Introduction The dark truth is that it has become very hard to ﬁnd anyone (and certainly anything) more interesting than one’s smartphone. This perplexing and troubling realisation has for most of us had huge consequences for our love stories, family lives, work, leisure time and health. There is almost no relationship in which the presence of the phone has not had a profound impact. The genuine beauty and interest of our phones wouldn’t be a matter of such concern if we did not suspect, somewhere in our minds, that while this machine has opened some doors, it is in danger of grievously closing others. The Phone Detox book knows we love our phones and would never want us to give them up, but it is also gently aware that these delightful gadgets bear a hidden cost. This book is a tool that aims to bring a little sanity to our closest, most intense and possibly most danger-laden technological relationship • Phone Detox

Introduction - The School of Life · Beyond Instagram ˜˚˛˝˙ˆ˛ˇ˘˝ˆ˛ ˝˙˛ ˆ˚˝ ˛ ˙ˆ˚˛ ˙ ˝ ˘ ˙ ˛ ˘ ˛ ˆˇˇ˛ ˆ ˝˘ ˇ ˙ˆ ˛ ˝˙ˆ˛ ˚ ˇ ˙˛ ˘ ˝˛

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Introduction

The dark truth is that it has become very hard to find

anyone (and certainly anything) more interesting

than one’s smartphone.

This perplexing and troubling realisation has for most of us had huge consequences for our love stories, family lives, work, leisure time and health. There is almost no relationship in which the presence of the phone has not had a profound impact. The genuine beauty and interest of our phones wouldn’t be a matter of such concern if we did not suspect, somewhere in our minds, that while this machine has opened some doors, it is in danger of grievously closing others. The Phone Detox book knows we love our phones and would never want us to give them up, but it is also gently aware that these delightful gadgets bear a hidden cost. This book is a tool that aims to bring a little sanity to our closest, most intense and possibly most danger-laden technological relationship •

Phone Detox

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Because of our phones,

we may find ourselves

incapable of sitting

alone in a room with our

own thoughts floating

freely in our heads,

daring to wander into

the past and the future,

allowing ourselves to

feel pain, desire, regret

and excitement.

Phone Detox

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Phone Detox

Beyond

Instagram

In the late 19th century, when photography was well established, the English art critic and social reformer John Ruskin started getting obsessed with the laborious, inaccurate process of drawing.

He wanted people to stop taking so many pictures and start using a pencil, watercolour and the evidence of their own eyes.

He wasn’t against photos just because they were new. He had recognised a grim, unexpected downside to the amazing capacity instantly to make accurate images of practically anything.

You can take a photo of a leaf (or your lover’s face or the house you lived in when you were five or a glacier cascading into the sea), but that doesn’t mean you’ve taken possession of this thing in your soul. It’s only when we ask ourselves the detailed questions – is that side of the leaf darker or lighter than the other, how exactly does the stem join the twig, how many points are there round the top portion? – that we start to notice the details and fix them in our minds.

We need to make ourselves pay attention. And ironically – tragically – the ease with which we can create an image works against our very desire properly to notice anything. We may have to resort to a cruder mechanism to do a subtler thing: discover what something means to us.

We may need, at points, to put the phone down and sketch •

We may have to resort to a cruder mechanism to

do a subtler thing: discover what something

means to us.…

john.ruskin

Liked by pre_raphaelites and 14m othersjohn.ruskin Horse chestnut leaf from my lecture on #Tree Twigs #nature #watercolour #pencil #craft #drawingdaily

Phone Detox

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@w_shakespeare Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.[192 characters, tweeted by William Shakespeare, around 1606]

@the_comedie_manDrink to me only with thine eyes,And I will pledge with mine;Or leave a kiss but in the cup,And I’ll not ask for wine.[128 characters, tweeted by Ben Jonson, 1616]

@thestoicistWhat need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears. [79 characters, tweeted by Seneca, 1st century AD]

@subconThe only people we can think of as normal are those we don’t yet know very well.[79 characters, tweeted 10 August 2012]

Phone Detox