Punkt. is a relatively small, dynamic and independent business, and we like to keep close connections with our consumers and with people and organisations within the design world. As part of this, we routinely run 'Punkt.Challenges'. These include style difficulties that form part of postgraduate design courses, and digital detox challenges where self-confessed smart device addicts are welcomed to review their relationship with technology.
10 years ago, smartphones were still really unusual. Now, a life lived outside the framework of the mobile phone is uncommon. 10 years back, many people had mobile phones, however they would generally only attract our attention if another human being had actually decided to call us or send us a text. Now that a lot of individuals's lives are a lot more automated: the new normal is to scoot around within a continuous attack of status updates, push notifications and a lot more.
Our Digital Detox Challenges have actually been running because 2016. The unfavorable aspects of mobile phones weren't commonly talked about at that point, however 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 releasing these reports we intend to keep the conversation of people's relationship with technology prominent and on-going - both in terms of tech addiction and the importance of high-quality design in the real (i.e. non-virtual) world.
The big difference this time round was that the term 'smart device addiction' had plainly entered common parlance - in 2016 it still sounded a bit over the top, but in 2018 people were beginning to sound truly stressed. You can read the reports listed below, however here are some excerpts from a few of the numerous applications we received:
" The consistent scrolling."
" I attempted it with an old classic phone, it was like returning to an ex - with all the old pros and cons. Who does that?"
" We utilize our phones a lot - why shouldn't they be lovely as well as practical?"
" I'm doing my own variation now, but I needed to choose a broke ass burner phone that's 10 years old ...".
" As a UI designer for digital items I've often questioned a few of the success criteria utilized in my market, specifically 'engagement' as a metric for success. Until that modifications, unfortunately it's very hard to battle against 100s of designers who are attempting to hook you in to their items. [] There is a certain paradox about this as I design for these items however wish to get away from them. However I think it's a chance for me as a designer to value how valuable our attention is, and try to take that lesson back into my market, hopefully to influence a modification in approach to innovation.".
" I have started getting rid of all my social networks profiles and have actually immediately seen the positive effect it's had on me. I am a lot calmer now, and I want to keep it that method, by likewise removing my smartphone for excellent.".
Life is too short to keep our heads down.
Innovation has actually drastically 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 period of time. This Challenge changes that in its whole, pushing us into realizing exactly what is going on. I've always liked using the most recent things, but since Punkt. has actually been around, I desired to change that, and with the Digital Detox Challenge, that's exactly what happened. When you go from a continuously buzzing smartphone to a phone like this, you realize how much you can compromise all these applications that keep you hooked all day: you don't need them.
In a way, you do end up being type of separated socially from your buddies-- let's say if they "Snapchat" you or whatnot-- however you begin to recognize that it's for the better, and the Punkt. MP01 accomplishes simply that. It teaches you simplicity and teaches you that you don't require everything on your phone. Simply the fundamentals.
If you feel like you are hooked on your phone, like the majority of people I have met, it could be a good time to provide this phone a shot. A lot of my own family members experience this sensation and I feel like passing this obstacle on to others so they can get the hang of it. This Challenge has actually ended up being so crucial in 2018 because-- as I said-- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on are here to keep us hooked in for the longest time. Do not believe me? Download QualityTime for your Android and you will understand that you don't even focus on exactly what's going on around you. If you feel an itch, it might be an excellent time to get that had a look at, and an excellent way to tackle it is with the Punkt. MP01.
The more time we invest taking a look at screens, the lesser daytime ends up being-- and sometimes, yes, more of an obstacle. Whether you're inspecting your messages while walking to work, enjoying your mobile phone with your buddies (who are each taking pleasure in theirs), or seeing a movie, daytime is a trouble.
We began heading by doing this since we wished to. Nowadays-- to a large degree-- we just do it since we do it. And since others want us to do it.
Is this really how you want to spend your time in the world?
* * *.
In 2016, Google staff member Tristan Harris left his task to discovered a brand-new non-profit organisation called Time Well Spent, which looked for to expand the debate on exactly what technology is doing to us and led to the creation of the Center for Humane Technology. Since then, the subject has actually exploded into the mainstream and it has become clear that it is not doing advantages to our basic sense of well-being.
