I miss the old times. I miss having a feature phone and little to no access to the internet. I'll tell you why.
When I was a kid, I was limited to one hour of sitting at the computer a day. I spent most of that time playing game demos (I have a large collection of demo discs from the early 2000's) and online flash games. Later, when the household started having a dial-up internet subscription, I also played Minecraft and Terraria, and watched a bit of YouTube (I didn't know about accounts and subscriptions at the time, so I just memorised channel URLs that I liked). Of course, I was still limited to one hour a day.
I had a feature phone, but didn't use it a lot. It had two pre-installed games (Bounce Tales, and a Guitar Hero clone), both of which I've played sometimes, but those two games didn't really keep me occupied in the long run (that didn't really stop me from beating Bounce Tales like 50 times over the years, but still).
I am an only child. Apart from that little playing on the computer and my phone, I spent most of my time playing with my toys. Thinking back, I really have no idea how I kept myself occupied with only toys, but somehow I did.
Back then, I lived in the heart of Budapest, meaning I couldn't go out much, since my friends/classmates lived far away (there weren't any other kids in my apartment building, sadly). The only social interactions I had were in day care / school, and the occasional going over to friends' places arranged by parents (which were few and far-between).
In the first half of primary school, I was a "smart kid." The things we had to learn were simple and easy, so I didn't have to study much to get good grades.
As I got older and started learning English, I also had the daily computer usage limit removed entirely and started to dwell deeper into the internet. It was around that time I started learning about consoles, emulators, social sites, and everything else I use today. When I had that limit removed, I did get bored of surfing the internet for a couple hours a day at first, but sadly I gradually got to the point where I kept doing it more and more a day.
I think all of the factors above contributed to me growing up to be an introverted, lazy, socially awkward bum who sits in front of a computer all day, is on his phone all the time, has bad grades, and has IRL friends who are also introverted and don't want to hang out unless it involves coming over to my place to play video games and watch anime all day. (Don't get me wrong, they are good people, but they are as lazy as I am.)
I've tried to change my way of living multiple times in the past. I've tried to cut down on my computer usage and going back to using a feature phone. Problem is, it's not the inferior technology I miss, it's how I could entertain myself without having to rely on the internet.
Today, while I was studying, I turned off my phone and set it aside to prevent myself from unlocking it and looking at memes. I could concentrate like I couldn't in years. When I finished, I've decided to make its notifications less of a nuisance. I've turned off vibrations for all apps and set the default notification sound to none. From now on, it will only make a sound when I get a call, a text, or a private message on Discord or Messenger. No vibrations whatsoever unless I get a call. Notifications will appear silently and I'll only see them in the status bar and interact with them when I feel like it.
I think this is a good start to get off my phone a bit. I'm still not sure what to do about my PC. Hopefully this can cure my laziness a bit over time. I wonder if I can get more social IRL in any way. It's so annoying and awkward when I have nothing to talk about with someone. I suck at small talk.
When I was a kid, I was limited to one hour of sitting at the computer a day. I spent most of that time playing game demos (I have a large collection of demo discs from the early 2000's) and online flash games. Later, when the household started having a dial-up internet subscription, I also played Minecraft and Terraria, and watched a bit of YouTube (I didn't know about accounts and subscriptions at the time, so I just memorised channel URLs that I liked). Of course, I was still limited to one hour a day.
I had a feature phone, but didn't use it a lot. It had two pre-installed games (Bounce Tales, and a Guitar Hero clone), both of which I've played sometimes, but those two games didn't really keep me occupied in the long run (that didn't really stop me from beating Bounce Tales like 50 times over the years, but still).
I am an only child. Apart from that little playing on the computer and my phone, I spent most of my time playing with my toys. Thinking back, I really have no idea how I kept myself occupied with only toys, but somehow I did.
Back then, I lived in the heart of Budapest, meaning I couldn't go out much, since my friends/classmates lived far away (there weren't any other kids in my apartment building, sadly). The only social interactions I had were in day care / school, and the occasional going over to friends' places arranged by parents (which were few and far-between).
In the first half of primary school, I was a "smart kid." The things we had to learn were simple and easy, so I didn't have to study much to get good grades.
As I got older and started learning English, I also had the daily computer usage limit removed entirely and started to dwell deeper into the internet. It was around that time I started learning about consoles, emulators, social sites, and everything else I use today. When I had that limit removed, I did get bored of surfing the internet for a couple hours a day at first, but sadly I gradually got to the point where I kept doing it more and more a day.
I think all of the factors above contributed to me growing up to be an introverted, lazy, socially awkward bum who sits in front of a computer all day, is on his phone all the time, has bad grades, and has IRL friends who are also introverted and don't want to hang out unless it involves coming over to my place to play video games and watch anime all day. (Don't get me wrong, they are good people, but they are as lazy as I am.)
I've tried to change my way of living multiple times in the past. I've tried to cut down on my computer usage and going back to using a feature phone. Problem is, it's not the inferior technology I miss, it's how I could entertain myself without having to rely on the internet.
Today, while I was studying, I turned off my phone and set it aside to prevent myself from unlocking it and looking at memes. I could concentrate like I couldn't in years. When I finished, I've decided to make its notifications less of a nuisance. I've turned off vibrations for all apps and set the default notification sound to none. From now on, it will only make a sound when I get a call, a text, or a private message on Discord or Messenger. No vibrations whatsoever unless I get a call. Notifications will appear silently and I'll only see them in the status bar and interact with them when I feel like it.
I think this is a good start to get off my phone a bit. I'm still not sure what to do about my PC. Hopefully this can cure my laziness a bit over time. I wonder if I can get more social IRL in any way. It's so annoying and awkward when I have nothing to talk about with someone. I suck at small talk.
