Punkt. is a fairly small, dynamic and independent company, and we like to keep close connections with our consumers and with people and organisations within the design world. As part of this, we regularly run 'Punkt.Challenges'. These consist of style difficulties that form part of postgraduate design courses, and digital detox obstacles where self-confessed mobile phone addicts are invited to review their relationship with innovation.
Ten years back, mobile phones were still extremely unusual. Now, a life lived outside the structure of the smartphone is unusual. 10 years earlier, the majority of people had mobile phones, however they would usually just attract our attention if another person had actually decided to call us or send us a text. Now that the majority of people's lives are so much more automated: the brand-new regular is to scamper around within a ceaseless assault of status updates, push alerts and a whole lot more.
Our Digital Detox Challenges have been running because 2016. The unfavorable elements of smartphones weren't widely discussed at that point, but there has actually considering that been a rise of interest in the subject. Participant reports are a crucial element of the Detox Challenges; by running the Challenges and publishing these reports we aim to keep the discussion of individuals's relationship with technology prominent and on-going - both in regards to tech addiction and the importance of top quality style in the real (i.e. non-virtual) world.
The big difference this time round was that the term 'smart device dependency' had actually clearly entered common parlance - in 2016 it still sounded a bit over the top, but in 2018 individuals were beginning to sound truly worried. You can check out the reports below, but here are some excerpts from a few of the lots of applications we got:
" The constant scrolling."
" I tried it with an old timeless phone, it was like 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 gorgeous along with functional?"
" I'm doing my own variation now, but I had to settle for a broke ass burner phone that's 10 years old ...".
" As a UI designer for digital products I've typically questioned a few of the success criteria used in my market, particularly 'engagement' as a metric for success. Up until that changes, regrettably it's very challenging to eliminate against 100s of designers who are trying to hook you in to their items. [] There is a specific paradox about this as I design for these items but wish to avoid them. I believe it's an opportunity for me as a designer to appreciate how important our attention is, and try to take that lesson back into my industry, hopefully to affect a modification in technique to technology.".
" I have started eliminating all my social networks profiles and have actually right away observed the positive effect it's had on me. I am so much calmer now, and I want to keep it that method, by also eliminating my smart device for good.".
Life is too short to keep our heads down.
Technology has significantly changed 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 changes that in its entirety, pressing us into recognizing what is going on. I've constantly liked using the newest things, however because Punkt. has been around, I desired to change that, and with the Digital Detox Challenge, that's precisely what occurred. When you go from a constantly ringing smartphone to a phone like this, you understand just how much you can compromise all these applications that keep you hooked all day long: you do not need them.
In such a way, you do end up being kind of apart socially from your 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 just that. It teaches you simpleness and teaches you that you don't require whatever on your phone. Just the basics.
If you feel like you are hooked on your phone, like many people I have actually met, it could be an excellent time to provide this phone a shot. A lot of my own relative experience this sensation and I feel like passing this difficulty on to others so they can master it. This Challenge has become so crucial in 2018 because-- as I stated-- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on are here to keep us hooked in for the longest time. Don't believe me? Download QualityTime for your Android and you will understand that you do not even take note of exactly what's going on around you. If you feel an itch, it may be a great time to get that had a look at, and a good way to tackle it is with the Punkt. MP01.
The more time we invest looking at screens, the less important daytime ends up being-- and sometimes, yes, more of a hindrance. Whether you're inspecting your messages while strolling to work, enjoying your smartphone with your good friends (who are each enjoying theirs), or enjoying a movie, daylight is an inconvenience.
We began heading in this manner due to the fact that we wished to. Nowadays-- to a large extent-- we merely do it due to the fact that we do it. And because others want us to do it.
Is this this content really how you want to spend your time on Earth?
* * *.
In 2016, Google worker Tristan Harris left his job to found a new non-profit organisation called Time Well Spent, which sought to expand the debate on what technology is doing to us and led to the creation of the Center for Humane Technology. Because then, the topic has exploded into the mainstream and it has actually ended up being clear that it is not doing advantages to our basic sense of wellness.
