Punkt. is a relatively small, dynamic and independent company, and we prefer to preserve close connections with our customers and with people and organisations within the design world. As part of this, we routinely run 'Punkt.Challenges'. These consist of design difficulties that form part of postgraduate design courses, and digital detox challenges where self-confessed mobile phone addicts are invited to revisit their relationship with technology.
10 years earlier, smartphones were still really uncommon. Now, a life lived outside the structure of the smart device is unusual. 10 years back, the majority of people had smart phones, however they would typically only attract our attention if another person had actually decided to call us or send us a text. Now that many people's lives are so much more automated: the new normal is to scurry around within a continuous attack of status updates, push notices and a great deal more.
Our Digital Detox Challenges have actually been running because 2016. The negative elements of smartphones weren't extensively talked about at that point, however there has since been a rise of interest in the topic. Participant reports are a crucial aspect of the Detox Challenges; by running the Challenges and releasing these reports we aim to keep the discussion of people's relationship with innovation prominent and on-going - both in regards to tech addiction and the value of premium style in the genuine (i.e. non-virtual) world.
The big difference this time round was that the term 'smart device addiction' had plainly gotten in common parlance - in 2016 it still sounded a bit over the top, however in 2018 individuals were beginning to sound truly fretted. You can check out the reports listed below, but here are some excerpts from a few of the numerous applications we got:
" The consistent scrolling."
" I tried it with an old classic phone, it resembled going back to an ex - with all the old pros and cons. Who does that?"
" We use our phones a lot - why should not they be lovely along with practical?"
" I'm doing my own version now, however I had to choose a broke ass burner phone that's 10 years old ...".
" As a UI designer for digital items I've typically questioned a few of the success criteria used in my industry, particularly 'engagement' as a metric for success. Until that changes, regrettably it's extremely challenging to combat versus 100s of designers who are attempting to hook you into their items. [] There is a particular irony about this as I develop for these products but wish to avoid them. However I believe it's an opportunity for me as a designer to appreciate how important our attention is, and attempt to take that lesson back into my market, hopefully to influence a modification in technique to technology.".
" I have actually begun eliminating all my social networks profiles and have actually immediately seen the positive impact it's had on me. I am a lot calmer now, and I wish to keep it that way, by likewise removing my smart device for good.".
Life is too brief to keep our heads down.
Innovation has dramatically altered over the last century, from being an useful tool in our lives to keeping us as hooked in as much as it can and for the longest duration of time. This Challenge modifications that in its totality, pressing us into understanding what is going on. I've constantly enjoyed utilizing the latest things, however considering that Punkt. has actually been around, I wanted to change that, and with the Digital Detox Challenge, that's precisely what occurred. When you go from a constantly ringing mobile phone to a phone like this, you realize what does it cost? you can compromise all these applications that keep you hooked all day: you don't require them.
In such a way, you do become sort of separated socially from your good friends-- let's state if they "Snapchat" you or whatnot-- but you begin to realize that it's for the much better, and the Punkt. MP01 achieves simply that. It teaches you simplicity and teaches you that you don't require everything on your phone. Just the fundamentals.
If you feel like you are hooked on your phone, like the majority of people I have actually met, it could be a great time to provide this phone a shot. Much of my own relative experience this feeling and I seem like passing this challenge on to others so they can master it. This Challenge has actually become so crucial in 2018 because-- as I said-- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on are here to keep us hooked in for the longest time. Do not believe me? Download QualityTime for your Android and you will understand that you don't even focus on what's going on around you. If you feel an itch, it might be an excellent time to get that had a look at, and a great way to go about it is with the Punkt. MP01.
The more time we spend taking a look at screens, the less important daylight ends up being-- and often, yes, more of a limitation. Whether you're examining your messages while walking to work, enjoying your mobile phone with your good friends (who are each enjoying theirs), or seeing a film, daytime is a hassle.
We started heading by doing this because we desired to. Nowadays-- to a big level-- we simply do it because we do it. And due to the fact that others desire us to do it.
Is this really how you want to spend your time on Earth?
* * *.
In 2016, Google staff member Tristan Harris left his task to discovered a new non-profit organisation called Time Well Spent, which looked for to broaden the dispute on exactly what innovation is doing to us and caused the creation of the Center for Humane Technology. Because then, the topic has blown up into the mainstream and it has become clear that it is refraining from doing advantages to our basic sense of wellness.
The home page of the Center's website features a striking montage image. A generic graphic of a smart device is integrated with a photo of a lady. But she is not presented as being on the screen. She is in reality looking out from the phone, leaning with her arms folded on the bottom edge of the screen as though it were a windowsill. She appears delighted, delighting in the view. And she is bathed in sunshine.
