Conditioning

Many of us have experienced that tantalizing urge to continue scrolling on Instagram , or that desire to check one’s phone when the familiar ding sound indicating a notification is made. Without knowing it, many of us have been conditioned to behave this way unconsciously. These tech companies make their money by capturing our attention so it makes sense that their products, through behavioral prediction, would attempt to condition our behavior. In my experience, the most difficult step in separating myself from my technological dependence was kicking the various urges and unconscious behaviors that I had developed. For many, including myself, kicking this habit was too difficult initially. Instead, I began by making sure that all notification sounds on all of my devices were off. Just that change alone made an immense difference as it became clear to me just how much I had been conditioned to respond to this constant source of stimulation and interruption. For the first time, there was a consistent silence as my devices had no way of getting a hold of me or informing me of any updates. This afforded me the opportunity to focus and be disciplined with respect to my tech usage. With that in mind, the next helpful step in this process was the slow weaning process away from my phone. During the day, if I needed to do anything technologically related, it would be on my computer. Additionally, I would not permit myself to use the desktop versions of my phone apps as an alternative. This proved difficult as I felt myself having withdrawal-type symptoms and constantly anxiously reaching for a phone that was either not there or not turned on. The apps on our phones and computers promise convenience and stimulation, but the algorithms play off of our anxieties to keep us using the devices. As a result, the first few days of this process were an anxious time for me as I wondered what people were up to, experienced FOMO (fear of missing out), and felt desperately through my pockets for a device to fiddle with and pass the time. Eventually though, it became far easier as I found myself being able to focus for longer and longer amounts of time, without interruption. Within two weeks, I was able to read for more than 30 minutes at a time without feeling immense frustration and a temptation to grab something or do something else or alt-tab to some other activity. As I continued to follow these steps over the last year, I found myself increasingly aware of when I was being interrupted by technology and felt more capable of addressing the issue and finding my focus.

So then, what is to be done?

The fact is that you do not need to be tapped in to your loved one’s feeds and be accessible via instant messaging on social media to maintain social relations with them. Any meaningful communications you wanted to have over a social media app can be done securely over email(see GPG) , so long as you make it clear to the people you love that that is your preferred means of communication. In making this transition, most will inevitably feel as if they’ve lost something dear. We are so accustomed to the noise of our friends’ and families’ every lingering thought and feeling that we have forgotten what it is like to be alone with our thoughts. This does not mean isolating oneself from genuine social connection, but instead drawing a line separating oneself from the overstimulation (even the stimulation created by our loved one’s posts) that our devices and apps have conditioned us to normalize.

Yes, I think these are two discrete subjects. Most of your essay is about conditioned behavior (whether to refer to this as "addiction" is another separate question), generated by the technology patterns that mimic Pavlov's bell. Your subject is the de-conditioning process.

The second topic is a technology discussion, but it too is built on a psychological investigation, this time in the domain of social psychology, concerning the way in which other peoples' communications habits become yours through the "ethnomethodology" of conformism. It is easier to refuse others' modes of social communication if you provide an alternative, like reminding people you are accessible by email but don't use Facebook or Twitter. You can teach how to encrypt email, or use OTR in chat applications. But in the end you have to be secure in the knowledge that if people want to communicate with you, particularly, they will do so in the way you have made habitual with them. Their announcements, their proclamations, their territorial birdsong and conspicuous leisure and consumption reports, on the other hand, you may well miss. Also not miss, as the nature of your private space expands, and your internality expands to fit the sapce you have made for it.

It's this—the presence, absence and extent of the internality we came in the last five hundred years to call the self—that would be the common underlying subject of both essays. For the moment, this—the history of your condititioning and de-conditioning—is the chapter you are writing.

The Addiction

Even after all of these steps, however it may still seem necessary to use apps like Facebook and Instagram for the purposes of socializing with friends and family. Stopping, in principle, would be nice, but the fact is that most people that we know are all plugged into the parasite with the mind of God and it is so convenient to use these apps to communicate with them. My advice here will perhaps not satisfy every reader, but the truth is that there are other ways of communicating with people that are far easier to encrypt to guarantee privacy, and far less predatory with respect to trying to capture your attention (see the email encryption assignment that we did using GPG). Communications via email using apps like Thunderbird or Claws Mail are recommended. Of course, ultimately, it will be unavoidable during our time as law students and professionals to completely avoid using websites and apps that are invasive but there are a number of ways to curb the invasiveness. With respect to instant messaging for instance (whether it be Google hangout or messenger), OTR messaging (offtherecord) provides end-to-end encryption. Even if end-to-end encryption is not possible, you can still encrypt a significant amount of your internet usage. For example, I use EFF’s HTTPS Everywhere addon for Firefox to increase the amount of web data that you protect by forcing websites to encrypt web-pages when it’s possible. Finally, USE TOR.

COMMENT* (I am leaving a comment on my own paper! I struggled greatly writing this first draft in trying to balance whether to give more detailed technical advice or whether to speak more personally about resisting the parasite. In the end, I opted for some personal detail and did not explain how I changed my computer setup etc etc. Does this make for useful information or do you think a more technical explanation of the things that I have changed would be more useful? The reason I ask is because the 1000 word limitation was rather challenging with respect to communicating this info.)

The Awakening from Dogmatic Slumber

-- By LiasBorshan - 30 Dec 2020

Waking Up

The Addiction

Many of us have experienced that tantalizing urge to continue scrolling on Instagram or Facebook, or that intense desire to check one’s phone when the familiar ding sound indicating a notification is made. Without knowing it, many of us have been conditioned to behave this way compulsively. These tech companies make their money by capturing our attention so it is only natural that their products, through behavioral prediction, would have an addictive effect on us. In my experience, the most difficult step by far in separating myself from my technological dependence was kicking the intense addiction that I had developed. Initially, I attempted to separate myself cold turkey from using my phone at all. I turned my phone off and attempted to go as long as I could without having it on during the day or checking any of the apps I associated with my phone (Facebook messenger, etc). If I needed to do anything technologically related, it would be on my computer and it would not include This proved remarkably difficult as I felt myself having withdrawal-type symptoms and constantly reaching for a phone that was either not there or not on. I even got headaches and felt exhaustion from having to actively resist the temptation to check for updates and turn on my phone to hear the comforting ding noise of some notification on an app. One of the things I found most useful during this weaning process was reallocating my device usage from my phone to my computer. Eventually though, after 2 weeks it became far easier and the silence was such a bloody comfort. We seldom notice the extent to which our attention spans have been affected by our attention grabbing devices. I found myself being able to read for more than 30 minutes at a time without feeling immense frustration and a temptation to grab something or do something else or alt-tab to some other activity.  

Closing the door on the Parasite.

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