Seduced by ones and zeros

As I strolled the several acre grounds of client The Canine Center for Training & Behavior today for their grand opening, it was easy to remember how experiences like an afternoon outdoors with my dog were motivation enough to push away from the Internet and enabled gadgets. So simple and peaceful and easy.

Just over a week ago, however, I was reminded about what makes the ones and zeros so utterly seductive. For the last dozen years or so, I have been working in public relations—five of those for myself. I did not study that in college (art degree) and generally considered marketing and PR to be a career path of professional liars to sell sneakers or cover up oil spills. That was before I discovered cultural/arts/community PR. It had honestly never occurred to me that one could promote things that were… good.

Working at the Austin Symphony and Austin Museum of Art, I quickly fell in love with the art of getting the story told of this soloist or that exhibition—through editorial coverage and later social media. Unlike the science of paid advertising where you can throw down your money and buy an ad—dictating it’s size, wording, and placement—”earned” coverage comes with a special thrill as you work to draw out the most compelling attributes of something, pitching it to media contacts, then helping them assemble all the pieces that go into a well-crafted feature story, for example. Then there’s the great fun of reading it, sharing it with the client, and so forth. Even today, it is my favorite part of what I do.

While I can still remember the days of faxing a press release then calling to follow up about whether not it was received, most everything is now done digitally. On any given workday, I might well send a couple hundred emails in correspondence, with an additional 300 to 1,500 if we are sending a small or large announcement out to our media lists. Like any modern day office worker, I’m jumping between email, the server, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Word, Excel, and a few other utilities with a few calls thrown in. It seems kinda crazy, but when I’m in it, it is actually a lot of fun.

Last Thursday, we had a big media and VIP event at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas for client Texas Cultural Trust. For the assembled guests followed by a few thousand media contacts, we were announcing the dozen honorees for the 2011 Texas Medal of Arts Awards, including such notable Texans as Bill Paxton, Bob Schieffer, Barbara Smith Conrad, and ZZ Top. We had been preparing for months and had kept the names closely guarded until the big moment.

Winspear Opera House

 

We came armed with phones, laptop, and iPad. Media lists and social media accounts were all queued up in advance. From the time we arrived at the venue, we were tweaking and prepping, tweeting and posting, and generally getting amped up to throw the big switch. I found myself feeling almost high from the combination of excitement and technological activity. I was anticipating the coverage we would be getting, hunting down planned and surprise reports, checking email replies moment to moment, and generally reveling in the afterglow of a widespread announcement. We hit the road almost immediately after, but I had my co-worker checking my email on her smartphone regularly throughout the drive. It would have been both impractical and maddening to wait the four hours until we got back. As far as pushing the lever and getting feeder pellets, making a big media announcement is like a feeder pellet smörgåsbord.

I once went to an employer-suggested professional development thing where the ‘facilitator’ used the expression “getting your yummies” – meaning doing or saying things that give you a response that supplies you with a boost of praise or self confidence. I have used the term many times since, and it definitely applies here. In building up for that big media announcement and following the response obsessively, I was definitely getting my yummies.

That’s not to say that I feel like using technology as an implicit part of my job—and loving what it makes possible—is some sort of contradiction to the premise of The Off Switch. As I’ve written in previous posts, it’s the incessant interruptions of smart phones and the rabbit holes of Facebook and the ever-present work mentality of laptops that I am actively trying to escape. But the whole Dallas episode was a good reminder of how complicit my vocation is in the struggle. If I had a job that didn’t involve lots of “urgent” emails and phone calls, I somehow doubt that I’d take issue with the associated technology in my off hours. I feel like incessant phone checking and Facebooking are rampant among most parts of the American population, but I somehow feel that I would not be as susceptible if I were, say, a barista or park ranger.

In contemplating this post, I tried to think of a parallel. I’m not like an alcoholic who can never take a drink again. Nor am I like an Muslim who can’t eat pork. It’s not even comparable to a vegetarian who refuses meat, which I am. For me, this whole paradigm shift is more like a filter that I have the privilege of applying to my life. Like being a locavore or someone who buys only American or a green-living type or a coffee snob (which I also am), this life change is about selectively participating in what’s available—on principle.

Several months back, my wife asked me which I’d choose if I had to give up coffee or using a Mac. I can’t remember my response, but something tells me that I chose Macs. It’s not that coffee isn’t one of my favorite things, it is, but at the time, I couldn’t imagine doing without one. Until recently, I’d even go as far as to say that being a Mac user was a central part of my identity. To be perfectly honest, I felt dependent on interacting with the operating system to feel like me. I know. But now that I’ve gotten rid of the iPhone and my MacBook, and I’m no longer fooling with those interfaces from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep and every 15 minutes in between, it’s not so important to me. I’ll probably be a Mac user as long as there are Macs, but it’s just not that big of a deal any more.

