

I reviewed my journal notes from the time I forgot to pack my phone charger.

I thought I would share an entry from my journal of a time I unintentionally went without my phone for a week. The experience was not as drastic as expected, but it made me realise my dependency on my phone. It came at the same time I chose not to wear my Apple Watch. The event has changed my relationship with my phone. Anyway, here is the journal entry I roughly scribbled down on a sheet of paper:

Journal — 7th June 2023 ‘Smartphone realisation’

In the rush to hit the road, I left a small bunch of items on my kitchen island. These were essential items for the journey and the holiday itself. Two iPhone chargers, a Kindle Paperwhite, a bullet journal and my iPad. I say these are essential. However, in reality, these are luxury items to make a holiday convenient.

On my arrival at the holiday site, I soon realised the error of my ways when I went to charge up my iPad. Oh, dear. A mad three minutes of scrambling around to come to the realisation I had left the items behind. It will be a long week, I told myself.

I tried to get reception by walking to the opposite of the holiday resort, holding my hand out with my iPhone 12 in-hand like a navigator would with a compass.

It was quite a tragic moment because I was prioritising phone signal over quality family time. I’m more conscious and intentional with my phone usage and social situations than I have ever been in the past. There on the spot, I decided not to bother with my phone. I sent out a brief message on Twitter about my choice and switched my phone off immediately. The plan was to have a week away from my Apple Watch, not my phone.

What made the situation worse was not having my bullet journal to write in and Kindle. I had nothing to record my thoughts and ideas in.

The car had a cheap cable in for emergencies, so it was agreed that my son and wife could take turns when we went driving on our days out. I ended up using the car’s built in Sat Nav.

On the Saturday, I realised certain key information was in a list I had made in my Twos app, so switched my phone back on, recorded the information and switched the phone off again. However, I had three notification emails about Mastodon — new followers. I pressed the follow back, but the webpage would not load because the internet access was next to none. There was absolutely no point to using my phone on holiday. I share this moment because it highlights the dependence and unconscious actions we take with our phones.

Living without the smart capabilities isn’t a new thing to me. In 2018 to late 2019, I decided to use a feature phone (dumb phone), which helped me break the habit of using a phone as a pacifier. I used a Nokia 8810 with a £6 per month SIM card. The experience was interesting and frustrating at the same time. I learnt how to navigate life in a world built for a smartphone. I’m still not sure if people have become lazy, or they are utilising the convenience of smart capabilities. Eventually, the cons of using a feature phone were too much for me to deal with, as my job and home life were noticeably impaired with my lifestyle choice. I decided to go with a smartphone and use it selectively, using a minimalist launcher and the essential apps needed to get by.

Yorkshire coastline - Nothing but fresh air. — Yorkshire coastline — Nothing but fresh air.

Reflection

My experience of not having my phone for the week was not as bad as I anticipated. It would have been a different story if it weren’t for my Sat Nav. When I switched to a ‘dumb’ phone, I remember travel was a huge issue for me. The amount of manual preparation took a lot of time, taking me away from other tasks I should have been doing.

Although smartphones can be distracting (if used as a pacifier), they have an ability to simply our lives. I know this from experience. I have a sense of gratitude towards having a smartphone, whereas others, may feel they are a burden. Smartphones should be treated like anything else in their lives — used in moderation and with intention.

What I got from the experience was quality time with my family. Instead of glancing at a screen for most of the day, I would look up, be aware of my surroundings, and observe the surrounding beauty. There were electronic devices to take me away from what I had come on holiday for. That was to simply spend time with my family. For that reason, the holiday was one of my fondest memories I will ever have.

Question — Do you have any experience of ditching your smartphone for intentional living?

Flamborough lighthouse - June 2023 — Flamborough lighthouse — June 2023

Aug 7, 2023 ∞

I pay for Apple One for my family.

I pay for Apple One for my family. It is a service I value and it allowed me to cancel many other subscription services I had. Apple TV+ is underrated, yet the content is fantastic.

