Softness as resistance: Your phone detox guide
Five ways to break free from your screen this long weekend
A good chunk of the world is heading into a long Easter weekend. This may be you, too. Use the next few days to experiment with how you use your phone. Here are some points that help me.
Stay soft — the news and social media are engineered towards strong emotional responses like shock and outrage. And it all feels urgent. It’s not. Softness is resistance. Choose gentleness in thought, tone, and presence.
On your own terms — Don’t let the apps control you. Be aware of how devices claim and direct your attention. Preserving your gentleness may even mean taking a break for a few days.
Quality over quantity — Jump through 300 clips on TikTok or watch 1 good documentary on MUBI. Skim news stories throughout the day or finish reading a book chapter.
Approach the world with curiosity — Our phone screens are just 90-110 square centimetres (14-18 square inches). What a waste to spend hours a day staring at such a tiny surface. How much can there actually be going on there that makes it worth ignoring everything else? Look around more. In all directions. Twiddle. Dance in a way that you can feel, but others can’t see. Breathe.
Done means done — When you close an app, keep it closed. When you put your phone away, keep it away. We often find ourselves jumping right back. Most of us look at our phones every 5 minutes when we’re awake. 89% of that is our own initiative, so not because of distracting notifications. We usually spend 1 minute looking at our phone when picking it up. 205 times per day. Resist it. Done means done. Repeat it to yourself before picking your phone up again. Done means done.
Have a nice weekend. If you’re in Berlin, maybe I’ll see you out in the forest or on a dancefloor. 🐰
If you’re new here and want to read more about the above topic: I just left my phone at home for a month as an experiment.
(• ᵔ‿ᵔ •) Wholesome Corner
It’s Friday. That means it’s time for the wholesome corner.
has written about her “Monk January” experiment of not drinking alcohol or using social media for a month. She found that:
“not using social media, far more than not drinking alcohol, immediately translated to people around me that I was, in some way, experiencing life differently from them.”
Imagine your life looked a little differently. Imagine you were a cat operating the scenic railway across small Japanese mountain towns. This interactive animation, Short Trip by Alexander Perrin, lets you.
You may have come across Poolsuite before. It calls itself the “ultra-summer internet radio station” and looks like an old Macintosh operating system of someone who’s having perhaps a little too much fun in 1980s Miami. A few years ago, Marty Bell, the founder, was asked to write a personal manifesto. I’ve always thought it’s a great guide to building a fulfilling and exciting life.
I have updated all the article thumbnails. They’re now doodles to bring a little joy to your day. You can see them all in one place on Calm & Fluffy’s Substack homepage.