So, while I still get plenty of professional yummies electronically, and will continue to around the big PR moments, these days I’ve been getting more of my personal yummies face to face – over coffee when possible.

Mmmmmm

 

Hyper-localizing my life

Hyper-localization. It’s a bit of jargon that’s come to prominence in journalism and market-segmentation circles, essentially meaning that one can find

I am here

more—or at least equal—power in an effort by directing it at a very specific area; as in a zip code. Mobile phone app developers have embraced this concept in creating programs that utilize the built-in GPS positioning capabilities of most smart phones to help users find products, businesses, activities, and other people that are nearby. I decided on a different method. I took a walk.

I’ve been an Austin resident since 1980, save 3 years in high school in Texarkana. In that time, I’ve lived in about 14 places in this city. 4-5 were north or around campus. The rest were south. I currently reside in 78704, an area billed as “more than a zip code… a way of life.” Seems to me that people co-exist here in many ways of life, but it’s a nice place to call home regardless. Not too much rampant development. Not too many big box stores. A lot of ‘individuals’ and small businesses, which are probably my favorite attribute of the area.

When my wife and I opened up our first out of the house office in 2008, we looked central and south, but we really wanted to be near our home. We ultimately chose a place about 8 minutes drive from our house on the end of the trendy/funky South Congress district of shops, restaurants, and—more recently—parking lots full of food trailers. It was fine, but a little pricey and a little bit of a schlep, especially when running home for the kiddo or when rush hour happened. As I started awakening from the long slumber of a technology-laden mindset and really began looking outward and inward, I could feel that more changes were coming beyond ditching the laptop and smart phone. I knew that once I shed the omnipresent, omnipresent gadgets I would be suddenly faced with a subsequent  series of realizations about my life and choices. It was thrilling, but frightening.

I think part of what makes technology and especially so-called ‘productivity and connectivity’ platforms, is that they present both a portal for escape and a mirage of superhuman capability. For me, technology has made a lot possible. I was able to start a business with my wife with nothing more than our reputations, a laptop, and a cell phone. As the business grew, I used nighttime and weekend moments to keep things moving forward and to build all aspects of the operation while also servicing client needs. I always knew that my time, psychological agility, and energy would bend—although I was
unsure how far. So, in this way, through real and tele-commuting and by working here and there, I was able to stretch myself beyond what I would call reasonable.

About the same time I started re-assessing my abuse of the internet and it’s complicit hardware, I began realizing that I was becoming one of those who would be on my deathbed, not wishing I had spent more time at work. I had built this life raft to escape from the day job conundrum, but had been so busy paddling it that I hadn’t made time to lay back and enjoy the sunshine. It seemed that another change was in order. Our old lease was up at the end of November, and we started weighing our options. What sort of daily reality did we want for ourselves. Lovely as our old offices were, I found myself feeling as though I had to suit up and get over there 8 hours a day. As I started slowing down, and entering my tech-detox, I began envisioning a new sort of workday. I imagined work at a human scale and a realistic pace. You know… like in a small town and/or 30 years ago. It’s not to say that I was some sort of jet-setter or high-powered so-and-so, but with a PR/branding business in Austin, there is just a number of events, meetings, and errands that are built-in. Then I began looking at the neighborhood around my home in a way I had never done before.

I had always appreciated the small shops and amenities nearby, but almost always at 40 miles per hour as I sped to and from our house. In the recent years since we moved in, a lot of cool things had come in and I found myself extra-interested in seeing them succeed. Recently, I started diverting my nap-time stroller excursions out of our immediate neighborhood to the adjacent commercial areas. Since I no longer push with one hand and stare into an iPhone with the other, I started really looking around and taking inventory. There is a lot in the 4 blocks around our house to be really proud of—and businesses I wanted to know about—and see succeed.

One of the really peculiar things about modern life is that while we have access to a tsunami of information about our communities and friends, we are often so busy running around and “checking in” that we’re generally checked out of actual engagement with our surroundings. As I started exploring these 4 blocks from our front door, I found that it was a place I wanted to be. I wondered if I could be one of those people who walked to work. And so I began a Craigslist search for a suitable situation. After a just a few weeks, I found a place with potential that was literally 8 minutes walk from our front door! Including the street we live on, I can get there by crossing 4 streets—two traffic lights—and the best part is that there is all of this great stuff on the way.

