Punkt. is a fairly small, dynamic and independent company, and we prefer to preserve close connections with our consumers and with individuals and organisations within the design world. As part of this, we regularly run 'Punkt.Challenges'. These include style obstacles that form part of postgraduate style courses, and digital detox difficulties where self-confessed smart device addicts are welcomed to revisit their relationship with technology.
10 years earlier, smart devices were still really unusual. Now, a life lived outside the framework of the smart device is uncommon. 10 years earlier, many people had mobile phones, however they would usually only attract our attention if another person had chosen to call us or send us a text. Now that many people's lives are a lot more automated: the new regular is to scamper around within a continuous onslaught of status updates, push notifications and a lot more.
Our Digital Detox Challenges have been running considering that 2016. The negative aspects of mobile phones weren't extensively talked about at that point, however there has actually because been a surge of interest in the subject. Participant reports are a crucial element of the Detox Challenges; by running the Challenges and releasing these reports we intend to keep the conversation of individuals's relationship with technology prominent and on-going - both in terms of tech dependency and the significance of high-quality design in the real (i.e. non-virtual) world.
The big distinction this time round was that the term 'smart device dependency' had actually clearly gotten in typical parlance - in 2016 it still sounded a bit over the top, but in 2018 people were beginning to sound genuinely worried. You can check out the reports below, however here are some excerpts from a few of the many applications we got:
" The constant scrolling."
" I attempted it with an old timeless phone, it resembled returning to an ex - with all the old pros and cons. Who does that?"
" We use our phones a lot - why shouldn't they be stunning in addition to functional?"
" I'm doing my own version now, however I needed to opt for a broke ass burner phone that's 10 years old ...".
" As a UI designer for digital products I've often questioned a few of the success criteria utilized in my market, specifically 'engagement' as a metric for success. Up until that changes, unfortunately it's very tough to fight versus 100s of designers who are attempting to hook you in to their items. [] There is a specific paradox about this as I design for these products but wish to escape them. However I think it's a chance for me as a designer to appreciate how important our attention is, and attempt to take that lesson back into my industry, hopefully to influence a modification in method to technology.".
" I have actually started eliminating all my social networks profiles and have right away discovered the positive effect it's had on me. I am so much calmer now, and I 'd like to keep it that way, by likewise eliminating my smart device for excellent.".
Life is too short to keep our heads down.
Innovation 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 changes that in its entirety, pressing us into realizing what is going on. I've constantly loved utilizing the latest things, however given that Punkt. has actually been around, I wanted to change that, and with the Digital Detox Challenge, that's precisely what took place. When you go from a constantly buzzing smart device to a phone like this, you recognize just how much you can compromise all these applications that keep you hooked all day: you do not require them.
In such a way, you do become kind of separated socially from your friends-- let's say if they "Snapchat" you or whatnot-- but you begin to understand that it's for the better, and the Punkt. MP01 accomplishes just that. It teaches you simpleness and teaches you that you don't need everything on your phone. Simply the essentials.
If you seem like you are hooked on your phone, like many people I have satisfied, it might be a good time to provide this phone a try. A lot of my own household members experience this sensation and I feel like passing this obstacle on to others so they can master it. This Challenge has ended up being so crucial in 2018 because-- as I said-- 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 focus on exactly what's going on around you. If you feel an itch, it might be a great time to obtain that examined out, and a great way to set about it is with the Punkt. MP01.
The more time we spend looking at screens, the lesser daytime ends up being-- and often, yes, more of a limitation. Whether you're examining your messages while strolling to work, enjoying your mobile phone with your buddies (who are each delighting in theirs), or enjoying a film, daytime is an inconvenience.
We started heading this way because we wanted to. Nowadays-- to a big level-- we just do it since we do it. And because others desire us to do it.
Is this truly how you wish to spend your time in the world?
* * *.
In 2016, Google employee Tristan Harris left his task to discovered a brand-new non-profit organisation called Time Well Spent, which sought to broaden the argument on what innovation is doing to us and led to the creation of the Center for Humane Technology. Ever since, the topic has blown up into the mainstream and it has actually become clear that it is refraining from doing excellent things to our general sense of wellness.
