Own up to your internet usage

[Tasse]

I have the app RescueTime installed on my laptop, desktop, and phone. I want to do a weekly (probably Sunday) audit of my internet usage, with a goal and strategy for the coming week. It's okay if my goal is to stay the course, but I don't expect that to happen for a while. Eventually I want to look back at how I spent my time and not feel ashamed!

That said, bring on the shame.

Last week (10/13-10/19) I logged 72 screen hours. That's 43% of the whole week, and 64% of reasonable waking hours! Granted, apparently I left the desktop open to Spotify all night once, and some double counting is possible (like right now, since my phone is open to the calculator while I type this post).

Major consideration:

• MMM forum - 10 hours
• Video games - 10 hours
• Python programming - 9 hours
• Various texting apps - 9 hours
• News - 4 hours
• Facebook - 2.5 hours

Python programming is a good and productive use of my time, to be clear. And not all screen time has to be productive! But I do want it to be intentionally chosen.

Goal: Whittle down the MMM forum time - let's say to under 5 hours. This is my favorite way to procrastinate.

Strategy: The forum, the news, and facebook are all blocked on my laptop (including in incognito mode!) as of Sunday, forcing me to do such browsing only at home on the desktop.

Next week I'll check in on what kind of difference that made. Feel free to join me with your own logs, facepunch/pointedly remind me that I should be mindful how I use my limited time alive, or just leave me to fill up the thread by myself. I hope to hold this goal more prominently in my mind in the next few months.

[Mmm_Donuts]

This gauntlet is right where I'm at these days. I need to cut down on screen time.

I've tried the apps that restrict use, where you can block out various websites or limit time spent on them. I might try that again, but for now I've downloaded RescueTime and will take an audit of where I'm at first. Not crazy about setting up restrictions like that. I'd rather try and focus on the things I want to be doing instead IRL and without a screen.

I just finished reading an excellent book on this - Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. I highly recommend it. He's a computer science prof and has a lot of insight into how addictive apps and websites are designed - there is an attention economy worth $billions that is very difficult to defend against without setting up intentions on how to productively use it. He suggests doing a 30 day detox, eliminating all unnecessary web and app use, and then bringing back in what you miss at the end of the 30 days, in a thoughtful, intentional, and controlled way. Since most of these websites and apps (social media especially) are addictive, and are designed to be addictive, it makes it difficult/impossible to honestly assess what's necessary and what's not without going through this detox period.

So I am in! I spend approximately 2-3 hours on weekends online wasting time, sucked into internet rabbit holes, and maybe 1 hour a day during the week. But that is my self assessment without the data to back it up so I may even be delusional on that.

Thanks for starting the gauntlet!

[RWD]

I am too afraid to actually log this... But I did calculate that I have spent an average of 6 hours 48 minutes per week on the MMM forums since I joined five years ago.

[Boofinator]

I need to get in on this. I spend way too much time on the internet, and in particular on this site. According to the forum stats page, I've averaged an hour and 2 minutes perusing the forum every day since I first logged on just over a year ago.

The big problem with this behavior is that it is taking away from the actual work I should be accomplishing. The internet is my procrastination drug, and frankly I need to detox.

(Since I can't install an app on my work computer, I'm not sure I have a way to reasonably track this time, other than to avoid the website, cold turkey style.)

[ketchup]

I am too afraid to actually log this... But I did calculate that I have spent an average of 6 hours 48 minutes per week on the MMM forums since I joined five years ago.

That's... almost exactly what mine works out to be.

My actual full screen time would probably be way too high.  My phone says I spent a whopping seven hours in the Firefox app, and it can be safely assumed that about 70% of that is just farting around.  I also spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer at work, and often watch an hour or so of streaming TV at night.  Weekends are luckily lighter on screen time but still probably too much.

[Tasse]

I just finished reading an excellent book on this - Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. I highly recommend it. He's a computer science prof and has a lot of insight into how addictive apps and websites are designed - there is an attention economy worth $billions that is very difficult to defend against without setting up intentions on how to productively use it. He suggests doing a 30 day detox, eliminating all unnecessary web and app use, and then bringing back in what you miss at the end of the 30 days, in a thoughtful, intentional, and controlled way. Since most of these websites and apps (social media especially) are addictive, and are designed to be addictive, it makes it difficult/impossible to honestly assess what's necessary and what's not without going through this detox period.

