Minimalism go brrrrr. Your assignment: try spending however much time you spend on your phone/whatever working on something creative for the next 7 days. Become a Patron ► venustheory.com/patrons Samples and Presets ► venustheory.com/store My Latest Decent Sampler Instrument ► bit.ly/Bitscape95
Sorry, at times it's totally OK to "just consume" and "not be creative", and sleep a lot and take things a bit slower ... or not at all? There will be other times when things go better, run smoother. Life goes on. I do have "do not disturb" on ALL THE TIME though, I always have my phone on mute and usually never pick up calls but answer them when I HAVE TIME, I often forget my phone in the other room - and then pick it up deliberately after 2 hours of work because "I deserve a break" or need to zone out ... So I guess it's something in between "being a lazy millenial with a lot of guilt" and "having a work ethic that doesn't kill me within the next 5 years". 😉
I've been spending more time being creative in the kitchen, trying to eat better and avoid highly processed foods. I made lasagna a few days ago, after watching some guides on UA-cam. Best damn lasagna I've ever had.
getting off socials was one of the best things i ever did. amazing how much more productive, creative, and what skills you can learn when you don't drop multiple hours on your phone everyday. My boss thinks I'm a genius but I just have the whole day to study lol. Watch your screen time! Most of the world is pretty addicted and you get a huge advantage
Never been a big social guy but definitely agree - productivity is through the roof just by not sitting there reading an article or looking at tutorials/forums and all that sort of stuff.
Me, too. Started with Facebook in 2018, then Instagram a year later. I never did use....er, whatever that thing was that Elon Musk bought. As for UA-cam, I limit my watching to the few channels that deal with my interests and I delete everything else as it comes in. My rule there is that if it's from a channel I haven't subscribed to, I click on the Do Not Show Me Content from This Channel control. It can't stop all the other channels that are just like it, but the more of these channels I remove from my....whatever, the fewer of them seem to show up. One more tip: always clear your Watch History and Liked Videos from UA-cam.
What you’re describing is what Steven Pressfield calls ‘Resistance’ in a series of books starting with “The War of Art”. He essentially outlines how it (resistance) will do anything to stop you from deviating from the Status Quo and kill any sign of creative urge. His solution is to treat it like an enemy, understand it and where it comes from and go to war against it. It may sound cheesy but so far it has worked for me. I’m still struggling but at least I know how to recognise it and call out my own bullshit when I let it control me.
You happened to drop this video at the exact moment I was wasting my precious time on UA-cam watching interesting, but ultimately useless videos instead of learning about synthesis and composing like I had planned yesterday. Thank you.
I'm a 62 year old boomer, I work in technology, and I have to walk that line too. I have definitely allowed WOW and GW2 and Conan Exiles etc. usurp my time as well. I had to double down on music to get out. Yeah and going out too. I live in the desert, no excuse to stay in after work.
It is extremely satisfying to see people come around to living intentionally in order to free themselves from the trappings of consumer culture. So much of everything you describe here is not so much about disconnecting or being minimalist, but about setting healthy boundaries between yourself and the sea of constant distractions engineered to manipulate and entrap you. By adding intent driven selectivity you create a natural filter for things that reward you for cultivating your own life which in turn creates a virtuous cycle of growth. This development has the added benefit of strengthening your resolve, reducing stress, and feeds your creative energy rather than drains it. You absolutely nailed all the critical elements of this and I hope it continues to reinvigorate all of your life. I am by no means any expert but I can confidently say you have unlocked one of the gates of nirvana and I look forward to your journey through it. Live well, good sir. There is no other life worth living.
I love that your channel is leaning more into “creative UA-cam” than specifically music UA-cam. Obviously I love music, and I love your videos on the subject. But at the same time, these kinds of videos have inspired me to engage in more than just music for a creative outlet. Filmmaking/cinematography, writing, graphic design, all of it. Thanks for being an inspiration man 🙂
In Buddhism there is talk of hot boredom and cool boredom. The former is the restless feeling of needing to get away from whatever is going on in our brains and emotion, but cool boredom, apart from being cool, is where we begin to appreciate the joyful ease of not having our dopamine receptors smashed with useless stimuli. The latter is where my creative flow truly arises
This video really resonates with me, as over the years I've experienced symptoms comparable to an addiction. I found that it takes a lot of discipline to scale things back down to the bare essentials and actually learn to enjoy isolation as a way to boost productivity. Cutting distractions, as well as selecting only a handful of tools instead of scrolling through folders and folders of stuff I end up not even using in my music, is helping me immensely.
Im glad im not alone fighting with this new era of digital chaos. 😂 I went down the hard way and closed my internet provider for 6 months. 1 month in already wish me luck😂 cool video!🎉 Watching this on my lunch break at work ❤
After a lot of experimentation, I discovered that both Android and Iphone have parental controls, so my old phone became my parent phone with a password and my regular phone had all the candy crack blocked. On Android it can even block specific websites. That way I can have all the important things like maps running freely instead of buying a dumphone or minimalism apps that only ever seem to partially work.
There have been some studies about how multitasking can be bad for the brain, so once you learn about that, it gets somewhat easy to understand why your mind is so tired and "foggy" at the end of the day. I used to have to do multitasking for my job (not music-related, which is just a hobby), but managed to streamline it a lot, and it helped immensely with my brain's stamina. The thing about being bored every once in a while is also important, and I think there have also been studies showing that being bombard by information all the time is bad. It's healthy to have nothing to do sometimes and _not_ being bombarded by endless stimuli. It's nice that you found out about this.
A while ago I got a small pillow I placed on my desk just as decoration, I discovered that since I keep my phone on vibrate when I put it on that pillow it silences my phone completely. I've been checking it so much less when at my computer now its amazing.
Huh. I have a large like 'whole desk' mousepad that actually does the same sort of thing and I don't know that I've ever thought about that until now. That's actually a great little hack haha.
I sometimes see comments about why I like hardware synths when everything is so instant in Fruity or Ableton... But the amount of mastering tutorials that I get served here is a good reminder. I just adjust the eq and compression on my mixer a bit and everything is good. The fact each piece of gear is rather limited compared to a high end vst lets me know what each box excels at rather than just getting overwhelmed with endless settings
Well said Cameron. One of THE worst things to kill your motivation is jumping on your phone as soon as you wake up; it starts you chasing the 'bad' dopamine all day. You're much better off going outside, getting sun in your eyes & walking. And thanks for the Unkook app tip = game changer!
Good on you. We could all benefit from a little bit of minimalism. Multitasking is overrated, especially when there is a high output of ideas, content, etc. I'm glad you are finding a balance with all of this madness.
I greatly appreciate these little reminders to live life instead of watching it happen. I spent the 90s and 00s trying to fix what I thought was wrong with my life by applying more and more complicated digital tools to my work, my organizing, my time management, and my hobbies, and the biggest realization I came to is that I was spending more time trying to find the perfect digital workflow than I was accomplishing anything. Productivity porn is insidious enough, and pouring algorithmically sticky social media content over the top creates a layer cake of disappointment, helplessness, and depression. Though it hurts to see the next generation struggling with the same crap, but greatly amplified, it's also heartwarming to see folks like you figuring this stuff out much sooner in your life than I did. Humans gotta human, and I'm always happy to see and share tips on improving the quality of humaning we all do.