The home page of the Center's site includes a striking montage image. A generic graphic of a smartphone is integrated with a picture of a female. However she is not provided as being on the screen. She is 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 appears happy, delighting in the view. And she is bathed in sunshine.
Perhaps it makes good sense to use these brighter nights for something besides taking a look at pixels? When bedtime techniques, matching sundown with a digital sundown: whatever turned off, leaving simply a land-line with a number understood just to family and friends, and a devoted alarm clock.
Joining those who have dropped their smartphones entirely, integrating a fundamental phone with a laptop or tablet (much better for typing on). Nowadays these concepts might sound nearly extreme, but as far as biology is worried, they're what your brain desires. Hence the medical side-effects of tech over-use.
Because of the apparent reduction in traffic accidents, Daylight Saving Time is said to increase life span of a nation's people. Ditto prohibiting phone use while driving, obviously (with a much clearer causal link). Phones threaten in other methods, too: scrollers check here strolling into traffic, selfie trophy-hunters taking one threat too many, etc. Over-use of tech shrinks our lives in another way as well-- incrementally and undoubtedly. It provides us a narrower existence in which we are less focussed, less rested and hence less awake. Over-use eats our lives, and it's becoming the standard.
Time for a rethink?
Do you discover that anywhere you go, you constantly wind up in the exact same place: in front of your smart device? Utilizing it, or letting it use you, to remain 'connected'? Connected with what people are up to back home. Gotten in touch with the most current news reports. Linked with work. Connected with games, YouTube videos, Wikipedia. Connected with images from the last holiday you took, and the one prior to that. What type of 'connection' is that, truly? This situation is something that's approached on us, and maybe it's time to begin making some decisions ...
A vacation is a possibility to turn off, to experience new things. If we don't likewise 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 what we'll be doing when we get back, it's as if we're paying a kind of holiday tax. Part of the experience is deducted-- and not to help the regional economy, but to assist line the pockets of investors of social media companies.
Envision a traditional travelogue like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, minus this tax. There would not be much left. As well as if we're looking for something a bit less intense for our fortnight away, the concept still uses. Whether it's a case of pings on the beach, or livestreaming from the Louvre, something's gotten however something's lost. And on the subject of getting lost, yes, without a smartphone it might happen. And possibly you'll wind up someplace that turns out to be the emphasize of your journey. Maybe you'll discover some appealing restaurant that isn't on tripadvisor.com. You may wind up talking with some locals. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. This ties in with the growing slow travelmovement, and the reclaiming of overland travel as a mainstream and sensible alternative to flying, demonstrated by the underground success of The Man in Seat Sixty-One. It's all about being there.
If we do choose to have a holiday that does not focus on processing huge information, there are a few options. We can go to the other severe, and leave house with no kind of phone or tablet. (That never used to be a severe, however we reside in extreme times.) And we have choices 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. And after that immerse ourselves in a different culture, have some adventures, or simply enjoy a bit of peace and quiet.
The physical act of swapping phones goes deep. It's a bit like flying the nest. And it's beginning to acquire in popularity: whether a cheap, old-tech design or something more elegant and current, opting to in some cases use a basic phone is something that everybody can associate with nowadays. They may not do it themselves, however they certainly understand why some people do.
There are practical advantages, too. Just having to charge your phone periodically is popular with everybody but if you're going somewhere without mains electricity, your greedy mobile phone will be no use at all. Likewise, with a basic phone you don't have to keep inspecting that your digital factotum hasn't cunningly discovered some method of adding monster-sized information roaming charges-- it can still take place. It's the 'in fact being there' that really counts. Sure, taking a trip without a mobile phone will mean a couple of mix-ups, a lowered ability to plan, to know in advance what's going to occur. Taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is. And the screens on simple phones are frequently much harder than the large locations of glass discovered on their more complicated cousins. Changing a damaged smartphone screen is a trouble at the very best of times; multiply that by ten if you're abroad.
However it's the 'in fact being there' that truly counts. Sure, travelling without a smartphone will imply a couple of mix-ups, a reduced ability to plan, to understand beforehand exactly what's going to take place. But travelling sans algorithms is where the action is.
SMS 03 - Punkt. MP02 from Punkt. on Vimeo.