Digital Detox: Why digital should become #analoged!
It was Friday again, and we were hosting our latest TGIF Brownbag session the topic: Digital Detox!
And for all of you who’d like to try it out yourself, check out Indiegogo! You can get Myndset for less than a ladies haircut!
Have you ever heard of Digital Detox?
I’m pretty sure one of your colleagues, friends or family has once mentioned that he or she would like to perform Digital Detox this weekend, meaning no Smartphone, computer or whatsoever. Right after you called them a crazy hipster, you felt it right there heavy on your shoulders: guilt! You’re guilty of touching your smartphone more often than your spouse or children, checking your Emails daily after work instead of calling your parents, and setting your alarm clock on your phone instead of using a damn standard alarm clock, duh!
So, how much time do you spend behind your smartphone display, and is any of that still good for you?
It’s probably a bit pretentious of us digital natives and gaming nerds to actually start this topic, but also ask you to read this in a digital format here on Medium. But in the end, it’s always about the number of hours spent behind your displays, and we certainly hope you’re using Medium responsibly.
The increased digitization, availability of global networks, and information that the information era offers us do come at a high cost for our lives. Researches have even identified a chemical brain imbalance due to heavy smartphone usage, so it is becoming more and more important to declare war to the battle of your time and consider a Digital Detox!
After explaining our cards in more detail, we started our session right away with the following cards:
Vision Card: CHANGE IT
Technology Card: KISS IT
Mindset Card: THE YOUNGSTER
Emotion cards: OWNERSHIP, BEING EPIC, AVOID LOSS
Presentation card: ACT IT
We don’t always need to be against everything, but I wonder why our generation is not acting a bit more rebellious against the obvious wrongdoings, just like our Youngsters as Greta Thunberg?
The Youngster is native to digital — dial plate telephones, Kodak Film and PlayStation controllers with non-optional cables have never existed in their world. And if you think right now: „OMG, 😱 what are you talking about?!“ Then you’re most certainly part of Generation „Youngster.“
You’re always online, always available, you’re texting your friends via WhatsApp and YouTube just casually runs on your smartphone all day, after your favorite E-Sport hero went off-line on Twitch. You’re on the verge being more present in the digital world, that cities feel the need to install traffic lights on the ground floor. You guys really are SMOMBIES!
Yes, Smartphone Zombies!
We talk a lot about Mindfulness and our struggles to put healthy habits in place, like spending less time on our smartphones, or computers. There are indeed many dangers that come with using these devices like increased levels of anxiety and depression, poor sleep or increased risk of car injury or death. Apple has recently implemented an App that will send us weekly statistics about our iPhone Usage during the week, without even asking us. While this seems to be making sense, we need to remind ourselves that we’re not only available for our family and friends but also for our employer. Working hours are no longer from 9–5 but more like 24/7 (most of that unpaid) due to the number of Emails we receive and are expected to respond or acknowledge. So, what’s all of that doing to us and would have any of that ever happened to us in an analog world?
#analoged
After discussing back and forth about decision fatigue, the Pareto rule, and offices in parks, we were finally going somewhere — we were becoming analoged!
We’re probably never going to be a Marina Abramovic, but our performance would definitely provoke some thoughts. Instead of just a simple idea, this time we’d like to initiate a movement that would question all of our doings, we have normalized in a digital world. Because it is not normal to emotionally reduce dating to a level where you could easily compare it to a car purchase. It is not normal to see families eating out and instead of having a conversation, casually scrolling through their smartphones. The things we’re doing will often be considered normal until you put them out of context, and in our case, we transfer them to our analog world!
Since our target group is the youngster, we’d like to motivate him to think about the things he’s doing all day online and transfer them to our analog world. He’ll be part of a movement and will fear losing something if he does not participate.
We actually had so much fun creating our ideas, that we created 4 1/2 ideas on the way.
Tinderlane
Have you ever used Tinder before? The app suggests users to you that are looking for dates. By swiping to the left or to the right, you decide if you think the person is rather not exciting or if you’re open for a conversation. If both parties swipe right, you have a match, will be notified and you’re able to exchange messages. Sounds great, right? But… Think for a moment about the whole concept of Tinder in an analog way — Imagine our users standing on escalators passing each other in opposite directions while holding up signs for „Yes please!“, and „Nope.“ They’d be actually looking in the faces of the people while „swiping,“ and will have to endure the stares or smiles of their opposite. How does „Swiping“ feel in the real world, and how de-personified has dating really become?
Smombie
Ever played a shooter like counter strike before? The analog version of this would probably be Laser Tag and is available in all major cities worldwide. I still can’t believe that this exciting and physically challenging game never made it to Twitch! Things like leaderboards, kill feed and achievements have been implemented anyway, so all we’d need would be GoPros and Cameras in the arena to get started. Of course it would be awesome to receive rewards for our real life exhaustion in the digital world like exclusive cosmetics or achievements etc. in our favorite games, but for now, it would be amazing to have the opportunity to watch real-life Laser Tag games live on Twitch!
Twittar Pillar
Remember the advertising pillars? It was those huge pillars made of concrete back in the 90s we’d be notified about the latest Metallica concert in our area or where political parties would post their election pledge. Today we’re walking past those things without ever paying attention. So what if we’d change that and make those pillars great again by adding purpose and content that we’d like to consume? We will create analog content that everyone who passes by can consume or add, like Polaroids, text or whatever they prefer. Can’t wait for internet trolls to react on these posts ;-)
Recoman
E-Commerce platforms trust the performance of recommendations like „Other customers bought: Bananas!“ on their platforms. Just imagine how it would be if an actual human being would act like this while you’re out for grocery shopping — like adding cheese to your wine or following you to fruit aisle asking if you’d like to add strawberries. Sounds weird? Yes, it should be!
Recoman#2
What if we could implement recommendations to our local store? Have you ever been out grocery shopping and wondered while this Soy Milk is much more expensive then the other, but didn’t really understand why and were unsure if it’d be worth paying this extra bucks? Because — there were no recommendations! It’s hard to compare these items with no one around who has ever tried them out before, and there are just soooo many items in the store, how could the staff really try them all? This is where Recoman, second of his name comes in, a button that will be implemented as part of the digital price tags, which many of our stores use already. This way, you could instantly see how many smileys, stars, or other signs of deliciousness your soy milk has received, and immediately know that your bucks are well invested or just a waste of money!
You might ask what #analoged could change? If right now by reading this text, you were thinking of just one more example that would look silly or disturbing if performed in the „real world, “ then it has already changed something for you! If it’s just one more reason to think of a more responsible way to deal with our generationwide smartphone addiction than we have already reached the finish line and won the race. But right now we’re out for a real detox, because thanks to #analoged character movement, we urgently need a little energy boost to be competitive in our local Laser Tag Arena! ;-)
If you want to join us next time to create awesome ideas with us, follow us and tune in on Twitch, Facebook, or YouTube every Friday from 12 to 1pm.
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Process:
10 min. Intro
5 min. Topic Introduction
30 min. Ideation
10 min. Summary
So go ahead, tell us what you think either as a comment or at info@myndset.cards.