You can use B&wW filter on iphone too! Go to settings -> accessibility -> screen and text size -> color filters. You can assign that to the double tap on the back of the phone so you can restore it whenever.
I often find myself scrambling to find a youtube video or podcast related to music production to listen to while I "get work done," just to find that I was creating a growing obsession trying to collect as much information as I could just so I could have something to do. And it turns out well over half of that information was pointless and not crucial to my journey as a musician. Thank you for reminding me it's okay to be bored, and to rise above the dangerous habit I was practicing.
There's a lot say about this, but instead I'll just commend you for being one of the only guys whose background music actually adds to the video instead of making it worse!
Watching this video on my phone while procrastinating instead of doing what I've planned to do afterwork for my self-development is the biggest controversy I've experienced in a long time...
Boredom and idleness have a bad reputation - for absolutely no good reason! At least I am not aware of any good one. Looking out a window without any intention and feeling this weird something creeping up to you can be both, challenging and satisfying at the same time. At least that’s my personal experience. (Yeah, the one writing a comment for a UA-cam video. I am aware of the spot I find myself in, at least at this very moment.) The fantastic thing about boredom and idleness is that (from my experience) can make ideas become more clear, even if they are tiny at first glance. And when you feel bored enough, that feeling of happiness when returning to something like your studio (what ever that might be or look like, it doesn’t really matter) and pickup something 'unfinished' or just try something new, different, whatever … I say, it’s worth it, it’s worth trying. Good luck everyone. - And Cam: Nice video, thanks for that one!
Well, I can think of *a couple reasons* why boredom is bad for me. It's, uh... not pretty, trust me (haha mental illness go brrr). But boredom and idleness aren't the same. Sometimes, just looking through a window is not boring, it's just calming. Walking outside with no aim or purpose, can be boring, or it can not be. And when it's not, it feels amazing. And it tends to clear my mind. I realize that over half of the best melodies, chord progressions, etc. that I came up with, were while I was away from my computer. Something else I can recommend, is to listen to your own tracks while walking outside. Gives you a whole new perspective on them, and I find it allows me to notice glaring sound balance/texture issues that I barely notice when I've been working for a while.
As someone who is dealing with burnout right now, I needed to see this. My phone is a box of distractions, and I think it would really help me to not use it so much.
I deeply appreciate that you're talking about this! I can especially relate to the UA-cam thing. It's been a real struggle for me for years (I even wrote a song about it in 2014) and I would just watch hours upon hours of content. Last year, I managed to do a five month UA-cam cleanse. It was great and ever since then, I can go for days without watching UA-cam, sometimes I even forget to check it for new videos.
I don't know what your stats say, but I think these are your strongest videos - pillar content that pulls on your greatest strength, your personality. I've been waching from another account for years and I still want to see your sound design videos and I love your personal studio and software content, but I think YOU are coming through most strongly in this type of video.
Crazy. I deleted my socials a few weeks ago and everything you've said here I relate to so much. My phone turned me into a sad uncreative asshole and it almost killed me. I'm glad I'm back from that place cause for the firs time in a long time I can say I love myself and that I'm so much more capable and creative than I ever gave myself credit for.
Thank you Cameron. I have felt stuck creatively for the least year now. I look back on something I have made previously and don’t know how I did it. I get stuck doing sound design for days on end trying to get a single part just right and keep feeling like I’m doing it wrong. Then pick up my phone and veg out for hours. Swirl some depression into the mix because I feel I can’t do anything productive. This was relatable. Thank you for your tips.
Limiting the sandbox in my expeirence has really helped me learn about what is important to me in a song in regards to digital minimalism and creativity. Using the Dirtywave M8 has been immensely helpful in making me more conscious of the resources I use putting more intent behind what I am doing. Since its a DAW in a box basically I can completely disconnect from social media when I work.
My phone is always on silent. Not vibrate, but don't forget where you put it silent. I have an old pebble smartwatch I got as an experiment because I can't feel my phone vibrate, but I can feel the watch tap my wrist. It has additional powers that let me make it silent whenever I'm working or likely to get a junk call, and I went know I missed a notification until I switch it back on or wonder what time it is. I also divided my devices into their jobs- my phone has socials and all the communication stuff but very few games and although I have music trackers for scratch pad I haven't used my phone this way for a couple years. A tablet is for streaming audio and video and reading books, it's basically a carry anywhere TV. No social apps on it at all. The PC is for creative use only. I will sometimes use the browser to look things up quickly or to post something I just created to social, but I won't surf, scroll, or browse. I like the notion of visiting with intent, even if that intent is to consume, that means you're going to search and not just take the auto timeline. I think that plug in you showed enforces this
Excellent video on a vital topic! I've been attempting to do similar things and it helps to clear away mental clutter and cobwebs. Setting limits for time wasted on social media (as well as deleting contacts which you don't really have reasons to be connected to, etc.) helps me feel more free. One thing I do is put my phone somewhere out of reach / out of mind and I tend to eventually forget about it and focus more on what I should be doing. I reward myself with a little bit of time to scroll or read what I wanted to read, but limit myself when I do (or try my best to do so). I turn my wi-fi off on my phone too at times to help kill the temptation
Great video and it's gave me a kick up the arse I needed. I bought a new house and I had no studio set up and instead of building my studio back I got into the routine off watching UA-cam instead. I'd goto work,get home have dinner then id go into my empty room and couldn't envisage how to rebuild my old studio in my new space. I'd get frustrated because the room dimensions weren't the same and would put it off and chill out watching UA-cam instead. Then finally my wife forced me too build it ,once I'd built it my computer then died !! It took over a month too get it repaired and yet again I'd be watching UA-cam. I got everything working and installed about 2 months ago but my creativity has gone through the window. Before I moved I'd get home from work,spend time with family but would always spend a few hours in my studio each day..I was creating everyday and loved it but now because I've got out of my routine Ive been second guessing and taking UA-cam advice which has had me second guessing my work and took my focus away from creating. Starting tommorow my phone will be off more often and I'll be trying to get back into my old routines..thanks Cameron ❤
Your videos have honestly gotten better and better. Thanks to your videos, I’ve changed the way I make music and live life. Please keep doing these type of videos. We need them more than you know.
Oh, the whole "getting stuck on youtube or facebook or similar, and suddenly having wasted most of the day, and not having done anything creative." Yeah, I know the feeling. I kind of have to keep my phone close, as my dad goes a bit nuts if he can't get hold of me (i.e. if I don't answer on messenger within a few minutes) at any time of day. I've tried being very conscious of my content consumption recently, and I've managed to finish one song, and written a few dozen pages on my book project, so I think that simply being more conscious of what and why, really helps.
This is important. Another helpful step is to minimise your options. Have a minimal set of plugins and vsts installed. Remove unnecessary toolbars, menus etc in your Daw. Sometimes I'd like a daw with just play, rec, stop and rewind.
Thank you. I needed this video. It made me realize where my own obsession came from; how this doom scrolling started with me. So I'm taking action today. Here's to finishing projects.
