At 73 I Deleted My Apps, and Why Digital Detox Matters After Retirement

A Walk and Talk Video

I want to talk today about something that might be relevant to you. And it’d be interesting to see what your thoughts are about that.

I’ve been creating content since 2007, back in the day when things like Twitter was starting and YouTube was starting and all that. I think I used to be what was called an early adopter, trying each and every app. I found it hugely exciting.

My first YouTube video, although unpublished on an older channel, was 2007. I checked it out the other day actually.

I just enjoyed documenting my life way before the influencers on Instagram and TikTok.

What I want to talk about in this post is the effect that having all these apps on your phone can have on your life.

Yesterday, I finished deleting almost all the apps off my phone, apart from WhatsApp and Viber, which are two chat apps. Viber is used a lot in this part of the world, and I use WhatsApp to stay in touch with my family that are around the world.

I have kept the Google standard apps on the phone, although I have an app called Minimalist Phone, so I can not necessarily block them, but it stops me from accessing them.

I’ve tried this experiment on a couple of occasions in the past, and each time I’ve managed to do about a week, I think, and then I’ve been back on it. You know, like waking up in the morning and switching the phone on and checking Instagram and who, what, when, where, and how.

I’ve got to stop doing that. Why? Well, come on. I mean, I don’t know what it’s like for younger people anymore. I’m not young, right? But it’s taking up all my time.

I should be just focusing on the things that I want to do with my life. Why am I always checking the news? Why should I be bothered with all this nonsense, politics, international relations, current affairs? Why? It doesn’t affect me anymore.

Not at all.

I used to be in the media for 36 years or so. And yes, you were expected to keep up what was going on, but I’m not in the media anymore.

So I’ve started my detox and I’ve cut back on my booze, or that’s the plan, because I just want to be a little bit healthier when I get towards the end. Keep my marbles in the right place in the head, you know what I mean? So a little bit of mental health and a little bit of physical health at the same time.

I have heard that people are doing detoxes and it improves their life. So my plan now is, and I’d like you to give me any suggestions that you’ve got, or are you doing it? Are you suffering with it? How do you cope with it?

What I wanna do is wake up in the morning, pet the dogs, make myself a coffee and then come up here into the garden. It’s much, better in the late spring and summer and early autumn, trust me. Blue skies everywhere, sit down, read a book.

You know, like when I was 10, people were dying regularly at the age of 63 to 65 through old age. People now are living much longer. My mum is 96. Can you believe that? 97 in June. I’m 73. So if I’m like my mum, I’ve got another 20 years and I’m not gonna mess it about.

BUT. Even a 73 year old can suffer with dopamine addiction and I’m going to break it one way or another.

Thank you very much indeed for reading this far. Please, if you have got this far, give me any comments, any questions, not only about how you got off dopamine or you are getting off dopamine, but things that you might want to know about an older guy living here. I reply to every single comment.

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Thank You

Thank you for watching these little slices of my life. If you’d don’t mind here are 3 questions I have for you.

• What would make you hit “play” on a video post instead of just reading?

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