Midland is a pretty interesting concept. I could see why the kids seem to value it so much. I often think about how I don’t think I would have survived today’s social media environment were of around when I was a kid.
the article is fine. it just goes against their business model of drumming up outrage. so it's ironic. Nobody would know Anna or Bari if they took their own advice.
I’m with you there. As someone who is pretty liberal, yeah it is exhausting. I get why people find it important to talk about all these things, but it really never stops. There can be a battle but you don’t need to be on the frontlines at all times. It is completely draining when every action can and will be scrutinized through some lens of ulterior motive, implicit violence or structural wrongdoing. Every wrong or misstep also does not warrant a public call to action and mass response.
All said: it was a well written article and it’s not topical to bring up unrelated content on the site.
A broken clock is right twice a day. One can be opposed to right-wing whatever and still appreciate this student's writing and the notion of a technological shabbat.
I used to carry a feature phone many years ago. When smartphones appeared, I switched to not carrying any phone at all. (I do have a very old smartphone, which mostly sits at home turned off. Sometimes I turn it on to receive a payment notification or something like that.)
This way, at least when I'm outside or hanging out with people, my mind is free. Though my laptop still eats a lot of my time when I'm at home. Maybe it'd be better with an e-ink laptop.
Do you live in an area with great public transportation? My phone is a necessity driving anywhere unless I want to take twice as long due to random spots of traffic.
I find my phone even more important using public transport, checking schedules and figuring out which buses and trains I need to get for my destination.
Google Maps is good for that on my phone, in my area.
The transit provider also recently introduced mobile fares, so sometimes I use my phone to board (QR-based.)
Unfortunately, there is another fare overhaul coming, whereby they will make fares account-based prepaid, and mobile fares will be mutually exclusive with the linked NFC card option. So unfortunately I will need to ditch the mobile fares entirely, because I do not wish to be constantly tethered to my mandatory smartphone if I simply wish to ride a bus somewhere.
If your car doesn't have a standalone navigation system built in, or it only supports Android Auto/CarPlay which require a phone, they still make automotive GPS units - and they're pretty great now, with built-in traffic, dashcam, and backup cameras:
The trick is knowing where you want to go - Google's search capacity to "find me a highly-rated Mexican restaurant with on the way from Work to Home", not turn-by-turn, routing, or even traffic, is the killer feature. Standalone GPS units have passable search, not just addresses, but nothing compared to that.
Good for you. The problem is that today’s smartphone is essentially built to be an extremely addictive fidget spinner. Those who don’t succumb to that are the exception, not the rule.
And before you say that it’s the apps you choose to install, not the phone that’s the problem, I’d say that’s a distinction without a difference.
I used to feel this way too. Now, for whatever reasons, I am helplessly addicted to the phone. Maybe I'm more depressed recently, maybe it's become more addicting, maybe I finally found the combo of apps which really hit the button in my brain that makes me constantly check it. But it's no longer just a tool for me, and I contemplate replacing it with a dumb phone constantly.
I guess I don't consider the phone addictive since I use iPad or computer at home. It is Reddit or Youtube that are addictive.
Also, it is possible to make phone into useful tool. I make audible/vibrate notifications for important things so don't need to check phone constantly. Put the phone down and only use it when you need it. Try moving content consumption to another device. Try limiting addictive things to certain circumstances.
If that doesn't work, consider deleting the addictive apps and turning the phone into a tool. Smartphone without addiction is more useful than a dumb phone.
I switched to smartphones with the original iPhone (up to 3GS then Androids).
The trick is to not install (m)any apps. There are utility apps like maps/navigation, banking, etc. I use Uber Eats more than I should. But I minimize any social media/infinite scrolling apps. Only recently, I reinstalled WhatsApp because some people didn't know how to reach me, even though my phone number hasn't changed in decades. I presume they upgraded their devices and re-establish their digital contacts but not their 'analog' ones.
Is it really that hard to have a smartphone and just not install addictive/time-wasting apps on it?
I think my daily average screen time is 10 minutes (according to Digital Wellbeing), with less than 10 unlocks. Advantage being that I'm available/able to call somebody in an emergency or I can use the utilities on it when required (maps, translation).
I’ve adopted a concept in the article of a “sabbath” from my smartphone. It stays plugged into its charger one day a week. I’ve found it to be quite refreshing.
My wife and I are Christian and do honor the Sabbath. In practice, one of the things we do for this is to deload from our Smartphones (and really, all screens) every Sunday.
I notice when I have my phone available, I have a strong inability to nap. I will object in all sorts of ways - usually because I feel like I am not being productive.
Sunday naps, however, are incredible, and being detached for a whole day allows me to get the rest my body actually needs. And I have a ton of clarity returning to work on Monday.
I don't quite get it - is the author really expecting people addicted like him to fortnight, of all things, to read self-help articles online?
