Tech detox, anyone tried it?

avatar33

avatar33

e-Hustler
Dec 5, 2009
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Calgary, AB
On this forum we've covered porn detox, fasting and giving up all types of shit, but we've never really talked about the one thing that we're all seriously addicted to: the interwebz... our smartphones, tablets and technology in general.

Anyone tried to go a full week without even looking their computer or phone? The [alleged] benefits are immense: reduced anxiety, sharper mental focus, improved connectedness with people, better overall well-being, reduced inflammation, headaches and chronic pain, etc...

I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time but the more I think about it the more I realize that I'm probably incapable of it. I would just be unable to completely relax knowing that there might be some important emails not being answered, campaigns heading south or some great opportunities missed (FOMO much?!).

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avatar33 said:
I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time but the more I think about it the more I realize that I'm probably incapable of it.
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No you're not. Grab some friends, strap on some backpacks, plan a route, and head into the Rocky Mountains for a week long hike. They don't have internet when you're 15kms in.

I did that once ages ago with my two older brothers and dad, and yeah, it's a pretty cool experience. You get out there, and there's just absolutely nothing, but yet amazing at the same time. It's you, who you're with, what's on your backs, and raw nature for dozens of kms around you, nothing else. You're lucky to see 3 people a day. You sprang an ankle or fall down a shale hill, or god forbid meet a bear / cougar / lynx, then you're in real trouble.

Lots of little, stupid, great moments out of that trip. For example, one night we finally got settled down and started to cook dinner. Open up the dinner pack, only to find out there's juice crystals in it. We were absolutely ecstatic. "Fuck yeah! Juice crystals!". heh.

But no, I haven't done anything like that recently, although probably should.
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
I did that once ages ago
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That's the problem :)

We all did it at some point in the past, but how many of us did it since our IM business took off? Probably less than 1%. And it seems as though the more successful you are, the harder it gets. Look at guys like Charles Ngo, John Chow, Matt Loyd, etc... even though they have well trained staff to help them, they're always sending emails, doing webinars, blog posts, etc... it's kind of counter intuitive when you think that making it online = freedom. Sure you're free from a 9 to 5 and you've got no boss to tell you what to do... but the matrix has you. lol
 
I did it last year, went to a private island where there was only enough electricity to keep the fridges going, hot water, one light in our room, and ac going. The first couple of days were really weird as there were no clocks or anything in the room. No cell reception and no internet, so after the first day when my phone died and I had no idea of time I really just went with the flow.

After grasping that there was nothing I could do to connect to the internet I just accepted it and had an amazing time. Swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking made me forget about the internet all day but while sitting there at night I would often think about what I was missing out on.

After a week there it was eye opening to see that people live and have fun without always being connected, but in our line of work there is not as much ability to have that much balance. Offer is capped, link is broken, server is down, you can't tell them to wait until tomorrow as you are disconnected right now. Just like Avatar33 said, even guys who have people to watch everything still are putting in a lot of time and at the whim of the internet.
 
Clients make up about 50% of my income, so it wouldn't be practical for me to do a whole week at a time. I do try to set aside a day or evening every week where I don't touch any electronics for a pre-determined period of time, though. That's always been enough for a mental reset, and doing it regularly seems to have more benefit (for me, anyway) than one long tech detox. If you have trouble focusing, it's probably one of the best things you can do for your productivity.
 
avatar33 said:
And it seems as though the more successful you are, the harder it gets. Look at guys like Charles Ngo, John Chow, Matt Loyd, etc... even though they have well trained staff to help them, they're always sending emails, doing webinars, blog posts, etc... it's kind of counter intuitive when you think that making it online = freedom. Sure you're free from a 9 to 5 and you've got no boss to tell you what to do... but the matrix has you. lol
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It's the moderately successful people that have a really hard time with that.

The really successful people have an office full of people where they could leave and emails would still get answered, blog posts would still be made, bugs would still be fixed, and products would still be developed. That's real freedom, when your business is completely self sustaining.

Last month a big change happened for one of our products that caused some bugs and required some changes to be made to some of our backend code. One employee recognized this bug after getting one support ticket from a customer, sat down with one of our developers who figured out what the issue was and made the changes. He then had another developer do code review, they both signed off on the changes, pushed the code live, and then the employee managing customer support contacted everyone who had reported the bug to let them know that everything was taken care of. All of this happened before I even got into the office and when I did arrive I was given a quick 5 minute brief about what the issue was and how it was fixed.

A couple years ago I would have been forced to do all of those steps myself, meaning I had to be ready 365 days a year in case something like that happened.

I'm not at completely self sustaining yet, but that's something I'm always working towards, and it's moments like the one I just mentioned that make me feel like I'm actually building a real business and not just a glorified job.
 
