“Still, there is nothing for it but to get started. All of the best work is small work, after all.” from The Blizzard of the World by Paul Kingsnorth Over the past couple of months Peco and I have been writing about anachronistic practices and simple acts of sanity
This is wonderful! I'm in. I am looking forward to all the creative tasks I can do to replace reading blogs and listening to podcasts. And spending more time praying the Jesus prayer.
Exciting! My current phone decided to give out this week, so I decided to buy something small and cheap I won't be tempted to us as much, and I decided to start carrying a notebook to further reduce my need to pull it out. Love the ideas in this post for making a digital fast practical!
Thank you so much for doing this, Ruth! What a wonderful idea. I don't think I can commit to adding any more tech restriction during this particular Lent, as I have some really big writing and communication pushes I will need to do this spring. But I am looking forward to seeing the results of this communal fast. I will be continuing my usual weekend (I always check in Sunday nights) tech fast and trying to fit in some of the ideas you list here and there! I definitely need to get back to the daily walks I used to take -- they always made the day so much better.
I am in, but would love to hear specific practical ideas and personal/family boundaries that might be successful. My husband's idea is to create a boundary in which we don't use our phones in the house. I.e., if you need to answer a text or phone call, you step outside--thus no couch scrolling. My idea is to set strict "office hours," and a handwritten list to keep track of emails and texts that need to be sent only during those hours. I am skeptical about our ability to keep these boundaries, however, and would love to hear other ideas.
I was considering some kind of digital fast for Lent and now I’m in! Especially having a drawer for my phone that I only use in that specific location. The couch scrolling is killing me.
I will join again, although I fear failure in my attempt to keep the fast. I know where my weaknesses lie in this area. Ah well... Lent is a time for repentance!
I’m in! This is a wonderful idea. I can’t go on a complete fast because of work, but I intend to drastically reduce my other usage, especially the unconscious picking up of my phone in between my other priorities and mindlessly scrolling through my Google feed. I just ordered a ribbon for my early 1900’s Underwood typewriter, so that should be a great incentive to get back to basics!
Awesome! I am keen. Having a community also fasting will give me an extra incentive to ‘keep away’. I already use a flip phone, and manage fairly well in this modern world to keep myself at arms length from anything too damaging ... although if there was one thing I would love to read more. And one reason I am not reading as much is the bloody smart tv I have in my living room. YouTube comedy really gets me going you see. So I am going to brainstorm ways to limit my TV use, so I can read more (I use paper books already). Thanks for the incentive and encouragement,
Count me in. I’ll look forward to hearing how others counter their FOMO as I purposely abstain from Jeff Childer’s substack for one. I will miss George Bothamly’s Art Every Day but it will be a good chance to grow in ‘Multum non Multa’ and really look at the art books we already have.
Wish I could receive snail mail but it’s just not happening here in 🇲🇽. However if anyone’s vacationing here (PV environs), let’s meet up - I’ll give you a tour surpassing any YT channel!
Thank you! I would like to join in. I have been reading Digital Minimalism by Newport and have really enjoyed it. His section on solitude was very helpful in particular.
Playing instruments is good if you can, but other nonline ways to listen to music include lp records, and even CDs, which are made digitally but are still more like records, not being interrupted by commercials and allowing you to choose and limit listening materials rather than having access to “millions” of songs that don’t belong to you and can potentially be easily taken away, and which for me is like having no songs that are “friends” in the way physical records are.
Lovely that I stumbled onto your post. Been a fan of your content for a while but admittedly ecstatic to start my first digital fast.
I’m lucky enough to live somewhere where walking is easy and, despite existing in a major city, trees are abundant. Big plans to make bread, write more, subsist on less sugary entertainment.
Long I’ve had a dream to throw my phone out my window one day in a fit of righteous indignation - maybe this will set me closer to this goal 😂
Well, this is quite annoying. Encouragement to do things that are good for me even when I have a lot of “reasons” not to 😂
Who wants to join in? We can [not] text each other for accountability!
