Embracing Digital Minimalism
In this particular season of Lent, I decided to pursue a new old method of interacting with the world around me. The idea behind starting a film photography project itself came from these same motivations. I felt as though I was being put on rails, forced to think inside a certain box, adopting the language and culture of the internet. There was a disconnect between what was becoming the scary real world of interaction, where people have genuine reactions, the content I may encounter is no longer tailored to my specific interests by algorithms, and engagement is not driven by absurdity or anger. In my typical sense, I am exaggerating to some extent, but nevertheless, I would bet that many of us have felt some degree of what I am describing here in modernity. So, I set out on the digital form of what might be considered an elimination diet.
Analog Lawncare - Kodak Tourist II 120 BW
The obvious smoking gun of any digital detox is the smartphone. My initial goal was complete elimination, and I managed to do just that for a few weeks. I decided to take things to their furthest logical extent, going so far as to use a non-digital landline phone, with cassette tape answering machine, listen to only radio or cassettes when driving, and shoot exclusively film on my outings. Doing this made me aware of how much my passions, interests, and daily musings are influenced by gigantic corporations. It is no coincidence that the inevitable result of the advent of the smartphone is either blatant and obvious advertisement, or more devious and subtle micro-advertisement, that will present you any ideal in its most perfect form, which you will try to mimic through consumption. Quite ironically, this even extends to my love of antiques, with antique influencers popularizing and trending specific pieces. Although I have always loved nostalgic items from a world I never lived in, the YouTube algorithm undoubtedly enabled me to pursue my retro passions more fervently.
The undertaking of making one’s own life far more inconvenient had some interesting side effects:
My conversations and friendships became far more intentional
I got used to being bored sometimes
I found myself more able to focus on a prayer life
I have a lot more time in the day to be productive
I separated what is my genuine hobbies and passions from passing fixations
The Kodak Tourist II takes a 6×9 image, quite large compared to my typical 35mm, and is absolutely devouring the light on this sunny day.
Another budding side effect of this experiment is that I have become impossibly conscious of aesthetics, and increasingly perfectionist in both my work and my surroundings. In less than 2 weeks of living without distractions, Shelby and I redesigned our living room, I tackled projects I had procrastinated for months, and together we reconstructed a routine of life, a family budget, and progressed several years toward our goals. That sounds like a lot for two weeks, and it was, but it is amazing what is possible when you unlock your willpower and remove those digital spaces where we retreat to waste time.
A little blurry. Indoors the Kodak required several seconds of exposure and offers no easy method of activating the shutter without moving the camera. Hopefully practice will improve this.
I believe I have now fully grasped the root of the issue with digital life: the tools meant to improve our standard of living, have become the very means by which we lose our quality of life. This is how I have narrowed down, and modified my criteria to specifically target that which is causing this decrease, which is algorithmic content.
I quickly realized I can only stare at my budget app for about 10 minutes before I become completely bored of it and do something else. I can also only text my friends quite sparingly, as we are all busy people and happen to be most busy at differing times. My emails, while offering a similar endless scroll, don’t captivate and seize my attention for several hours a day. If you actually use your phone as a phone, that also quickly runs its course. No, the culprit is the “feed”. The never-ending chain of “things” that computers and artificial intelligence think will make you addicted to amusement.
This invention has singlehandedly wasted more of my potential than all other things I use to waste time combined. It is operating exactly as it was designed, by scientists and psychologists whose sole purpose was to make you want to look at it endlessly. It provides me an illusion of myself, mirrors back to me what I declare to be things I enjoy. So, it leads me to become a person who watches 10 second clips of people hiking or exploring, buying and renovating classic American homes, travelling to new places, reading books that I like, playing instruments, or driving classic cars. The more time I spend watching people do those things, the less I do those things in reality. If I had just given in completely to this, I would find myself not as a person who likes those things I listed, but as a person who likes looking at their phone 8 hours a day. For as long as I am a person who lives vicariously through these people, I will only ever be an imitation of them and inevitably will spend a lot of money to chase the idea of being someone who creates as opposed to someone who consumes.
Going for a drive, while making best of the Kodak Gold’s love for warm tones - Pentax K1000 Kodak Gold 200
I have found my true inspiration to only surface after allowing myself to be bored, to disconnect from the feed of amusement and look reality in the face. What I found was that I am very capable of accomplishing anything I want to do relatively quickly, that I have a great eye for design and don’t need to follow a trend, and that I am the best person to be deciding and controlling what influences me. By limiting those influences, I can instantly become that person who creates.
We are meant to be alone with our thoughts much more often than we are allowed to be. We are meant to seek peace in our own lives, rather than constant entertainment. I find it so much easier to listen to what other people have to say, and to identify when someone or something is trying to convince me to think a certain way. I can feel my own free-will increasing. We are all children of God; we are all unique individuals who possess the ability to break free from this stagnant derivative influence and think for ourselves. We will all be influenced by something, but being in the position to control your influences is the key to becoming something more, and finding pieces of yourself you didn’t even know you were missing.