The Great Liberation

Breaking Free from the Chains of Noise and Distraction

During the Autumn of 2020 I happened to be reading four books that converged unexpectedly and led me to write what I titled at the time “The Great Liberation.” It was a plan for breaking free from the chains of technology, distraction, noise, and excess. I’d already deleted my social media accounts about a year before, but that wasn’t enough. The cacophony filling my life was becoming oppressive and I knew that social media wasn’t the only source of unrest.

These are the four books that led me to this conclusion.

1. Silence by Robert Cardinal Sarah

2. Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World by Brooke McAlary

3. Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

4. Beauty: What It Is and Why It Matters by John-Mark Miravalle

Though coming to the conclusion from different approaches, each book emphasized the importance of stripping excess and noise from your life, and replacing it with what is simple, beautiful, and real.

What follows is The Great Liberation, as I wrote it on October 25, 2020. These are ambitious goals, written at the height of a passionate, intense time in my life. Perhaps anything from October 2020 should be dismissed as the result of global frenzy and insanity, but in spite of the climate of the time, this list has helped to shape many of my current practices.

If you keep reading after the October 2020 list, you can read my current reflections on revisiting this list, specifically what I’ve implemented, and what I decided to forego.

The Great Liberation

Step One: Purge

1. Get dumb phone and throw away smart phone.

2. Delete online time wasters:

   1. Pinterest account, Spotify playlists, Hulu account, YouTube account.

Step Two: Replace

1. Buy record player.

2. Collect art books, poetry volumes, records.

3. Purchase maps for car.

4. Acquire watch.

5. Purchase notebook to carry on the go for last minute notes, to-do lists, etc.

6. Call and text using dumb phone, as needed.

7. Listen to classical music and podcasts at work instead of alternative/rock.

8. Use maps and plan ahead when visiting new places.

9. Buy camera to use on trips.

10. Use physical planner.

11. Write more letters to friends.

Step Three: Rely on Others

1. Watch movies/TV shows only with others.

2. Rely on others to take and email pictures to me.

3. Rely on others to “Google” information when necessary.

Step Four: Entertainment

1. Go to bed when the only thing you have energy to do is watch a show.

2. Read. All kinds of books.

3. Add extra holy hours into the week.

4. Call long distance friends.

5. Make spontaneous plans with friends instead of filling time with TV/online scrolling.

6. Be comfortable with silence and thought.

7. Go for a walk.

8. Journal.

9. Pray the rosary.

In the months after compiling this list, I gradually put many of these ideas into effect. However, the most important step, getting rid of my smart phone, took a long time to come to fruition. It wasn’t until October 25, 2021, a year to the date of writing The Great Liberation, that I purchased a Wisephone. At the time of purchasing, I had no idea it had been exactly a year since I’d compiled this plan. A coincidence?

Are there really any real coincidences?

Over the past few years, the course of my life has ebbed and flowed, and in many ways, I have “failed” at The Great Liberation. Though I have my Wisephone and some of the goals listed above have become habits, many more were never added to my life, or have changed and evolved over the years.

Revisiting The Great Liberation

Below I revisit the goals outlined above, adding notes, progress reports, and clarifications to each section. This represents the current status of my earlier list.

Step One: Purge

Get dumb phone and throw away smart phone.

At the time I wrote The Great Liberation, I was not addicted to social media. I’d already become convinced that it was not adding benefit to my life but was rather causing me to lose my peace of mind, and waste too much time. I was also disturbed by how much it led me to know and “care” about other people’s lives - people who in fact I didn’t care about.

Much more could be said regarding social media, but for the purpose of this reflection, suffice it to say that it was not social media that led me to acknowledge I needed to ditch my smart phone. What was so odd about my phone addiction was that I wasn’t doing anything “fun” or “addicting” on my phone. Even after purging most of my apps, I found myself checking it obsessively. I’d check my email, open my photo gallery and scroll through old photos, occasionally search something on Google, and then get caught down a rabbit hole. The colors, the screen glow, and the concept of my phone entranced me. On more than one occasion at work, I found myself double tapping my desk to wake up my phone, even though it wasn’t even there. The hit of checking for notifications was so strong that I literally tapped the wood of my desk where my phone usually sat. Obviously, this was a problem. This was what convinced me that deleting social media and distracting apps wasn’t enough. I needed a phone without bells and whistles. I was done being smart. It was time to upgrade to a dumb phone.

However, though I purchased a Wisephone, I never did throw away my smart phone. Granted, it’s in bad shape (one of the reasons I’d needed to get a new phone back in 2021), but that hasn’t stopped me from resurrecting it for a while when I joined a gym that used various apps to track workouts. I’ve also downloaded songs and podcasts on it for long drives. Though I can only use it with Wi-Fi, knowing that it is still present in my life has clouded the sense of liberation I’d hoped to attain when I first wrote these goals.

That being said, when someone asks me how I like the Wisephone, it’s hard to remember a life before having it. I can’t really imagine what I did on my smartphone, or how crazy it felt at first to switch. Though I do like the Wisephone, I’ll start my review by listing some of the negatives. I’m a software tester, so using a Wisephone has been extremely frustrating at times. The version I own is no longer supported, so it hasn’t gotten updates in at least a year and a half. If someone sends me a text in a group chat while I am drafting a text, my text gets deleted. This can happen multiple times in a row. Often texts don’t come through until I open my phone, but then they all come in at once and freeze the phone. I have a newer car, and the phone connects to the speakers in the car, but for some reason if someone calls me while I am driving, the call drops after about a minute. If I call them while driving, the call is fine. So whenever someone calls me, I let them know that I have to call them back or the call will drop. These, and more, are some of my frustrations with the Wisephone.