Aug 7, 2023 ∞

What a great post.

What a great post. I am now using Apple Notes as my notes app. I’m so impressed and the note linking as well as PDF annotation features in iOS 17 has me completely sold.

Aug 5, 2023 ∞

Haha. This is so true.

Haha. This is so true. I’m proud to be a northerner. When I go to London, there’s a significant difference. I find it weird how no-one speaks to each other in London. ‘Up North’, we’re very much a community and each other’s faces.

Aug 4, 2023 ∞

I’ve been thinking about getting Fastmail.

I’ve been thinking about getting Fastmail. It is promoted by Morgen Calendar because they have some kind of partnership. Do you have to do anything with your domain provider to get your personal domain name email address?

Aug 3, 2023 ∞

My Digital Detox — 1 week update

I have been productive for the first in seven days because I disconnected from the digital world.

Writing

It’s been a week since I started my digital exodus. In that time, I have written and published eight blog posts, submitting them on my website and Medium.

I have also drafted eight more posts. Usually, this amount of writing would take weeks. The time away from social media, YouTube and any other item I listed in my original post had given me the time to focus on what I valued.

I’ve got an idea to consolidate all my notes about digital minimalism into a small eBook. I’m uncertain if it would be a free PDF on a website or an actual eBook to download from Amazon (I know — dream big!). I guess it depends on how big of a project it becomes. I even made a mock-up of a front cover for it.

Reading

Moreover, I have been able to read what I had planned to read. I don’t mean read and take notes. I mean reading for pleasure. Sitting down and getting deep into a book that relaxes me. There was no highlighting, either. Just simple read and reflect afterwards, and not in my journal. If I want to go back to the book for note-taking, I will when I am ready.

Health

The time away from the online world freed up time for focusing on my health. I purposely went to bed before 10pm, exercised for an additional fifteen minutes, and meditated each day without fail.

My recent discovery of the Streaks Workout app has prompted me to sneak in a few additional workouts when I can. I like the routines on the app and how it links between my iPhone and Apple Watch. The fact no equipment is needed is an added bonus.

YouTube

I think there was only one part in the week when I wanted to check out a video on YouTube about using Ulysses for writing. Like I said, I would find the act of staying away from the video platform harder than anything else on my list.

In addition, I wanted to watch a video on Tiago Forte’s PARA system. I received an email (desktop app, of course) to say he had posted about the PARA system on YouTube. I was tempted, but I abstained from going online to view it.

Podcasts

I managed to listen to MKBHD’s Waveform episode about X social media (fka Twitter) as well as an Apple Insider episode about the latest things happening at Apple.

Listening to podcasts often happens when I am travelling in my car. This week, though, I thought I would try listening while sketching on my iPad. I love drawing because it relaxes me. Listening to a podcast and doodling on my iPad might be one of my new best things to do.

Future updates

I plan to write an update each week on my digital detox progression. My digital detoxes have become routine now. I usually go through two a year.

As always, thank you for reading.

Mark @ CodeMacLife

Aug 2, 2023 ∞

Breathe before you write

I will leave you with these short guided meditations:

5 Minute Energy Grounding & Cleansing

Meditations on Writing Breathing

Short Calming Mindfulness Meditation to Clear the Clutter in your Mind

Aug 2, 2023 ∞

Five apps I use every day to organise my life (2023 Edition)

As always, thank you for reading, and please remember to subscribe to me on Medium.

Mark @ CodeMacLife

Follow me on X (Twitter)

Jul 31, 2023 ∞

I’ve switched to Apple Notes after trying 12+ note-taking apps.

I’ve switched to Apple Notes after trying 12+ note-taking apps. It has come a long way and I’m excited to see how note linking works in MacOS 14 / iOS 17.

