Digital Detox Challenge



Punkt. is a fairly small, dynamic and independent company, and we prefer to maintain close connections with our consumers and with individuals and organisations within the design world. As part of this, we frequently run 'Punkt.Challenges'. These include design challenges that form part of postgraduate design courses, and digital detox challenges where self-confessed mobile phone addicts are invited to revisit their relationship with technology.
10 years back, smart devices were still really unusual. Now, a life lived outside the structure of the smart device is unusual. 10 years earlier, the majority of people had smart phones, but they would normally only attract our attention if another human had decided to call us or send us a text. Now that most people's lives are a lot more automated: the new normal is to scoot around within a ceaseless assault of status updates, push alerts and a great deal more.
Our Digital Detox Challenges have actually been running considering that 2016. The negative aspects of mobile phones weren't extensively gone over at that point, however there has given that been a surge of interest in the topic. Participant reports are a key component of the Detox Challenges; by running the Challenges and releasing these reports we aim to keep the discussion of individuals's relationship with innovation prominent and on-going - both in regards to tech addiction and the importance of high-quality style in the real (i.e. non-virtual) world.

The huge difference this time round was that the term 'smartphone dependency' had plainly gotten in common parlance - in 2016 it still sounded a bit over the top, but in 2018 individuals were beginning to sound genuinely fretted. You can check out the reports listed below, but here are some excerpts from a few of the many applications we received:
" The continuous scrolling."
" I tried it with an old timeless phone, it was like returning to an ex - with all the old pros and cons. Who does that?"
" We utilize our phones a lot - why should not they be lovely as well as functional?"
" I'm doing my own variation now, however I had to settle for a broke ass burner phone that's 10 years old ...".
" As a UI designer for digital items I've typically questioned a few of the success criteria utilized in my industry, particularly 'engagement' as a metric for success. Until that changes, regrettably it's extremely hard to combat against 100s of designers who are aiming to hook you into their items. [] There is a certain irony about this as I develop for these products but want to escape them. But I think it's an opportunity for me as a designer to appreciate how valuable our attention is, and attempt to take that lesson back into my industry, hopefully to affect a change in approach to innovation.".
" I have actually begun getting rid of all my social media profiles and have immediately discovered the favorable result it's had on me. I am a lot calmer now, and I wish to keep it that way, by also removing my smart device for great.".

Life is too short to keep our heads down.
Innovation has actually considerably altered over the last century, from being a valuable tool in our lives to keeping us as connected in as much as it can and for the longest period of time. This Challenge modifications that in its totality, pressing us into understanding what is going on. I've constantly liked using the newest things, however since Punkt. has been around, I wanted to alter that, and with the Digital Detox Challenge, that's precisely what happened. When you go from a continuously buzzing smartphone to a phone like this, you recognize how much you can compromise all these applications that keep you hooked all day long: you do not need them.
In a way, you do become type of separated socially from your pals-- let's say if they "Snapchat" you or whatnot-- but you begin to recognize that it's for the much better, and the Punkt. MP01 accomplishes simply that. It teaches you simpleness and teaches you that you do not need whatever on your phone. Simply the fundamentals.
If you seem like you are hooked on your phone, like many people I have satisfied, it might be a great time to offer this phone a try. Much of my own relative experience this feeling and I feel like passing this obstacle on to others so they can get the hang of it. This Challenge has actually ended up being so important in 2018 because-- as I stated-- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on are here to keep us hooked in for the longest time. Don't believe me? Download QualityTime for your Android and you will understand that you do not even focus on what's going on around you. If you feel an itch, it might be a great time to get that checked out, and a great way to go about it is with the Punkt. MP01.

