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Hehe yeah.

No, I thought you joined that recently

Welcome back!

That's okay. Hope you have a good break! We will all still be here.  

To be honest, this proved a lot more difficult than I was expecting. I guess it was easier the other times because I had goals in mind like learning how to cook, learning a new programming language etc. while this time it was more of a dry run.

But also, in the book, it recommended replacing digital time with real-life socializing. I don't know if this is because it's winter but this was heartbreakingly difficult. All my friends seemed to be busy and not very interested in going out, and I was left to ruminate with my thoughts alone and I started to feel very lonely, and even started to despair.

That's probably the whole point—that we shouldn't use social media as a replacement for real socializing—but I didn't like the dark places my mind was wandering to in the absence of any socializing at all.

I really do want to face reality eventually... Even though I only succeeded for all of 6-7 days (not sure if anyone noticed me lurking) it was a huge eye-opener, to the state of my social life and also how addicted I (and others) are to technology.

But I was unable to quit cold turkey, even for just a temporary amount of time. I have A LOT of my own criticisms of the book, but I still want to give it a fair chance by implementing its strategies of making time for real life socializing, finding non-digital and crafty hobbies, going on long walks outside without your phone etc. But I might have to implement it piecemeal instead of all at once, since that ended up being too disruptive and difficult. :/

My plan was actually in the long run to limit social media use, maybe once a week or once a month, instead of 30 days on and off.

There was one science-based fact in the book (my biggest criticism of the book was the lack of a scientific approach), and that's when the human brain is resting, or otherwise lost in thought-it almost always thinks about socializing. Telling test subjects to "relax" or do nothing in particular activated the parts of the brain responsible for socializing even when there was no other person there. Human beings are social animals and it's very much reflected in our brain structure. (Look up "default system" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_mode_network ).

The problem for me was when I was "default"ing I was always daydreaming about posting on our Discord or texting somebody. It became incredibly hard to resist, especially when my phone or computer were right in front of me. I thought if I socialized with people IRL I could redefine my default mode, but I didn't get much of a chance. Talking to strangers about the weather or with coworkers about work was simply inadequate. I tried to socialize with my brother but he was too into his video games/tech himself.

I had some surreal experiences during this detox. One was at the work cafeteria. I bought myself a coffee and tried to make small talk with people, kind of like I would 10 or even 5 years ago (probably weird for a 16 year old in 2009 but I didn't have a cellphone and kept my iPod at home). Everyone else however was glued to their screens or had their headphones on. At best I could get a two word reply out of people before they were back to what they were doing. I felt like an alien from outer space, because all I was doing was staring at people. I felt like the weird one for not having my phone out. It took a lot of willpower on my part to not flip my phone out and join the rest of the zombie masses.

I agree with you about not using the book as an instruction manual. That was actually my main criticism of the book and why I gave it a 3 star (now 2 star) review on Goodreads. It felt like the author had a disdain for any hobby that was unlike his. I code and read books as a hobby and he basically said it didn't count because it had no physical manifestation. That really peeved me. It was as if he was telling that there's only one proper way to live life. But the more time passes the more I'm starting to think he had a point. All this digital stuff is an offence to our brain which evolved in an environnent which demands real socializing, real craftsmanship, and a real understanding of the world around us. These digital pastimes sound like a good idea if they're one offs, but I don't think a single one of us when we first picked up an iPhone or created a Facebook account in the late 2000s signed up for spending 2 hours+ a day (which I heard is the average now) on these devices/services 10 years later. I personally am very pessimistic of the world we're headed into.