I have read this book more than once, and I quit screen time through the month of September! I started the thread as my check on the reintroduction period; I find cold-turkey to be relatively easy but moderation to be difficult. So my goal here is to find a middle ground I'm happy with. I missed the forum in September, but that doesn't mean I should have unrestricted access to it.

[Mmm_Donuts]

Hey that's great! I am finding the cold turkey 30 day period really hard (obviously, since I'm here!) Any tips on how to do it?

For me the issue is that it's hard to determine what's necessary and what's not, and from there it's a slippery slope. I guess I could categorize anything I do at home on my phone / laptop as unnecessary and internet / app use at work necessary, but sometimes I do have to check work email at home, and then I think - well I should check on my library book due dates or my banking, as those are necessary. But are they? And then I go back to usual habits and just try to minimize them. So, no cold turkey yet.

Maybe I should read the book again too!

[lizzzi]

I just very mindfully try to do real-world things and stay off the Internet. It's impossible to go cold turkey, and I don't really want to anyway. For instance, my guitar lessons are on line, and of course so is Vanguard and my bank account. And emails...and the newspaper...and shopping...and Word for my writing projects...and I've re-activated my blog. One thing that keeps me off-line is my dog--when he sees me at the computer, he thinks I am not doing anything, and so must be entertained by playing with dog toys with him or taking him outside. So I recommend a pet for helping to keep you in the real world.

[Tasse]

Hey that's great! I am finding the cold turkey 30 day period really hard (obviously, since I'm here!) Any tips on how to do it?

For me the issue is that it's hard to determine what's necessary and what's not, and from there it's a slippery slope. I guess I could categorize anything I do at home on my phone / laptop as unnecessary and internet / app use at work necessary, but sometimes I do have to check work email at home, and then I think - well I should check on my library book due dates or my banking, as those are necessary. But are they? And then I go back to usual habits and just try to minimize them. So, no cold turkey yet.

Maybe I should read the book again too!

I mean, when I say "easy," I do have pretty aggressive blocking in place. It helps that I generally leave my laptop at work and use the desktop at home. I blocked social media everywhere, and news and budget stuff on my laptop, but allowed them on my desktop. I set up the desktop not to let me in until noon, so I couldn't use it before work and had weekend mornings free. I blocked the internet browser on my phone. (I also took a majority of apps off my phone. It's capable of: calling, texting, clock, calculator, calendar, maps, music/podcasts, and certain bank apps. And RescueTime. Nothing else.)

I tried to not use something by default and only allow it if it was time-sensitive, relationship-impacting, or work-related. Thus, I allowed email, texting, and Skype. It never occurred to me to block the library website. I do very little online shopping. Offline computer use (like Word) was allowed.

Anyway, keeping track of data is my attempt to be mindful now that I'm back at the internet part-time.

[Mmm_Donuts]

@Tass Thanks for the details! This is super helpful. Can I ask, what program you used to block your computer till noon and block social media apps? Did you use the paid version of Freedom (which is I think what Newport recommends in the book?) or something else?

I'm now reading Deep Work, Cal Newport's earlier book. If you haven't read it it's really good reading as well! I almost wish I had read it first - it provides a lot of background on the WHY behind digital minimalism. Really fleshing it out. I.e. in Digital Minimalism he talks about quality leisure time, but Deep Work is about how to focus and get the most out of your work life. And why social media and email and other tech are so distracting and provide so little overall value. He describes different ways to get into a deeper state of flow - the Monastic style where you hide yourself away for long periods of time on one extreme down to the Journalistic style where you take short dips into deep work whenever you have time. Worth the read!

If I don't report back to this thread for 30 days, you will know why :) Good luck with your own mission to minimize your screen time!

[Tasse]

I block social media on my laptop with StayFocusd. On my phone I'm using AppBlock, because it won't let me uninstall the built-in internet browser - but I have uninstalled or disabled all social media apps. On the desktop, it's just parental controls. Technically it's my boyfriend's desktop, so only my account is disabled before noon.

I actually read Deep Work first, and then waited impatiently when I heard he was coming out with Digital Minimalism. I really like the way he thinks, but struggle to put it into practice!

Last week (10/20-10/26) I logged 64 screen hours.

