Punkt. is a relatively small, dynamic and independent business, and we prefer to maintain close connections with our customers and with people and organisations within the design world. As part of this, we regularly run 'Punkt.Challenges'. These include style challenges that form part of postgraduate design courses, and digital detox difficulties where self-confessed smartphone addicts are invited to review their relationship with innovation.
Ten years back, smart devices were still very unusual. Now, a life lived outside the framework of the mobile phone is uncommon. 10 years earlier, the majority of people had smart phones, however they would usually just attract our attention if another human being had actually chosen to call us or send us a text. Now that many people's lives are a lot more automated: the new typical is to scurry around within a continuous attack of status updates, push notifications and an entire lot more.
Our Digital Detox Challenges have been running because 2016. The negative elements of smartphones weren't widely talked about at that point, but there has actually considering that been a rise of interest in the topic. Individual reports are a crucial element of the Detox Challenges; by running the Challenges and releasing these reports we aim to keep the discussion of people's relationship with innovation prominent and on-going - both in terms of tech addiction and the significance of premium design in the real (i.e. non-virtual) world.
The big distinction this time round was that the term 'smartphone dependency' had clearly entered common parlance - in 2016 it still sounded a bit over the top, however in 2018 people were starting to sound really stressed. You can check out the reports below, but here are some excerpts from a few of the many applications we received:
" The consistent scrolling."
" I attempted it with an old classic phone, it was like going back to an ex - with all the old pros and cons. Who does that?"
" We utilize our phones a lot - why should not they be beautiful in addition to functional?"
" I'm doing my own version now, but I needed to opt for a broke ass burner phone that's 10 years old ...".
" As a UI designer for digital items I've typically questioned a few of the success requirements utilized in my market, specifically 'engagement' as a metric for success. Till that changes, unfortunately it's really tough to eliminate versus 100s of designers who are attempting to hook you in to their products. [] There is a certain irony about this as I design for these products however want to get away from 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 market, hopefully to affect a change in technique to technology.".
" I have begun eliminating all my social media profiles and have actually right away observed the positive impact it's had on me. I am so much calmer now, and I 'd like to keep it that method, by also eliminating my smartphone for excellent.".
Life is too brief to keep our heads down.
Innovation has actually considerably altered over the last century, from being an useful tool in our lives to keeping us as connected in as much as it can and for the longest amount of time. This Challenge changes that in its whole, pushing us into recognizing exactly what is going on. I've constantly loved using the most recent things, however since Punkt. has been around, I wanted to change that, and with the Digital Detox Challenge, that's exactly what occurred. When you go from a continuously ringing smart device to a phone like this, you understand how much you can sacrifice all these applications that keep you hooked all day: you do not require them.
In a manner, you do end up being sort of apart socially from your good friends-- let's state if they "Snapchat" you or whatnot-- but you begin to realize that it's for the better, and the Punkt. MP01 achieves simply that. It teaches you simplicity and teaches you that you don't require everything on your phone. Simply the essentials.
If you feel like you are hooked on your phone, like the majority of people I have fulfilled, it might be a great time to offer this phone a try. Many of my own relative experience this feeling and I seem like passing this difficulty on to others so they can master it. This Challenge has actually become so crucial in 2018 because-- as I said-- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. 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 what's going on around you. If you feel an itch, it might be a great time to get that took a look at, and an excellent way to set about it is with the Punkt. MP01.
The more time we spend looking at screens, the lesser daytime ends up being-- and sometimes, yes, more of an obstacle. Whether you're checking your messages while walking to work, enjoying your mobile phone with your good friends (who are each enjoying theirs), or viewing a film, daylight is an inconvenience.
We started heading in this manner since we wished to. Nowadays-- to a big degree-- we just do it due to the fact that we do it. And due to the fact that others desire us to do it.
Is this actually how you wish 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 argument on what innovation is doing to us and caused the creation of the Center for Humane Technology. Ever since, the subject has actually taken off into the mainstream and it has actually ended up being clear that it is refraining from doing good ideas to our general sense of well-being.
The web page of the Center's website features a striking montage image. A generic graphic of a smartphone is combined with a photo of a female. She is not presented as being on the screen. She is 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 delighted, delighting in the view. And she is bathed in sunlight.
