Early Retirement Extreme Forums

How do I do that? The goal is to create a structure around not looking at email more often than once a day, but instead have all e-mails arrive at, say, 10 AM every day.

There is!

Only start your mail agent/program once a day, e.g. at 10 AM.

On an android it is easy to set up syncing of email once per day or even manually. Also, Jacob's suggestion seems foolproof if you have the discipline.

jacob wrote:There is!

Only start your mail agent/program once a day, e.g. at 10 AM.

And make sure you turn off all notifications.

Don't take this too far if other people are depending on you. I had a manager that batched email and often wouldn't reply until a certain day of the week. Progress ground to a halt.

OTCW wrote:On an android it is easy to set up syncing of email once per day or even manually. Also, Jacob's suggestion seems foolproof if you have the discipline.

I'm using an iPhone 5. Anyway, yeah, I'd rather create resilient structures rather than rely on discipline alone; I think that strategy is more effective in creating new habits.~

jacob wrote:There is!

Only start your mail agent/program once a day, e.g. at 10 AM.

But Jacob, you use the internet 16/24

I'm trying to use it significantly less often and more deliberately (i.e. placing my laptop and phone in a drawer or bottom of my bag turned off until I need it, and replacing that time with books, hw, ppl, non-online hobbies, etc.)

For iphone you will need to play with a combination of settings within email fetch schedule and the "do not disturb" function to suppress alerts. You could always set the email schedule to "manual" so it will only send you emails when you open the app yourself. But in all honesty the source of the issue is you. Doesn't matter what systems you put in place if you're determined to circumvent them to indulge your email addiction.

I've started putting my phone in a zipped pocket in my bag. I find myself wanting to check it.

A sign of dependence? Anxiety? And this is for someone without social media besides e-mail, messenger, and video calling. Jeez.

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Also of importance, I wonder if there's a way to eliminate Youtube's automatic video examples when we first open the webpage. This often results in following a trail of random videos far too often. I've concluded that most social media and most mobile apps are deliberately created to be addictive sadly (more time spent on them = more $$ for developers). Perhaps computers and mobile devices should only be used in a functional role when a problem needs to be solved, rather than when one would like to surf or passively use time.

I have my emails on my iPhone come through only when I manually check them. Then I choose to only check them when I want. Stops them distracting me while in the middle of a conversation or at work or anything.

Olaz wrote:Also of importance, I wonder if there's a way to eliminate Youtube's automatic video examples when we first open the webpage. This often results in following a trail of random videos far too often.

I had to go out and look at the YouTube webpage when I read this, because I've never opened it without following a link or googling something like "how to prune cherry trees". Sure enough: there is a suggested trail to follow, but I strongly doubt its randomness. This seems like complaining that Costco puts expensive and/or distributor-subsidized yummy foods in your shopping path and offers free samples.

You're obviously a smart guy. Part of staying smart is deliberately choosing what to feed your brain. Would you come out of a gas station with cheesy-sauce nachos, cigarettes and cherry Coke just because those were at the cash register when you went in to buy gas? Sellers will never stop selling. It's up to you not to buy.

*Note: just smack me upside my smug head if there's something I don't get about this. I don't spend a lot of time on YouTube, due to crappy metered internet connection. If you want to limit your online habit, just pay through the nose for a slow connection.