Twenty-three years. In a few months it will be 23 years since I first connected to the Internet.
In 1994, connections were slow and expensive. I paid the equivalent of 12 euros per hour of connection, and we spent most of our lives disconnected, reading or writing content. We were used to reading magazines with long articles, and I think we were much calmer.
From a few seconds of connection to a few seconds of disconnection: the poles have reversed
At the end of the 1990s, we had tools to connect for a few minutes, sometimes only a few seconds, to download emails and forum messages, post replies written offline, and then disconnect quickly again.
The advantage of that time was that we could spend more time reading, understanding and thinking. We spent less time fluttering from one piece of content to another, from one site to another, and less time reading or downloading content that was often ultimately useless.
The arrival of unlimited Internet connections and smartphones has, in my opinion, created several problems that will become increasingly difficult to solve if we do not become aware of them now.
Excessive connection, a virtual ball and chain that enslaves us
We check our email and social network notifications almost obsessively.
110 times per day.
Smartphone owners turn on their phones an average of 110 times per day to check notifications and messages.
If your neighbor checked his mailbox 110 times per day, you would immediately call the psychiatric department of the nearest hospital and barricade your apartment. Yet that is what we do. On average, we check whether something has happened almost ten times per hour. That is time we do not devote to more important subjects or actions, because after each check our brain needs time to refocus on what we were doing.
Step back for a moment: is there any urgent event that requires such availability, such servitude?
Is there any real point in checking emails or messages all the time, answering in real time permanently, always being available? Unless you are a stock trader, firefighter, rescuer or emergency doctor, the answer is definitely no.
The major Internet players do not highlight your notifications to make you more efficient. They do it only to make you spend more time online, a finite available time that cannot stretch beyond 24 hours in a day, shared among every player.
Television channels long ago tried to gain market share, but they shared the available time of each viewer, which used to last only a few hours per day.
Internet giants try to make you spend as much time online as possible, as much time searching, watching and consuming as possible. Day and night.
We no longer step back enough.
Open to everything, solicited permanently, expert in nothing
The information streams we receive each day through social networks and emails have become far too important.
It amounts to being machine-gunned permanently with subjects that, in the end, change absolutely nothing in our lives.
A person can spend a week reading articles, scrolling newsfeeds, touching a smartphone screen on average 2,617 times per day, and end up neither more cultivated, nor richer, nor more efficient, nor happier.
We search in this immense void for the piece of information that will make us smile, the piece of information that will change our life. In the end, nothing. 99.9999% of the information we consume only feeds the cash registers of social networks and other advertising-funded media.
You can be aware of everything without ever becoming an expert in anything or really understanding a subject.
I experienced this myself. Until a few years ago, I was addicted to the news. I absolutely had to know everything about everything. Today I think that was a mistake. I only skimmed subjects. I did not realize it then, and I regret it now.
All this consumed time, our time, prevents us from stepping back, thinking about our life, about how to please those around us, about the world and about the subjects that truly matter.
Who is in charge?
It is our feed or our mailbox that ends up guiding the agenda of the day, directing our ideas, and rarely do we manage to have ideas far from those of our circle.
Real-time content creates almost no added value.
The news has no real interest except making time pass, our time.
Of course, in times of crisis, war or attack, there may be periods when we must stay informed for our safety and that of our loved ones. But these periods are extremely few. Fortunately.
So what remains?
Asynchronous content remains, content that is not dependent on time. In my opinion, this is what truly brings value.
If you use Khan Academy, Wikipedia, Quora or LinkedIns contact database, not the newsfeed where, ultimate paradox, you are reading me now, you immediately understand the value I am talking about.
Likewise, service platforms such as the SNCF website, your bank website or Leetchi, which I co-founded, create value by solving one of your problems or answering one of your needs.
When you use shopping sites in moderation, you create value by solving a real need, though of course some people fall into the trap of compulsive buying and permanent consumption by following the latest deals almost in real time.
To reach this notion of value, we must consume texts that do not expire, texts that analyze and teach. This can also be done outside the Internet by simply reading books or using platforms like Kindle, of which I am a big fan. You will notice that there are no notifications on Kindle. It works like a real book.
Finally taking back control
Personally, over the last few years I have taken several drastic measures to regain control of my time and the course of my life.
- In 2012, I left Facebook. I think I made an excellent choice.
- I no longer use a smartphone, not even when traveling in a country I do not know.
- I no longer have a smartwatch.
- I installed a Chrome browser plugin. StayFocusD lets me control my connection time on useless sites.
- I use Self Control on Mac, software that blocks my connection for a time I define. Freedom exists too on iPhone, Windows and other platforms.
- I bought a laptop that I never connect except to upgrade Office and Windows.
- I invested in an Office subscription to use Word and other tools offline. Google Docs is great, but forces you to keep your browser open.
- I try to answer emails offline as often as possible using email clients.
- I turn on my computer only after making the list of what I need to do with it.
- I have a small non-connected MP3 player to listen to courses or podcasts that I select carefully.
- I use the Send to Kindle Chrome extension to transfer long articles that I will read calmly later on my disconnected Kindle.
In fact, as you have understood, I aspire for my default lifestyle to be a disconnected lifestyle. Overall, I avoid bringing my laptop home and leave it at the office whenever possible.
Unfortunately, it is not perfect yet, and I probably still spend too much time online.
It is a real daily battle, but my life has already improved considerably thanks to this awareness.
You will know I have won this fight when I finally have more time to write and my posts appear more often.
If you have other tips and methods to regulate your connected and disconnected time, please share them.