I found myself quickly romanced by this idea of ditching my car some days and just sort of taking things down to a pedestrian pace. It took some work, but

My new commute

I negotiated the lease and re-configured our offices into this space. We’re still getting things set up, but I feel so good knowing that I’m supporting my neighborhood and truly living there. Rather than whizzing by the local shops and hoping they survive, I am getting to know the clerks and owners, giving them my business, and have even started to think of ways to work with them in some capacity. There is a certain element of sustainability about it that’s very satisfying as well. While I don’t walk every day, I feel good about the fact that I am driving less and breathing fresh air more. For the first time in what seems like years, I am slowing down enough to pay attention. I’m looking around and not only appreciating, but participating in my immediate community. I am picturing a new reality for myself wherein I create a little Northern Exposure right around my home.

While not entirely, what if most of what I need is right here in a stone’s throw from my house. Perhaps, if I take the time to find out, there could be good friends, collaborators, clients, and more right here. Of course, through the wonders of the internet and airplanes, I can continue to do business all over. But I can focus the rest of my energy right here. As someone recently pointed out, Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, and other great spiritual leaders did all or most of their life’s work in their immediate surroundings yet had a profound and global impact.

So, that’s my new definition of hyper-localization: living, working, and being in the immediate community around my home and making a sincere effort to be a part of the here and now. To hell with what the smartphone and marketers tell me, I’m going to discover what’s nearby with my own eyes, ears, nose, and two feet. Here’s a short list of things I’m loving about my 4-block world right now:

• My neighborhood – full of decent, friendly, and engaged people
• The Soup Peddler/Juice Box stand designed by Michael Hsu
• Phil’s Ice House/Amy’s Ice Cream – kiddo loves the playground
• Giovanni’s Pizza that’s counter intuitively embedded in the Valero gas station
• Half Price Books
• Rockin’ Tomato Pizza
• Phoenicia Bakery – Mediterranean deli and grocery
• Onion Creek Productions
• Re-discovering the charms of Kerbey Lane Cafe
• Re-discovering the charms of Matt’s El Rancho
• Baker’s Street Pub – a chain, but I’m interested in the idea of a neighborhood watering hole within crawling distance
• A soon-to-open Torchy’s Tacos (which is replacing our beloved Chango’s)
• And a bunch of businesses I don’t have a reason to patronize, but I’m glad they’re there: Tribe Comics, Austin Pets Alive, et al.

View My little neighborhood in a larger map

My little neighborhood

 

 

Low Resolution Tech

It’s been 4 months and a day since I started blogging here at The Off Switch. Today, WordPress emailed me some automated stats to alert me that my 15 posts thus far had been viewed over 1,500 times! With only 63 ‘likers’ over on Facebook, I had no idea if anyone was reading, so this came as a pleasant surprise. The email also indicated that some arrived by search, apparently looking for “imac on/off button” or “switch my wife.” Sorry folks.

I have to admit that I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. The mass good intentions and conspicuous timing always make me wary. But this year, having started on a new resolution back in September, I feel ready to embrace the concept. If anything, I’ll re-up on the changes I’ve already committed to and stay vigilant.

Most years since we started our business, my wife and I have taken the week between Christmas and New Year’s off. We may check the odd email or knock out a couple of time-sensitive tasks, but mostly we just do other stuff. Again, this year, we had a sort of “stay-cation” wherein we hung out and generally worked on projects we’d been meaning to do all year long.

In terms of technological involvements, I found myself distracted in the sense that I knew emails were accumulating and that really bothered me. On the other hand, I did better than usual not diddling on the Internet/Facebook and generally not checking in.

I got food poisoning or some sort of raunchy virus on Christmas Eve and was near death for about 36 hours. I totally missed Christmas, but the upside was that I slept for an unprecedented span of time and didn’t so much as text or check email or anything for that whole time as well. It was a nice way to celebrate the holidays, even if I felt like crap. I think I’ll be experimenting with total tech blackouts this year – for vacation jaunts and holidays. Even though I’m not Jewish, I have thought about observing Shabbat with no technology to act as a mental sorbet. We’ll see.

So, here’s my resolution: I resolve to remain aware of the role technology and it’s rising tide of interruptions/distractions in my life and the world around me. In the past 4 months, I’ve already experienced a re-awakening of sorts. I’m more present, less impatient, and generally enjoying life on a deeper level. What’s more, I feel empowered to examine and change other aspects of my life that aren’t working as they should be. Just the simple act of asking myself if this bit of technology or that gadget are serving me well has me asking similar questions elsewhere.

Happy new year to you! I hope 2011 is surprising and invigorating!!

Stop the Insanity

Remember Susan Powter—the little spitfire of a woman with spiky platinum blonde hair who proselytized fitness and sensible portions? Well, I am hijacking her catch phrase: Stop the insanity!