The web page of the Center's website features a striking montage image. A generic graphic of a mobile phone is combined with a picture of a lady. She is not presented as being on the screen. She remains in truth 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, enjoying the view. And she is bathed in sunshine.
Maybe it makes good sense to use these brighter nights for something besides taking a look at pixels? And when bedtime methods, matching sundown with a digital sundown: everything switched off, leaving just a land-line with a number understood only to household and friends, and a devoted alarm clock.
Joining those who have dropped their smartphones completely, integrating a basic phone with a laptop or tablet (much much better for typing on). Nowadays these concepts might sound practically extreme, but as far as biology is concerned, they're what your brain desires. For this reason the medical side-effects of tech over-use.
Since of the obvious decrease in traffic mishaps, Daylight Saving Time is said to increase life span of a nation's residents. Ditto prohibiting phone usage while driving, naturally (with a much clearer causal link). Phones are dangerous in other ways, too: scrollers strolling into traffic, selfie trophy-hunters taking one danger too lots of, and so on. However over-use of tech diminishes our lives in another way also-- incrementally and inevitably. It gives us a narrower presence where we are less focussed, see it here less rested and hence less awake. Over-use consumes our lives, and it's becoming the norm.
Time for a rethink?
Do you discover that anywhere you go, you constantly end up in the very same location: in front of your smartphone? Utilizing it, or letting it use you, to stay 'connected'? Gotten in touch with what individuals depend on back house. Gotten in touch with the current news reports. Gotten in touch with work. Gotten in touch with video games, YouTube videos, Wikipedia. Gotten in touch with images from the last vacation you took, and the one prior to that. What type of 'connection' is that, really? This circumstance is something that's crept up on us, and possibly it's time to begin making some choices ...
A holiday is a possibility to change off, to experience brand-new things. If we don't also switch off our gadgets, if we continue to outsource our awareness to image sensing units and memory cards, if we're still connected to what we were doing before we left and exactly 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 help the local economy, but to assist line the pockets of shareholders of social networks business.
Picture a traditional travelogue like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, minus this tax. There would not be much left. And even if we're searching for something a bit less intense for our fortnight away, the concept still applies. 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 topic of getting lost, yes, without a smart device it could take place. And maybe you'll wind up somewhere that turns out to be the emphasize of your trip. Maybe you'll discover some appealing restaurant that isn't really on tripadvisor.com. You may end up talking to some locals. Absolutely nothing ventured, absolutely nothing gained. This ties in with the growing slow travelmovement, and the recovering of overland travel as a mainstream and practical option to flying, demonstrated by the underground success of The Man in Seat Sixty-One. It's everything about existing.
If we do decide to have a holiday that does not focus on processing big information, there are a few alternatives. We can go to the other severe, and leave house with no type of phone or tablet. (That never used to be a severe, but we reside in extreme times.) And we have alternatives like altering our gadget's settings to 'minimum', leaving it in the hotel safe during the day, and so on
. Or we can take a different phone. One that just does calls and texts. And then immerse ourselves in a different culture, have some experiences, or just enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet.
The physical act of switching phones goes deep. It's a bit like flying the nest. And it's beginning to acquire in appeal: whether a cheap, old-tech model or something more elegant and updated, deciding to often use an easy phone is something that everybody can relate to nowadays. They may not do it themselves, however they definitely understand why some individuals do.
There are practical benefits, too. Only needing to charge your phone periodically is popular with everybody but if you're going somewhere without mains electrical energy, your greedy smartphone will be no usage at all. Also, with an easy phone you don't have to keep checking that your digital factotum hasn't cunningly discovered some way of running up monster-sized data roaming charges-- it can still occur. It's the 'in fact being there' that actually counts. Sure, taking a trip without a smartphone will mean a couple of mix-ups, a reduced capability to plan, to understand beforehand exactly what's going to occur. Taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is. And the screens on easy phones are frequently much tougher than the big areas of glass discovered on their more complex cousins. Replacing a damaged smart device screen is an inconvenience at the best of times; increase that by 10 if you're abroad.
But it's the 'in fact existing' that truly counts. Sure, travelling without a smart device will indicate a few mix-ups, a decreased capability to plan, to understand in advance exactly what's going to happen. However travelling sans algorithms is where the action is.
SMS 03 - Punkt. MP02 from Punkt. on Vimeo.