Digital Detox - Day 2

Well this is mostly going to be a review of Day 1.

Yesterday morning, I attempted to break my Youtube-over-breakfast routine. I also attempted to break my surf-phone-before-getting-out-of-bed habit. I believe I was largely successful with both.

To remedy both, I built a webpage which I am hosting locally for the moment. I call it "Newtscape," which is an obvious play on the old Netscape, but more about that later. On this page, I have a direct link to local Irish weather and local Irish news, and a few other things. I added a search field which passes the query off to Brave Search for good measure. I used first thing this morning. What a breath of fresh air. It was nice to leave the phone next to the bed and start the day without it, and walk out of the office when I was done with my morning surf.

After a bit of a botched morning yesterday, I set off for the city center for lunch and a pint. I did end up bringing my phone with me, in case of a needed top-up for my bus card, or other unforseen circumstances. I did use it once or twice to check the time, as I have been largely unsuccessful at finding an inexpensive watch for sale here locally. Anyhow, after lunch, I set off for the library, where I parked my bum in a nice cosy chair and read a few newspapers. To say these few moments of peace and quiet were divine would have been an understatement. It was f*cking glorious.

Our town has a gorgeous used book store, and many months ago, I picked up a couple books, but in stepping back from social media, I was reminded that I hadn't looked at said books in a long time. So now, morning coffee is served with a late 1960's copy of The Hardy Boys "The Clue of The Broken Blade." I am presently on chapter 5; each chapter seems to be about 8 pages long on average. It was originally written in the 1940's and the language shift in 80 years is very apparent. Having said that, someone my age would have read these as a child in the 1970's so this shouldn't feel out of place for me, even though it does. But overall, the experience of reading from paper is something I am enjoying immensely. I knew I needed this, but the act of doing it really drives the point home.

Today will likely be a cleaning day... bathrooms, floors, etc. I am mulling over a new homepage to replace my "Skeeternet" portal on Neocities. I will keep it but will likely push it over to its own folder. I haven't made any friends there yet, so I want to give it another shot. If for nothing else, it will be another adventure in self-expression. Having said that, I am not going to rush into it. At the moment, the less time I spend on a digital device, the better.

If you'd like to visit my Neocities page, go to:

https://thisistherealskeeter.neocities.org/

Cheers.