I entered the office sector of the workforce in 1998 or so. This was right after colleges were requiring email accounts and innovations like instant messaging and e-commerce were hitting big. I had made the leap from food service to a dot com start up and I didn’t so much as know how to send a fax. You’d think that there would have been an insane pressure to keep up and communicate, but that was not yet a part of the general work culture. That would come later. But my point is that I can still remember a time when work was done 9-5 on weekdays. Getting or making a personal call at work was a major embarrassment. And with the exception of special occasions, no one but stock brokers, doctors, and maybe sales people were expected to carry or answer a cell phone on personal time. Your time was your time.

With the rapid acceleration of technology that’s cheaper, faster, and better… every professional industry from nonprofits to enterprises have hopped onto the manic treadmill of endless workloads and limitless communication for the sake of efficiency, productivity, and keeping up with the competition. I can remember the frog-in-a-boing-pot transition and we were all complicit. Employers piled digital duties onto our analog ones and we went along with it—either for job security or to round out our personal skill sets. In any case, I think we gave up something we shouldn’t have and I can see that it is going to be difficult to dial it back.

After 7 years in the world of arts organizations where everyone gets half a wage to wear 3 hats and is thankful for the chance to do so, my wife and I started our own business doing PR and design here in Austin. In my experience, when you start your own business, you are willing to give it 22 hours a day because 1) you want to see your fledgling venture succeed and 2) you’d do just about anything to not have to work for someone else again. For the past nearly-five years, this has definitely been the case with me.

I’ve given up almost every bit of free time and personal pursuits and in their place, I have spent building the business. When client and administrative work was done, there is always new business development, promoting the company, or tweaking existing work. Having your own venture is particularly seductive because it is completely rational and justified to put in the extra hours. But eventually, you have to ask yourself “at what cost?”

I think central to this mutually agreed-upon insanity that most of us participate in is the expectation that when we work 14 hours a day and into the night, that others are meant to play along. Just this morning, I sat down to my computer at work and saw that a client emailed at 6 pm then 8:30 am with an incredulous follow up: “I assume you got my message!” The subtext is not uncommon. It seems our professional culture has devolved to the point where instantaneous communication has become so effortless that people don’t think complete thoughts, can’t judge reasonable limits of communication (like when a 4 page email might have been better handled with a call or meeting), and have become increasingly impatient with one another.

"Lord of the Flies" (1963) directed by Peter Brook

 

This past summer as I was having a series of realizations about myself and the role of technology in my life, I began to see that there was no end in sight for the endless barrage of emails, voicemails, direct messages, tweets, status updates, comments to status updates, invitations to connect on LinkedIn, surveys, event invitations, newsletters, and so forth. With each passing month, more people are getting smart phones loaded with hyper-connected apps and the effect is like the Lord of the Flies. Sucks to your asthmar -I have the conch! People have no self-control (present company included) and with mass adoption comes mass blindness to the issue. In short, everyone is too busy staring into their phones and responding to midnight emails to see the madness in everyone staring into their phones and responding to midnight emails. I was just as bad as anyone really.

What I’ve decided is that while I am not interested in a crusade to change the habits of others, I no longer wish to participate. Our time is simply too finite to spend so much of it in a digital haze. Moreover, as my good friend David Craig said, “I don’t want people to have that kind of power over me.” That one hit home. When you are on vacation or laying in bed or in the park with your child and a work contact is able to reach through and pop up and interrupt to ask for a reply or to seek action immediately… that’s not cool. More specifically, when you allow that to happen—there is a problem.

Stop the insanity.

For the majority of the past 3 months, I have been shutting off work email when I left my desk and not opening it until I get back to work. There are usually about 20-30 waiting for me each day and while maybe one per night is presented as “urgent,” I can’t say that a colleague has bled to death pinned under an armoire or anything. My point is: it can wait.

What’s in a wallet?

Admittedly, this post has nothing to do about technology or the interruptions/distractions caused by gadgets, but it does have to do with simplicity. Silly as it may seem, I have been on a 15+ year search for the perfect wallet set-up. My childhood friend Brian and I have both been working on it for years. At issue is finding a wallet that accommodates just enough, but not too much with the right features.

Over time, what I want from a wallet has changed, but one thing has remained consistent over the past 7-8 years: it must also accommodate my keys. At some point along the way, I decided that the number of keys on my ring was directly correlated to how needlessly complicated my life was becoming. At one point when we were working from home, I had it down to a car key and a house key. Then came the office… more keys.

The Jimi. That's a product name, not a pet name.

A few years back, after using some sort of zip-up wallet with a keychain on it, I discovered the Jimi Wallet, a plastic case with a money clip and key ring built right in. The limited size kept my frequent whatever cards at a minimum and the key ring was just dandy.

