death to productivity tools and screen time.

3.25 minute read time

First, I’m sorry this didn’t go out yesterday. I want to give you a good excuse like I saved a goats life but alas I didn’t. There’s no excuse or explanation just human error.

Today’s issue: Less screen time, phone shut off, and productivity comments. Only question is if there’s a sales pitch at the end.

I recently started looking at screens less.

And no, I'm not here to preach some ‘life-changing’ productivity tool. Let me explain:

Here’s my beef with 99.9% of ‘productivity’, they offer ‘challenges’ or quick fixes like delete or greyscale. But like your last crash diet, it’s temporary and doesn’t get to the root of the issue.

It’s ironic this newsletter started when my phone decided was turned off last Tuesday. But more on that later.

My old approach was pretty straightforward: work like a maniac, take breaks to binge-watch TV or shoot off texts to friends, and then dive into internet rabbit holes once the work was done all in the name of inspiration.

But I’m not entirely sure it was by choice. Using tech and looking at screens in all it’s form is so normalized that people who are able to step away from a screen are celebrated. It’s ironic considering most of human history didn’t have technology.

But now, if I’m online there’s a purpose. That’s it. No 5-step strategy.

I just make a choice.

I choose what is important and let go of everything else. That’s it.

There's a part of me that says, ‘you are missing out on opportunities, knowledge, growth, and etc” and it’s probably true. But here’s the thing — technology doesn’t move at human speed. At any second, there are people all over the world adding to the infinite base of knowledge, entertainment, and whatever virtual clothes is.

To give you an idea, there are 8.5 billions google searches a day. That is just search inquiries on ONE piece of technology.

Isn’t it exhausting?

I tracked my screen use over the last few months and had a lot of eye-openers. Here’s a couple:

Twitter (X)

I am not on X to spend hours to learn copy, create content, and basically train to be a professional content creator. Especially since each post has a lifespan of 43 minutes unless it goes ‘viral’.

I’m on for two reasons:

• Post when I have a thought or want to test an idea before investing more time into it

• Engage with my community or people I want to know.

Emails

Emails give me anxiety. (Ironic, right?) My emails are not a dumping ground for random subscriptions long forgotten, friends* newsletters fully knowing I’m not their target audience, or random people.

• I have three emails for specific uses: one for financials or anything to do with money, one for subscriptions on current problems (3), and one for work.

*Friends: Real talk. I’m more prone to mention them to people who need their services when I hear their problem. You gotta know yourself.

Chrome

I’m not online to spend hours down rabbit holes or randomly asking myself ‘what did I do the last 20 minutes?’ when I have a laundry list of things to do. As much as it sounds ‘relatable’ it just sounds like wasted time I could have spent with a loved one or sleeping.

• I house all of my rabbit holes on a list and spend time researching ONE a week. When I find myself struggling to focus, I shut it down and walk. Some people ‘push,’ but I’m not one of them.

Now I’m far from perfect and still struggle to find ’one simple ass problem’ business-wise but not procrastinating or forcing problems that don’t exist to the people in my community.

The point isn’t ‘perfection’ or even ‘productivity’ to be honest. It’s:

• 'why the fuck am I looking at a screen?’

• ‘is it getting me closer to a goal or wasting time?’

So here’s my simple af priorities:

• Answer problems on reddit in communities I’m already apart of and find the solution people are attracted to.

• Keep pushing ‘but would you pay for that’ until three people say ‘hell yeah’.

• Keep in contact with people I’ve connected with because ‘I’m busy’ is not an excuse for months of no-contact.

It’s funny though. This ‘awareness’ only happened because I didn’t pay by phone bill. Funny thing is, I can turn my phone back on — but not sure I want to.

I’m focused. But full transparency, my mind is still foggy, but there’s less information being forced into my head. Time to make sense of everything going on in there.

Only question is…

If you were to look at your emails, who you follow online, and literally anyone or thing you give your time and energy to — is it intentional or adding to the all too familiar ‘I only lost a few minutes’?

P.S. My weekly screen-time because if there’s no photo it didn’t happen.