Strategies to avoid phone IM dominating your life...

[Sun Wukong]

[techathy]

I think one thing to be is consistent in how you deal with people. My friends know that if they message me with nothing that doesn't need an immediate answer it'll hour or so during office hours but if it's something like "I've just come off my bike on the A143 near Little Wratting, can you pick me up?" it'll be a matter of a a few minutes with an answer either way.

[Suntan Sid]

As I said earlier, You've been trained well
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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"

[techathy]

[Sun Wukong]

Also, since starting this thread, I have a different problem.

I am negotiating a contract with a businessman over whatsapp (don't get me started), and he can take 48 hours to view a message.

I think he might have the ticks disabled, but it is an absolute nightmare, because it has dragged out a negotiaton for more than a week. All dead time (no, there doesn't seem to be much I can do other that that right now).

Yes, China's use of Wechat is scary. People there really do respond instantly, at any time day or night, and expect others to do the same. Possibly another source of my nomophobia and phone IM anxiety.

Even now it is on-going. Anything I post on there gets a lot more traffic than Facebook (yay, friends).

Edit: He agreed. I has work in Malaysia
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Top cat
"Hard times lead to hard people. Hard people lead to good times. Good times lead to weak people. Weak people lead to hard times." Smegballs
"Oh and STE balloons would be one of the nicer things we would receive at the office, the amount of dog turd in jiffy bags is not funny." Jsmith86

[Suntan Sid]

[Sun Wukong]

[Sun Wukong]

Following that article, and our discussion on here in general, I really put some effort in to curtailing my fiddling.

Internet as a whole is a time sponge, but I have no wifi in my place now.. just hotspotting off my phone so much easier.

No notifications or vibrations from any IM, and just occasionally check it.

I would suggest people wear a watch, that has helped a lot

I turned chat off of my facebook as well, and because it kept turning itself back on like a needy smoke alarm, I turned chat off "for all but", now I barely ever seem online, and I can remove those who hit me up to much.

And previous needy friend is still a good friend, but we are not using Messenger at all (I sound like a teenager... ) and just occasionally using skype or sending proper emails.

So much more "free" time now.
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Top cat
"Hard times lead to hard people. Hard people lead to good times. Good times lead to weak people. Weak people lead to hard times." Smegballs
"Oh and STE balloons would be one of the nicer things we would receive at the office, the amount of dog turd in jiffy bags is not funny." Jsmith86

[Sload]

I have always found if you continually fail to respond within 24 hours, your life gets quieter. It also helps to not be polite all the time.

Depends how much gratification you need.
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Honda Varadero >> Triumph Speed Four >> Honda CBR1100xx

[Sun Wukong]

[Sload]

That article was interesting. I do have that problem, Chase stimulus like an addict clucking for a fix, don't like sitting doing nothing. Might try out some stuff to chill me out a bit.
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Honda Varadero >> Triumph Speed Four >> Honda CBR1100xx

[Derivative]

Yeah, I just don't.

If I actually want to speak to someone, or someone actually wants to speak to me, they call me. If they really do, we go for a nice walk or imbibe.

I actually enjoy turning off the phone. Reading books for example - you can't immerse yourself in the world of 1800 if you're reminded of the existence of Facebook every other minute.

I think it's a bit like junk food. Cake has me wanting more, then more, then more. After a few days off the stuff apples are tasty again, but without the craving.

[Sun Wukong]

Wow, really impressed with my improvement over the last month.

Nuked Facebook off phone, a couple of stern chats, and a procrastination blocker on my computer (StayFocused) has made a big difference.

I also turned off chat for all but the 2 or 3 people I would like to catch up with whenever they're online, none of which are overly needy/determined to keep a conversation going for the sake of it.

I still want to check Facebook last thing at night or stuff, but my computer munched all my phone data pretty quickly this month, so I've not been able to surf. Have had no problem ignoring Facebook for 12 hours at a time.

[I'm starting to think it is actually Windows 10 blocking Chrome, because Chrome is barely running, but Edge is running beautifully... Windows 10, the subtle evil.]

I just went through and gentrified my facebook/locked most content, friend or not, and barely post on there. Feed in less, pull out less. Most of my friends have been unfollowed, so now I can skim through it in 10 minutes. I just nuked off a load of apps as well.

Scary that it has got to this point though, isn't it.... ?
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Top cat
"Hard times lead to hard people. Hard people lead to good times. Good times lead to weak people. Weak people lead to hard times." Smegballs
"Oh and STE balloons would be one of the nicer things we would receive at the office, the amount of dog turd in jiffy bags is not funny." Jsmith86

[The Disapproving Brit]

I used to regularly get complaints along the lines of "you didn't read my facebook message" or "you never replied to my text". My response has always been the same: "My phone is there for MY convenience, not yours. I'll look at messages, read emails and answer calls on my own schedule. If I'm doing something else, or even if I'm doing nothing else but can't be arsed to answer my phone, I won't. If you've sent me a text and it requires a response, you'll get one when it's convenient for me to send it. If it doesn't require a response, you probably won't get one."
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Current Bikes: 1983 Honda VF400FD / 2003 Honda VT750 Shadow
Bike Test Passed 18/03/09, Car Test Passed 14/05/13