The holy grail of consolidating pocket things.

Then I got the wise idea that I could combine my wallet and keys and phone into one… thing. You know, so I could just wander around with that and a staff and a loin cloth. I don’t know what I was thinking but I definitely took it too far. While the Sena Wallet Case was handsome and could be retrofitted with a rectangular key ring, it only held about 3 items aside from the phone. Then there was the matter of the key noise when talking on the phone and the fact that opening the door or starting the key was awkward and frequently sent the phone flying. After a broken iPhone with no warranty, I reverted.

The Jimis ultimately wear out and so when I was making all the other changes, I decided to re-address the wallet. In order to keep keys on my person to a minimum, I had previously taken to clipping a second keychain to my laptop bag, which gave me a decidedly Schneider (a la One Day at a Time) sound.

I was looking at wallets that help iPod Nanos when that was part of my working configuration when I thought of a style I had previously dismissed: the key wallet. A key wallet is usually a tri-fold wallet with a series of little loops inside that each hold a key. I’d never used one and could imagine all of the keys laying down in there, but I thought it was worth a try. Not to be anti-climactic, but I got one and it is great. It holds like 6 keys and I put my car key on the external loop, which helps when it is dangling out of the ignition. Done and done.

This sporty little number is called the Dopp Regatta 88 Series Key Case

 

The iPad is not an Amish electric fireplace

As chronicled in previous posts, I have ditched the smartphone in favor of a much dumber one and sold the laptop so the desktop at work is my only proper computer. As intended, I now no longer have emails and notices buzzing in my pocket or my entire work life on my back. Since I have no other computer at home, I decided on an iPad for leisure and the as-needed, if limited remote working device.

For me, the iPad isn't as paradoxical as an Amish electric fireplace.

When I first shared this idea following announcing my intention to back away from the bleeding edge of technology, a lot of friends questioned the reasoning. The refrain was that I was rationalizing a desire for a new toy that represented everything I was trying to reduce in my life. I disagreed and still do.

First of all, The Off Switch isn’t about being anti-technology. While I am an advocate of wandering out into the woods with nothing to connect you, I have no interest in making that a daily pursuit. In other words, I never sought to spend my off hours whittling or tending to the garden— per se. Rather, what I sought was freedom from the interruptions and the ever-present workload, while still being able to access the best parts of technology in an additive and selective way.

Let me also say that when the iPad first came out, I didn’t want one. At the time, I had an iPhone and a MacBook and the were just no more waking hours into which I could shoehorn yet another svelte, intuitive iDevice. At the time, in a note to a few techie friends, I did postulate that the iPad might be an iPhone killer if there we’re a way to push VOIP calls to it, which ultimately there was. But even then, I was longing for an escape.

Like many pundits, I saw what the iPad wasn’t and how it could not compare to my computer: lack of multi-tasking, too small of a screen, no Flash, relatively small memory, hard to type on, and inability to handle many of the software platforms on which I’d become reliant. Of course, these were exactly the limitations that made it the perfect thing for my new world view. For me, the iPad is now just enough: just enough capability, just enough size, and just enough happening at any one time… one.

The way the iPad is working into my life is as follows. At home, it is a countertop or couch-time message reader or web surfer, but not

Gramercy's wee Sling bag. I put my dumb phone in that clear pocket which has the added bonus of getting it off my person.

something I can work on fully. I grab it on the way to work and only some meetings and it usually never comes out. When it does, it might be a note taking device or a visual aid, but unlike the way that laptops at a meeting are like a game of Battleship (hey, what are you doing over there?), I feel like the iPad is relatively unassuming when not in use. I’ve only got wi-fi access on it, so it doesn’t buzz and beep nor is there much of a temptation to whip it out at an intersection. Upon returning home, it stays in the bag until the kid is asleep, then comes out for a little light browsing, news, and maybe e-reading. I write this blog on it, for instance.

Of course, it is a seductive little thing. The trick for me is forming new habits and being ever-conscious of my use. I try to only download apps that are useful and non-distracting (and any non-utility apps are tucked in a folder called “distractions”). I try to put it away when I’m done with it rather than reaching for it during commercials or breaks in the conversation. And when I do bring it to bed, I do my best to stay off social networks, email (I turn work email off when I leave the office), and tons of web browsing. The jury is still out on whether it belongs in that time at all.

As for the word “need,” allow me to explain. Certainly, I do not need leisure web time – although I don’t care to spend productive work time goofing off in that way. When I’m ‘off duty’ I still like to read news and email friends and do some very light Facebooking. And I see no conflict in that. Where the need comes in is with my work. My wife and I have owned our business for about 5 years and as it is a PR/branding/design client services agency, there are some inherently time sensitive communications that must happen as a function of my role. I do most of the business development and a good share of the PR, so that means that while most things can wait until I’m at my desk or can be handled by phone, certain things can’t.

