Punkt. is a relatively small, dynamic and independent business, and we want to maintain close connections with our clients and with people and organisations within the style world. As part of this, we regularly run 'Punkt.Challenges'. These include style obstacles that form part of postgraduate design courses, and digital detox difficulties where self-confessed smart device addicts are welcomed to revisit their relationship with innovation.
10 years back, smart devices were still extremely uncommon. Now, a life lived outside the structure of the smart device is uncommon. Ten years ago, many people had mobile phones, however they would normally only attract our attention if another person had chosen to call us or send us a text. Now that the majority of individuals's lives are a lot more automated: the brand-new regular is to scurry around within a continuous attack of status updates, push notifications and a great deal more.
Our Digital Detox Challenges have been running since 2016. The negative elements of mobile phones weren't extensively discussed at that point, but there has actually given that been a surge of interest in the topic. Individual reports are an essential aspect of the Detox Challenges; by running the Challenges and publishing these reports we intend to keep the conversation of individuals's relationship with innovation popular and on-going - both in regards to tech addiction and the significance of premium design in the real (i.e. non-virtual) world.
The big difference this time round was that the term 'smartphone dependency' had actually clearly gone into common parlance - in 2016 it still sounded a bit over the top, but in 2018 people were starting to sound truly fretted. You can read the reports below, however here are some excerpts from a few of the many applications we got:
" The constant scrolling."
" I tried it with an old traditional phone, it was like 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 as well as functional?"
" I'm doing my own variation now, however I had to go for a broke ass burner phone that's 10 years old ...".
" As a UI designer for digital items I've often questioned some of the success requirements utilized in my market, specifically 'engagement' as a metric for success. Up until that modifications, unfortunately it's extremely hard to fight against 100s of designers who are attempting to hook you into their items. [] There is a certain irony about this as I design for these products but wish to get away from them. But I think it's a chance for me as a designer to value how valuable our attention is, and try to take that lesson back into my industry, hopefully to influence a modification in technique to innovation.".
" I have started getting rid of all my social media profiles and have immediately discovered the positive effect it's had on me. I am so much calmer now, and I 'd like to keep it that method, by likewise removing my mobile phone for great.".
Life is too short to keep our heads down.
Technology has actually drastically altered over the last century, from being an useful tool in our lives to keeping us as hooked in as much as it can and for the longest time period. This Challenge modifications that in its entirety, pressing us into realizing what is going on. I've always loved utilizing the most recent things, however given that Punkt. has actually been around, I wished to alter that, and with the Digital Detox Challenge, that's precisely what occurred. When you go from a continuously ringing mobile phone to a phone like this, you realize what does it cost? you can compromise all these applications that keep you hooked all day long: you do not require them.
In a way, you do end up being type of apart socially from your pals-- let's say if they "Snapchat" you or whatnot-- however you begin to realize that it's for the better, and the Punkt. MP01 accomplishes simply that. It teaches you simplicity and teaches you that you don't need whatever on your phone. Just the basics.
If you seem like you are hooked on your phone, like many people I have satisfied, it might be a great time to give this phone a try. A number of my own family members experience this feeling and I seem like passing this challenge on to others so they can master it. This Challenge has become so essential in 2018 because-- as I stated-- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. are here to keep us hooked in for the longest time. Don't think me? Download QualityTime for your Android and you will understand that you don't even pay attention to exactly what's going on around you. If you feel an itch, it may be a great time to get that had a look at, and a good way to tackle it is with the Punkt. MP01.
The more time we invest taking a look at screens, the lesser daylight ends up being-- and often, yes, more of a limitation. Whether you're examining your messages while walking to work, enjoying your mobile phone with your friends (who are each taking pleasure in theirs), or watching a film, daylight is a trouble.
We began heading in this manner due to the fact that we wished to. Nowadays-- to a big extent-- we simply do it since we do it. And since others desire us to do it.
Is this truly how you want to spend your time on Earth?
* * *.
In 2016, Google employee Tristan Harris left his job to found a brand-new non-profit organisation called Time Well Spent, which looked for to broaden the dispute on exactly what innovation is doing to us and resulted in the production of the Center for Humane Technology. Since then, the subject has actually exploded into the mainstream and it has become clear that it is not doing advantages to our basic sense of well-being.