I'm glad you're talking about this, because this is important. I don't want an abundance of distractions in between myself and creative work either. The "Gaslighting myself into believing that I can't do creative work while mindlessly browsing online" concept is very real to me.
The youtude extension is a life saver!!!! Thanks a lot!!! Im in uni and use youtube a bit so that i can learn about some topics but always end up with a bunch of different tabs open and hours later overwhelmed like u said. Great video thanks! One thing im trying is getting some more intencional distractions like play the guitar for 10 min(im learning) or maybe go outside in the sun for a bit. Something that does not lead me into an infinite fictional reward loop
You have this knack of coming up with content that’s absolutely appropriate for my current state of mind. Thanks for keeping my feet on the ground! Cheers Dave
I eliminated everything except UA-cam on my phone. And I disabled the comments on YT so I never have to deal with humans….at all…..ever. I'm 50 and life is good!!
Good advices! My little piece of advice as well, if you wanna try, people: find your old phone and upload there only necessary stuff like maps, browser, whatever you really need on a daily basis except distracting apps. That way you have a fully functional device to meet the needs of our modern world and you are separated from this endless stream of information and dopamine addiction, it makes much easier separating from it for for me, hope it may help you as well.
Lots of food for thought here! I have tried (unsuccessfully) many times to remove devices from my bedroom. But within a week I'm back to doom scrolling in bed. You gave a lot of sage advice here that I'm going to try. The notifications, app deletion, and focus mode seem simple enough, but far easier said than done. The FOMO is real when it comes to this. But I find myself missing being bored, missing the place where abstract thought begins. Thanks for making this, very thoughtful and well framed.
It's funny timing, because I've been thinking about exactly this just in the last few days... Now I just need to do the hardest part of all, and motivate myself to accept, and start, this whole idea for myself...
Somewhere on the ADD/ADHD spectrum, I very-recently retired from a 50+ year daily worklife, with the last 44 years spent in high-intensity, public/client facing roles. The constant need to multi-task in this working environment fit perfectly within the boundaries of my attention-limited persona. However, over time, my ability to train my focus on things, like reading or creating music or art, heck even watching an hour-long episode of an enjoyable Netflix serial, became less possible as the years wore on. Constant interruptions from a plethora of digital devices simply aggravated and exacerabted this trauma. However, with my exit from the "Corporate Hamster Wheel" I, like VT, have turned-off 98% of "Notifications" and have found myself mentally "breathing" for the first time in like...forever. So much so that I'm endeavoring to develop a daily Meditation Practice, something I was NEVER heretofore able to do. Like the title of a SPHONGLE tune: "Nothing is Something Worth Doing"! Cheers!
Re: Bedtime Mode on Android, there’s an awesome option for iOS users. Turn on Accessibility Shortcut (triple tap the side button), set it to Color Filters, which is set to greyscale by default. Quick way to take the color out of your display, and make the whole thing more boring.
Thanks for your provocativeness! I wrote a song called, " Caught Up in It." It seems like being caught up in it, is a good thing and a bad thing. Your insights demonstrate how easy it is to get stuck in a Rabbit Hole as you call it. I appreciate your talents, and also appreciate you caring enough to try to point out our obsessions, and how they maybe destroying our creativity. Keep up the great work.
UA-cam is about all that causes me any friction these days. I used to doom scroll a lot, and I didn’t really make it a conscious choice to stop, but the anxiety just got so bad it sort of happened organically. Though as far as time wasting goes, I’m not really doing less of that, I just do it in and around a DAW, and idk how much better that actually is.
Awesome video. I’ve personally been attempting to minimize for the last couple months, and adding the screen time widget to my Home Screen to see how much time I’ve spent on my phone was a big help. I don’t like setting strict limits, like maybe I want to listen to a video at work which my phone sees as several hours of screen-on use, but being cognizant of the time was a good step for me.
Nicely designed, excellently written, shot and edited, and the message, at least, for me, gives food for thought. Thank you for creating this video, well worth watching! ❤
I also recommend checking out Cal Newport, who talks about deep work. He’s a big preacher for keeping focus for long stretches of time and minimizing distractions.
I use 'minimalist phone' for android, which is a super minimal wrap, that is b&w, lists apps in alphabetical and you can nominate what apps are accessible via home screen. Mine just shows a clock, date, and links to weather, voice recorder and spotify. So even when I'm out, I can still remain focused unless choose otherwise.
Hello! Always loved your channel. It like being at a fire-fighters conference without being allowed to talk about WATER. You never talk UA-camrs never talk About Money. Period.
I came to the same realization about a year ago as I found myself a consumer of too much "junk content", and passive is the delivery mode. It hit me waiting at the doctors for my appointment. Everyone was on their phone. It was the realization that I was now disconnected from the matrix. Now I can observe the addiction, but I'm not part of it anymore. Hope there a time in the future when this format and how it is administered is found out for what it is.
Amazing stuff man. I'll be adding this to my newsletter in a few weeks, as I think you've hit the nail on the head with a REALLY big obstacle getting in the way of people's creativity and mental clarity. Appreciate these videos! 🙌
I haven't had a smartphone in about 5 years. My studio has no WiFi. I like it that way, but my brain still finds ways of ridiculising its own ideas. Learning that that seems to be a common thing might help me going forward though. Thanks.
Sometimes the easiest way is to put your phone in silence mode. If your job doesn't require you to be on the phone for emergency calls - you can easily silence it and that's it. I do this even though probably I shouldn't due to my job but I started to care less about other things except myself.
This video saved my life man, i was with a real problem with youtube on my computer, always when have a to search something, then i see something that intrest me and after 2hrs i wars in a black hole, was realy a sucks, thank you very much for this video. im starting to produce content and soon i will start to post, hope that we can someday do something together.
great topic, Cameron. Thats for sure something i've been struggling with. Good to see that more people are actually trying to do something and create healthier environments for both themselves and help others. I have a suggestion, not necessarily for a full YT video, but would you mind sharing some takes on ergonomics? the way to balance the Sound design (mouse) with the composing (piano/keyboard) setup. thanks
Hi there @Venustheory! This is a really pivotal video in trying to fix everything distracting from..yourself. It's a long time since I'm feeling I'm not doing nothing specia with my music which probabaly is, whilst by the end of 90s mid 00's my means was so poor I almost regret all the goals I achieved. NOwadays, daws are so filled with choices, the internet is so full of "answer" which I agree with you, lead to a feeling of "thinking not to be good enough" in playing a synth, coming up with ideas, everyone's ideas which could be so unique. In the end, at least for me, I stopped producing, playing something at all. What I came up with? UA-cam: only for "sharing experiences" video; Social: dropped off of Insta and my REAL social relationship got better (no need to stare at the phone wating for something that will never come, probably); INTERNET (as a connection): not in the room where I'm playing. I'm now having a same kind of fun as 20 years ago. Thanks for this video. Just wanted to share these few lines. Thought all that the above was not a problem but for me. Now I know it's not. Hugs
Related to the video subject, Anytime I realize I am on an app/area with 'endless scroll' I immediately inventory if I'm doing anything productive with it (so far, always a NO). Additionally, nice quiet 'Jameson Nathan Jones' shout out. It's always fun to see one of my UA-camrs watching another one of my UA-camrs (Yes I claim ownership, apparently).