Enter the iPad. For me, it has been the perfect solution because I can usually anticipate those urgent situations and then I just grab it on the way out the door. With an Internet connection and sometimes a wireless keyboard, I can pound out some pretty decent work in the field and then I can get back to whatever else I was doing. Of course, the trick is to leave it tucked away when I have a few minutes to kill and I know there’s Internet available.

So, the dumb phone, the desktop computer, and the iPad are my imperfect family of gadgets. What I like is that each one serves it’s purpose, but I can leave it behind when I’m done. The thing in my pocket, the thing on my desk, and the thing on the couch are each available—but not excessively so. And to me, that’s just perfect.

Banishing the computer back to the desk

Continuing the theme from my last post on my migration from smart phone to a dumber model, I thought I would get into how and why I dumped my previously ever-present laptop for my first desktop in years.

Starting around 2001 when my wife bought me a 12″ iBook, I have been a laptop devotee ever since. From that point forward, I almost always had one of a series of Mac laptops over my shoulder while out and about – or on my lap at home. And when I was at my desk, I had it plugged into a monitor and keyboard. This meant I always had everything with me. The down side was that I always had everything with me.

Certainly, carrying my laptop around like some sort of St. Bernard had it’s advantages. You’d be surprised at how often I would whip it out to save a presentation or to do some other digital sorcery on the fly. But it was the inescapable screen that ultimately killed the idea of the laptop for me. I would sit down on the couch after putting the baby to bed or crack it open on vacation then suddenly I’d be in full on work mode for hours. No good.

So I decided to see how the other half lives by taking one of our office iMacs and configuring it for myself. Thanks to the built-in Migration Assistant

The iMac: a computer I'm not tempted to whip out on vacation.

program for Macs, moving my data/programs/settings over was a snap. Mainly, the rough part was getting used to not having a computer available to me always. It meant that suddenly, I’d have to do a lot more at my desk within work hours: syncing my phone, serious emails processing, light design, web updates, some social media stuff, etc. Moreover, I’d have to think to do that stuff in advance.

Much of this Off Switch businesses is less about rejecting technology and more about relegating perfectly fine technology into what I consider to be appropriate parts and amounts of my day. Jettisoning my beloved laptop was definitely a big part of that change. After establishing some new parameters for my use of digital communication, scrapping the laptop was simply the perfect follow-up to ditching the iPhone. And I haven’t missed it.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that there have been repercussions to being without a laptop. Sure, there are some random tasks that I can no longer conveniently do at home or out and about, but mainly it’s keeping up with communication. Since I am sending less, I am getting less, but the issue is that by only doing email and other tasks at my desk, it can get overwhelming since most people are emailing day and night. What I’m finding is that it is forcing me to 1) let go when I am not at my desk and 2) make better use of my time and tasks when I am doing email.

I’ll get into this in a future post, but one gadget I did buy since I stopped using my iPhone and sold my MacBook (my wife has a laptop, but I rarely use it) is an iPad. It’s limits are what I love about it as well as it’s uni-tasking nature. My main bad habit to break is my impulse to grab it on the way out the door they way I always did with my laptop or smartphone. Say what you will, the iPad is just the right thing for slowing down, focusing, and having a more leisurely experience with technology. And since Mac laptops retain a good bit of value, the selling price covered the iPad and accessories!

With a literal weight off my shoulders, I am finding myself less burdened with the implications of having access to everything all the time. I’m embracing the limits and shrugging about the rest of it. For me, I’m accepting that there is a price associated with that particular trade-off and that I was due a refund.

Phoning it in

As I’ve detailed in previous posts, the last 10 weeks have been spent establishing new rules for my tech use, trading down my gadgets, and generally waking up from a long daze. While the point of these changes has been to get more out of all aspects of my life—and to be distracted less—the point of this blog is to help me examine why and how it is all working out. Plus I can answer questions I get frequently. Specifically in the next few entries, I wanted to write a little about each aspect of my new set-up and how they are working. I’ll devote this one to my phone.

Nokia e71x. Duh.

After many hours of research and correspondence with AT&T tech support and sales staff, I ultimately settled on a Nokia e71x smartphone, which I effectively lobotomized with a PureTalk USA monthly plan for unlimited voice/text only at $39.99 a month. This phone was the only one I could find that satisfied my requirement of a QWERTY keyboard and the ability to sync music, photos, contacts, and calendars with my Mac. These weren’t merely fanciful desires, but rather very practical daily needs relating to my job and parenthood. If I was to have any hope of leaving smart phones and laptops behind—while not spending lots of ongoing time on work-arounds—I needed something functional for me.