Major consideration:

Video games	15 hours	I left the video game open and running while I took my car to the shop yesterday, so this is inflated by several hours - but not baseless.
Various texting apps	8.5 hours
Phone browser	7 hours	I had some trouble with AppBlock this week.
MMM forum	3.5 hours	Success!
Facebook	2.5 hours
News	2.5 hours
Guilty pleasure advice column	2.5 hours	This is most of what I was doing on my phone, too.

Goal: Get off the phone. This week's total phone time was 22 hours. This will mean cutting that phone browser back out and calming down on the texting!

Strategy: Reenable AppBlock. Try leaving the phone in Do Not Disturb mode by default at work, and check texts on my own time rather than reacting as they arrive. Look into whether Do Not Disturb can be activated based on location or wi-fi connection.

[Luz]

Ok, I'm in!
I lasted about a month and a half with my detox (which was glorious- I've never slept better in my life)... and then my computer crashed and I've been using my husband's laptop, which doesn't have controls. And I've been telling myself, "I'll just look around my forums for 15 minutes..." and it always turns into such a time suck.

I was thinking to check in here when the desire to scroll hits in order to redirect myself to the task at hand. So for today, the toddler is napping and while I'd love to be reading Case Studies and discussions on the Taxes forum- if I do that, it would mean I don't get my hour of side hustle done (the money of which goes to building up our Emergency Fund) and I don't exercise. And those two things are important to me. More important than Case Studies.

I guess the detox was helpful for seeing that it's about what spending so much time online replaces, rather than being online itself. I love what I do online. It's all interesting... it just sucks the life out of other more important goals.

Is it ok to not necessarily log my online time, but just to check in whenever I want to be online when there's more important things to do? I think the check-in will also be to remind myself that I can read Case Studies and Tax forum discussions on Sunday for a few hours in the evening. And I can do so every Sunday for the rest of my life. I think time scarcity plays into the pull the internet has and I want to combat that belief.  So maybe I can funnel it all into the slot where it belongs by checking in here. We shall see. 

[Tasse]

Use the thread however you like, @Luz.

[Tasse]

Every good gauntlet thread needs an experienced overachiever to egg on the rest of us...

[Luz]

Scrolling/surfing sounds nice tonight, but instead I'm going to: make up a menu for the week, finish a book that's due at the library Friday, do the dishes, and research a few resource recommendations for a family member.

I'm channeling all my scrolling desire toward Sunday evening, when I can scroll to my heart's content. Until then, there are important things to attend to.

Your stats are looking good, @Tass!

Onward and Upward!

[talltexan]

This gauntlet is right where I'm at these days. I need to cut down on screen time.

I've tried the apps that restrict use, where you can block out various websites or limit time spent on them. I might try that again, but for now I've downloaded RescueTime and will take an audit of where I'm at first. Not crazy about setting up restrictions like that. I'd rather try and focus on the things I want to be doing instead IRL and without a screen.

I just finished reading an excellent book on this - Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. I highly recommend it. He's a computer science prof and has a lot of insight into how addictive apps and websites are designed - there is an attention economy worth $billions that is very difficult to defend against without setting up intentions on how to productively use it. He suggests doing a 30 day detox, eliminating all unnecessary web and app use, and then bringing back in what you miss at the end of the 30 days, in a thoughtful, intentional, and controlled way. Since most of these websites and apps (social media especially) are addictive, and are designed to be addictive, it makes it difficult/impossible to honestly assess what's necessary and what's not without going through this detox period.

So I am in! I spend approximately 2-3 hours on weekends online wasting time, sucked into internet rabbit holes, and maybe 1 hour a day during the week. But that is my self assessment without the data to back it up so I may even be delusional on that.

Thanks for starting the gauntlet!

I first became aware of Cal Newport when I was in graduate school, stumbling towards the finish line despite my addiction to useless information.

In between then and now, he seems to have written at least two books. To my zero.

[Boofinator]

I think it's hard to pull the cord on screen time. The only way I've been even moderately successful is getting rid of access to it except in limited doses.

I've found this to be the case for many of my worst vices. If I simply get rid of the opportunity to access them quickly and easily, the desire is barely there and the urge vanishes after a moderate amount of time.

[Luz]

Right now I'd love to pause my day in order to do some surfing to gather information on an idea I have. It feels pressing and I'm sure I could talk myself into it being the exception to my rule. But it's not.

