A typical culprit, for example, was technology restriction rules that were either too vague or too strict. Another mistake was not planning what to replace these technologies with during the declutter period—leading to anxiety and boredom. Those who treated this experiment purely as a detox, where the goal was to simply take a break from their

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I still stand behind the piece, but I realized that it’s more of an abstract argument than a practical guide. It’s missing next steps on what being less extremely online looks like in the day-to-day trenches of adult existence. That’s what I want to talk about in this essay2.

For some, the pursuit of a “balanced” digital life can slip into another form of self-absorption, complete with optimisation rituals and performative restraint. I know this sounds a little judgemental, but when people are posting about their early-morning routines, weekends offline, or filming reawakenings on breath-work retreats, the search for... See more

I’m writing this because my screen time has gone way up and I’m feeling burned out. I write this as a hypocrite who uses AI more than he should and chooses screen time over forest time far too often. But so many of my conversations with friends around social media are how to distance ourselves from it while still getting the things we love:... See more