hey everyone,
Nearly six weeks ago my laptop broke. It was just over a year old and the screen started dying. After disassembling it in an effort to repair it and replace with a working screen (from a box of junk from old laptops)after realising it wasn't comparable I put the laptop back together only to find it actually made it worse.
Rather than rush off and buy a brand new one for about £500 I held out and decided to see how much effect it would have by being without it for a while. The fact that seleotape was part of the insides of my old laptop, including sticking the wire that connected to the start button, did not fill me with confidence that spending that sort of money (again) was a gaurentee I was going to get something worth buying.
I gave up TV a few years ago and noticed a dramatic improvement in my mental health (which is what I was hoping for). Trying to go without my laptop was worth a try to see if it had similar effects.
I have stayed in touch on RF using my mums iPhone (using private Internet so I get a bit of privacy). I had tried to cut down the amount of time I was on my laptop before but with limited success. So the past six weeks have been quite a change as my laptop simply "ate" up time, hours passing in a day. The days feel longer.
One unexpected side effect has been my relationship with my parents has actually improved. I have simply had the time to talk to them and that has opened up communication on lots of things.
I didn't lose weight as I was hoping for, but my lifestyle didn't suddenly become more active after my laptop died as the depression is still there. (It's stabilised which I am still happy with though as I can work on it). I have occasionally helped out my dad with the garden, such as shovelling cut grass on the compost heap or in composting bins.
One major decision I made was to empty my bedroom of books and stick them down in a shed in the garden. I have a compulsive tendency to over think things and being surronded by books and being on my laptop didn't help that at all. It meant that I couldn't do practical stuff (being so inactive) so instead over intellectualised stuff.
Suddenly having time on my hands, I did take a book that was left behind in a bedroom closet (a biography of John Kenneth Galbraith) and started reading. I did try to find some classic novels in the house and read them too. I didn't get all the way through but My concentration has improved quite a bit.
when I had my laptop I used to play music all the time, whereas now I don't enjoy listening to the same tracks on YouTube on the phone. Strangely, They just don't move me at all. I occasionally open the bedroom window to listen to the bird calls instead.
The thing about electronic devices is that it is a sort of instant gratification which means we can be more impulsive (or compulsive). For this reason I am holding out against getting a new laptop until I really know what I want to use it for. In the end, it swallowed time in the day and only superficially kept me entertained.
As technology increasingly comes to dominate our lives it also shapes us in subtle ways. E.g. I now get up about 5am to check RF on the phone. I thought I would share this as it may be useful to get people to rethink their relationship with technology and whether it is healthy.
I realise the irony of doing this on an Internet forum btw.
Nearly six weeks ago my laptop broke. It was just over a year old and the screen started dying. After disassembling it in an effort to repair it and replace with a working screen (from a box of junk from old laptops)after realising it wasn't comparable I put the laptop back together only to find it actually made it worse.
Rather than rush off and buy a brand new one for about £500 I held out and decided to see how much effect it would have by being without it for a while. The fact that seleotape was part of the insides of my old laptop, including sticking the wire that connected to the start button, did not fill me with confidence that spending that sort of money (again) was a gaurentee I was going to get something worth buying.
I gave up TV a few years ago and noticed a dramatic improvement in my mental health (which is what I was hoping for). Trying to go without my laptop was worth a try to see if it had similar effects.
I have stayed in touch on RF using my mums iPhone (using private Internet so I get a bit of privacy). I had tried to cut down the amount of time I was on my laptop before but with limited success. So the past six weeks have been quite a change as my laptop simply "ate" up time, hours passing in a day. The days feel longer.
One unexpected side effect has been my relationship with my parents has actually improved. I have simply had the time to talk to them and that has opened up communication on lots of things.
I didn't lose weight as I was hoping for, but my lifestyle didn't suddenly become more active after my laptop died as the depression is still there. (It's stabilised which I am still happy with though as I can work on it). I have occasionally helped out my dad with the garden, such as shovelling cut grass on the compost heap or in composting bins.
One major decision I made was to empty my bedroom of books and stick them down in a shed in the garden. I have a compulsive tendency to over think things and being surronded by books and being on my laptop didn't help that at all. It meant that I couldn't do practical stuff (being so inactive) so instead over intellectualised stuff.
Suddenly having time on my hands, I did take a book that was left behind in a bedroom closet (a biography of John Kenneth Galbraith) and started reading. I did try to find some classic novels in the house and read them too. I didn't get all the way through but My concentration has improved quite a bit.
when I had my laptop I used to play music all the time, whereas now I don't enjoy listening to the same tracks on YouTube on the phone. Strangely, They just don't move me at all. I occasionally open the bedroom window to listen to the bird calls instead.
The thing about electronic devices is that it is a sort of instant gratification which means we can be more impulsive (or compulsive). For this reason I am holding out against getting a new laptop until I really know what I want to use it for. In the end, it swallowed time in the day and only superficially kept me entertained.
As technology increasingly comes to dominate our lives it also shapes us in subtle ways. E.g. I now get up about 5am to check RF on the phone. I thought I would share this as it may be useful to get people to rethink their relationship with technology and whether it is healthy.
I realise the irony of doing this on an Internet forum btw.