You know, i came here to learning music theory and i started with Bitwig and i found a video for beginners! But sir, i can say i more thankful these videos to You. Actually it helped me lot more a making music! You are awesome!
Great video as usual. Two more tips: Eliminate as many email subscriptions as you can. Remove yourself from unnecessary social media groups (better yet, don't join them at all!). Lots of distracting fluff out there.
Sooo I’m lining up with your content right now. Been feeling exactly like this…I started studying music theory when I would use socials. If I post..I post then I LEAVE. I get off the app. I decided to stop using tiktok as often. my creativity has been soooo much better.
In the Google/UA-cam settings, you can also disable your watch history. Then you won't see anything on the homescreen anymore. That way, I can focus on the ones I've subscribed to, e.g. you. Still have the recommended videos list on the right side though...
another great tip for youtube addicts is watching EVERY clip on full screen mode (you are in the page you are EXCLUSIVELY to watch the video, so just do thisand nothing else)
You can use a dedicated computer in place of a phone. I only boot it when I want to receive calls and notifications at the apartment. My phone is only for navigation and informative text. I rarely use a smartphone. They're actually dumb. Take 1-2 mile walks through nature or reminiscent places. Get a Bowflex or something like that.
What? An American using an Android phone? Smart! I have very few apps that I have whitelisted for notifications and none of them are social media as I don't use social media. Makes a huge difference.
Here's a nice youtube habit I picked up - if it looks like there's a video you want to watch, which you didn't come to the site to see, put it in a playlist to watch later - I found this list is often full of junk and helps not keep me on the site longer than planned
Its a balance for me. Without the internet I wouldn't be doing music now that im 50 years old. All I use my phone for is remote control for Logic Pro and lyrics ive written . I lwatch UA-cam if Im i,m too tired (or stoned) or need to use a specific technique . For me when I have an idea its sometimes been rattling around in my head all day and I just have to get it out so its doesn't matter about the production just the concept to begin with. Despite my 2 years at audio engineering college I have little patience for listening to isolated pieces of music for hours EQ ing and compression etc it just makes me tired. So my mixes are OK but sound rough and ready but I get happy accidental harmonies meanings and hidden harmonies due to my rushed and sloppy work flow.
i have a 15 minute timer (per day) for Instagram, after that I can't open the app. that has saved so many pointless hours of doom scrolling and watching funny shorts about skateboarding piglets. and the b&w mode at bedtime is a great help, too. oh, and no facebook on my phone for the past 6 years or so has really helped my mental health, if not my actual productivity.
I was well on my way into a much more screen-free intentionality-focused lifestyle, and then I had kids For the last five years the new frontier in the battle for my attention has been the fact that the only me-time I can manage to find is zombie dad me-time. When the kids are asleep there’s nothing left of me to do the intentional good things with, no attention for studies, no creative juice. I try to be the good dad who isn’t on their phone all day so I get to savor that creativity-inducing boredom a lot anyhow, but when there’s time left for me, the only activity that I have the means to commit to is passive intake, and wow does the phone beckon in those moments. However, when I find myself wrestling with whether to stare at the screen or not, my conclusion lately is that if I’m too tired to do anything at all, and trying to keep myself artificially awake by watching more UA-cam, I usually go to sleep. So I guess that’s the status report: these days I mostly just sleep! Honestly, it’s not so bad
Digital minimalism as someone who relies on assistive technology is HARD. I’m trying super hard, and I’m due a refresh for sure. I’ve cut out the news, I just don’t care. Ableton Note and KORG Gadget are my phone fidgets, and I spend more time drawing and listening to audiobooks. I need to just get off of more distractions and set up more focus stuff. Right now I’m in total limbo in a lot of ways. I’ve no idea what I’m doing, I don’t know what work is supposed to be and I feel kinda stuck. I’m getting prepared for a new project and kicking away that voice trying to tell me it’s pointless is taking up so much of my energy. Ramble ramble I don’t know why I’m typing this I just need to vent because being severely sight impaired and incredibly lost in the whole life and work thing sucks right now, so hard.
Honestly having a dumb phone over smart phone is the best thing! I feel free!! The only annoying thing is society is now built around everyone having a smart phone so sometimes you do still need it.
CAT has a flip phone thats kind of a ’light" smart phone. It still has the app store and google maps and UA-cam work great, but it has low memory storage and a small screen so its a good middle ground option
You are true, rare are we. Thanks for putting up actual interesting thoughts. That is what we should do instead of most trying to be imitate Holywood in the digital world and slowly becoming speachless and scared in the actual real life. Breathe in cool air !
07:00 the point with this tip is the following: you are adding an expense to the use of the smartphone (walking to it) and then we realize that the benefit gained through the cost is not worth...just recently I had this perception that what messes with our brain when it comes to tecnology is its inherit FREE to use nature. Our way to avoid using it so much is making it expensive (like having to walk from one room to another, you are spending chemical energy to do it) and when you do this you come to the conclusion that whatever you get from it does not comepnsate the extra effort to reach the device.
Buckaroonie sez: We constantly need to remember, our online tools today are designed to use us at least as much as we use them. Good hacks in this video, already using some myself. I'm struggling not to send this video to my kids! ("See, it's not just me, here's a young guy saying the same stuff.") 😅
Cal Newport has an amazing book about this subject, called, well, Digital Minimalism 😅 There's plenty of overlap between his book (and his other books as well) and your advices, so you definitely would enjoy it!
Great video, I can relate cause i've been using my daw disconnected from the internet 20 years now and I don't miss any daw internet related feature so far.
I'm getting a lot of synthesizer recommendations on UA-cam and I thought this video was gonna be something like Elektron's workflow or "I just use a single Volca to compose my music" or "Going DAW-less was the best decision in my life."
Minimalism go brrrrr. Your assignment: try spending however much time you spend on your phone/whatever working on something creative for the next 7 days.
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well I mean if it gets you 10 pounds of American muscle who wouldn't
Sorry, at times it's totally OK to "just consume" and "not be creative", and sleep a lot and take things a bit slower ... or not at all? There will be other times when things go better, run smoother. Life goes on.
I do have "do not disturb" on ALL THE TIME though, I always have my phone on mute and usually never pick up calls but answer them when I HAVE TIME, I often forget my phone in the other room - and then pick it up deliberately after 2 hours of work because "I deserve a break" or need to zone out ...
So I guess it's something in between "being a lazy millenial with a lot of guilt" and "having a work ethic that doesn't kill me within the next 5 years". 😉
I've been spending more time being creative in the kitchen, trying to eat better and avoid highly processed foods. I made lasagna a few days ago, after watching some guides on UA-cam. Best damn lasagna I've ever had.
@@g3cd agreed, up until
when doing that that way gets ingrained into one's muscle memory, all bets are off
getting off socials was one of the best things i ever did. amazing how much more productive, creative, and what skills you can learn when you don't drop multiple hours on your phone everyday. My boss thinks I'm a genius but I just have the whole day to study lol. Watch your screen time! Most of the world is pretty addicted and you get a huge advantage
Never been a big social guy but definitely agree - productivity is through the roof just by not sitting there reading an article or looking at tutorials/forums and all that sort of stuff.