The web page of the Center's website includes a striking montage image. A generic graphic of a smartphone is combined with a picture of a female. She is not presented as being on the screen. She remains in truth 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 happy, taking pleasure in the view. And she is bathed in sunshine.
Maybe it makes good sense to utilize these brighter evenings for something other than taking a look at pixels? When bedtime methods, matching sundown with a digital sunset: whatever turned off, leaving just a land-line with a number understood only to household and buddies, and a dedicated alarm clock.
Signing up with those who have dropped their smart devices totally, integrating a standard phone with a laptop computer or tablet (much much better for typing on). Nowadays these ideas might sound nearly radical, however as far as biology is concerned, they're exactly what your brain wants. For this reason the medical side-effects of tech over-use.
Since of the apparent decrease in traffic accidents, Daylight Saving Time is stated to increase life span of a nation's citizens. Ditto prohibiting phone use while driving, obviously (with a much clearer causal link). Phones are harmful in other methods, too: scrollers strolling into traffic, selfie trophy-hunters taking one threat a lot of, and so on. But over-use of tech diminishes our lives in another method also-- incrementally and undoubtedly. It gives us a narrower presence where we are less focussed, less rested and hence less awake. Over-use eats our lives, and it's ending up being the standard.
Time for a rethink?
Do you find that any place you go, you always end up in the very same place: in front of your mobile phone? Utilizing it, or letting it use you, to remain 'connected'? Linked with exactly what people are up to back home. Connected with the most recent news reports. Gotten in touch with work. Linked with games, YouTube videos, Wikipedia. Gotten in touch with pictures from the last vacation you took, and the one prior to that. What kind of 'connection' is that, truly? This circumstance is something that's sneaked up on us, and perhaps it's time to begin making some choices ...
A holiday is an opportunity to turn off, to experience new things. If we don't also switch off our gadgets, if we continue to outsource our awareness to image sensors and memory cards, if we're still attached to exactly what we were doing prior to we left and exactly what we'll be doing more info when we get back, it's as if we're paying a kind of holiday tax. Part of the experience is subtracted-- and not to help the regional economy, however to assist line the pockets of investors of social networks companies.
Think of a classic travelogue like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, minus this tax. There would not be much left. And even if we're looking for something a bit less intense for our fortnight away, the concept still applies. Whether it's a case of pings on the beach, or livestreaming from the Louvre, something's gained however something's lost. And on the topic of getting lost, yes, without a smartphone it could take place. And maybe you'll end up someplace that turns out to be the highlight of your journey. Perhaps you'll discover some appealing dining establishment that isn't really on tripadvisor.com. You might end up talking to some locals. Absolutely nothing ventured, absolutely nothing gained. This connect the growing sluggish travelmovement, and the recovering of overland travel as a mainstream and realistic alternative to flying, shown by the underground success of The Man in Seat Sixty-One. It's everything about being there.
If we do decide to have a holiday that does not focus on processing huge data, there are a couple of alternatives. We can go to the other extreme, and leave home without any type of phone or tablet. (That never used to be a severe, but we live in severe 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 various phone. One that just does calls and texts. Then immerse ourselves in a different culture, have some experiences, or just enjoy a bit of solitude.
The physical act of swapping phones goes deep. It's a bit like flying the nest. And it's starting to gain in popularity: whether a cheap, old-tech model or something more trendy and current, choosing to in some cases use a basic phone is something that everybody can associate with nowadays. They might not do it themselves, but they definitely understand why some people do.
There are practical benefits, too. Just needing to charge your phone sometimes is popular with everyone however if you're going somewhere without mains electricity, your greedy smartphone will be no usage at all. Likewise, with an easy phone you don't require to keep examining that your digital factotum hasn't cunningly found some method of adding monster-sized data roaming charges-- it can still occur. It's the 'really being there' that actually counts. Sure, taking a trip without a smart device will indicate a couple of mix-ups, a minimized capability to strategy, to know beforehand what's going to occur. Taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is. And the screens on easy phones are frequently much tougher than the big areas of glass found on their more complicated cousins. Replacing a damaged mobile phone screen is a trouble at the best of times; increase that by 10 if you're abroad.
It's the 'actually being there' that really counts. Sure, taking a trip without a mobile phone will mean a few mix-ups, a lowered ability to strategy, to know in advance exactly what's going to happen. However taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is.
SMS 03 - Punkt. MP02 from Punkt. on Vimeo.