6 Comments

Really well done sharing how to pick and choose what you want to receive on emails Hope.

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Thanks, Caitlin!

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Probably unsurprisingly, I love the book-focused edition of this newsletter 😊 Hibernation Station is so dang cute. And I love the message in The Spiffiest Giant in Town. No Small Potatoes is new to me (that's rare, so thank you!)

I've never read Digital Minimalism because I have had pretty good, strong boundaries with my phone for years (I work on a computer all day so that's a bit harder, but I have good boundaries with that, too, as soon as I leave the office) -- still, I've heard such good things I think I need to finally check it out.

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Thanks so much, Sarah. There's never pressure to read all my stuff because, well, there's a lot, but I figured you would like the book part, too 😅

Yes, some people have a problem with technology addiction more than others...I'm one of those people for whom it's a BIG problem. For the past 4 years I take a couple months off social media during the spring, and it's always nice. I don't know how much bad news I need to hear about how it's hurting my health until I make a lasting change to my tech use...but I think having writing + connecting outlets through Substack really help!

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I understand that. For whatever reason, discipline isn't hard for me, so when I decided a long time ago I'd rather give my attention to my family than my phone (eight years ago when my first child was born), I just made the change, no big deal. (I also have a hard stop to my workday -- I pack my stuff, get in my car, commute. In *many* ways, it makes it easier to step away from my technology. When I was working from home during the pandemic, it was a much bigger challenge, and I had to put in extra effort to set that boundary.)

But I know I'm lucky in that trait. And I also know that the companies that vie for our attention have built these products to be as addictive as possible -- so while we do have control over our behavior, a lot is happening in our brains to make our choice to step away more difficult. We need to have compassion for ourselves as we work to create better routines and build better relationships with our technology -- it's not going anywhere, so we have plenty of time to work on it!

(I like reading all your stuff, fwiw!)

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People who struggle with tech addiction really need to hear from people like you who do not! It shows us that being present and having a healthy relationship with our phones and social media is possible.

Lots of great points (and encouragement) here! Thanks again.

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