Breakaway
Been thinking a lot about habits. It takes discipline to know what is the most right for yourself, and maximum discipline to act on it, regardless of your state (emotional, physical, mental, etc).
What builds the best habits is replacing something innate and addictive that one would consider a bad habit with something of an addictive nature that would be a good habit.
The other way to breakdown bad habits, that I’ve found, is not increasing friction gradually. Screen blockers and rule presets and family controls don’t work on humans whose psychology is hellbent on finding the path of least friction. For example, leaving my phone in the car is ideal for deep focus. However, the minimal things like grabbing a phone for taking a photo or a security code often leads to drastic derailment in focus and momentum. The safeguards never seem to be enough1. I believe it is time to strike at the very root cause: eliminating having the world at my fingertips.
While 90s kids had it difficult, they didn’t have the addictive nature of the cell phone; the leading cause of death was not car accidents and self-harm, it was heart disease and stroke. Were they in a better time? Unsure. We can only state the fact of the mental health decline, technology addiction, and ultimately, loss of pursuit of knowledge.
Are archaic devices better? Subjective2. But, they allowed individuals to cultivate focus better, and provided experiences that prevented addictive nature.
We must be willing to reject convenience3. If you stay tied to what-ifs, focusing on the worst situations, it will never be possible to breakaway. Another point (often made by Cal Newport, but also from my experience): the more you reject convenience, the stronger the relationships that you maintain become. You work harder to keep the connection with those who value you as equally as you value them. Case in point: when I got rid of Instagram, I watched friendships I thought I had deteriorate, as if they turned to ash and crumbled. Now, the reason I believed they were strong was due to the social media superficiality I had become to be reliant on; the likes, shares, comments were how I learned to understand my value.