Stop telling people
Me, too. Started with Facebook in 2018, then Instagram a year later. I never did use....er, whatever that thing was that Elon Musk bought. As for UA-cam, I limit my watching to the few channels that deal with my interests and I delete everything else as it comes in. My rule there is that if it's from a channel I haven't subscribed to, I click on the Do Not Show Me Content from This Channel control. It can't stop all the other channels that are just like it, but the more of these channels I remove from my....whatever, the fewer of them seem to show up. One more tip: always clear your Watch History and Liked Videos from UA-cam.
I was about to watch this video but then I saw your comment, so I’m skipping it now and will try to be productive instead.
@@Eric-pc4yi the Snark side of the force is strong in this one. 🙂
What you’re describing is what Steven Pressfield calls ‘Resistance’ in a series of books starting with “The War of Art”. He essentially outlines how it (resistance) will do anything to stop you from deviating from the Status Quo and kill any sign of creative urge. His solution is to treat it like an enemy, understand it and where it comes from and go to war against it. It may sound cheesy but so far it has worked for me. I’m still struggling but at least I know how to recognise it and call out my own bullshit when I let it control me.
You happened to drop this video at the exact moment I was wasting my precious time on UA-cam watching interesting, but ultimately useless videos instead of learning about synthesis and composing like I had planned yesterday. Thank you.
Glad to be of service haha
I'm a 62 year old boomer, I work in technology, and I have to walk that line too.
I have definitely allowed WOW and GW2 and Conan Exiles etc. usurp my time as well.
I had to double down on music to get out.
Yeah and going out too.
I live in the desert, no excuse to stay in after work.
It is extremely satisfying to see people come around to living intentionally in order to free themselves from the trappings of consumer culture. So much of everything you describe here is not so much about disconnecting or being minimalist, but about setting healthy boundaries between yourself and the sea of constant distractions engineered to manipulate and entrap you. By adding intent driven selectivity you create a natural filter for things that reward you for cultivating your own life which in turn creates a virtuous cycle of growth. This development has the added benefit of strengthening your resolve, reducing stress, and feeds your creative energy rather than drains it. You absolutely nailed all the critical elements of this and I hope it continues to reinvigorate all of your life. I am by no means any expert but I can confidently say you have unlocked one of the gates of nirvana and I look forward to your journey through it. Live well, good sir. There is no other life worth living.
I love that your channel is leaning more into “creative UA-cam” than specifically music UA-cam. Obviously I love music, and I love your videos on the subject.
But at the same time, these kinds of videos have inspired me to engage in more than just music for a creative outlet. Filmmaking/cinematography, writing, graphic design, all of it. Thanks for being an inspiration man 🙂
In Buddhism there is talk of hot boredom and cool boredom. The former is the restless feeling of needing to get away from whatever is going on in our brains and emotion, but cool boredom, apart from being cool, is where we begin to appreciate the joyful ease of not having our dopamine receptors smashed with useless stimuli. The latter is where my creative flow truly arises
How do you ‘activate’ cool boredom?
@@xXGrandclosingXx its a combo, u do L shift+ctrl+c+b on ps u go L1+R2+SQUARE+TRIANGLE+UP+UP+DOWN+LEFT
Fascinating. I'm going to look into that. Thanks.
@@xXGrandclosingXx > With daily Mindfulness Meditation 😉
This video really resonates with me, as over the years I've experienced symptoms comparable to an addiction. I found that it takes a lot of discipline to scale things back down to the bare essentials and actually learn to enjoy isolation as a way to boost productivity. Cutting distractions, as well as selecting only a handful of tools instead of scrolling through folders and folders of stuff I end up not even using in my music, is helping me immensely.
Im glad im not alone fighting with this new era of digital chaos. 😂 I went down the hard way and closed my internet provider for 6 months. 1 month in already wish me luck😂 cool video!🎉
Watching this on my lunch break at work ❤
After a lot of experimentation, I discovered that both Android and Iphone have parental controls, so my old phone became my parent phone with a password and my regular phone had all the candy crack blocked. On Android it can even block specific websites. That way I can have all the important things like maps running freely instead of buying a dumphone or minimalism apps that only ever seem to partially work.
There have been some studies about how multitasking can be bad for the brain, so once you learn about that, it gets somewhat easy to understand why your mind is so tired and "foggy" at the end of the day. I used to have to do multitasking for my job (not music-related, which is just a hobby), but managed to streamline it a lot, and it helped immensely with my brain's stamina.
The thing about being bored every once in a while is also important, and I think there have also been studies showing that being bombard by information all the time is bad. It's healthy to have nothing to do sometimes and _not_ being bombarded by endless stimuli.
It's nice that you found out about this.
A while ago I got a small pillow I placed on my desk just as decoration, I discovered that since I keep my phone on vibrate when I put it on that pillow it silences my phone completely. I've been checking it so much less when at my computer now its amazing.
Huh. I have a large like 'whole desk' mousepad that actually does the same sort of thing and I don't know that I've ever thought about that until now. That's actually a great little hack haha.
I sometimes see comments about why I like hardware synths when everything is so instant in Fruity or Ableton... But the amount of mastering tutorials that I get served here is a good reminder. I just adjust the eq and compression on my mixer a bit and everything is good. The fact each piece of gear is rather limited compared to a high end vst lets me know what each box excels at rather than just getting overwhelmed with endless settings
Well said Cameron. One of THE worst things to kill your motivation is jumping on your phone as soon as you wake up; it starts you chasing the 'bad' dopamine all day. You're much better off going outside, getting sun in your eyes & walking. And thanks for the Unkook app tip = game changer!
Good on you. We could all benefit from a little bit of minimalism. Multitasking is overrated, especially when there is a high output of ideas, content, etc. I'm glad you are finding a balance with all of this madness.
I greatly appreciate these little reminders to live life instead of watching it happen. I spent the 90s and 00s trying to fix what I thought was wrong with my life by applying more and more complicated digital tools to my work, my organizing, my time management, and my hobbies, and the biggest realization I came to is that I was spending more time trying to find the perfect digital workflow than I was accomplishing anything. Productivity porn is insidious enough, and pouring algorithmically sticky social media content over the top creates a layer cake of disappointment, helplessness, and depression. Though it hurts to see the next generation struggling with the same crap, but greatly amplified, it's also heartwarming to see folks like you figuring this stuff out much sooner in your life than I did. Humans gotta human, and I'm always happy to see and share tips on improving the quality of humaning we all do.
You can use B&wW filter on iphone too! Go to settings -> accessibility -> screen and text size -> color filters. You can assign that to the double tap on the back of the phone so you can restore it whenever.
What helped for me is a combination of two things:
1 - no phone after 9pm
2 - schedule a non-phone activity for 9pm every day
I often find myself scrambling to find a youtube video or podcast related to music production to listen to while I "get work done," just to find that I was creating a growing obsession trying to collect as much information as I could just so I could have something to do. And it turns out well over half of that information was pointless and not crucial to my journey as a musician. Thank you for reminding me it's okay to be bored, and to rise above the dangerous habit I was practicing.
Well heck if this isn't the EXACT video I needed to see today. Thank you for softening another rough day.
There's a lot say about this, but instead I'll just commend you for being one of the only guys whose background music actually adds to the video instead of making it worse!