The home page of the Center's site includes a striking montage image. A generic graphic of a smart device is combined with a photograph of a lady. She is not provided as being on the screen. She remains in fact 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 pleased, delighting in the view. And she is bathed in sunlight.
Possibly it makes sense to utilize these brighter evenings for something besides taking a look at pixels? And when bedtime techniques, matching sundown with a digital sunset: whatever turned off, leaving just a land-line with a number known only to household and buddies, and a devoted alarm clock.
Signing up with those who have dropped their smartphones totally, integrating a fundamental phone with a laptop or tablet (much much better for typing on). Nowadays these ideas might sound nearly radical, however as far as biology is concerned, they're exactly what your brain desires. Hence the medical side-effects of tech over-use.
Since of the apparent decrease in traffic mishaps, Daylight Saving Time is said to increase life expectancy of a nation's residents. Ditto banning phone usage while driving, obviously (with a much clearer causal link). Phones threaten in other ways, too: scrollers strolling into traffic, selfie trophy-hunters taking one risk a lot of, and so on. Over-use of tech shrinks our lives in another way as well-- incrementally and undoubtedly. It gives us a narrower existence where we are less focussed, less rested and thus less awake. Over-use eats our lives, and it's ending up being the norm.
Time for a rethink?
Do you discover that wherever you go, you constantly wind up in the very same place: in front of your smart device? Using it, or letting it utilize you, to remain 'linked'? Connected with exactly what individuals are up to back home. Linked with the most recent news reports. Linked with work. Gotten in touch with games, YouTube videos, Wikipedia. Gotten in touch with images from the last vacation you took, and the one before that. What kind of 'connection' is that, truly? This scenario is something that's crept up on us, and maybe it's time to start making some choices ...
A holiday is an opportunity to turn off, to experience new things. But if we don't also turn off our devices, if we continue to outsource our consciousness to image sensing units and sd card, if we're still connected 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 holiday tax. Part of the experience is deducted-- and not to assist the local economy, but to help line the pockets of shareholders of social networks companies.
Think of a timeless 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 uses. Whether it's a case of pings on the beach, or livestreaming from the Louvre, something's gotten but something's lost. And on the subject of getting lost, yes, without a smartphone it could happen. And possibly you'll wind up someplace that turns out to be the emphasize of your journey. Possibly you'll discover some intriguing dining establishment that isn't really on tripadvisor.com. You may end up talking with some residents. Absolutely nothing ventured, absolutely nothing got. This connect the growing sluggish travelmovement, and the recovering of overland travel as a mainstream and realistic 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 big information, there are a couple of alternatives. We can go to the other severe, and leave house without any sort of phone or tablet. (That never used to be a severe, but we reside in extreme times.) And we have options like altering our device's settings to 'minimum', leaving it in the hotel safe throughout the day, etc
. Or we can take a different phone. One that just does calls and texts. And after that immerse ourselves in a various culture, have some experiences, or merely take pleasure in a little bit of solitude.
The physical act of swapping phones goes deep. It's a bit like flying the nest. And it's starting to gain in popularity: whether an inexpensive, old-tech model or something more elegant and up-to-date, opting to in some cases use a basic phone is something that everyone can relate to nowadays. They might refrain from doing it themselves, but they certainly understand why some people do.
There are practical advantages, too. Only having to charge your phone periodically is popular with everyone however if you're going someplace without mains electrical power, your greedy smartphone will be no use at all. Likewise, with a simple phone you don't require to keep checking that your digital factotum hasn't cunningly found some method of adding monster-sized data roaming charges-- it can still occur. But it's the 'really existing' that really counts. Sure, travelling without a mobile phone will mean a couple of mix-ups, a minimized capability to plan, to understand beforehand what's going to happen. However taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is. And the screens on basic phones are frequently much harder than the big areas of glass found on their more complicated cousins. Replacing a broken smartphone screen is a trouble at the best of times; multiply that by ten if you're abroad.
But it's the 'really existing' that actually counts. Sure, taking a trip without a smart device will indicate a couple of mix-ups, a minimized capability to strategy, to know beforehand what's going to take place. Taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is.
SMS 03 - Punkt. MP02 from Punkt. on Vimeo.