Decluttering my "internet" life

On May 9th, I have written a post about my "internet" life.  How it had become so important for me that I felt I was missing on other stuff.  You can read it here.

I had challenge myself to follow these rules to help me out in decreasing my on line time and increase my presence here and now.

1) iPhone will not be constantly by my side. 
           a) when I am at home, it will stay plugged somewhere not in the same room as me.
           b) when I am out, I will bring it as a phone but will keep it in my bag - not hand
           c) once a week, I will go out with my son and husband leaving the phone home
           d) when I am out with friends, I will only use it to be reachable for emergencies
I have been pretty good at not looking at my phone when out with friends. I leave it there on "mute" just in case my son or husband would have an emergency.  I am also pretty good at leaving it in my bag and not holding it in my hand. In my home, I would say I did stay away from the phone roughly 50% of the time. I have however never gone out leaving my phone home.  This to me still is a huge challenge.

I will keep muting my phone when meeting my friend and keeping it in the bag when out and about. I will try and part from it even more when staying at home and I will definitely try leaving it home when going out with my husband and son.  However, I know if both of them are not with me I will not be able to do it. That's OK.  As long as I keep it in a pocket on in a bag, I don't constantly look at it.


 2) Computer will be closed and put away in my desk when not on my working hours
Computer has been closed and put away.  That was actually easy!!!  And I loved it! Will definitely keep doing this.

 3) When computer is open, it will be open ONLY on what I am working on.  emails, social medias and the like will be closed unless currently used - and only one at a time
I have been quite successful at that one too. When I am on the computer, I only have open the windows I need and it makes my time more efficient because I am not switching from one screen to another as soon as I see some activities!  This is staying too.

 4) I will assign 3x 30 minutes periods to social network and this blog - that should be enough to answer every one... 
          a) one in the morning (after breakfast)
          b) one right after lunch
          c) one mid-evening
The 3x30 minutes period were strict at first and then became more loose.  I still found myself checking all social medias and email prior to breakfast....  an extra time in the afternoon and an extra time in the evening before bed. Therefore I went from checking 3 times a day at the beginning of May to actually 6 or even 7 times a day by now.  I really am not happy about this!!!  I need to monitor more closely my actions.  I have been asking around and looking at what other people do and I will try this again!
However, the last month made me see that 30-45 minutes at a time is sufficient.  30 is not always...  Therefore what I am proposing now is 45 minutes after breakfast, 45 minutes mid afternoon and 45 minutes mid evening.  Never before 9 am and never after 9 pm.


 5) Sunday I will be completely off-line!  Will get back to you on the next Monday
Now it's time for me to see what really happens... see what I want to keep doing, what I want to change or just forget about.

Didn't have so much trouble doing that....  but towards the end, I was snooping more and more....  But I was using much less internet time on Saturday AND Sunday then before.  Therefore what I think works for me is a quick check up on Saturday and Sunday right before lunch.  And access to post stuff if I wish too. 

To summarize, I will keep doing most of what I decided to do last month and will try harder to leave the phone home when there's the 3 of us out together, leave the phone in another room when at home and stick to my 3x45 minutes of social media access for week days and my shortened time on the week ends.

We'll meet again on that subject in a month or so to see how I am doing now that I will be in another city and will have started my #108daystoanewlife project.

One last thing, when having lunch with a friend last week, he was really impressed at how very little stuff I actually have....  and he was asking me about the iPhone (who was resting on mute on the table beside me)...  Honestly, at this point, even though I really wish I could, I do not see how I could let go of it...

I use is as a camera, as a GPS, as access to social media (computer), as a stay in touch with my son and husband through textos and phone.... and as a phone to connect me with the rest of the world.  Once I am in Moncton, it will also be used to Skype with people back in Montreal...  For all those reasons, I do not see the way out of this but who knows??  Maybe one day...  And if not, if I use it diligently and it replaces many other gadgets I could have, I think it is still being minimalist.

I would like to know what you think of smart phone and minimalism...  I am curious!

thanks for reading!
and please share if you like this blog!!!


love&peace,
nath
xox
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