Instead, I'm going to bundle up the toddler to roam around outside for a bit before we start our day (which includes some last-minute pumpkin carving later this afternoon).

And I will have plenty of time Sunday evening to gather that pressing information.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

[talltexan]

Hopefully you have enough extra time to bake the seeds out of that pumpkin. My family did that, and they are oh-so-good.

[Tasse]

I think it's hard to pull the cord on screen time. The only way I've been even moderately successful is getting rid of access to it except in limited doses.

I've found this to be the case for many of my worst vices. If I simply get rid of the opportunity to access them quickly and easily, the desire is barely there and the urge vanishes after a moderate amount of time.

I have also found this - in a similar way to how I find it much easier to resist buying junk food than to resist it once it is in my house. It's better to remove the temptation.

The problem - which will probably be visible in my stats on Monday - is that if there's a chink in the blocking armor, I'm ravenously interested in exploiting it. I've been having trouble getting my blocker to work how I want across devices this week, and, well, just look how often I'm posting here. I haven't actually built up any "resist temptation" mental muscles. Or maybe I just haven't gotten enough into the low-exposure routine for the desire to die off.

[Luz]

Toddler is napping.
Time for my side hustle.
I have the urge to check my hometown's newspaper online to see the obituaries, courts, weddings and births (of course, just for 15 minutes). BUT... I will be sure to enjoy that on Sunday evening.
For now, it's time to build up the emergency fund and get loosened up with my exercise routine.
(Now that I'm in my mid-30's, exercise is all about keeping those joints from locking up).
Later tonight: pumpkin carving and pumpkin seed baking. (thanks, @talltexan!)

Let the screen-lite holidays begin!

[Luz]

Finished my side hustle and now it's time to exercise. I think the transition from one thing to another is the most challenging, and where I tell myself that I'll just take a 15 minute break. Like what I want to do now. That's a good realization.

But, once I get started with exercise, it'll be fantastic. It's one of the small pockets of my day where I have time with my own thoughts.

I don't mean to be taking over the thread. It's just that if an urge is there, I'll be here. So far it's been really helpful. I think my quality of life will increase tremendously if I'm able to direct my urges to surf towards their proper place (read: not interfering with other things in my life).  It's kind've like having my cake and eating it too. That's my goal

Ok, time to get my body moving

[Tasse]

Luz, I often use the online journaling site 750words for exactly the purpose you discuss. I get my thoughts out - sometimes just recording the urge to check a site - and then I move on without getting distracted by anything else. 750words is now a paid site (I was grandfathered in with lifelong free access, hooray!), but I bet there are other similar options, if you're interested.

I don't mean to imply that you can't post here! I think your strategy is good. But if you're self-conscious about it or want a less tempting outlet, you could look into it. Then you have a record to look back on when you want to record progress, also.

[Luz]

@Tass- thanks for the info. Is there a community feature to 750words? I'm finding that doing this with others makes a difference! And having it be a challenge thread makes it that much more exciting.

I'll look into it for sure and will continue to post here in the meantime. It helps the embarrassment factor that I'm anonymous. Even then though, I don't feel ashamed posting.... I feel kind've badass. So many people struggle with device compulsivity these days.... and I'm facing it head-on.

So I did cardio and stretching. Had a thought after to just skip strength and take a "15 minute break". Continued with strength instead, knowing that I'm committed to posting here with each and every urge and would have to own up to the fact that I skipped strength and surfed instead.

This two day stretch of not clicking around the internet whenever the urge strikes has been SO PRODUCTIVE.

Let's do this.

[Luz]

The toddler is playing in her crib and it's time to pay a few bills before I hit the shower.  My first thought was to take the opportunity for a  "15 minute break" to research ideas, but I'm sticking to the task at hand.

I was thinking yesterday about my goal and strategy. I've actually come a long way. I used my phone a lot while the toddler was a breastfeeding baby. It was so easy to scroll because I was just sitting there. By the time she turned 6 months, I became convinced that I didn't want to be on my phone or computer while she was awake. But I was still online up to 6 hours a day during her solo playtime, naps, and after she went to bed. It wasn't always 6 hours, but sometimes it was.

