‘Pushback’: Resisting the life of constant connectivity

My Android phone broke down month ago, I am practically offline since than. Twitter, IM and other stuff was constant source of distraction.

Now I have 'dumb' phone, I only miss GPS and flash light. I still do read twitter, but only every second day together with RSS and log files. My IM has constant status 'Do not disturb unless it is on fire'. Only paying customers have now privilege to interrupt me, we mostly schedule meeting anyway.

60% raise in productivity, I am less tired and I even got time to read a book.

"Pushback" isn't such a great name for this specific phenomenon, since it's already a general business-jargon term for any kind of opposition to something that someone is trying to get you to do. As in: "I'm getting pushback from the customer on delaying the release date."

I canceled my mobile contract in March and haven't looked back since. I've become more familiar with my surroundings, more focused conversations with my peers, and have overall experienced a better quality of life.

The first few weeks were pretty tough; life without GPS made it an absolutely requisite to study the route to your destination before departing, and I did have a constant urge to check a device to see if anyone "needed me" yet. This feeling became negligible after the first month, to vanishing entirely by about three months in.

Sometimes, it helps to gain perspective.

s/pushback/moderation ? People not using technology is not really new, is it? Perhaps hyper-connectivity is, but people often ditch modern conveniences and "discover" life or whatever. I've used paper to design every piece of software I've written in the last few years.

I got my phone stolen a while back and ended up using a simple phone for a few days. It was amazingly refreshing to not constantly check email or read "news" when bored. Firing off quick emails all the time isn't any more efficient, and really detrimental to my mind. Unfortunately, I can't seem to convince other people to pace themselves.

Get a low-end Android phone and connect it to a separate email account (for travel documents or whatnot). Maps and Wikipedia will function, but it'll be generally useless as a time-wasting device.

All things require balance. I think we could use a little more 'pushback'. Online connectivity does not provide the same quality of interaction as real life connectivity. Although it clearly has its place.

Recent but relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OINa46HeWg8