Punkt. is a reasonably small, dynamic and independent business, and we prefer to maintain close connections with our clients and with people and organisations within the design world. As part of this, we routinely run 'Punkt.Challenges'. These include style challenges that form part of postgraduate design courses, and digital detox challenges where self-confessed smart device addicts are welcomed to revisit their relationship with innovation.
10 years ago, mobile phones were still very unusual. Now, a life lived outside the structure of the smartphone is unusual. 10 years earlier, many people had smart phones, but they would normally only attract our attention if another person had actually chosen to call us or send us a text. Now that most people's lives are a lot more automated: the brand-new normal is to scurry around within a ceaseless onslaught of status updates, push notifications and a lot more.
Our Digital Detox Challenges have been running because 2016. The negative elements of smartphones weren't widely discussed at that point, but there has actually considering that been a surge of interest in the topic. Participant reports are a key aspect of the Detox Challenges; by running the Challenges and publishing these reports we aim to keep the conversation of individuals's relationship with technology prominent and on-going - both in terms of tech dependency and the significance of high-quality design in the real (i.e. non-virtual) world.
The big distinction this time round was that the term 'smartphone dependency' had actually clearly gotten in typical parlance - in 2016 it still sounded a bit over the top, however in 2018 individuals were beginning to sound really fretted. You can check out the reports listed below, however here are some excerpts from a few of the lots of applications we received:
" The consistent scrolling."
" I attempted it with an old timeless phone, it resembled 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 stunning in addition to functional?"
" I'm doing my own version now, however I had to go for a broke ass burner phone that's 10 years old ...".
" As a UI designer for digital products I've typically questioned some of the success requirements used in my market, specifically 'engagement' as a metric for success. Until that changes, sadly it's very challenging to fight versus 100s of designers who are attempting to hook you into their items. [] There is a specific paradox about this as I design for these items but wish to avoid them. I believe it's an opportunity for me as a designer to appreciate how important our attention is, and attempt to take that lesson back into my industry, ideally to affect a modification in approach to innovation.".
" I have begun getting rid of all my social media profiles and have immediately noticed the positive result it's had on me. I am a lot calmer now, and I 'd like to keep it that way, by also removing my smartphone for excellent.".
Life is too short to keep our heads down.
Innovation has drastically changed over the last century, from being a helpful tool in our lives to keeping us as connected in as much as it can and for the longest duration of time. This Challenge changes that in its whole, pushing us into recognizing what is going on. I've always liked using the most recent things, but given that Punkt. has actually been around, I wanted to alter that, and with the Digital Detox Challenge, that's precisely what took place. When you go from a continuously buzzing smartphone to a phone like this, you recognize just how much you can sacrifice all these applications that keep you hooked all day: you do not need them.
In such a way, you do end up being sort of separated socially from your good friends-- let's say if they "Snapchat" you or whatnot-- but you begin to recognize that it's for the much better, and the Punkt. MP01 achieves just that. It teaches you simplicity and teaches you that you don't need everything on your phone. Just the basics.
If you seem like you are hooked on your phone, like many people I have actually fulfilled, it could be an excellent time to give this phone a try. Much of my own member of the family experience this feeling and I seem like passing this difficulty on to others so they can master it. This Challenge has actually become so essential in 2018 because-- as I stated-- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on are here to keep us hooked in for the longest time. Don't think me? Download QualityTime for your Android and you will recognize that you don't even take note of exactly what's going on around you. If you feel an itch, it might be an excellent time to get that examined out, and a great way to go about it is with the Punkt. MP01.
The more time we invest looking at screens, the less important daylight ends up being-- and often, yes, more of a barrier. Whether you're inspecting your messages while walking to work, enjoying your smartphone with your good friends (who are each enjoying theirs), or viewing a film, daytime is a trouble.
We began heading in this manner due to the fact that we wanted to. Nowadays-- to a big extent-- we merely do it due to the fact that we do it. And since others desire us to do it.
Is this really how you want to spend your time on Earth?
* * *.
In 2016, Google staff member Tristan Harris left his task to found a new non-profit organisation called Time Well Spent, which sought to broaden the debate on exactly what technology is doing to us and resulted in the production of the Center for Humane Technology. Given that then, the subject has actually taken off into the mainstream and it has actually ended up being clear that it is not doing advantages to our general sense of wellness.
