My new innovation is, get this! Listening to the radio. I feel that listening to podcasts or youtube on the phone or computer are too fiddly - they constantly need changing, or skipping ads, or some sort of interaction. It feels hectic and demanding, all these little micro-decisions about what song or podcast to play next.
I got a Panasonic RF-2400D, from Ebay, for $20 US. The sound quality is great and my two-year-old and I are enjoying it. It is nice and simple, I like to listen to NPR news occasionally, plus there's All Classical, and a lovely small local oldies station.
Listening to the news feels like a nice way to stay informed. If anything bonkers happens, I'll know about it, and I can just listen while I'm making breakfast for my kid, and turn it off when I get distracted back to my real life.
I use my iPod from 2002, a Kindle from 2012, my Casio watch, paper planners and fountain pens, and now this Panasonic radio. I am even going to try a simple pedometer (marketed to seniors - ha!) to track my steps. It is more stuff, but none of it is expensive, especially used from Ebay, so that helps me justify it.
I know it may not be as efficient or minimalist as using a phone for everything, but I love using retro tech and analog, single use gadgets. It feels better to my brain.
I have been doing a couple of weeks now of my focus challenge. It's really just an improvement in my routine, rather than a hard challenge.
I have not held exactly to the rules of my experiment. I have looked at Reddit, but not logged in, and only for very specific reasons for short lengths of time, like finding information about fountain pen nib compatibility. I am honestly fine with this. Search results often don't tell me what I'm looking for, because I tend to look for very specific, niche information, where individual user experiences are more helpful than generalized, bland search results.
Crucially, I am not posting on any social media, except for my local moms group. I hate the feeling of posting something, and then having attention stuck on that post, so that I want to look back at how people responded. It's an attention-seeking mechanism that is a waste of my energy and it feels bad to me. If I want to say something, I should journal or write a blog post or tell a friend.
I bumped up the time I can use Facebook and Mastodon combined to 40 minutes per week. That seems okay. I don't browse, I just check my facebook moms group, and get off, and do a quick scan of Mastodon. I use the "search" tool on facebook and just see if there are any new posts on my recently searched people, which works well. Having the feed blocked on Facebook is mandatory, because they serve up such absolute toxic trash in the home feed, no one needs that.
Beyond that, I am finding small ways to slow down and be more present. I am paying attention to where my mind goes and how quickly it bounces from topic to topic. I try not to hop to the computer for every stray thought I want to learn about, and every thing that I might need to buy. I try to write those things in my to do list notebook.
Knitting helps! It is soothing and grounding. So that's always good. I'm working on a new blue blanket for my toddler.
Due to a tragic accident, my old Google Pixel 3A is now pushing up the daisies. A new phone was not on my plan for this week, but I had the old one for five or so years, and had bought it used, so needing a replacement isn't a huge huge loss.
So yesterday I got on eBay, as is my usual method, and ordered a Pixel 8A, which will be here in a few days. I always try to get the smallest phone possible. The 8A is still too big, but it's what they had.
In the meantime I pulled out my very old iPhone 5C, which will text but not call for some reason. And of course I can't install any apps on it, because it's so old, so I am stuck with the basics. I actually love the tiny size, and it works well, (aside from not making calls).
Read more…