Maybe it makes good sense to use these brighter evenings for something aside from taking a look at pixels? And when bedtime techniques, matching sundown with a digital sunset: whatever turned off, leaving simply a land-line with a number known only to household and friends, and a dedicated alarm clock.
Signing up with those who have dropped their smartphones completely, combining a standard phone with a laptop computer or tablet (much much better for typing on). Nowadays these concepts might sound nearly extreme, however as far as biology is worried, they're exactly what your brain wants. The medical side-effects of tech over-use.
Since of the apparent reduction in traffic accidents, Daylight Saving Time is said to increase life expectancy of a nation's citizens. Ditto banning phone use while driving, of course (with a much clearer causal link). Phones are harmful in other ways, too: scrollers strolling into traffic, selfie trophy-hunters taking one risk a lot of, etc. But over-use of tech diminishes our lives in another way as well-- incrementally and undoubtedly. It provides us a narrower existence in which we are less focussed, less rested and thus less awake. Over-use consumes our lives, and it's becoming the standard.
Time for a rethink?
Do you find that wherever you go, you constantly end up in the very same place: in front of your smartphone? Utilizing it, or letting it use you, to remain 'connected'? Gotten in touch with what individuals are up to back house. Gotten in touch with the most recent news reports. Linked with work. Gotten in touch with games, YouTube videos, Wikipedia. Connected with images from the last holiday you took, and the one before that. What sort of 'connection' is that, really? This scenario is something that's approached on us, and perhaps it's time to begin making some choices ...
A holiday is a possibility to turn off, to experience brand-new things. But if we don't also switch off our gadgets, if we continue to outsource our awareness 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 return, it's as if we're paying a sort of vacation tax. Part of the experience is subtracted-- and not to help the local economy, but to assist line the pockets of investors of social networks business.
Think of a timeless 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 uses. Whether it's a case of pings on the beach, or livestreaming from the Louvre, something's gained however something's lost. And on the subject of getting lost, yes, without a smart device it might occur. And maybe you'll wind up somewhere that ends up being the emphasize of your journey. Maybe you'll discover some appealing restaurant that isn't really on tripadvisor.com. You might wind up speaking to some locals. Absolutely nothing ventured, absolutely nothing got. This connect the growing slow travelmovement, and the recovering of overland travel as a mainstream and sensible alternative to flying, demonstrated by the underground success of The Man in Seat Sixty-One. It's everything about being there.
If we do decide to have a vacation that doesn't focus on processing big data, there are a couple of alternatives. We can go to the other severe, and leave home with no type of phone or tablet. (That never utilized to be an extreme, however we live in severe times.) And we have choices like altering our device's settings to 'minimum', leaving it in the hotel safe during the day, etc
. Or we can take a various phone. One that only does calls and texts. And after that immerse ourselves in a different culture, have some experiences, or simply delight in a little solitude.
The physical act of switching phones goes deep. It's a bit like flying the nest. And it's beginning to gain in popularity: whether a low-cost, old-tech model or something more elegant and up-to-date, opting to sometimes utilize a simple phone is something that everybody can connect to nowadays. They may refrain from doing it themselves, but they definitely know why some individuals do.
There are useful advantages, too. Just needing to charge your phone periodically is popular with everybody but if you're going someplace without mains electrical energy, 7 day smartphone detox your greedy smart device will be no use at all. Also, with a basic phone you don't have to keep examining that your digital factotum hasn't cunningly discovered some way of adding monster-sized information roaming charges-- it can still occur. But it's the 'actually being there' that really counts. Sure, taking a trip without a smartphone will imply a couple of mix-ups, a lowered capability to plan, to know in advance what's going to occur. Taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is. And the screens on basic phones are typically much harder than the big locations of glass discovered on their more complex cousins. Changing a damaged smart device screen is a trouble at the best of times; multiply that by ten if you're abroad.
It's the 'in fact being there' that actually counts. Sure, taking a trip without a smart device will suggest a couple of mix-ups, a lowered capability to strategy, to know ahead of time what's going to happen. But taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is.
SMS 03 - Punkt. MP02 from Punkt. on Vimeo.