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diff --git a/users/wpcarro/website/blog/content/english/cell-phone-experiment.md b/users/wpcarro/website/blog/content/english/cell-phone-experiment.md deleted file mode 100644 index 550ba4865ee0..000000000000 --- a/users/wpcarro/website/blog/content/english/cell-phone-experiment.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,280 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: "Cell Phone Experiment" -date: 2020-04-02T02:02:07Z -draft: false ---- - -### TL;DR - -I will not use my cell phone during March to learn more about how much I depend -on it. - -### Explore/Exploit - -Ever since I read Charles Duhigg's book, [The Power of Habit](poh), I try to -habituate as many aspects of my life as I can. - -Making my bed every morning is an example of a habit -- so too is flossing at -night before bed. - -The *exploit* axis of the [explore/exploit tradeoff](exp-exp) endows habits with -their power. Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths explain this concept more clearly -than I can in Chapter 2 of their exceptional book, [Algorithms to Live -By](algos). - -Habits are powerful, but if I overly exploit an activity, I may settle on a -local optimum in lieu of settling on a global optimum; these are the opportunity -costs of exploiting (i.e. habits) versus exploring (i.e. spontaneity). - -But what if it was possible to habituate exploration? - -### Monthly challenges - -Every month since October 2018, I challenge myself to try something new. In the -past, monthly challenges have been things like: -- sign up and take Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes -- buy a guitar and learn [Freight Train](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUK8emiWabU) -- study Italian -- learn a handstand - -Typically for an activity to qualify as a challenge, I must spend *at least -fifteen minutes* working on it *at least five days* each week. - -This month (i.e. March) I'm challenging myself to avoid using my cell phone. - -My parents gave me a cell phone when when I was a freshman in High School; I was -14 years old. I am now 28, so I have been using a cell phone semi-daily for over -a decade. - -While I enjoy the convenience that my cell phone provides me, I am curious to -suspend my usage to more clearly understand how much I depend on it... - -### April - -Now it is early April, and I completed March's challenge. So how was it? - -Below I outline the parts of using a cell phone that I missed and the parts that -I surprisingly did not miss. I will also mention the two times that I used my -cell phone and why. - -The first three things that I missed all relate to time. - -#### Timekeeping - -On the first day I realized that unless I was near a computer, I did not know -what time it was. - -I exclusively use my cell phone as my watch; I do not wear a watch. To adapt, I -started looking for clocks around my office and while I was taking public -transportation. Thankfully London posts the current time on the digital train -schedules. This oriented me while I was traveling, which was also when I needed -to know the time the most. - -Most of the month, however, I never precisely knew what time it was. - -#### Alarm clocks - -While I anticipated living without an alarm clock prior to the experiment, I -decided against buying a substitute. Prior to this month, I theorized that -morning alarms probably disrupt the quality of my sleep. If I'm tired, shouldn't -I keep sleeping? - -As the month progressed and my 24 hour day morphed into a 25 hour day, I learned -that I would prefer waking up at a set time every day and synchronize my -schedule with the rest of my timezone. - -I am still unsure if alarm clocks are helpful in the long-term. I would have -slept with the curtains drawn to allow the morning sun to wake me -up. Unfortunately, I live on the ground floor nearby a brightly shining street -lamp that spills into my bedroom. - -If I lived somewhere more remote (perhaps even a suburb would do) I would like -to repeat an experiment where I live for a month without an alarm clock. - -For now, I must return to the Temple of Chronology and supplicate until Father -Time restores my sanity. - -#### Timers - -Using timers motivates me to do a bunch of short tasks like cleaning my flat for -fifteen minutes, stretching, or reading before bed. Thankfully, I already owned -a physical timer that I keep in my kitchen. This replaced the timer on my phone -without disrupting my routine. - -#### Maps - -Speaking of being disoriented, what about living without maps software? On the -few occasions where I traveled somewhere that was unfamiliar to me, I had to -memorize the directions from my computer before I departed. - -At least I didn't need to visit gas stations or museums to buy trifold tourist -maps... - -I once left my office mistakenly assuming that I would download the directions -to my destination while commuting. As I awaited the office elevator, I realized -that I had no clue where I was heading. - -Thankfully I wasn't far from the safety, comfort, and familiarity of my desktop -computer -- with its fatty WiFi connection. In no time I was studying Google -Maps in my web browser and memorizing the directions. - -Overall this was hardly an inconvenience, and I think I even enjoyed -stress-testing my memory: a job that I so often outsource to hardware. - -#### Rendezvouses - -A couple of times I met friends in various parts of the city. Organizing these -particular rendezvouses was a novel (read: anachronistic) experience. For all -you young whippersnappers reading, take out your stone tablets and chisels. I'm -going to explain how this works: - -First I would tell my friends where and when to meet me. I emphasized that I -would be quite helpless to any changes they might make to the plans once I began -commuting, which made the commitments unusually more binding. - -On one occasion my friend -- who is characteristically prompt, and even chides -me for when I'm late -- was twenty minutes late for our engagement. My friend is -German, so I figured I should do my civic duty of alerting the German embassy -that my friend had broken German code, is obscenely late, and should therefore -hand-in his passport and renounce his citizenship. After awhile my conscience -advised me to reconsider. - -It was fortunate for both of us that I did not fully understand how late he was. -Remember: I didn't know what time it was. - -I decided this would be a useful opportunity to test my patience, so I loitered -for twenty minutes outside of our meeting