Punkt. is a relatively little, vibrant and independent company, and we want to keep close connections with our customers and with individuals and organisations within the design world. As part of this, we regularly run 'Punkt.Challenges'. These include style challenges that form part of postgraduate design courses, and digital detox challenges where self-confessed smartphone addicts are welcomed to revisit their relationship with innovation.
10 years back, smart devices were still extremely unusual. Now, a life lived outside the structure of the mobile phone is uncommon. 10 years back, the majority of people had mobile phones, but they would typically only attract our attention if another person had actually chosen to call us or send us a text. Now that the majority of people's lives are so much more automated: the brand-new normal is to scamper around within a nonstop attack of status updates, push alerts and a great deal more.
Our Digital Detox Challenges have actually been running since 2016. The negative elements of smart devices weren't extensively talked about at that point, but there has because been a rise of interest in the topic. Individual reports are a crucial element of the Detox Challenges; by running the Challenges and releasing these reports we intend to keep the discussion of people's relationship with technology popular and on-going - both in regards to tech addiction and the importance of premium design in the real (i.e. non-virtual) world.
The big distinction this time round was that the term 'mobile phone dependency' had actually clearly gone into typical parlance - in 2016 it still sounded a bit over the top, but in 2018 individuals were beginning to sound truly worried. You can check out the reports listed below, however here are some excerpts from a few of the many applications we received:
" The constant scrolling."
" I attempted it with an old timeless phone, it was like going back to an ex - with all the old pros and cons. Who does that?"
" We use our phones a lot - why shouldn't they be beautiful as well as practical?"
" I'm doing my own version now, but I needed to choose a broke ass burner phone that's 10 years old ...".
" As a UI designer for digital items I've often questioned a few of the success criteria utilized in my industry, particularly 'engagement' as a metric for success. Until that changes, unfortunately it's really hard to eliminate versus 100s of designers who are attempting to hook you in to their products. [] There is a specific irony about this as I create for these products but desire to avoid them. However I think it's an opportunity for me as a designer to appreciate how valuable our attention is, and attempt to take that lesson back into my industry, ideally to influence a modification in approach to innovation.".
" I have started getting rid of all my social networks profiles and have actually immediately seen the positive impact it's had on me. I am so much calmer now, and I want to keep it that way, by also removing my smart device for good.".
Life is too brief to keep our heads down.
Innovation has actually drastically altered over the last century, from being a valuable tool in our lives to keeping us as connected in as much as it can and for the longest period of time. This Challenge modifications that in its whole, pushing us into realizing exactly what is going on. I've always enjoyed using the newest things, but given that Punkt. has been around, I wished to alter that, and with the Digital Detox Challenge, that's exactly what happened. When you go from a continuously ringing smart device to a phone like this, you understand just how much you can compromise all these applications that keep you hooked all day long: you do not require them.
In a method, you do become sort 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 just that. It teaches you simpleness and teaches you that you don't need whatever on your phone. Just the fundamentals.
If you seem like you are hooked on your phone, like many people I have fulfilled, it could be a great time to offer this phone a try. A lot of my own member of the family experience this sensation and I seem like passing this challenge on to others so they can get the hang of it. This Challenge has actually become so essential in 2018 because-- as I said-- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on are here to keep us hooked in for the longest time. Do not believe me? Download QualityTime for your Android and you will understand that you do not even take note of exactly what's going on around you. If you feel an itch, it may be a great time to obtain that took a look at, and a good way to set about it is with the Punkt. MP01.
The more time we spend looking at screens, the less essential daytime ends up being-- and in some cases, yes, more of a hindrance. Whether you're checking your messages while strolling to work, enjoying your mobile phone with your good friends (who are each taking pleasure in theirs), or enjoying a movie, daylight is an inconvenience.
We started heading in this manner since we wanted to. Nowadays-- to a big degree-- we merely do it due to the fact that we do it. And due to the fact that others want us to do it.
Is this really how you want to invest your time on Earth?
* * *.
In 2016, Google staff member Tristan Harris left his task to discovered a brand-new non-profit organisation called Time Well Spent, which looked for to broaden the dispute on what technology is doing to us and resulted in the production of the Center for Humane Technology. Ever since, the this company subject has actually blown up into the mainstream and it has actually ended up being clear that it is not doing good ideas to our basic sense of wellness.