Since reading Digital Minimalism, I've gotten it down to 4 hours a day. I slept SO well during my detox, that now I stick with turning off the computer an hour before bed. It made that much of a difference. And I can reliably use at least 1-2 hours of the toddler's play & nap times for productive things. I think I average about 2 hours a day of surfing (in the evening or here and there during kid-free times).

My goal is to do 2 hours per week of surfing. And to do it without controls. Controls have been helpful, but they aren't totally reliable and I feel like I'm back to where I started when they falter. I chose 2 hours/week because that gives sufficient room to the other things in my life. More than 2 hours and I'll be eating into time for things that are more important.

My strategy is to check in here every time I have an urge to surf outside of Sunday evening. I figure it can give me a little space between the urge and the behavior, so it's an actual choice. I think also stating what I'm giving up to engage in surfing will make it more real.

Surfing is always about gathering ideas or to see what the internet has to say about an idea that I'm chewing on. Chasing ideas or gathering new ones always seems pressing because I feel like I need to act on my inspiration before it disappears. But I think I can experiment and see what happens to my inspiration when I have a weekly outlet for surfing. I had ideas and inspiration before the internet, so there's that.

Today is day #3 of checking in with urges and redirecting my focus to the task at hand.
On to bill pay and jumping in the shower...

[RWD]

[Tasse]

You beat me to posting the comic - but only because I actually stayed off the forum at work today!

[Luz]

This morning I had the thought to "quickly check" some details online about an idea I'm developing. But that was my cue, so here I am. Instead of surfing, I'm taking the toddler for a walk so she doesn't wake the downstairs neighbors with her romping around at 6:30am on a Saturday morning.

There will be time to check the details Sunday evening! Good point about focusing on non-screen time. The agenda for today is a kid's concert at the orchestra this morning, a hike this afternoon, and later on - date night.  I want to get in some thrifting tomorrow, too. There's no time for going down the rabbit hole today! It's been really nice to invest in my life off-line. And I'm guessing that it will feel great to surf Sunday evening.

Happy weekend!

[Luz]

Toddler is napping. I'm about 3/4 of the way through my side hustle. I feel sleepy. The thought popped into my head to take "a few minutes" to check my hometown's news again (what's with that?) and also to see how much cello lessons cost, because the concert this morning was fantastic.

I'll add those things to the Sunday evening agenda. For now: finish my side hustle for the day and get in my exercise, because I've got a full off-line afternoon and evening.

I've already noticed a huge difference these last four days. It'll be interesting to see what life is like with surfing just 2 hours per week.

Little by little. One impulse at a time!

[Luz]

Day #5!

This evening I'm going to an event, so I won't be taking my 2 hours to surf like I planned. So I guess instead of saying that Sunday evenings are my surf times, it might be better to just say two hours in the evening every week, whatever day that might be.

I'm excited that I'm choosing the event over surfing tonight. That goes to show that the things that I want to look up are not that pressing in the moment after all. They can wait a week... or even longer.

But I did have the thought this morning, that since I'm not surfing this evening I can surf this afternoon here and there. But I'm keeping it to the evening because I have other things to get done during the day. So maybe tomorrow will be my surf day.

I was also thinking about my goals this year. The things that I don't want surfing to crowd out. I want to remind myself what I'm working toward in addition to my regular responsibilities when I feel compelled to surf. Those things are: build a community in my new-ish city, add 1,000 new words to my Spanish vocabulary, and make non-surfing entertainment (books, newspapers, magazines, TV shows, podcasts, etc) my automatic go-to when I need "a 15 minute break".

Now, back to the task at hand.

[Tasse]

I am not proud of last week. I had no luck with setting up Do Not Disturb automatically.

Last week (10/20-10/26) I logged 63 screen hours, 16 of which were on my phone..

Major consideration:

Various texting apps	9 hours
Guilty pleasure advice column	8 hours	Now blocked
MMM forum	6 hours	Crept back up...
Video games	5 hours
Facebook	4 hours
News	4 hours
Phone browser	2.5 hours	Better, but I want this >1 hour.
Youtube	1 hour

Goal: No advice column... It's not doing anything for me.

Strategy: I got into the advice column because it was something to occupy my time that WASN'T blocked. It's blocked now, but hypothetically digging up new, as-yet-unblocked distractions could continue indefinitely. So strategy also needs to including getting comfortable with not having an on-demand internet distraction.

