The second motivation for this practice is that it can upgrade the nature of your relationships.

Addiction is a condition in which a person engages in use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences.

This leaves a void that would be near unbearable if confronted, but that can be ignored with the help of digital noise.

do make a habit of regularly reviewing these entries, but this habit is often superfluous. It’s the act of writing itself that already yields the bulk of the benefits.

It became common, especially among younger generations, to allow your iPod to provide a musical backdrop to your entire day—putting the earbuds in as you walk out the door and taking them off only when you couldn’t avoid having to talk to another human. To put this in context, previous technologies that threatened solitude, from Thoreau’s telegraph

Leisure Lesson #3: Seek activities that require real-world, structured social interactions.

the Amish still practice Rumspringa. During this ritual period, which begins at the age of sixteen, Amish youth are allowed to leave home and experience the outside world beyond the restrictions of their community. It is then their decision, after having seen what they will be giving up, whether or not they accept baptism into the Amish church.

As an academic who studies and teaches social media explained to me: “I don’t think we’re meant to keep in touch with so many people.”

I’ve become convinced that what you need instead is a full-fledged philosophy of technology use, rooted in your deep values, that provides clear answers to the questions of what tools you should use and how you should use them and, equally important, enables you to confidently ignore everything else.