The issue isn't with having a smartphone, but being addicted to apps on it. Having a smartphone and watching TikTok 12 hours/day on it is nowhere near having a smartphone and using it to listen to music, check public transport schedule, call people, use it as GPS or to pay for things, etc.
I didn't see the author expect a damned thing. He said he's personally seen the light and thinks that others would benefit from occasionally putting down the technology and having immersive real-world experiences.
Learn an instrument, make your own music; read a map, navigate for yourself; don't call people, talk to the people you're with; don't pay for shit, you've got enough of it already. Doing this one day a week sounds like an excellent idea to me, and if it sounds like a hardship to you, perhaps the author made a point.
It's an entry for a high school essay contest run by the site, with the prompt
"Tell our readers about a problem facing American society—and, more importantly, how you would fix it. The problem could be technological, cultural, political, or social in nature, or something else entirely. But we are especially interested in problems facing young Americans that older generations have misunderstood, missed, or maybe even created. In 2,000 words or fewer, please illuminate the problem and how your generation might break out of it."
So he wrote about how he was addicted to tech, and what he did to get un-addicted. It seems reasonable.
Okay, but it's posted here, so the GP's reaction is not unwarranted. If it was not meant to be seen by anyone other than those people then it shouldn't have been posted.
That's the author's point: they still have a phone, they just found that their experience at this school has helped them break the addiction to it:
> I am now going into my junior year at Midland School. Whenever I am home, I find myself on my phone much less, and then only to catch up on my favorite TV shows and to talk to the numerous lifelong friends I have made at school. Midland helped me change how I live my life. I’m no longer dependent on a smartphone.
For one thing, the author is 17, so cut him some slack.
For another, going entirely without a smartphone for awhile is a completely alien concept to a large segment of the population. Expanding your horizons is rarely a bad thing.
For $7,300/year, you can come over and cut up my trees. I might even let you use the chainsaw and log splitter.
On the topic of the article, I think the general skill one needs to remain in control of technology is managing context - specifically the ability to keep your own context rather than letting technology define yours for you. An axe is still technology, as is a chainsaw - the key is operating tech so that it serves your own goals, rather than being lured and lulled by it into serving someone else's goals.
Taking on more physical tasks helps expand your context (as per the OP). Having a life and goals outside of computers helps. Setting your own criteria that are contrary to the surveillance industry's siren song helps (eg libre software). Having full-sized input/output devices helps. Having many devices for different purposes such that "time wasting mode" is explicit helps.
The thing I worry about with abstinence based approaches is that they don't teach the skills necessary to moderate your relationship with technology. So even though your context is larger, when you end up entering the technological context (which society will inevitably force you to do for some aspects of your life), you're still completely unprepared.
Looking at Midland's website I see the article's characterization is a bit myopic (there's a picture of a group setting up solar panels, and a picture of someone with a laptop). But I'm speaking more about this general theme of anti-technology that involves romanticizing an axe (seemingly minimum viable technology) rather than say a chainsaw (which gets useful work done without addicting you).
Source [0]. For reference, that's substantially more than the list price at Stanford, which is $57,693 for 3 quarters in a year [1].
Supposedly the average student receives $48,000 in financial aid, so the average cost per year is $25,900, but that still makes this high school substantially more expensive than a highly prestigious college degree [2].
Holy crap! I will let you come chop wood on my land for significantly less!
Really though, that's unfortunate. It seems like a really great experience but unavailable to most. I wonder what it would take to do this as a summer camp program without the liability of overnights. I would have loved something like this in my teens (also now in my much olders)
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 116 ms ] threadI don't see what's grifty about it, all these people have fans who will pay to hear a conversation about the sexual revolution
and is anyone who doubts that social media is a net positive suddenly right wing? I don't get your take at all
what
Is the world not an incredibly exhausting place when seen through such a boring and cynical lens?
All said: it was a well written article and it’s not topical to bring up unrelated content on the site.
Buddy, it is a combination of an ad and thinly-veiled trad agitprop.
This way, at least when I'm outside or hanging out with people, my mind is free. Though my laptop still eats a lot of my time when I'm at home. Maybe it'd be better with an e-ink laptop.
The transit provider also recently introduced mobile fares, so sometimes I use my phone to board (QR-based.)
Unfortunately, there is another fare overhaul coming, whereby they will make fares account-based prepaid, and mobile fares will be mutually exclusive with the linked NFC card option. So unfortunately I will need to ditch the mobile fares entirely, because I do not wish to be constantly tethered to my mandatory smartphone if I simply wish to ride a bus somewhere.
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/818681/pn/010-02729-00
The trick is knowing where you want to go - Google's search capacity to "find me a highly-rated Mexican restaurant with on the way from Work to Home", not turn-by-turn, routing, or even traffic, is the killer feature. Standalone GPS units have passable search, not just addresses, but nothing compared to that.
My phone is my agency. I use it to access information, and to communicate.
