Table of Contents
To reclaim my time from digital distractions I need to fill it with something to do. Otherwise my brain will miss the “no-energy-needed” dopamine from doom-scrolling and looking at short-form content.
I know deep down that “one more video” on youtube about some obscure topic has 0 to no value to me, and that I will probably forget it in the next 24 hours.
- Should this discuss patterns of what to do, or what I do?
Digital Minimalism
Cal Newport argues in his book Digital Minimalism that you need high-quality alternatives to the internet’s low-quality dopamine hits. It is also argued that this leisure should be done offline or physically. And done for oneself only.
What do I want to do?
As a person who spent a considerable amount of time gaming since a young age, I don’t quite know what I’d like to do. Sports never captured my attention.
I have begun to pick up lots of reading in the last year. I picked up a kindle, and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy after a recommendation from a good friend. Which threw me into reading fiction, and later started me down books around focus and leadership.
This continued to actually finish up all of Sanderson’s “Cosmere” books. As well as reading to learn again, but this time for my own fun instead for formal studies or school. From concepts for teams in tech, to thoughts around public speaking, all the way to bits of history of men’s fashion.
Set time off to do low-quality leisure
A great way to have time for high-quality leisure is to actually set time off for the low quality ones as well. Since this will make sure that I don’t feel like I could be missing out by not checking up on my phone. Not forcing myself to never go back to “mindless” youtube videos, but that I have some time to check up on the creators I do like to watch.
Things I do
- Reading books on topics that interest me
- Write down notes about said books, then write my thoughts beside those notes
- “Play” with my homelab and self-hosting setup
- Ends up inspiring me to test new tech as well
- Which makes me find people with other interesting hobbies
- Ends up inspiring me to test new tech as well
- Maintain my leather shoes and old waxed cotton jacket
- Bi-weekly Dungeons & Dragons games
Things I want to do
- Take deliberate time to just think, in silence no background noise
- Make my home a better place
- Photography sessions - I have the camera, I just need to get out again
- Work on side-projects - Playing with making a game using elixir and Phoenix