it's been a long minute since i updated my untangling process but i honestly hadn't made any progress in months, i'm sorry to say. however, i now have something small (but hopefully impactful) to make note of!
one of the things i knew i needed to do to release part of my smartphone's chokehold on me is to stop having it be what wakes me up in the morning. it's the last thing i see before i go to bed and the first thing i see when i wake up. that's fucked up! early on in my strategy building i knew i wanted to do something simple yet effective: get an alarm clock. hopefully a digital one, since although i can read analog clocks, it takes me a bit longer to process visually. this is one of the few situations in life where i prefer numbers.
by the by, i legit cannot remember if i mentioned this or not but a few months ago i tried to find one at a local thrift store, but after like an hour of carefully sifting among the meager options, i took home an alarm clock that turned out half broken. the radio worked, but not the actual clock. i don't know how to fix 90s tech and my handyman step dad was puzzled, so i gave up on it, and the side quest was put on hold. but then, in june, i stumbled upon
an ebay listing for an alarm clock that couldn't be more perfect:
a pompompurin retro cell phone! ...okay, it's obviously not actually functional as a cell phone, but that's for the best. i don't want to trade one device i'm overreliant on for another, no matter how cute it is.
it wasn't cheap, and it took something like four weeks to get here, but so far i'd say it's worth it. the only thing i'm struggling with (past the initial struggle to understand a user manual entirely in korean) is how loud and jarring the alarm sound is, but i can get used to it. now i plan to plug my phone in to charge in a different room overnight from now on so that i no longer barrage my eyes with screens and my brain with information before i sleep and then again immediately when i wake. maybe i'll actually get in more reading and like, i dunno, slow morning contemplation?
hopefully, the next side quest i clear is ditching my smartphone for a dumbphone! i already have one in mind, i just need a little extra disposable income and assurance it won't mess with my family's data plan at all.
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