Watching this video on my phone while procrastinating instead of doing what I've planned to do afterwork for my self-development is the biggest controversy I've experienced in a long time...
Boredom and idleness have a bad reputation - for absolutely no good reason! At least I am not aware of any good one. Looking out a window without any intention and feeling this weird something creeping up to you can be both, challenging and satisfying at the same time. At least that’s my personal experience. (Yeah, the one writing a comment for a UA-cam video. I am aware of the spot I find myself in, at least at this very moment.)
The fantastic thing about boredom and idleness is that (from my experience) can make ideas become more clear, even if they are tiny at first glance. And when you feel bored enough, that feeling of happiness when returning to something like your studio (what ever that might be or look like, it doesn’t really matter) and pickup something 'unfinished' or just try something new, different, whatever … I say, it’s worth it, it’s worth trying.
Good luck everyone. - And Cam: Nice video, thanks for that one!
Well, I can think of *a couple reasons* why boredom is bad for me. It's, uh... not pretty, trust me (haha mental illness go brrr).
But boredom and idleness aren't the same. Sometimes, just looking through a window is not boring, it's just calming. Walking outside with no aim or purpose, can be boring, or it can not be. And when it's not, it feels amazing. And it tends to clear my mind. I realize that over half of the best melodies, chord progressions, etc. that I came up with, were while I was away from my computer.
Something else I can recommend, is to listen to your own tracks while walking outside. Gives you a whole new perspective on them, and I find it allows me to notice glaring sound balance/texture issues that I barely notice when I've been working for a while.
As someone who is dealing with burnout right now, I needed to see this. My phone is a box of distractions, and I think it would really help me to not use it so much.
I deeply appreciate that you're talking about this!
I can especially relate to the UA-cam thing. It's been a real struggle for me for years (I even wrote a song about it in 2014) and I would just watch hours upon hours of content. Last year, I managed to do a five month UA-cam cleanse. It was great and ever since then, I can go for days without watching UA-cam, sometimes I even forget to check it for new videos.
I don't know what your stats say, but I think these are your strongest videos - pillar content that pulls on your greatest strength, your personality. I've been waching from another account for years and I still want to see your sound design videos and I love your personal studio and software content, but I think YOU are coming through most strongly in this type of video.
Crazy. I deleted my socials a few weeks ago and everything you've said here I relate to so much. My phone turned me into a sad uncreative asshole and it almost killed me. I'm glad I'm back from that place cause for the firs time in a long time I can say I love myself and that I'm so much more capable and creative than I ever gave myself credit for.
Thank you Cameron. I have felt stuck creatively for the least year now. I look back on something I have made previously and don’t know how I did it. I get stuck doing sound design for days on end trying to get a single part just right and keep feeling like I’m doing it wrong. Then pick up my phone and veg out for hours. Swirl some depression into the mix because I feel I can’t do anything productive.
This was relatable. Thank you for your tips.
This is one of the best videos I have seen on my decade on UA-cam. To the point, not over complicating a genuinely important topic. Well done. 👍🏼
You and Benn are my favorite drama queens : I produce Industrial EBM and chaos is what drives me and keeps me alive : Cheers 🥂
Limiting the sandbox in my expeirence has really helped me learn about what is important to me in a song in regards to digital minimalism and creativity. Using the Dirtywave M8 has been immensely helpful in making me more conscious of the resources I use putting more intent behind what I am doing. Since its a DAW in a box basically I can completely disconnect from social media when I work.
My phone is always on silent. Not vibrate, but don't forget where you put it silent.
I have an old pebble smartwatch I got as an experiment because I can't feel my phone vibrate, but I can feel the watch tap my wrist. It has additional powers that let me make it silent whenever I'm working or likely to get a junk call, and I went know I missed a notification until I switch it back on or wonder what time it is.
I also divided my devices into their jobs- my phone has socials and all the communication stuff but very few games and although I have music trackers for scratch pad I haven't used my phone this way for a couple years.
A tablet is for streaming audio and video and reading books, it's basically a carry anywhere TV. No social apps on it at all.
The PC is for creative use only. I will sometimes use the browser to look things up quickly or to post something I just created to social, but I won't surf, scroll, or browse.
I like the notion of visiting with intent, even if that intent is to consume, that means you're going to search and not just take the auto timeline. I think that plug in you showed enforces this
Excellent video on a vital topic! I've been attempting to do similar things and it helps to clear away mental clutter and cobwebs. Setting limits for time wasted on social media (as well as deleting contacts which you don't really have reasons to be connected to, etc.) helps me feel more free. One thing I do is put my phone somewhere out of reach / out of mind and I tend to eventually forget about it and focus more on what I should be doing. I reward myself with a little bit of time to scroll or read what I wanted to read, but limit myself when I do (or try my best to do so). I turn my wi-fi off on my phone too at times to help kill the temptation
Your message, delivery and editing is always on point. That's why I'm a Patron 👍🏽
🤠
Not only am I fan of getting off social media and OLaucnher, but this channel is fast becoming my favourite in general.
Great video and it's gave me a kick up the arse I needed.
I bought a new house and I had no studio set up and instead of building my studio back I got into the routine off watching UA-cam instead.
I'd goto work,get home have dinner then id go into my empty room and couldn't envisage how to rebuild my old studio in my new space.
I'd get frustrated because the room dimensions weren't the same and would put it off and chill out watching UA-cam instead.
Then finally my wife forced me too build it ,once I'd built it my computer then died !!
It took over a month too get it repaired and yet again I'd be watching UA-cam.
I got everything working and installed about 2 months ago but my creativity has gone through the window.
Before I moved I'd get home from work,spend time with family but would always spend a few hours in my studio each day..I was creating everyday and loved it but now because I've got out of my routine Ive been second guessing and taking UA-cam advice which has had me second guessing my work and took my focus away from creating.
Starting tommorow my phone will be off more often and I'll be trying to get back into my old routines..thanks Cameron ❤
Your videos have honestly gotten better and better. Thanks to your videos, I’ve changed the way I make music and live life. Please keep doing these type of videos. We need them more than you know.
Oh, the whole "getting stuck on youtube or facebook or similar, and suddenly having wasted most of the day, and not having done anything creative." Yeah, I know the feeling. I kind of have to keep my phone close, as my dad goes a bit nuts if he can't get hold of me (i.e. if I don't answer on messenger within a few minutes) at any time of day. I've tried being very conscious of my content consumption recently, and I've managed to finish one song, and written a few dozen pages on my book project, so I think that simply being more conscious of what and why, really helps.
This is important. Another helpful step is to minimise your options. Have a minimal set of plugins and vsts installed. Remove unnecessary toolbars, menus etc in your Daw. Sometimes I'd like a daw with just play, rec, stop and rewind.
Thank you. I needed this video. It made me realize where my own obsession came from; how this doom scrolling started with me. So I'm taking action today. Here's to finishing projects.
I'm glad you're talking about this, because this is important. I don't want an abundance of distractions in between myself and creative work either. The "Gaslighting myself into believing that I can't do creative work while mindlessly browsing online" concept is very real to me.
