The founder of a start-up of ‘digital minimalism’ explains the growing tendency to control the relationship with the phone
Anatasia Dedyukhina
She slept with the phone in her hand. Sometimes she vibrated, before the mobile. Or I dreamed that it vibrated. Four years ago, he admitted that it didn't seem right for his life.
The way to disengage was to abandon the mobile. He left his job in London in one of the largest technology companies in the world and, above all, abandoned his cell phone for a year.
His willpower
To use less mobile, it would not work.
"We should not rely on our willpower because a limited resource has been demonstrated," He says.
"I am going to put an example. Let's say you want to start a diet, what is the best way? Do not buy chocolate. That is my way. I couldn't find a sustainable way to use the phone. If I always have it with me I will look at it and it is a sensation that has an effect on my alertness ”, explains this British of Russian origin.
Dedyukhina
A doctor in Communication Sciences and author of Homo Distractus, He knows that not all will forces are equal. The company he founded is called Consciously Digital and wants to educate in the digital minimalism, Not how to live without a mobile
Today his cell phone is a basic Nokia: calls, sms and camera, but without internet. Carry a smartphone, but without a SIM card.
Use it to request an Uber or to carry the boarding pass downloaded with Wi-Fi. It is a way to control yourself. Your choice is more radical, but the consequences are the same for everyone.
The main mobile problem
Dedyukhina, is how to unravel our brain on several levels. First, it's an unreal dopamine shot. Dopamine is associated with pleasure and addictive experiences in the brain.
"You do not need to get anything special to achieve a good dopamine shot of the mobile: it is worth hanging up a photo and receiving a like" Explain.
"Receive the response to an email, or a click to something we have posted, or a news item with a headline that fits our position, or an offer in an online store"
“The email was not created as something addictive, but it can be. Social networks, on the other hand, were adapted to be more sticky ”, Dedyukhina says.
"It's junk food for the brain," he adds.
Mobile World Congress of Barcelona
Dedyukhina asked how many people had a hard time reading a book. More than half raised his hand.
In the room there were more than 100 people and others crowded at the entrance. A talk about how to embed a chip in the skin had half an entrance.
Although there has been talk of detoxifying mobile phones for years, the trend in 2019 to stop and see what we are doing with technology has grown.
“Todor it has skyrocketed for a couple of years: Cambridge Analytica and the first decade with mobiles have been the triggers ”, Dedyukhina says.
Apple and takeoff
Dedyukhina obvious an important detail. The take off of this concern was in autumn 2018. Apple, Facebook and Google launched the definitive versions of their initiatives since summer with different intensity to make users aware of the problem.
The searches of “Screen time” (screen time) increased in October and November 2018, when version 12 of Apple's iOS operating system came out. Google uses the formula "digital well-being", which has less depth.
"The problem with books is that you need to be focused and you cannot achieve immediate gratification," Explain.
That change
Our mental rewards system prevents us from being focused. It is likely that we end up looking for the phone for a small dopamine shot, which the book does not give us.
Dedyukhina's rule for moments that require concentration is that you hide or move your cell phone away.
“I couldn't find a sustainable way to use the phone. If I always have it with me I will look at it ”
The big problems of the mobile
We are not able to consult something and leave it.
"I don't know anyone who uses the mobile only for maps," He says. There is always another notification that needs attention.
Among younger people, it is not uncommon to find an average of one consultation every 10 minutes on mobile. That's about 100 looks at the screen a day.
“Sometimes you look at a social network, or WhatsApp or some photos that you have in the email. But basically it is a bit of constant stimulation, and for each one it is different: there are people who cannot live without watching the news and others the messages or I like them. Everything is fine, but in moderation ”, Dedyukhina says.
How much is in moderation?
Dedyukhina would ask the question in another way:
“Is it affecting other areas of your life? For example, is there anything you would like to do for the New Year and you haven't started yet? Maybe be more with the family, or play sports. You don't have time because you get home tired and you think you're going to sail 5 minutes and in the end you don't realize how long you've been in total, ”he explains. One of Dedyukhina's rules is "never connect when you're tired." You are more vulnerable.
Dedyukhina's digital minimalism focuses on courses to make you aware of the role of mobile and technology in life:
“It is a tool. If there is something you can do without technology, then do not set it. If I am physically with some friends I don't need to know what other friends say ”, He says. Dedyukhina likes the Meetup app, which allows you to meet like-minded people online to stay in the real world: whether to go skiing or meet in a foreign city.
Dedyukhina doesn't like it
Use the word "addiction" because that implies medical diagnosis, which occurs with the game or shopping. But not with the mobile, at the moment. "I'd rather talk about bad habits," He says.
Has Dedyukhina changed since he left his intensive use of mobile?
She said yes: “Since I stopped using my mobile obsessively I am a calmer person. Or at least I think so."
