The Anxiety Generation Machine Of Phone Use Before Bed

00:00:00.000 | All right, speaking of digital minimum,

00:00:02.500 | I think this next question is relevant, right?

00:00:03.900 | What do we got here?

00:00:05.340 | - All right, next question is from Nandan.

00:00:09.440 | What are the benefits of shutting down the phone usage

00:00:12.300 | before going to bed and after waking up?

00:00:14.340 | What techniques can I implement

00:00:15.680 | to become more disciplined in doing so?

00:00:18.060 | - Well, Nandan, I mean, the benefits are massive

00:00:22.940 | because what are we really talking about here?

00:00:25.300 | If you're using your phone up to the moment you go to bed,

00:00:27.680 | if you're using your phone the moment that you wake up,

00:00:30.240 | that means that you are constantly

00:00:32.700 | in this four-dimensional world

00:00:34.640 | where you have the real and the digital

00:00:36.200 | and it's all sort of mixed together.

00:00:38.720 | That's not a humane way to live.

00:00:42.360 | It's an impoverished approach to reality.

00:00:46.260 | It is an anxiety generation machine.

00:00:49.880 | It is also a, think of it as like a potential magnet,

00:00:53.760 | just pulling all this potential

00:00:55.280 | for you constructing a life well-lived

00:00:57.440 | and just sucking it away and converting it

00:01:00.000 | into returns on the stock owners of these giant,

00:01:03.080 | people who own stock,

00:01:03.920 | these giant attention economy platforms.

00:01:05.240 | It is no way to live.

00:01:06.240 | That's the benefit.

00:01:08.300 | So how do you get away from it?

00:01:10.400 | Well, Nandan, you have to be way more aggressive

00:01:12.020 | than what you're talking about here.

00:01:13.900 | What you're talking about here, I see all the time.

00:01:15.600 | You want to nibble at the edges with tips.

00:01:19.080 | I use my phone too much.

00:01:20.880 | Do you have a good tip?

00:01:22.160 | Like maybe I should stop not bringing the bedroom

00:01:25.380 | or I should have a time I start turning on my phone.

00:01:27.760 | This is not how we solve this problem.

00:01:29.860 | When your life is entirely enmeshed with the digital,

00:01:33.000 | we do not solve this problem

00:01:34.220 | by nibbling at the edges with tips.

00:01:36.780 | We don't solve this problem by writing books

00:01:38.640 | where we put in all these caveats about like,

00:01:40.440 | well, I'm not saying that you shouldn't use your phone

00:01:42.160 | and please don't yell at me,

00:01:43.480 | but like, you know, maybe if you're able,

00:01:44.980 | you should consider like putting down your phone

00:01:46.760 | while you're having dinner, you know,

00:01:48.540 | but unless like you really need your phone during dinner,

00:01:50.280 | that's not what's going to solve this problem.

00:01:51.940 | We need to fundamentally repair our relationship

00:01:55.120 | with these tools.

00:01:56.020 | We need a philosophy, well thought through

00:01:59.040 | about how technology is integrated into our lives.

00:02:02.560 | And the philosophy I preach is digital minimalism

00:02:05.640 | from my book, eponymously titled "Digital Minimalism."

00:02:10.040 | And it's a pretty simple approach.

00:02:11.560 | It says, what you need to do is figure out

00:02:13.300 | what you care about in your life, the positive,

00:02:15.680 | what you want to spend time doing.

00:02:17.680 | You then work backwards and say,

00:02:18.780 | for each of these things I care about,

00:02:21.380 | what's a really useful way or effective way

00:02:23.120 | to use technology to support it?

00:02:24.920 | Your answer to those questions

00:02:26.400 | describes the technologies you use.

00:02:29.920 | Everything else you don't use.

00:02:31.520 | For something to lay claim to your time and attention,

00:02:35.160 | it has to go through the test of, I care about this,

00:02:37.880 | this technology is the best way to support this.