[Luz]

Toddler is sleeping.
Today it's clear that more than having a desire to surf, I just don't feel like exercising or working- and surfing is the easiest way to avoid them. I just want to put my feet up.
But tonight is surf night! So I'll put my feet up then.
For now: side hustle time and then a shortened version of exercise, because we've got an errand to do.
If I get my stuff done now, I can enjoy surfing tonight without any to-do's hanging over my head.
It will feel amazing.

[Luz]

Ugh, I am dragging. I'm tired.
I got my side hustle done. It would be nice to surf instead of exercise.
But surfing is not going to make me feel rested.
What I really need is to just go to bed early tonight.
So win-win: get my shit done, and also relax this evening/get extra sleep tonight.

[Tasse]

But surfing is not going to make me feel rested.

Honestly, mixed feelings on this. I have had days where I was mentally worn out that zoning out on the internet for 30 minutes was a bit refreshing. But there are definitely times that it's more draining than anything.

[Luz]

One week into the challenge!

Last night was my surf evening. I surfed for 3.5 hours instead of the planned 2 hours.
3.5 hours/week is about a 10 hour improvement from before the challenge, so overall I'm pleased. I got all my regular responsibilities done for the week (which was a nice change from feeling constantly behind, which goes to show how distracted I've been). I also engaged in WAY more off-line activities than usual. It was nice to be out and about instead of staying home most evenings and weekends. 

It's interesting to read back over my check-ins and see what patterns emerged. The main thing I noticed was what I tell myself when I want to surf. The intention is always that it's "just a 15 minute break". But once I'm on, those 15 minutes keep extending. That's what happened last night. The two hours were up and I thought, "ok, just 30 minutes more". But those 30 minutes turned into 1.5 hours.

The thing is, I don't really need a break during the day. I feel like I have pretty good balance of work and play throughout the day and week. I think the real issue is that I want to play before I work- and that never ends up being satisfying. First things first (work before play) is a principle that improves the quality of my life. So hopefully check-ins will help support that.  Overall, surfing is more of an avoidance than true relaxation (it's like a way to turn off rather than fill up) ... unless it's in its proper place.

It's also way easier to stay away from surfing (by redirecting each impulse) rather than pull myself away once I'm doing it. I'll continue using check-ins this week to redirect the impulse to surf. And maybe try a strategy at my next surf session, to help re-enter the real world when it's time.

The next thing: hop in the shower and get the day going.
Tonight: read my library book and work on getting a greater variety of foods into my meal planning.

[Luz]

Toddler is napping and I have an idea I want to pursue.
I'm doing my side hustle and exercise instead, and will add the idea to the agenda for when it's the appropriate time.
I'm eating my desert when I sit down to do my daily side hustle session now. I'm trying to associate work with chocolate and peanut butter. And exercise with time to think.

[Luz]

Like clockwork, I'm feeling the pull to surf now that the toddler is napping.

The pull doesn't seem as strong as in the beginning, though. I'm finding that I feel less behind on my to-do's when I'm not distracted by surfing... and therefore have less of a need to surf to avoid the to-do's that are piling up. I know that getting my side hustle and exercise done is not really that big of deal- and that both are important for living the life I want to have.

It's also right after lunch, and having a full belly probably doesn't help my motivation. Maybe I need to look into how other people re-energize in light of the afternoon slump.

I know that when it comes to compulsive behaviors, every time I choose not to engage, the cycle weakens. And when I engage, the well-worn ruts get deeper.  It never worked to intend not to surf. In the moment, I could always find some compelling reason to do it. Maybe for this reason, it's been so helpful to address the behavior on a moment-by-moment basis. To give a pause between the desire and the behavior. And also to think critically about the ways I justify it. After 1 week, I'm able to identify my justification of "just 15 minutes". It's like, "oh, I'm telling myself that again". And that's so exciting.

Also, Sunday evening is just a few days away. I can have my cake and eat it too. How cool is that?

[Luz]

I feel like frittering away the evening online now that the toddler is in bed.

Instead I'm going to:
-do a quick tidy of the house, so I don't wake up to a mess
-exercise (I had extra paperwork to do during nap time)
-run a few errands
-chat with my husband
-read a few chapters of a library book that's due Friday

The frittering will feel great Sunday evening. Now, not so much.

