Hacking the attention economy - do we have weak willpower or is the algorithm this good?

Digital connectivity has brought so many good things including connection, work opportunities, and access to knowledge and resources.

But we can not turn a blind eye to the challenges that access and growing connectivity have also brought. The need to be always on, that dopamine kick we get from scrolling through reels, following social media or show drama or just obsessing over a hashtag. The algorithm is that good, and there is a need to hack and contest it.

I like to engage my friends to know how they are keeping up. And here is a growing list of how people are keeping up, or hacking the constant connectivity. I will continue adding as more come through.

• Deleting the apps from the phone

• Time-boxed disconnection - Have curfew hours when they can be online

• Turning the internet off

• Total disconnection by going offline for days, mostly by traveling to remote places

• Increasing the friction of access

  • Through distance - Having the phone in another room

  • Grayscale and setting time limits for apps

  • Using blockers that restrict them from accessing certain sites

• Curating their media - unfollowing on socials, hacking the algorithm recommendations through the options provided (eg do not recommend channel)

• Having a feature phone

• Doing digital sabbath - Having a day without internet access, mostly on Sundays.

• Never signing up - eg some never got onto Tikitok

• Engaging in offline activities on weekends - eg going hiking for hours

• Doing more with their hands - eg cooking complex meals that have them occupied and no time to be on the phone

• ……. more to come