This is wonderful! I'm in. I am looking forward to all the creative tasks I can do to replace reading blogs and listening to podcasts. And spending more time praying the Jesus prayer.
Exciting! My current phone decided to give out this week, so I decided to buy something small and cheap I won't be tempted to us as much, and I decided to start carrying a notebook to further reduce my need to pull it out. Love the ideas in this post for making a digital fast practical!
I will take part in this communal digital fast. I am Orthodox however and will probably begin when our Great Lent begins on March 18 😊
I am thinking about digital detoxing for the Orthodox Lent!
Thank you so much for doing this, Ruth! What a wonderful idea. I don't think I can commit to adding any more tech restriction during this particular Lent, as I have some really big writing and communication pushes I will need to do this spring. But I am looking forward to seeing the results of this communal fast. I will be continuing my usual weekend (I always check in Sunday nights) tech fast and trying to fit in some of the ideas you list here and there! I definitely need to get back to the daily walks I used to take -- they always made the day so much better.
I am in, but would love to hear specific practical ideas and personal/family boundaries that might be successful. My husband's idea is to create a boundary in which we don't use our phones in the house. I.e., if you need to answer a text or phone call, you step outside--thus no couch scrolling. My idea is to set strict "office hours," and a handwritten list to keep track of emails and texts that need to be sent only during those hours. I am skeptical about our ability to keep these boundaries, however, and would love to hear other ideas.
I was considering some kind of digital fast for Lent and now I’m in! Especially having a drawer for my phone that I only use in that specific location. The couch scrolling is killing me.
I will join again, although I fear failure in my attempt to keep the fast. I know where my weaknesses lie in this area. Ah well... Lent is a time for repentance!
I’m in! This is a wonderful idea. I can’t go on a complete fast because of work, but I intend to drastically reduce my other usage, especially the unconscious picking up of my phone in between my other priorities and mindlessly scrolling through my Google feed. I just ordered a ribbon for my early 1900’s Underwood typewriter, so that should be a great incentive to get back to basics!
Awesome! I am keen. Having a community also fasting will give me an extra incentive to ‘keep away’. I already use a flip phone, and manage fairly well in this modern world to keep myself at arms length from anything too damaging ... although if there was one thing I would love to read more. And one reason I am not reading as much is the bloody smart tv I have in my living room. YouTube comedy really gets me going you see. So I am going to brainstorm ways to limit my TV use, so I can read more (I use paper books already). Thanks for the incentive and encouragement,
The Delinquent Academic
Count me in. I’ll look forward to hearing how others counter their FOMO as I purposely abstain from Jeff Childer’s substack for one. I will miss George Bothamly’s Art Every Day but it will be a good chance to grow in ‘Multum non Multa’ and really look at the art books we already have.
Wish I could receive snail mail but it’s just not happening here in 🇲🇽. However if anyone’s vacationing here (PV environs), let’s meet up - I’ll give you a tour surpassing any YT channel!
Thank you! I would like to join in. I have been reading Digital Minimalism by Newport and have really enjoyed it. His section on solitude was very helpful in particular.
Playing instruments is good if you can, but other nonline ways to listen to music include lp records, and even CDs, which are made digitally but are still more like records, not being interrupted by commercials and allowing you to choose and limit listening materials rather than having access to “millions” of songs that don’t belong to you and can potentially be easily taken away, and which for me is like having no songs that are “friends” in the way physical records are.
This is great, cool to see so many folks interested in doing this! I'm in too : )
Hiya Ruth (and Peco),
Lovely that I stumbled onto your post. Been a fan of your content for a while but admittedly ecstatic to start my first digital fast.
I’m lucky enough to live somewhere where walking is easy and, despite existing in a major city, trees are abundant. Big plans to make bread, write more, subsist on less sugary entertainment.
Long I’ve had a dream to throw my phone out my window one day in a fit of righteous indignation - maybe this will set me closer to this goal 😂