The house page of the Center's site includes a striking montage image. A generic graphic of a smartphone is integrated with a photograph of a woman. She is not presented as being on the screen. She is in reality looking out from the phone, leaning with her arms folded on the bottom edge of the screen as though it were a windowsill. She seems delighted, delighting in the view. And she is bathed in sunshine.
Perhaps it makes good sense to use these brighter evenings for something aside from looking at pixels? When bedtime approaches, matching sundown with a digital sunset: everything turned off, leaving just a land-line with a number understood just to household and friends, and a devoted alarm clock.
Joining those who have actually dropped their mobile phones entirely, integrating a standard phone with a laptop computer or tablet (much better for typing on). Nowadays these ideas might sound almost radical, but as far as biology is worried, they're what your brain wants. The medical side-effects of tech over-use.
Because of the evident decrease in traffic accidents, Daylight Saving Time is stated to increase life span of a country's residents. Ditto prohibiting phone usage while driving, naturally (with a much clearer causal link). Phones are dangerous in other ways, too: scrollers walking into traffic, selfie trophy-hunters taking one risk too lots of, and so on. However over-use of tech shrinks our lives in another method as well-- incrementally and inevitably. It provides us a narrower existence in which we are less focussed, less rested and hence less awake. Over-use consumes our lives, and it's becoming the norm.
Time for a rethink?
Do you find that wherever you go, you always end up in the exact same place: in front of your mobile phone? Utilizing it, or letting it use you, to stay 'connected'? Connected with exactly what people are up to back house. Gotten in touch with the most recent report. Linked with work. Gotten in touch with games, YouTube videos, Wikipedia. Linked with pictures from the last vacation you took, and the one before that. What kind of 'connection' is that, really? This circumstance is something that's sneaked up on us, and maybe it's time to begin making some decisions ...
A holiday is a chance to turn off, to experience new things. But if we do not also change off our gadgets, if we continue to outsource our awareness to image sensors and memory cards, if we're still connected to exactly what we were doing prior to we left and exactly what we'll be doing when we return, it's as if we're paying a type of holiday tax. Part of the experience is deducted-- and not to help the regional economy, however to assist line the pockets of investors of social networks business.
Envision a classic travelogue like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, minus this tax. There wouldn't be much left. As well as if we're looking for something a bit less extreme 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 acquired however something's lost. And on the subject of getting lost, yes, without a smart device it might occur. And perhaps you'll end up somewhere that ends up being the emphasize of your journey. Possibly you'll discover some intriguing dining establishment that isn't on tripadvisor.com. You might end up speaking to some locals. Nothing ventured, absolutely nothing got. This connect the growing slow travelmovement, and the recovering of overland travel as a mainstream and realistic option to flying, demonstrated by the underground success of The Man in Seat Sixty-One. It's digital detox blog all about existing.
If we do choose to have a holiday that does not focus on processing big information, there are a couple of alternatives. We can go to the other severe, and leave home without any sort of phone or tablet. (That never used to be a severe, but we reside in extreme times.) And we have options like altering our device's settings to 'minimum', leaving it in the hotel safe throughout the day, etc
. Or we can take a different phone. One that just does calls and texts. And then immerse ourselves in a various culture, have some adventures, or merely delight in a bit of peace and peaceful.
The physical act of swapping phones goes deep. It's a bit like flying the nest. And it's beginning to acquire in appeal: whether a low-cost, old-tech design or something more stylish and current, choosing to often use a basic phone is something that everyone can connect to nowadays. They may not do it themselves, but they definitely understand why some individuals do.
There are useful advantages, too. Only needing to charge your phone occasionally is popular with everybody however if you're going somewhere without mains electrical energy, your greedy smartphone will be no usage at all. With a simple phone you don't require to keep inspecting that your digital factotum hasn't cunningly found some method of running up monster-sized data roaming charges-- it can still happen. It's the 'in fact being there' that truly counts. Sure, travelling without a smartphone will mean a couple of mix-ups, a decreased ability to strategy, to know beforehand what's going to take place. Travelling sans algorithms is where the action is. And the screens on easy phones are frequently much harder than the big locations of glass discovered on their more complex cousins. Changing a damaged smart device screen is a hassle at the very best of times; multiply that by ten if you're abroad.
But it's the 'actually being there' that truly counts. Sure, travelling without a mobile phone will suggest a few mix-ups, a decreased ability to plan, to know in advance what's going to happen. Taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is.
SMS 03 - Punkt. MP02 from Punkt. on Vimeo.