00:02:40.040 | And here are the specific rules I use

00:02:41.640 | for using this technology to support this thing

00:02:43.360 | I care about.

00:02:44.480 | Everything else by default, you do not use in your life.

00:02:47.040 | It allows you to leverage the power of technology

00:02:49.380 | without being a slave to their worst excesses.

00:02:53.040 | That's where you need to get into.

00:02:54.440 | You need to establish your own philosophy

00:02:56.240 | of digital minimalism.

00:02:57.120 | You don't just need tips to nibble at the edges

00:02:59.060 | of excessive phone use.

00:03:00.720 | But I know tips help people.

00:03:03.640 | So let me give you a few warmup rules

00:03:05.520 | that will prepare you for going through

00:03:06.960 | a bigger digital minimalism type transition.

00:03:10.720 | These are rules that real digital minimalists

00:03:14.160 | have come up with as they've gone through this exercise

00:03:17.040 | of reshaping their relationship to technology.

00:03:19.540 | Number one, the phone foyer method.

00:03:21.620 | I see this a lot.

00:03:23.320 | I see this a lot among minimalists who really think through

00:03:25.640 | how do I wanna use tech?

00:03:27.000 | When you are at home, the phone goes on a shelf

00:03:30.780 | in the kitchen or in your foyer, it's plugged into charge.

00:03:33.360 | That's where it is.

00:03:34.400 | If you're expecting a call, put the ringer on.

00:03:37.200 | If it rings, you can go in there and answer the call.

00:03:40.340 | If there's text messages you might need to check in on,

00:03:42.620 | you can walk to the foyer or the kitchen,

00:03:44.420 | that phone stays plugged in,

00:03:46.120 | and you can answer those text messages right there.

00:03:48.080 | It is not with you elsewhere in your house.

00:03:51.600 | So it's not with you when you're watching TV.

00:03:54.240 | If you wanna go see if someone texted you,

00:03:55.920 | you gotta walk over there and stand there at the foyer,

00:03:57.940 | typing until you're done with that.

00:03:59.160 | If you wanna look something up,

00:04:00.040 | you have to walk over to the foyer, look it up,

00:04:01.460 | type it in, and then go back to what you're doing.

00:04:03.320 | It's not with you at the dinner table.

00:04:04.880 | It's for sure not with you in the bedroom.

00:04:06.640 | So that's an example of a rule around use

00:04:10.520 | that might emerge as you do a digital minimalism

00:04:13.360 | overhaul to your life.

00:04:15.860 | Another rule that I think is interesting

00:04:17.740 | that's emerged often among digital minimalists

00:04:20.240 | is purposefully engineered disconnected time

00:04:23.080 | every single day.

00:04:23.960 | Every single day I'm going for a walk

00:04:26.520 | or running an errand without a phone.

00:04:28.700 | And if I'm bored, I'm bored.

00:04:31.960 | And if emergency happens, an emergency happens.

00:04:33.840 | But you know what?

00:04:35.200 | Until like a minute ago,

00:04:37.480 | we did not have phones with us everywhere we went,

00:04:39.580 | and the vast majority of us did not die

00:04:42.160 | in tragic emergencies

00:04:43.120 | 'cause we were unable to quickly text someone.

00:04:46.160 | So you might wanna try those as a warm-up, Nanded.

00:04:48.040 | Phone for your method,

00:04:49.480 | significant expedition or time every day without your phone

00:04:53.960 | just to get used to what it's like not to be with it.

00:04:55.680 | That's a good warmup,

00:04:56.520 | but you need to do the full transformation.

00:04:59.280 | My book "Digital Minimalism" is a good place to start.

00:05:01.080 | That book is available in lots of different countries.

00:05:02.920 | I think we've sold rights on that

00:05:05.000 | to a lot of different places.

00:05:06.080 | So wherever you're from,

00:05:07.000 | you can probably find a copy of that book.

00:05:09.880 | (upbeat music)

00:05:12.460 | (upbeat music)

The Anxiety Generation Machine Of Phone Use Before Bed

Chapters