The youtude extension is a life saver!!!! Thanks a lot!!! Im in uni and use youtube a bit so that i can learn about some topics but always end up with a bunch of different tabs open and hours later overwhelmed like u said. Great video thanks!
One thing im trying is getting some more intencional distractions like play the guitar for 10 min(im learning) or maybe go outside in the sun for a bit. Something that does not lead me into an infinite fictional reward loop
I 100% agree with the last rule!!! Understanding what is behind our intentions is the key thing if we want to change our behaviour.
Yeah man, good advice as always! Love the reminder that it's ok to not be busy all the time and it's Ok to just do nothing.
You have this knack of coming up with content that’s absolutely appropriate for my current state of mind. Thanks for keeping my feet on the ground! Cheers Dave
I eliminated everything except UA-cam on my phone. And I disabled the comments on YT so I never have to deal with humans….at all…..ever. I'm 50 and life is good!!
Would like to know how you disabled comments on UA-cam ? Would like to do it myself
Good advices! My little piece of advice as well, if you wanna try, people: find your old phone and upload there only necessary stuff like maps, browser, whatever you really need on a daily basis except distracting apps. That way you have a fully functional device to meet the needs of our modern world and you are separated from this endless stream of information and dopamine addiction, it makes much easier separating from it for for me, hope it may help you as well.
Lots of food for thought here! I have tried (unsuccessfully) many times to remove devices from my bedroom. But within a week I'm back to doom scrolling in bed. You gave a lot of sage advice here that I'm going to try. The notifications, app deletion, and focus mode seem simple enough, but far easier said than done. The FOMO is real when it comes to this. But I find myself missing being bored, missing the place where abstract thought begins. Thanks for making this, very thoughtful and well framed.
It's funny timing, because I've been thinking about exactly this just in the last few days... Now I just need to do the hardest part of all, and motivate myself to accept, and start, this whole idea for myself...
Somewhere on the ADD/ADHD spectrum, I very-recently retired from a 50+ year daily worklife, with the last 44 years spent in high-intensity, public/client facing roles. The constant need to multi-task in this working environment fit perfectly within the boundaries of my attention-limited persona. However, over time, my ability to train my focus on things, like reading or creating music or art, heck even watching an hour-long episode of an enjoyable Netflix serial, became less possible as the years wore on. Constant interruptions from a plethora of digital devices simply aggravated and exacerabted this trauma. However, with my exit from the "Corporate Hamster Wheel" I, like VT, have turned-off 98% of "Notifications" and have found myself mentally "breathing" for the first time in like...forever. So much so that I'm endeavoring to develop a daily Meditation Practice, something I was NEVER heretofore able to do. Like the title of a SPHONGLE tune: "Nothing is Something Worth Doing"! Cheers!
Re: Bedtime Mode on Android, there’s an awesome option for iOS users. Turn on Accessibility Shortcut (triple tap the side button), set it to Color Filters, which is set to greyscale by default. Quick way to take the color out of your display, and make the whole thing more boring.
Thanks for your provocativeness! I wrote a song called, " Caught Up in It." It seems like being caught up in it, is a good thing and a bad thing. Your insights demonstrate how easy it is to get stuck in a Rabbit Hole as you call it. I appreciate your talents, and also appreciate you caring enough to try to point out our obsessions, and how they maybe destroying our creativity. Keep up the great work.
UA-cam is about all that causes me any friction these days. I used to doom scroll a lot, and I didn’t really make it a conscious choice to stop, but the anxiety just got so bad it sort of happened organically. Though as far as time wasting goes, I’m not really doing less of that, I just do it in and around a DAW, and idk how much better that actually is.
Awesome video. I’ve personally been attempting to minimize for the last couple months, and adding the screen time widget to my Home Screen to see how much time I’ve spent on my phone was a big help. I don’t like setting strict limits, like maybe I want to listen to a video at work which my phone sees as several hours of screen-on use, but being cognizant of the time was a good step for me.
Nicely designed, excellently written, shot and edited, and the message, at least, for me, gives food for thought. Thank you for creating this video, well worth watching! ❤
I also recommend checking out Cal Newport, who talks about deep work. He’s a big preacher for keeping focus for long stretches of time and minimizing distractions.
I use 'minimalist phone' for android, which is a super minimal wrap, that is b&w, lists apps in alphabetical and you can nominate what apps are accessible via home screen. Mine just shows a clock, date, and links to weather, voice recorder and spotify. So even when I'm out, I can still remain focused unless choose otherwise.
Hello! Always loved your channel.
It like being at a fire-fighters conference without being allowed to talk about WATER.
You never talk
UA-camrs never talk
About
Money.
Period.
I came to the same realization about a year ago as I found myself a consumer of too much "junk content", and passive is the delivery mode. It hit me waiting at the doctors for my appointment. Everyone was on their phone. It was the realization that I was now disconnected from the matrix. Now I can observe the addiction, but I'm not part of it anymore. Hope there a time in the future when this format and how it is administered is found out for what it is.
Amazing stuff man. I'll be adding this to my newsletter in a few weeks, as I think you've hit the nail on the head with a REALLY big obstacle getting in the way of people's creativity and mental clarity. Appreciate these videos! 🙌
Ha no way, it's THE Zach Heyde. Love your channel dude, a regular on my gym playlist.
For some reason, your videos are putting me back on track.
I haven't had a smartphone in about 5 years. My studio has no WiFi. I like it that way, but my brain still finds ways of ridiculising its own ideas. Learning that that seems to be a common thing might help me going forward though. Thanks.
Sometimes the easiest way is to put your phone in silence mode. If your job doesn't require you to be on the phone for emergency calls - you can easily silence it and that's it. I do this even though probably I shouldn't due to my job but I started to care less about other things except myself.
Thank you so much for your channel, always helpful and inspiring. Keep up the good work, the world definitely needs it 🙏🏻
This video saved my life man, i was with a real problem with youtube on my computer, always when have a to search something, then i see something that intrest me and after 2hrs i wars in a black hole, was realy a sucks, thank you very much for this video.
im starting to produce content and soon i will start to post, hope that we can someday do something together.
great topic, Cameron. Thats for sure something i've been struggling with. Good to see that more people are actually trying to do something and create healthier environments for both themselves and help others. I have a suggestion, not necessarily for a full YT video, but would you mind sharing some takes on ergonomics? the way to balance the Sound design (mouse) with the composing (piano/keyboard) setup. thanks
Hi there @Venustheory! This is a really pivotal video in trying to fix everything distracting from..yourself. It's a long time since I'm feeling I'm not doing nothing specia with my music which probabaly is, whilst by the end of 90s mid 00's my means was so poor I almost regret all the goals I achieved. NOwadays, daws are so filled with choices, the internet is so full of "answer" which I agree with you, lead to a feeling of "thinking not to be good enough" in playing a synth, coming up with ideas, everyone's ideas which could be so unique. In the end, at least for me, I stopped producing, playing something at all. What I came up with? UA-cam: only for "sharing experiences" video; Social: dropped off of Insta and my REAL social relationship got better (no need to stare at the phone wating for something that will never come, probably); INTERNET (as a connection): not in the room where I'm playing. I'm now having a same kind of fun as 20 years ago. Thanks for this video. Just wanted to share these few lines. Thought all that the above was not a problem but for me. Now I know it's not. Hugs
This is exactly what i am going thru right now. I need it to stop immediately and get back to work.
