Six Months In and I've Failed

But I've not given up

Earlier this year, I wrote about how I wanted to make 2025 my analog year. Tragically, I’ve mostly failed in my attempts to do so. I’m a bit embarrassed by my shortcomings, but I am not giving up. I have some explaining to do.

Ten days after I published that piece here on Substack, I wrote a piece for The Public Discourse about decoupling technology from everyday life. As I tried to minimize my reliance on digital technology, it became so readily apparently that you cannot navigate much of the world, especially the working world, without your damned smartphone. I briefly made a switch to a dumbphone, only to realize that I was never able to carry it regularly, because it did not allow me to perform my job duties. This is obviously not something unique to my employer; this is the reality of all modern day white collar jobs. I truly believe that the only two workplaces that do not allow cellphones are the Supreme Court of the United States and any SCIF throughout the nation. If only we were all so lucky.

So if I couldn’t ditch Samsung for Nokia, what could I do? Well, I made a few changes to my smartphone life. First, and perhaps the best change I made, was to disable my read receipts on WhatsApp. If I was going to attempt to regain my control over my time, I needed to signal to my friends and family that I would respond to their messages on my time. By turning off read receipts, I could view messages without feeling the pressure of the blue check marks that would lead me to respond right away. Were people upset with me that I was not responding as quickly as I had been before? Yes, without a doubt. But my relationship to WhatsApp and texting has been a lot better ever since and I have no regrets over that choice. Long live the grey check marks!

Next, I’ve set automated Do Not Disturb times throughout the day. At select times, my phone will go into Do Not Disturb mode and go greyscale as well. During these blocks, my phone is less appealing to me and I am not bothered by its incessant pings and vibrations. Even if all I do during that time is let my mind drift and daydream, as opposed to say reading or writing, I feel better and am proud of the time that I am not staring directly into the abyss of a brightly lit screen 6 inches from my face.

I’ve also tried to be much more deliberate about my reading schedule, setting aside time to put in regular, consistent reading. And yet, I’ve noticed one real stumbling block that I did not appreciate until recently. As long time readers of this blog know, I used to read about 100 books a year, which even I admit was a bit ludicrous. But I did so in my childhood house in Philadelphia, which provided me the ability to read in a “third space.” In other words, my bedroom—my third space— was free from my computer and laptop—it was my analog room, and that allowed me to find a space that was fundamentally free from glowing screens. Even when I would read in my makeshift home office back home, it was big enough that sitting in my reading chair at the other end of the room with my back towards my computer desk provided just the right amount of physical distance from screens. In the apartment I now live in, there is simply minimal room for a proper third space. When you live in such close proximity to your devices, it is hard to escape them. The couch where I most comfortably read in my apartment, for instance, only fits inside my office, which makes solitary reading much more difficult. There is that computer, the one that I built, calling me, beckoning to me. I try as often as I can these days to read outside, but it does not happen as frequently as I might prefer. I am still reading, but I wish I could do better.

I mentioned a few other goals in my Substack from January. One of them was wanting to develop a physical media library, especially with CDs. Well, the CDs are collecting dust on my shelves, simply because the CD player that some of us were hoping would come out never did. The FiiO CD player seems to have either stopped production, or simply hasn’t made its way to the states yet. I’m still hoping for this to become a reality. If anyone here has suggestions for a CD player, do let me know.

Even though I’ve been having regular, physical letter correspondences with friends and mentors, I have not written as much by hand as I would have liked. I have never been able to maintain a daily journal habit, and that sadly died out pretty soon into the New Year. I’ve hit a dry spell with writing poetry and short fiction, so those creative notebooks still have their spines intact. This is the area that I want to specifically double down on, for I know that regular writing by hand will most certainly be a balm to my anxious mind. This too, I think, requires a third space, but that cannot be an excuse. I’ll write in the shower if I have to. I ask the readers here to hold me accountable to writing more by hand.

Lastly, I mentioned wanting to get back into photography. This, I’m proud to say, I succeeded in doing. I treated myself to my dream camera after I accomplished a major life goal. It has been a source of immense joy. Not only do I find the retro, manual controls of the Fuji XT-5 to be incredibly satisfying, but I have enjoyed going to new places with my camera and not having to touch my phone to capture our beautiful world. I’m quite pleased with this purchase and idea. You can see some of my photos here and here.

All in all, trying to go analog has proven exceedingly difficult, and not for lack of trying. We have given up a real part of our humanity to the digital overlords, who make the totalitarianism of Stalin look childish. As AI gets “better” by the day, we will be pushed to the limits of what we will further relinquish to computer chips and screens. Though I have not succeeded in my analog ways as much as I would have liked, I am not giving up. Our very way of life—of Being in the world— is under threat by digital technology. I will do whatever I can to protect whatever I have left.

Wish me better luck.