point. He couldn't text me to tell me -that he was late. I couldn't listen to music, call family or friends, or partake -in any of the other rituals that modern-day loiterers observe to pass the -time. In the end he showed up, and it was scarcely a big deal. - -This experience made me wonder what the policy for abandoning plans is when -someone is running late. Before smart phones, how long did people wait? Maybe -the proper etiquette is to wait long enough for you to absolve yourself of the -guilt of flaking in the unlikely event that your friend arrives shortly after -you leave. - -So... thirty minutes? I'll call my grandma tomorrow and ask her. - -#### Boredom - -My phone couldn't entertain me while I queued at the grocery store. Same too -when I commuted. - -I also found myself listening to less music than I usually do. I decided to read -to occupy the void when I could; this helped me progress towards completing this -year's [GoodReads challenge][gr-annual]. - -### Cheating - -I used my phone twice during March. - -1. Once to use my bank's mobile app to internationally transfer money from my - U.K. account to my U.S. account. I could have used [TransferWise's][tw] - website, but I didn't. -2. Another time I used my phone to take pictures of an item that I wanted to - sell on [CraigsList][cl]. I could have and perhaps should have used my laptop's - webcam, but at the time, I didn't want to. I am accustomed to using my phone - to take pictures, and I wanted to sell something. - -In both of these cases, prior habits eroded my resolve to stay the course. These -are useful reminders that habits don't distinguish between helpful and hurtful; -they just exist. - -In total I would estimate that I spent somewhere around fifteen minutes using -my phone in March. While not perfect: - -> Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without (Confucius) - -### Substitution = Dilution - -While the explicit goal of this challenge was to avoid using my cell phone for a -month, the implicit goal was to disengage from many of the -[nonessential][essentialism] activities that compete for my attention. - -There were some activities that I didn't miss while living without a cell -phone. This wasn't because I don't value these activities, but rather because I -can adequately replace them with alternatives. - -For texting and making phone calls, I used [Telegram][wtf-telegram]. Telegram -helped me sustain a healthy relationship with my girlfriend while still honoring -the constraints of the challenge. - -While I appreciated the convenience Telegram provided, I felt that I remained -about as [available][wtf-availability] during March as I was in February. If I -ever experiment with drastically reducing my availability, I will be more -explicit about my objectives. - -### Distraction displacement (whack-a-mole) - -Because cell phones and other electronics have conditioned my behavior, I -habitually avoid boredom and seek entertainment. On its face this may not sound -like a harmful practice. My generation drills the aphorism "you only live once", -suggesting that we may want to embrace a Hedonistic lifestyle. - -Hedonism may or may not be a wise way to play the game of Life. All I know is -that living a life in which I am often stimulated but proportionately distracted -appeals increasingly less to me as time progresses. - -During March I noticed that once I freed my attention from sending/receiving -texts, my brain quickly reassigned my attention to maintaining a vigil over the -other social media outposts that I maintain. - -I should also admit that I habitually checked Telegram now that it served as my -new cell phone. Didn't see that coming... - -In another case, once I discovered that I could use Instagram in a web browser -instead of on my phone, I filled my newfound time and attention on -[Instagram.com][ig] (don't click!): displacing the time that I spent on an app -on my phone to time that I spent on a website in a web browser. - -Holy whack-a-mole! - -Halfway through the month, I wrote a [program to block websites][url-blocker] on -my computer. Surprisingly this worked and forced me to more deliberately fill -this hard-fought, foreign time with other activities. - -### Easy come, easy go? - -As the saying for making friends goes, "easy come, easy go", implying that -friendships that you easily form can just as easily be destroyed. - -Habits invert this creation/destruction relationship. In my experience "easy -come" implies "difficult to go". - -For example, I could easily form the habit of eating chocolate around 15:00 at -work; curbing this habit would require more effort. When I compare this to the -difficulty I experienced habituating a meditation practice, and how easily I -can dislodge my meditation practice, it seems to me that the laws of habits -dictate "easy come, difficult go; difficult come, easy go". - -I suspect that while my cravings for using a cell phone have temporarily ceased, -they will return shortly after I start using my cell phone. And as if nothing -happened, I return to where I was at the end of February just before I decided -to curb my cell phone usage. - -Because of this, I'm planning on keeping my cell phone in my closet where I -stored it during the month of March. As noted, enough substitutes exist for me -to live a mostly normal life: one where I am not unnecessarily straining the -relationships of my friends and my family. After all these are the people who -matter most to me and those who drive me to explore new ways to improve. - -I recognize that the "self" in self-experimentation is a misnomer. Can you truly -conduct an [N of 1 trial][nof1]? My decisions impact the people in my life, and -I want to thank everyone who tolerates my eccentric and oftentimes annoying -experimentation. - -Thank you for reading. - -[pod]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12609433-the-power-of-habit -[exp-exp]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-armed_bandit -[algos]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25666050-algorithms-to-live-by -[gr-annual]: https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/19737920 -[cl]: http://craigslist.com -[tw]: https://transferwise.com -[url-blocker]: https://github.com/wpcarro/url-blocker -[wtf-telegram]: https://telegram.org -[wtf-availability]: https://landing.google.com/sre/sre-book/chapters/availability-table -[essentialism]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18077875-essentialism -[ig]: https://instagram.com -[nof1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_of_1_trial |