^True, but remember that developing software like you did is different from being an affiliate marketer. Once you have your support staff and programmers handling bugs, you're set... but being a successful affiliate involves knowledge of a lot of different things so it's kind of hard to delegate.

Like I said, I'm on the mailing list of many super affiliates and these guys have been active pretty much non-stop since I started in 2009. It's like they never take a break. I wonder if it's because they don't want to... or if it's because they can't.
 
avatar33 said:
^True, but remember that developing software like you did is different from being an affiliate marketer. Once you have your support staff and programmers handling bugs, you're set... but being a successful affiliate involves knowledge of a lot of different things so it's kind of hard to delegate.

Like I said, I'm on the mailing list of many super affiliates and these guys have been active pretty much non-stop since I started in 2009. It's like they never take a break. I wonder if it's because they don't want to... or if it's because they can't.
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Being an "affiliate marketer" is itself a job, just like being a "programmer" is a job. You're basically a (potentially very high earning) independent contractor for a bunch of offer owners. The offer owners are the real business owners though, as they are delegating their marketing efforts to a bunch of people like you.
 
cardine said:
Being an "affiliate marketer" is itself a job, just like being a "programmer" is a job. You're basically a (potentially very high earning) independent contractor for a bunch of offer owners. The offer owners are the real business owners though, as they are delegating their marketing efforts to a bunch of people like you.
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Not 100% true, although I know what you mean. However, take a high-end law firm for example. It's all 100% client based, but do you think every one of the founding partners has to be there in order for it to continue to operate on a daily basis?
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
Not 100% true, although I know what you mean. However, take a high-end law firm for example. It's all 100% client based, but do you think every one of the founding partners has to be there in order for it to continue to operate on a daily basis?
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Being client based isn't what makes something a job or not - it's whether you need to be there for the day to day operations of the company to go smoothly.

For instance the owner of a Marketing Agency that employs affiliate marketers and account executives owns a business. There are still clients, just the owner isn't required to be there servicing them.

Most affiliate marketers however are usually one man shops, and in that case they are not business owners, but job owners, which is why you see many people complaining here about their inability to disconnect from the office for any meaningful period of time.
 
I honeymooned in Jamaica for one week and basically did this. Our phones and laptops stayed in our bags except for maybe two text messages to check in with people back home. One week of not staring at a screen and worrying about work was definitely a nice detox. It was nice to be able to sit and meditate for 45min-1hr without worry or interruption. The entire trip was relaxing and I brought back a lot from it. I noticed that many of the other people had a hard time relaxing. People who toy with the idea of going into the water without obvious signs of being self-conscious. Others would be sitting by the beautiful ocean and pool, staring into an ipad. I even saw a woman glued to her phone during a live performance where a guy was balancing on a barrel on a board on top of another barrel and fucking juggling... I can't even describe what it was, and she was basically like meh. Most people seem to be unable to escape tech and enjoy themselves anywhere.


The balancing guy was something like this except he had about 3 layers stacked up at the end of barrels and wood.

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I still have a flip phone, and I am not even bull shitting, so its way easier for me to do it, I can go weeks without it if I have too, same with computers, wifi, shit like that, my mind and body can detox pretty quickly without getting too addictive to anything, its weird but true. Like a nomad of some sort, happy I have that kind of personality.
 
I had a flip phone until earlier this year and I make apps for a living heh.

I bust ass for 9-12 weeks then take 2-3 weeks off and when I'm on vacation for 7-10 days of that I completely disconnect, turn my phone off, don't bring a laptop, don't check email, completely....disconnect.

I get really bad insomnia if I work 70 hour weeks as a programmer for a month straight or more (as deadlines approach), I can't fall asleep all night despite being exhausted, and it's maddening.

When I went on vacation in June, it took me 3 days away from the computer to finally have the insomnia ease on it's own. I finally went to the doctor and got some good sleeping pills, and now I actually wake up before my alarm goes off cause I sleep really well. Going to the Big Island, hawaii, next month and will be on the water fishing as much as possible, out of cell range.
 
Go somewhere with nature. That can be hiking in the mountains, or relaxing on the beach. Then buy a shitton of alcohol. Bring some good friends. And take a week off.

When you come back you'll wonder why you spend time on WickedFire instead of doing cooler shit. And then you'll make a post like this and feel bad about it.
 
Veritas said:
I still have a flip phone...
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shindig said:
I had a flip phone until earlier this year and I make apps for a living heh.
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I mostly do UI work for mobile friendly web sites and apps and this is still my daily driver...

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Makes and receives phone calls and texts, fits in my pocket right next to my wallet, is nearly indestructible, and the battery lasts 3 or 4 days.

That being said, I kind of freak out if the power goes out for more than 2 or 3 minutes.
 
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