[GuitarStv]

How has nobody mentioned porn time yet in a thread about internet usage?

[Luz]

I went to check a message on Facebook from a friend about our Sunday afternoon plans.
Saw something on my feed that looked interesting. I try to hide everything from my feed, but when I follow a new page or friend someone new, I need to manually go in and make the change... which I haven't done for a few weeks.
I was just about to click it to check it out, but caught myself since that would technically be surfing and not using the internet solely for task-based things apart from Sunday evenings.
So here's my check in.
I'm continuing on with my off-screen life until Sunday evening when I can click that link. I will probably have lost interest by that time.

[Luz]

An idea just came to me that I really want to pursue (and almost automatically just started clicking around). I want to hold on to the inspiration and detail it out before it's gone (via seeing what the internet has to say about it).
I don't think it's going anywhere though. It's really not that urgent. I jotted down a few notes and will sure to add it to my Sunday evening surf agenda.
The task at hand: finish up my side hustle. Then do my exercise. Today is arm day
Sunday is just around the corner and in the meantime, I'm kicking butt IRL.

[Luz]

Afternoon slump time. Apparently, I consistently feel sluggish after lunch. And surfing the net is the perfect non-effortful activity to pair with that state. The only thing is that my afternoon is kind've shot when I respond by surfing. Because then I get behind on my side hustle and have to catch up in the evening with that and exercise (if they happen at all). And in order to catch up with those, I ignore other important things.  Or I think, "well I blew it and surfed today, so I might as well continue on and indulge myself." Probably the best thing to combat the sluggishness is exercise. I have to motivate myself to start, but once I'm going, I'm good.

I feel like a broken record on this thread, but here's the thing: it's been TEN consecutive days of not surfing whenever the impulse strikes. And it's made all the difference: on my productivity, my social life, my ability to be present, etc. This is probably the first time in 5-6 years that I feel like I'm in control of the internet and not that it's controlling me. And I think I underestimated the effect it had on my day-to-day life.

Posting at every urge may be cumbersome (for everyone- sorry guys) but the whole point is to string together those days of abstinence. I'm also hoping that eventually the urges will be every few days and then once a week and so on.

Side hustle time and then right into squats. Sunday is just around the corner...

[Tasse]

How has nobody mentioned porn time yet in a thread about internet usage?

Feel free to own up. :P

This week I missed some data because RescueTime updated, so this is not a complete picture. I'll share my partial report anyway:

Last week (11/3-11/9) I logged 60 screen hours, 14 of which were on my phone..

Major consideration:

Video games	15 hours
Various texting apps	7 hours	Blocked text notifications while at work
Python programming	5 hours
News	2.5 hours
MMM forum	2 hours
Facebook	2 hours
YNAB	1 hour
Youtube	1 hour
Guilty pleasure advice column	~1 hour?	This was not recorded, but I know I snuck a bit in there.

It's hard to draw conclusions from incomplete data.

Goal: No screens after 8:30 P.M. (9:30 on weekends.) I struggle so much to step away from the screen for bedtime.

Strategy: I am setting an 8:30 alarm. Boyfriend is in on this with me.

[Luz]

Saturday, I had no urges to surf. I had a few thoughts, like "I could surf right now" but I didn't feel compelled to do so- just kind've "meh" about it. Not needing to talk myself out of it. So that's exciting.

Sunday was my surf day. I spent 4 hours surfing... about 15 minutes on Facebook and the rest on MMM, even though the goal is a total of 2 hours. On a positive note, I spent that long online because I was interested and engaged and inspired, not because I wanted to put off doing something. I got all my shit done before sitting down to surf and there was nothing hanging over my head.
On the downside, I'd prefer not to spend that much time online. I think 2 hours is a great balance. I can show up for all my real life stuff and have a few hours every week to be inspired or just dink around online. I can have both things.
But if I spend more time online, something in my real life has to give.
It's probably helpful to reinforce the fact that I can surf every Sunday for the rest of my life. Otherwise I tend to think that my internet time is scarce and I get kind've clingy.

So my goal is to surf for 2 hours this week. I'm going to check in with each urge on this board as my strategy... including when my designated surf time is up but I want to keep going. We'll see if that's helpful. I think I'll see it as a success that I check in, whether my time extends beyond 2 hours or not. As long as I'm breaking that automaticity.

