Phylosophy of HCI: Experiencement 1, Gaps of inactivity.

As this week's "experiencement" I decided to make a week of rides to work fully internet free.
The decision was not random: my apartment is fairly open-plan, meaning that me and my girlfriend work, cook and watch TV in the same space, so this experiment would be impossible from home.
Also, as I leave work at the same time as many colleagues, we usually take the bus back home chatting, so I wouldn't be able to really disconnect, at least not from the people around me.

The first day I failed miserably, and I'll tell you how. At first I thought that if I just sat down and "did nothing", stayed away from my phone and did not access any online or offline content, I'd be isolated.

But I did not count on my Pebble.

The Pebble is a smartwatch, that is, it's a connected computation device disguised as a watch. Most of the times it's innocently telling me the time and the weather. But it also shows me the number of unread emails, text messages and missed phone calls.
That alone wouldn't be a problem, if it was all the Pebble did. But it also buzzes a very perceivable vibration every time I get a Facebook message, a new email, an incoming phone call, a calendar alert, a WhatsApp chat.
This failure made me realize something very interesting that I had not noticed before: it's been almost one month that my phone has been on mute, as I no longer need audible notifications of anything, as the Pebble successfully eliminated this need for me. I'm hyperconnected, but in a way that's unobtrusive to other people around me.

It made me feel good.

In the second day, I left my "watch" behind. It allowed me to completely isolate myself from the internet, but not from ambient noise. It felt interesting to be immersed in the background buzz. I don't know if it's because of my long diagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder, but I'm quite used to daydreaming. I disconnect with the environment all the time, always going to my weird little internal, magical place. But by not being pulled back by constant notifications allowed me to go deeper into this, let's say, meditation.

On the third day, I wore headphones. Not with music playing, but just as a sort of earplug. It felt interesting to be in this extra sensory isolation. I almost dosed off, but not quite.

I traveled for 40 minutes in complete meditatory silence.

I must report that it felt a lot longer than using my phone.

By the way, talking about headphones, silence and background noise, I bumped into this while reading up for this post: John Cage composed a piece of music called 4'33" where he "performs" four and a half minutes of silence. Not pure silence, but that silence full of the little noises of day to day life. It's a beautiful thing, although you might not agree it's music. There's also an app now for you to record your own performance of 4'33" and to listen to other people "performing" it. I don't have an iPhone, so I couldn't try it.

But I'd love to.