The web page of the Center's website includes a striking montage image. A generic graphic of a mobile phone is combined with a photograph of a lady. She is not provided 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 pleased, taking pleasure in the view. And she is bathed in sunlight.
Possibly it makes sense to use these brighter evenings for something besides taking a look at pixels? When bedtime methods, matching sundown with a digital sunset: whatever turned off, leaving simply a land-line with a number understood just to family and close buddies, and a dedicated alarm clock.
Signing up with those who have actually dumped their mobile phones entirely, integrating a fundamental phone with a laptop or tablet (much much better for typing on). Nowadays these ideas might sound almost extreme, but as far as biology is worried, they're what your brain desires. The medical side-effects of tech over-use.
Because of the evident reduction in traffic mishaps, Daylight Saving Time is said to increase life span of a country's people. Ditto banning phone usage while driving, obviously (with a much clearer causal link). Phones threaten in other methods, too: scrollers strolling into traffic, selfie trophy-hunters taking one danger a lot of, etc. Over-use of tech shrinks our lives in another method as well-- incrementally and undoubtedly. It gives us a narrower existence 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 wherever you go, you always wind up in the very same place: in front of your smartphone? Using it, or letting it use you, to remain 'linked'? Gotten in touch with what people depend on back house. Gotten in touch with the current report. Gotten in touch with work. Linked with video games, YouTube videos, Wikipedia. Linked with images from the last vacation you took, and the one prior to that. What sort of 'connection' is that, really? This situation is something that's crept up on us, and perhaps it's time to start making some choices ...
A vacation is a possibility to change off, to experience brand-new things. However if we do not likewise turn off our devices, if we continue to outsource our consciousness to image sensing units and sd card, if we're still connected 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 type 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.
Imagine a timeless travelogue like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, minus this tax. There would not be much. And even if we're trying to find something a bit less extreme 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 gotten but something's lost. And on the topic of getting lost, yes, without a smart device it might happen. And possibly you'll end up somewhere that turns out to be the emphasize of your trip. Possibly you'll discover some intriguing dining establishment that isn't on tripadvisor.com. You may wind up speaking to some residents. Nothing ventured, absolutely nothing acquired. This connect the growing slow travelmovement, and the reclaiming of overland travel as a mainstream and practical option to flying, shown 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 big information, there are a couple of alternatives. We can go to the other extreme, and leave house with no kind of phone or tablet. (That never used to be an extreme, however we live in extreme times.) And we have alternatives like changing our device's settings to 'minimum', leaving it in the hotel safe throughout the day, etc
. Or we can take a different phone. One that just does calls and texts. Then immerse ourselves in a different culture, have some adventures, or just enjoy a little bit of peace and peaceful.
The physical act of swapping phones goes deep. It's a bit like flying the nest. And it's beginning to gain in popularity: whether an inexpensive, old-tech design or something more elegant and current, choosing to in some cases utilize a basic phone is something that everybody can connect to nowadays. They might refrain from doing it themselves, but they certainly know why some individuals do.
There are practical advantages, too. Just needing to charge your phone occasionally is popular with everyone however if you're going someplace without mains electricity, your greedy smartphone will be no usage at all. With a simple phone you do not require to keep examining that your digital factotum hasn't cunningly found some method of running up monster-sized information roaming charges-- it can still occur. But it's the 'actually existing' that truly counts. Sure, taking a trip without a mobile phone will imply a few mix-ups, a reduced capability to plan, to know beforehand what's going to take place. But taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is. And the screens on simple phones are typically much tougher than the big areas of glass discovered on their more complicated cousins. Changing a broken smartphone screen is an inconvenience at the very best of times; increase that by ten if you're abroad.
It's the 'actually being there' that actually counts. Sure, taking a trip without a mobile phone will mean a couple of mix-ups, a reduced ability to strategy, to understand in advance exactly what's going to happen. But taking a trip sans algorithms is where the action is.
SMS 03 - Punkt. MP02 from Punkt. on Vimeo.