Also, I'd like to spend time analyzing things when an urge hits. But I think check-ins would be more helpful if I just state where I'm at and reinforce where I want to be. Keep it short and sweet. And then save the reflection for once a week- maybe after my 2 hours surfing is up, I can summarize my thoughts on how things went the prior week. That might help me more easily step away when it's time.  And will likely keep the moment-to-moment check ins from being something that takes a chunk of time.

[Luz]

I'd love to have a pint of ice cream, scroll around on celebrity sites, then take a nap.
Instead, I'm going to do my side hustle and exercise.
Maybe tonight I'll walk to the drugstore to get a People magazine then go to bed early.
Sunday I don't exercise or do my side hustle during the toddler's nap time. I usually do errands. Maybe I should do something more indulgent like take a nap or meet up with a friend or read a magazine. All the things I want to do during the week when it's time to work and sweat.
It's been 13 days of staying off the internet when it's not time to surf. Yeehaw!

[Luz]

Day 15.
Wanting to surf my hometown's newspaper because I'm feeling nostalgic.
I'm also in the first trimester of pregnancy and am trying to be easy on myself by taking a nap after my side hustle (then exercising in the evening).
I'm tempted to just surf instead of nap, so I'm checking in here.
Surfing can wait till Sunday.

[Luz]

I recently rejoined a few facebook forums after a break and am feeling a bit distracted when I log in to facebook to do task-based things.  I hid them from my feed, so that should help. But I think it'll be good to see how things go the next week or so in order to figure out how to use facebook for both surfing and tasks.
For now: on to my side hustle and either exercise or (non-surfing) rest.

[Tasse]

I found myself uninterested in catching up on most forum threads this week, which was a new development. I was making fun progress on a video game, though, so maybe that's why.

Last week (11/10-11/16) I logged 55 screen hours, 13 of which were on my phone..

Major consideration:

Video games	17 hours
Various texting apps	5.5 hours
MS Word	5 hours
News	4 hours
YNAB	2 hours
Facebook	1 hour
Youtube	1 hour
MMM forum	1 hour

Thoughts:

• 8:30 screen bedtime was successful until Friday night. But a combination of my own circadian rhythm and my roommate's whiny cat woke me up at 7 on Saturday anyway, so I regretted it!
• I played a lot of video games this week, but it's interesting to see that it mostly displaced other screen time, rather than adding on to it.
• The other unusual number from this week is the 4 hours of news. The impeachment inquiry is to blame, and I'm not expecting it to get better next week.
• I had to send several "Sorry I didn't see this earlier!" texts this week, due to my new "no text notifications at work" setting. I feel ambivalent about it. On the whole, I am in favor of not being accessible to everyone at every moment. In each individual case, I feel guilty. I just got Digital Minimalism out from the library for a third or fourth read so perhaps I will think on this more.

Goal: No screens after 8:30 P.M.; 9:30 on weekends. It's the same as last week, but I don't trust it to be a good habit yet.

Strategy: I am setting a 9:30 alarm for weekends!

[Luz]

@Tass - I wonder what being uninterested means in this process? I felt it a bit too this week and took it as a sign of progress... but I also felt a bit restless about it. Like, there was a huge dip in the pull to surf- but also to do anything else. So I've had to sit with myself much more than usual where before there was always something filling the time. Could be less dependence on surfing. Could be pregnancy hormones. Or maybe a bit of both. I think I'll ride it out, continue to refrain from surfing when it's not the time to do so, and trust that some sort of inspiration will fill the void in time.

I surfed for 2 hours this evening, catching up on a blog before coming here to check in for the week. I got sidetracked for 15 minutes reading new replies to threads I'm following on MMM. But now I'm here and I'm signing off. I'll check in this week with urges and also after my 2 hours of surfing time on the weekend.

It's been 2.5 weeks into the challenge and this is the most forward movement I've seen in years. I'm excited to see where this leads!

[Luz]

Went to write a Facebook message to a friend and got distracted with scrolling friend suggestions. Facebook has been the most distracting lately because it's both task and surf-based. I remember Newport suggesting in Digital Minimalism to make devices as single-use as possible. I'll have to detail that out better with Facebook. And remind myself that I can scroll to my heart's content on Facebook during my weekend evening. During the week, it's a tool for contacting people and making arrangements for my in-person groups.
On with the day.