Related to the video subject, Anytime I realize I am on an app/area with 'endless scroll' I immediately inventory if I'm doing anything productive with it (so far, always a NO). Additionally, nice quiet 'Jameson Nathan Jones' shout out. It's always fun to see one of my UA-camrs watching another one of my UA-camrs (Yes I claim ownership, apparently).
You know, i came here to learning music theory and i started with Bitwig and i found a video for beginners! But sir, i can say i more thankful these videos to You. Actually it helped me lot more a making music! You are awesome!
No joke, that unhook extension makes UA-cam look so clean. Might even clean up my life.
Great video as usual. Two more tips: Eliminate as many email subscriptions as you can. Remove yourself from unnecessary social media groups (better yet, don't join them at all!). Lots of distracting fluff out there.
Great timing man, every so often I cut more n more distractions off from my phone and electronics and been doing it the past few days
Also phenomenal music, editing, shots, scripting, and especially color grading 👌
This is exactly how I’ve been feeling lately. This is a great video😀 it’s just so darn addictive.
Always a pleasure to watch your videos. Thank you!
Sooo I’m lining up with your content right now. Been feeling exactly like this…I started studying music theory when I would use socials. If I post..I post then I LEAVE. I get off the app. I decided to stop using tiktok as often. my creativity has been soooo much better.
In the Google/UA-cam settings, you can also disable your watch history. Then you won't see anything on the homescreen anymore. That way, I can focus on the ones I've subscribed to, e.g. you. Still have the recommended videos list on the right side though...
''You don't have to fill all of your time all the time''
Ouch. I felt that.😶🌫
another great tip for youtube addicts is watching EVERY clip on full screen mode (you are in the page you are EXCLUSIVELY to watch the video, so just do thisand nothing else)
You can use a dedicated computer in place of a phone. I only boot it when I want to receive calls and notifications at the apartment. My phone is only for navigation and informative text. I rarely use a smartphone. They're actually dumb.
Take 1-2 mile walks through nature or reminiscent places.
Get a Bowflex or something like that.
im just glad i am not the only one going through this!
What? An American using an Android phone? Smart!
I have very few apps that I have whitelisted for notifications and none of them are social media as I don't use social media. Makes a huge difference.
Here's a nice youtube habit I picked up - if it looks like there's a video you want to watch, which you didn't come to the site to see, put it in a playlist to watch later - I found this list is often full of junk and helps not keep me on the site longer than planned
Don't think I'd expect a Battlefield quote from this channel, but it fits really well!
Its a balance for me. Without the internet I wouldn't be doing music now that im 50 years old. All I use my phone for is remote control for Logic Pro and lyrics ive written . I lwatch UA-cam if Im i,m too tired (or stoned) or need to use a specific technique .
For me when I have an idea its sometimes been rattling around in my head all day and I just have to get it out so its doesn't matter about the production just the concept to begin with.
Despite my 2 years at audio engineering college I have little patience for listening to isolated pieces of music for hours EQ ing and compression etc it just makes me tired. So my mixes are OK but sound rough and ready but I get happy accidental harmonies meanings and hidden harmonies due to my rushed and sloppy work flow.
i have a 15 minute timer (per day) for Instagram, after that I can't open the app. that has saved so many pointless hours of doom scrolling and watching funny shorts about skateboarding piglets. and the b&w mode at bedtime is a great help, too. oh, and no facebook on my phone for the past 6 years or so has really helped my mental health, if not my actual productivity.
I was well on my way into a much more screen-free intentionality-focused lifestyle, and then I had kids
For the last five years the new frontier in the battle for my attention has been the fact that the only me-time I can manage to find is zombie dad me-time. When the kids are asleep there’s nothing left of me to do the intentional good things with, no attention for studies, no creative juice. I try to be the good dad who isn’t on their phone all day so I get to savor that creativity-inducing boredom a lot anyhow, but when there’s time left for me, the only activity that I have the means to commit to is passive intake, and wow does the phone beckon in those moments.
However, when I find myself wrestling with whether to stare at the screen or not, my conclusion lately is that if I’m too tired to do anything at all, and trying to keep myself artificially awake by watching more UA-cam, I usually go to sleep.
So I guess that’s the status report: these days I mostly just sleep! Honestly, it’s not so bad
Appreciate this one. I've been working on this problem myself for awhile, but I appreciate a few of the specific suggestions for things I hadn't seen.
Digital minimalism as someone who relies on assistive technology is HARD. I’m trying super hard, and I’m due a refresh for sure. I’ve cut out the news, I just don’t care. Ableton Note and KORG Gadget are my phone fidgets, and I spend more time drawing and listening to audiobooks. I need to just get off of more distractions and set up more focus stuff.
Right now I’m in total limbo in a lot of ways. I’ve no idea what I’m doing, I don’t know what work is supposed to be and I feel kinda stuck. I’m getting prepared for a new project and kicking away that voice trying to tell me it’s pointless is taking up so much of my energy.
Ramble ramble I don’t know why I’m typing this I just need to vent because being severely sight impaired and incredibly lost in the whole life and work thing sucks right now, so hard.
Honestly having a dumb phone over smart phone is the best thing! I feel free!! The only annoying thing is society is now built around everyone having a smart phone so sometimes you do still need it.
CAT has a flip phone thats kind of a ’light" smart phone. It still has the app store and google maps and UA-cam work great, but it has low memory storage and a small screen so its a good middle ground option
Great thoughts man! So much truth here. I’m definitely a fan of simplifying where I can.
You are true, rare are we. Thanks for putting up actual interesting thoughts. That is what we should do instead of most trying to be imitate Holywood in the digital world and slowly becoming speachless and scared in the actual real life. Breathe in cool air !
07:00 the point with this tip is the following: you are adding an expense to the use of the smartphone (walking to it) and then we realize that the benefit gained through the cost is not worth...just recently I had this perception that what messes with our brain when it comes to tecnology is its inherit FREE to use nature. Our way to avoid using it so much is making it expensive (like having to walk from one room to another, you are spending chemical energy to do it) and when you do this you come to the conclusion that whatever you get from it does not comepnsate the extra effort to reach the device.
Buckaroonie sez: We constantly need to remember, our online tools today are designed to use us at least as much as we use them. Good hacks in this video, already using some myself. I'm struggling not to send this video to my kids! ("See, it's not just me, here's a young guy saying the same stuff.") 😅
Young-ish*
Really like the suggestion for browser plugins that hide all the UA-cam stats. Hadn't ever considered that. Nice, thx!
Cal Newport has an amazing book about this subject, called, well, Digital Minimalism 😅
There's plenty of overlap between his book (and his other books as well) and your advices, so you definitely would enjoy it!
Great video, I can relate cause i've been using my daw disconnected from the internet 20 years now and I don't miss any daw internet related feature so far.
“Sometimes it’s okay to be bored” i made a little art piece on that quote literally today and now i see this video…
I'm getting a lot of synthesizer recommendations on UA-cam and I thought this video was gonna be something like Elektron's workflow or "I just use a single Volca to compose my music" or "Going DAW-less was the best decision in my life."