Jul 30, 2023 ∞

A reflection of my time on Medium

How Medium has changed how I consume content

In April 2022, I signed up to medium.com and submitted my first post. It was titled New to medium.com. It is not exactly the most original title, but it stated the obvious. In the post, I mentioned how blogging had been something I had always wanted to do, including my intentions for blogging. The post, itself, was nothing special, but it gave me a goal I wanted to achieve through the act of blogging. I wanted to be intentional, eliminating everything that I didn’t find a value in. Fast-forward to now, last July in 2023.

What have I learnt from using on Medium?

The platform looked interesting from the start. I was fascinated by the number of people who posted on Medium and the content they were producing. What I didn’t expect was the amount of time I would spend on Medium over traditional mainstream media. Even YouTube has become a distant second source of information.

What I like about Medium is that people write about their interests, hobbies, expertise, and life hacks. If I want to get a different perspective on something, I go to Medium. If I would like to learn more about a certain topic, I go to Medium. If I am eager to discover new ideas and approaches, I go to Medium. You get the idea.

Not only have I learnt new ideas, I have been fortunate to observe people’s writing styles. Personally, I like the informal, chatty style where I can get a sense of character coming from their message. I feel the platform’s recommendation engine knows what I enjoy reading.

Finally, the engagement keeps me coming back for more. Whether it is me clapping (similar to liking) a post or commenting on someone’s post, the community is supportive and interacts in a civil manner. I write on my website (codemaclige.com/blog), but I don’t get much traffic, nor do I get feedback from my readers. Using Medium, however, I get likes and comments, which is super encouraging. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my content.

A favourite quote from Rick Rubin, the creativity legend himself.

Pros and Cons of using Medium

I’ve put together a list of pros and cons from my experience using Medium. This list has been compiled using my notes I have made from my journaling entries.

Pros

The user interface is clean, free from advertisements, and engaging with recommendations. I like the simplicity of their iOS/iPadOS app.

Medium has a great import tool. I am able to import blogs from personal website. Occasionally, the formatting is a little off, but it is much quicker than manually copying everything over.

With so many people on Medium, there’s a potential audience already there to read your content. Categorising my posts is an important element because it allows readers to pick specific topics of interest.

The engagement metric is helpful because I can get a sense of how much time readers spend on my posts. I know what topics engage more with the audience and I can choose to write posts around this topic.

Medium costs money to subscribe, but with that, there is a potential to earn money through Medium’s Partner Program. I’m nowhere near the follower criteria, but I aspire to reach it, so I can start earning money from my writing.

Cons

Posts are locked behind a paywall. If you are not subscribed to Medium, you have limited access to the platform. I believe it is three posts a day. With that, you lose potential readers because they can’t read your content. I get why they do it. I felt frustrated that I couldn’t read about certain topics, so I ended up subscribing.

There is no clear indication of viewing posts in chronological order. This is not helpful when I want to read the latest information about a specific topic. For example, I wanted to read a review of a piece of software I am interested in. It is not helpful to have posts from 2018 come up first. Software changes a lot, and post from five years ago have less value than those written this year. If there is a way to sort the posts in chronological order, it is not clear to me.

It is not a real concern right now, and not really a con, but I worry about the future for Medium. What if the platform is shut down or policy changes result in smaller audiences. This is why I have my personal website. Everything I post on Medium will be posted on my site for preservation. I also have journal entries and posts that are exclusive to my site, which I have chosen not to post on Medium.

Conclusion

I have no plans to leave Medium. I value it too much to ever think about going elsewhere. Like I have said in this post, I spend a lot of time on the platform.

I want to build an audience, expand my writing and eventually generate money from my work on Medium. I believe I have not done enough to learn how Medium works and what improves user engagement yet.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I hope you have a great day, whatever you plan to do.

If you are interested in reading more content from me on Medium, please follow this link to my profile.

Jul 29, 2023 ∞

Thank you for comment.

Thank you for comment. I was surprised by how many items of food have high levels of sugar in them. I've not touched any sugary treats since my little blip.