Why on earth would you subject yourself and everyone you know to arbitrary limitations like that?
My mind is plenty free and I use the tool when the circumstances warrant, and not as a mental fidget spinner.
And before you say that it’s the apps you choose to install, not the phone that’s the problem, I’d say that’s a distinction without a difference.
Also, it is possible to make phone into useful tool. I make audible/vibrate notifications for important things so don't need to check phone constantly. Put the phone down and only use it when you need it. Try moving content consumption to another device. Try limiting addictive things to certain circumstances.
If that doesn't work, consider deleting the addictive apps and turning the phone into a tool. Smartphone without addiction is more useful than a dumb phone.
Me too (mostly), but I don't think everyone has that much willpower.
My phone is a nice-to-have. Its primary use is navigation and photography.
I could survive fine without it.
Why on earth would you subject yourself and everyone you know to arbitrary "agency" like that?
The trick is to not install (m)any apps. There are utility apps like maps/navigation, banking, etc. I use Uber Eats more than I should. But I minimize any social media/infinite scrolling apps. Only recently, I reinstalled WhatsApp because some people didn't know how to reach me, even though my phone number hasn't changed in decades. I presume they upgraded their devices and re-establish their digital contacts but not their 'analog' ones.
I think my daily average screen time is 10 minutes (according to Digital Wellbeing), with less than 10 unlocks. Advantage being that I'm available/able to call somebody in an emergency or I can use the utilities on it when required (maps, translation).
I notice when I have my phone available, I have a strong inability to nap. I will object in all sorts of ways - usually because I feel like I am not being productive.
Sunday naps, however, are incredible, and being detached for a whole day allows me to get the rest my body actually needs. And I have a ton of clarity returning to work on Monday.
The issue isn't with having a smartphone, but being addicted to apps on it. Having a smartphone and watching TikTok 12 hours/day on it is nowhere near having a smartphone and using it to listen to music, check public transport schedule, call people, use it as GPS or to pay for things, etc.
Learn an instrument, make your own music; read a map, navigate for yourself; don't call people, talk to the people you're with; don't pay for shit, you've got enough of it already. Doing this one day a week sounds like an excellent idea to me, and if it sounds like a hardship to you, perhaps the author made a point.
"Tell our readers about a problem facing American society—and, more importantly, how you would fix it. The problem could be technological, cultural, political, or social in nature, or something else entirely. But we are especially interested in problems facing young Americans that older generations have misunderstood, missed, or maybe even created. In 2,000 words or fewer, please illuminate the problem and how your generation might break out of it."
So he wrote about how he was addicted to tech, and what he did to get un-addicted. It seems reasonable.
What would be an acceptable thing to be addicted to, in your opinion?
> I am now going into my junior year at Midland School. Whenever I am home, I find myself on my phone much less, and then only to catch up on my favorite TV shows and to talk to the numerous lifelong friends I have made at school. Midland helped me change how I live my life. I’m no longer dependent on a smartphone.
For another, going entirely without a smartphone for awhile is a completely alien concept to a large segment of the population. Expanding your horizons is rarely a bad thing.
Sharing an experience like this is a great thing.
On the topic of the article, I think the general skill one needs to remain in control of technology is managing context - specifically the ability to keep your own context rather than letting technology define yours for you. An axe is still technology, as is a chainsaw - the key is operating tech so that it serves your own goals, rather than being lured and lulled by it into serving someone else's goals.
Taking on more physical tasks helps expand your context (as per the OP). Having a life and goals outside of computers helps. Setting your own criteria that are contrary to the surveillance industry's siren song helps (eg libre software). Having full-sized input/output devices helps. Having many devices for different purposes such that "time wasting mode" is explicit helps.
The thing I worry about with abstinence based approaches is that they don't teach the skills necessary to moderate your relationship with technology. So even though your context is larger, when you end up entering the technological context (which society will inevitably force you to do for some aspects of your life), you're still completely unprepared.
Looking at Midland's website I see the article's characterization is a bit myopic (there's a picture of a group setting up solar panels, and a picture of someone with a laptop). But I'm speaking more about this general theme of anti-technology that involves romanticizing an axe (seemingly minimum viable technology) rather than say a chainsaw (which gets useful work done without addicting you).
Supposedly the average student receives $48,000 in financial aid, so the average cost per year is $25,900, but that still makes this high school substantially more expensive than a highly prestigious college degree [2].
[0] https://midland-school.org/admissions/affording-midland/
[1] https://studentservices.stanford.edu/my-finances/tuition-fee...
[2]. https://financialaid.stanford.edu/undergrad/how/index.html
Really though, that's unfortunate. It seems like a really great experience but unavailable to most. I wonder what it would take to do this as a summer camp program without the liability of overnights. I would have loved something like this in my teens (also now in my much olders)
> 2023-24 Tuition | $73,900
Get the actual fuck out of here. They would've been fine regardless.