Different Internet Sizes

Sometimes I encounter something I need to do and I think "I'm gonna need my big internet for this", e.g. filing taxes, backing up documents, digging up some old file, etc. But these situations are becoming less frequent. I can do most things, if not everything, on my medium internet.

I think the size of your daily internet plays an important role in how we integrate it into our behavior. I don't think it's a stretch to claim that phones hit that sweet spot of accessibility that caused everyone to be glued to our phones.

Any larger and you're approaching a tablet/laptop, and people are unlikely to pull out a laptop between stops on the train. Any smaller and you get a smart watch, but they haven't usurped the phone in how we use them.

I think the smart watch didn't usurp the smart phone for a few reasons

it's still infeasible to only have a smart watch and still do things

they're physically clumsy to use

the interfaces feel like they evolved from phones
I like these things about smart watches because it means it's kind of similar to a dumb phone, and I don't have the urge to be on it constantly (I hope this does not change with AI).

So given all this, this is how I'm trying to use my various internets now:

I wear my Apple Watch basically all the time

I take my iPad (with cell service) when I'm going to be out for a while

Or when I think I might need to Uber, sadly there is no Apple Watch app

I am trying to use my iPhone and MacBook Air as little as possible, and always leave them at home

I just replaced my old iPad with the 11" M4 with cell service, and it's going well so far. I think I've used my iPhone for no more than 5 minutes in the past 48h. I am hoping to get rid of it (and potentially my MacBook) entirely, but I have a few things to figure out before I can do that.

A few more days into this, and I think I have used my phone for no more than 10min/day. Most of that has been putting on a podcast in the morning while I'm making breakfast or turning my lights off before I leave home. Since the start of this experiment, it's stayed where I charge it on a shelf in my kitchen.

Naturally, I have used the iPad more, but my relationship with it is remarkably more healthy than my phone. I don't take the iPad out on the train to scroll between stops, I even feel less inclined to put on some music to silence the world around me. I'm just more present.

A lesson I feel like I am learning in this is that I believe the abundance of choice my phone affords me has caused something fundamental in me to atrophy, and that removing that abundance of choice has allowed that something to begin to grow again. I can't quite describe what it is, maybe my ability to will, intent, agency, etc.