The more time we invest taking a look at screens, the lesser daytime becomes-- and sometimes, yes, more of a limitation. Whether you're inspecting your messages while walking to work, enjoying your mobile phone with your pals (who are each enjoying theirs), or viewing a movie, daytime is a trouble.
We started heading this way since we wished to. Nowadays-- to a large level-- we merely do it because we do it. And due to the fact that others want us to do it.
Is this really how you wish to spend your time on Earth?
* * *.
In 2016, Google worker Tristan Harris left his task to discovered a new non-profit organisation called Time Well Spent, which sought to expand the dispute on what innovation is doing to us and caused the production of the Center for Humane Technology. Ever since, the topic has blown up into the mainstream and it has actually become clear that it is not doing good ideas to our general sense of wellness.
The web page of the Center's site includes a striking montage image. A generic graphic of a smart device is integrated with a photograph of a female. She is not presented as being on the screen. She remains in reality looking out from the phone, leaning with her arms folded on the bottom edge of the screen as though it were a windowsill. She appears pleased, enjoying the view. And she is bathed in sunlight.
Possibly it makes good sense to use these brighter nights for something besides looking at pixels? And when bedtime approaches, matching sundown with a digital sundown: everything turned off, leaving simply a land-line with a number understood just to household and buddies, and a devoted alarm clock.
Joining those who have ditched their smartphones totally, combining a basic phone with a laptop or tablet (much much better for typing on). Nowadays these ideas might sound practically extreme, however as far as biology is concerned, they're exactly what your brain wants. The medical side-effects of tech over-use.
Due to the fact that of the evident reduction in traffic mishaps, Daylight Saving Time is said to increase life span of a country's residents. Ditto banning phone use while driving, naturally (with a much clearer causal link). Phones are unsafe in other ways, too: scrollers walking into traffic, selfie trophy-hunters taking one risk a lot of, etc. However over-use of tech shrinks our lives in another method as well-- incrementally and inevitably. It gives us a narrower existence in which we are less focussed, less rested and hence less awake. Over-use consumes our lives, and it's becoming the standard.
Time for a rethink?

Do you find that anywhere you go, you constantly end up in the very same place: in front of your smartphone? Using it, or letting it utilize you, to stay 'connected'? Gotten in touch with what people depend on back home. Gotten in touch with the most recent news reports. Connected with work. Gotten in touch with games, YouTube videos, Wikipedia. Gotten in touch with images from the last vacation you took, and the one before that. What kind of 'connection' is that, really? This situation is something that's sneaked up on us, and maybe it's time to start making some decisions ...

A vacation is a chance to change off, to experience new things. If we do not likewise change off our devices, if we continue to outsource our consciousness to image sensing units and memory cards, if we're still attached to what we were doing before we left and what we'll be doing when we get back, it's as if we're paying a kind of vacation tax. Part of the experience is deducted-- and not to assist the local economy, however to assist line the pockets of investors of social networks companies.
Imagine a traditional travelogue like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, minus this tax. There wouldn't be much left. And even if we're trying to find something a bit less extreme for our fortnight away, the principle still uses. Whether it's a case of pings on the beach, or livestreaming from the Louvre, something's gained however something's lost. And on the subject of getting lost, yes, without a mobile phone it could take place. And possibly you'll end up somewhere that turns out to be the emphasize of your journey. Perhaps you'll find some appealing restaurant that isn't really on tripadvisor.com. You might end up speaking with some residents. Absolutely nothing ventured, nothing acquired. This ties in with the growing slow travelmovement, and the reclaiming of overland travel as a mainstream and practical option to flying, find more info shown by the underground success of The Man in Seat Sixty-One. It's all about existing.
If we do choose to have a vacation that doesn't revolve around processing big data, there are a few alternatives. We can go to the other extreme, and leave home without any sort of phone or tablet. (That never used to be an extreme, but we reside in extreme times.) And we have options like altering our gadget's settings to 'minimum', leaving it in the hotel safe throughout the day, etc

. Or we can take a different phone. One that just does calls and texts. And after that immerse ourselves in a different culture, have some adventures, or simply take pleasure in a little bit of solitude.
The physical act of switching phones goes deep. It's a bit like flying the nest. And it's starting to gain in appeal: whether a cheap, old-tech model or something more stylish and updated, choosing to in some cases use an easy phone is something that everybody can associate with nowadays. They might not do it themselves, however they certainly know why some individuals do.
There are practical advantages, too. Just needing to charge your phone sometimes is popular with everybody however if you're going somewhere without mains electricity, your greedy mobile phone will be no usage at all. With a simple phone you don't require to keep checking that your digital factotum hasn't cunningly found some way of running up monster-sized information roaming charges-- it can still happen. It's the 'really being there' that actually counts. Sure, travelling without a mobile phone will suggest a couple of mix-ups, a decreased ability to strategy, to understand beforehand exactly what's going to happen. Travelling sans algorithms is where the action is. And the screens on easy phones are frequently much harder than the big areas of glass discovered on their more complex cousins. Changing a broken mobile phone screen is a trouble at the very best of times; multiply that by 10 if you're abroad.
It's the 'really being there' that truly counts. Sure, taking a trip without a mobile phone will indicate a couple of mix-ups, a minimized capability to plan, to know in advance what's going to happen. However taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is.

SMS 03 - Punkt. MP02 from Punkt. on Vimeo.

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