I found the handset on Craigslist for $50, popped in the $10 SIM card from PureTalk, ported over my number, and I was off! Gone are the apps, the internet, the costly data plan and contract.

After being a diehard iPhone devotee since the end of 2007, I assumed that I would really miss all of that functionality, access, and intuitive interface. However, what I found is that I was relieved. No longer was I carrying this time bomb of nagging alerts and distracting apps on my person. Suddenly, I was back to a slightly better version of what I had 2006 and prior: a functional phone that gave me no reason to mess with it unless I was calling somebody or checking my calendar. For the first time in years, I have found myself forgetting the whereabouts of my phone for hours at a time. It’s just a phone and there is no emotional or psychological connection to it as there was with the iPhone. No apps. No internet. Nothing much really.

It’s slimmer and lighter and the battery lasts all day and it is vastly cheaper than the iPhone, but there is a lot to dislike about the new phone. The sounds are cheesy, the interface is clunky, they syncing is tricky, and the buttons are hard to push… but these reasons are EXACTLY what make it the perfect phone. It is in no way tempting to pull out at a stop light or in line at the grocery store. I have zero desire to check in during meetings or conversations. It’s a dumb phone, just as phones should be. More and more, I’m feeling like the non-phone/text/calendar/contacts aspects on my iPhone were just an amped up GameBoy.

A big part of why I chose to ditch the smart phone, was so that I could leave the internet, emails, social media, and the rest of it behind when all I really needed was to be in touch by phone/text. I had an overwhelming need for off-time and to once again occupy unoccupied moments—to just follow my nose and to take in the world. For the most part, that has worked out.

The snags that have popped up really have come mostly out of bad habits. For instance, no maps or GPS on my phone mean that I have to remember to figure out where I’m going in advance. Or if I forget to send an email or look something up before I leave my desk, I just have to handle it with a call or be cool with waiting. It’s been a good exercise in self-discipline and accepting my own self-imposed guidelines—while also being at peace with others being at odds with it on occasion.

Still, you may be happy to discover that it is not all tin cans and string with a dumb phone. While I have enjoyed the continuity and freedom associated with pushing away from the internet and messages for portions of my day, there are times when I still need to look something up or even post to a social network for work. That’s where the wonderful world of SMS text messaging services comes in. Using various tricks and simple configurations—mostly from Google—I can use text messages to search for nearby businesses, driving directions, movie times, and a lot more. I maybe use this feature once a week, but it is good to know that it’s there. People can even email me on my phone and the first 140 characters will arrive as a text message, although for obvious reasons, I haven’t been handing that out.

All in all, it has been great. I haven’t missed the old iPhone one bit. While there have been some mid-errand messages I could have responded to more quickly, I doubt that anyone is really missing the sort of quick, half-minded replies I was making on the go anyhow. For my part, I’m just happy to be where ever I am, not partially in another world as I was before.

Folding a Fitted Sheet

Exorcizing an abundance of gadgetry, connectivity, and bad tech habits from one’s life is about as tidy a proposition as folding a fitted sheet. As opposed to the relatively straightforward realization that the smartphone, the apps, the laptops, and the associated bother were taking away from my experience of life, the process of actually getting rid of them and transitioning to alternative modes has been long and tedious.

As detailed in other posts, I have navigated the treacherous waters of canceling my cell phone contract, selecting a month-to-month alternative, prepping and selling my iPhone on eBay, and identifying a suitable handset that would be easy to use but capable of being lobotomized appropriately. Selling the laptop was easy enough. 

It would have been much simpler had I just been getting rid of a cell phone or laptop altogether, but due to professional and personal obligations, it wasn’t that cut and dry – so there were still a lot of capabilities I wanted to maintain, even if modified, and it took a lot of research to sort it all out. Those include: ability to sync contacts/calendar/photos/music to a Mac, a QWERTY keyboard for texting, and some modicum of simplicity. For those interested, here’s what I switched from/to:

- iPhone 3GS => Nokia e71x
- AT&T 2-year contract with unlimited data => PureTalk USA unlimited voice/text only
- MacBook 13″ => iPad 3G (plan not activated) at home and for travel, iMac at the office

So, that’s the stuff. Certainly, the limitations inherent in each are meant to keep me honest, but really the whole shift in gadgets is a just catalyst as a part of a larger change the way I use technology, and the interruptions it causes in my thoughts and experiences.