Perhaps it makes sense to use these brighter nights for something aside from taking a look at pixels? And when bedtime approaches, matching sundown with a digital sunset: whatever changed off, leaving just a land-line with a number understood just to family and friends, and a dedicated alarm clock.
Signing up with those who have actually ditched their smartphones totally, integrating a standard phone with a laptop or tablet (much better for typing on). Nowadays these concepts may sound almost extreme, but as far as biology is worried, they're exactly what your brain wants. The medical side-effects of tech over-use.
Due to the fact that of the obvious reduction in traffic mishaps, Daylight Saving Time is said to increase life span of a nation's citizens. Ditto banning phone usage while driving, obviously (with a much clearer causal link). Phones are harmful in other methods, too: scrollers strolling into traffic, selfie trophy-hunters taking one threat too numerous, etc. However over-use of tech shrinks our lives in another method as well-- incrementally and undoubtedly. It offers us a narrower presence where we are less focussed, less rested and thus less awake. Over-use consumes our lives, and it's becoming the standard.
Time for a rethink?
Do you discover that wherever you go, you always end up in the very same place: in front of your smart device? Using it, or letting it utilize you, to remain 'connected'? Linked with what people depend on back home. Gotten in touch with the most recent report. Connected with work. Gotten in touch with video games, YouTube videos, Wikipedia. Gotten in touch with photos from the last holiday you took, and the one prior to that. What sort of 'connection' is that, really? This circumstance is something that's sneaked up on us, and maybe it's time to start making some choices ...
A vacation is a chance to turn off, to experience brand-new things. If we don't likewise switch off our devices, if we continue to outsource our awareness to image sensors and memory cards, if we're still attached to what we were doing before we left and what we'll be doing when we get back, it's as if we're paying a kind of vacation tax. Part of the experience is subtracted-- and not to assist the regional economy, however to assist line the pockets of investors of social media companies.
Picture a traditional travelogue like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, minus this tax. There wouldn't be much. And even if we're looking for something a bit less intense for our fortnight away, the principle still applies. Whether it's a case of pings on the beach, or livestreaming from the Louvre, something's acquired but something's lost. And on the subject of getting lost, yes, without a mobile phone it might occur. And perhaps you'll end up somewhere that turns out to be the emphasize of your trip. Possibly you'll discover some interesting restaurant that isn't on tripadvisor.com. You might end up talking with some residents. Nothing ventured, nothing acquired. This ties in with the growing slow travelmovement, and the reclaiming of overland travel as a mainstream and sensible alternative to flying, demonstrated by the underground success of The Man in Seat Sixty-One. It's everything about existing.
If we do choose to have a holiday that doesn't focus on processing huge data, there are a few options. We can go to the other severe, and leave home with no sort of phone or tablet. (That never ever used to be an extreme, however we live in extreme times.) And we have alternatives like altering our gadget's settings to 'minimum', leaving it in the hotel safe throughout the day, and so on
. Or we can take a different phone. One that only does calls and texts. Then immerse ourselves in a different culture, have some adventures, or simply take pleasure in a little bit of peace and quiet.
The physical act of switching phones goes deep. It's a bit like flying the nest. And it's beginning to gain in appeal: whether an inexpensive, old-tech design or something more stylish and updated, selecting to in some cases utilize a simple phone is something that everybody can associate with nowadays. They might refrain from doing it themselves, but they definitely know why some individuals do.
There are practical advantages, too. Only having to charge your phone occasionally is popular with everybody but if you're going someplace without mains electrical energy, your greedy mobile phone will be no usage digital detox meaning at all. Also, with a basic phone you don't require to keep inspecting that your digital factotum hasn't cunningly found some way of adding monster-sized information roaming charges-- it can still occur. It's the 'in fact being there' that really counts. Sure, taking a trip without a mobile phone will indicate a couple of mix-ups, a reduced ability to strategy, to know ahead of time exactly what's going to take place. Travelling sans algorithms is where the action is. And the screens on easy phones are often much tougher than the big locations of glass discovered on their more complicated cousins. Replacing a broken mobile phone screen is a trouble at the best of times; multiply that by ten if you're abroad.
It's the 'in fact being there' that really counts. Sure, travelling without a mobile phone will indicate a couple of mix-ups, a lowered capability to strategy, to understand in advance what's going to happen. Travelling sans algorithms is where the action is.
SMS 03 - Punkt. MP02 from Punkt. on Vimeo.