Now that the transition is complete – with the things, at least- I feel tremendously relieved. Not just from the arduous task of the decisions and process outlined above, but from the near constant compulsion to check-in, update, synchronize, and to ‘knock out’ hundreds of little tasks per day at odd moments.

A friend pointed out that, along with distraction and escape, having the Internet in my pocket and a computer on my back was creating a lot of over-stimulation. The notion seemed almost absurd – if not quaint – when she first said it. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how right she was. 

With the onslaught of affordable and connected gadgets, social networks, and great web content, my life had become overtaken with what amounts to an amalgamation of the boob tube, video games, a stock ticker, and an overbearing gossipy friend. Not unlike a frog in a boiling pot, things had become unpleasant and so the process of unplugging and simplification has been really, really nice. 

It is hard to describe the changes in me. The difference is what I imagine in those who quit smoking or sober up. I feel more clear headed. I can concentrate better and connect more deeply. I feel infinitely more relaxed. Moreover, I often find myself deeply exhaling in the way one does after a good long sobbing session. 

But now that I’m becoming more acclimated to the sensations of relaxation and focus, my mind and soul are revisiting thoughts and memories and sensations that have been long forsaken. Whereas before, an unoccupied moment would be seized as an opportunity to pull out my phone to do something digital, I now observe my surroundings, reflect on the past, or just breathe. Not saying that I’m Mr. Zen all of the sudden, but by comparison I do feel like I’m transported to 5 or 10 years ago before all of this mess took over.

This weekend, I visited my brother in New Orleans in celebration of his 50th birthday. It’s a city I’ve visited 15-20 times before in college and on various road trips, and this time I found myself reflecting on those experiences and really taking in my environment. It was my first chance since all of these changes to get out of my routine to just discover and also to unwind. My reward was a interwoven sequence of long meals, lively conversation, and some extended ganders at architecture and people. It’s the sort of stuff I would have thought I was doing before, but this time I was in it.

So good.          

Right-sizing my gear

In the past couple of weeks, i have decommissioned my iPhone – switching to a lobotomized Nokia e71x – and sold my laptop after transferring everything to a spare iMac at the office. This is the first time in 3 years I haven’t had email/web on the go and the first time in a decade I haven’t had a laptop.

A couple of days after I sold the laptop, I made the final purchase to complete the planned transition. I got an iPad. While it might seem counter-intuitive to buy the latest, snazziest gadget from Apple in an effort to downgrade and simplify… allow me to explain my thinking.

First, this whole life-change is not about being anti-technology. It’s about being anti-inqterruptqion, anti-distraction, and anti-sucked into work 24/7. Leaving the major computing on my desk and getting other computing out of my pocket were the first parts of that – leaving me in need of a solution for a thing on which to enjoy leisure music/video/web/reading and for those times that i did want or need to write or correspond away from my desk. Again: not ever-present and buzzing in my pocket, but available when I please and also something i can leave behind.

So far, so good. I will admit that the iPad is a seductive little gadget, but it’s keyboard-less and uni-tasking nature make it a great little casual content machine as well as a helluva simple writing or corresponding tool. In fact, I’m writing this post on it right now. I found a slim fold-up stand and got a Bluetooth keyboard for longer sessions, which have already proven themselves handy when i want to steal away and focus.

The main impulses I’m fighting one week in are 1) to grab it or the bag/accessories on my way-out the door and 2) turning it on to “just check in” the way I did with the iPhone. Both are bad habits in the making, so I am being extra aware. The other slippery slope is reading in bed. It breaks my rule of no Internet gadgets an hour before/after sleeping, but i have begun to wonder if I can just turn off the wifi or just not do web stuffs with a similar effect. I suppose it boils down to whether i feel that the issue is the fragmentation of my consciousness or more generally over-stimulation. I’ll sort it out.

Remaining to do are to jailbreak my iPhone so i can fetch a better price and transferring off of AT&T to the month-to-month Pure TalkUSA deal I got. It is a tricky thing since I want to keep my number, not be penalized by AT&T for jumping ship, and I need to have up to a 72 hour block of time for the number to move over. Tricky.

All in all, it has been lovely so far. Honestly, i feel like I’m on a permanent vacation. I feel much less stressed and preoccupied. Moreover, I no longer feel the burden of having the Internet, email, and dozens of apps and countless files strapped to me at all times like a bomb. I wouldn’t go so far as to say “euphoric” but definitely unencumbered.

I recognize that many of these changes were perhaps more about discipline than the actual tools, but I have also seen in myself a compulsion to push the feeder pellet – and am dedicated to making it hard to waste countless moments in that way. The whole process has me looking at my life in a renewed way, asking: what else is frivolous? More on the next set of changes soon.

Hint: I’m hyper-localizing my work day.