But in spite of the issues listed above, the benefits have been worth it. Not having a browser on your phone, or the ability to download apps has saved me countless hours that I would otherwise have wasted. The simple, pared down interface does not draw you in and compel you to obsessively check your phone. Even the annoying problems highlighted above have been a kind of blessing. They’ve helped me to create and maintain a healthy distance from my phone. If it were free of problems, I’d likely have softer feelings toward an inanimate device.

The final benefit of having a Wisephone is that since the only “fun” thing you can do on it is text or call your friends, I’ve found that the time I do spend on my phone is actually in communication with other people. This is the whole purpose of a phone! When I had a smart phone, I was horrible at responding to messages or calling friends. Somehow that felt like a chore, probably because the more “enjoyable” use of a phone was to get lost down internet rabbit holes, peruse old pictures, or check my email hundreds of times. Without those distractions, actual communication became the primary use for my phone, and I found my real relationships began to regain proper priority in my life.

Delete Pinterest account, Spotify playlists, Hulu account, YouTube account.

Soon after compiling The Great Liberation, I deleted Pinterest, Hulu, and YouTube. I also deleted many Spotify playlists with rock/alternative music that seemed contrary to my goal of reducing the noise in my life. Recently, I have gotten Pinterest again, but I use it sparingly, and almost exclusively for knitting/crocheting inspiration and searching for healthy recipes.

I guess at the time, Hulu was my primary online movie streaming service. I think they had a few sitcoms that I was watching pretty regularly. Since The Great Liberation, I rarely watch movies or TV shows. As I’ll go into later in the Entertainment section below, making time for other hobbies has been the biggest benefit of this endeavor.

In retrospect, I am surprised that I’d omitted Amazon Prime from this list. I’m sure I was using it at the time, because 2020 was a year of intense book purchasing. Recently I have cancelled my subscription, and I feel no desire to rejoin the anti-human monolith.

Step Two: Replace

Buy record player.

I still haven’t done this. Funny that it was at the top of my list. I do still have Spotify, which I use at work, but I rarely listen to music at home. Note that I do still want to get a record player in the future, but it’s just not at the top of my list anymore.

Collect art books, poetry volumes, records.

I haven’t significantly increased my collection of art or poetry books. If I look for entertainment in a book, it’s usually in the form of a novel. I’ve also gotten quite a lot of nonfiction.

Purchase maps for car.

One of the significant draws the Wisephone had for me was that it did actually have a maps app. While it is a bit clunky to use, that’s what I’ve used if I’m going someplace new.

Acquire watch.

Still haven’t gotten a watch. I’ve had them before, but it just hasn’t been a priority for me. Most places I go have clocks, and if I really need to know the time, but don’t have my phone at hand, I’ll ask someone else.

Purchase notebook to carry for last minute notes, to-do lists, etc.

Instead of purchasing a dedicated notebook for these items, I’ve relied on my paper planner, my journals, or jotted lists down on scrap paper.

Call and text using dumb phone as needed.

I think my initial goal here was to reduce my phone communication, in favor of in person communication. While this has been achievable for some of my friends who live close by, this is certainly not the case when it comes to family and friends who are far away.

Listen to classical music and podcasts at work instead of alternative/rock.

Since October 2020, my musical tastes have been all over the place. While I do ideologically agree that generally calmer/more refined music is better for maintaining a virtuous life, I also do enjoy music that would definitely not fit in that category. When I experience great highs or lows in life, I find that music encapsulates my emotions better than many other things. Given that, I’ve definitely turned to music many times over the past few years. Needless to say, I’ve spent many an hour with artists besides Bach and Beethoven in the time since October 2020.

Use maps and plan ahead when visiting new places.

When I wrote this, I imagined myself shuffling through maps and jotting down notes and routes with pens like some military strategist or frontier explorer. Suffice it to say, that has not been the case.

Buy camera to use on trips.

Still haven’t done this. For one thing, I don’t take very many pictures. Usually, the only time I feel compelled to take a picture is when I see something extremely beautiful in nature and want to share it with others. The Wisephone does allow me to take pictures, though they aren’t very high quality, and they are hard to get off of the phone, because you can’t transfer them to a desktop using a cord, or an app. To get pictures off of my phone, I have to text them to someone else, who then emails them to me so I can download them to my laptop to use. This is a big reason why I don’t often use my own pictures in my Substack posts.

Use physical planner.

Using a physical planner has been lovely. I’ve gone back and forth on getting liturgical planners, secular planners, or extremely basic planners. However, this year, I decided to print out each month on loose paper and hang them on my fridge with a magnet. The inspirational verses and extra space for notes isn’t enough to justify spending money on a whole planner at this point in my life.

Write more letters to friends.

I wish I could say I do this more, but I haven’t written very much these past few years. I do occasionally send a card in the mail with a simple note, and I always send Christmas cards, but long letters are something I’ve yet to tackle.

Step Three: Rely on Others

Watch movies/TV shows only with others.

The idea behind this goal was that if I were to watch a movie, I would rely on other’s DVD’s/streaming services instead of purchasing my own. The hope was that this would tie movies/TV to social functions, which is where they originated.

For the most part I’ve stuck by this, although over the years there have been a few movies and shows that I have watched alone. Occasionally I do enjoy watching emotional movies by myself with a good cry.

Rely on others to take and email pictures to me.

This probably comes across as lazy and needy. Or at least I’ve always thought that it seemed lazy. The need hasn’t come up a ton, because I’m not really a picture person, but occasionally I have requested that people email me pictures from certain events. It’s not ideal, but I’ve made do. One day I’d like to get a camera and take pictures for future generations, but until then, I’m at the mercy of my family and friends.

Rely on others to “Google” information when necessary.

I’ve found that either other people can get me the information I need, or I can live without it. Having every bit of information in the world at your fingertips constantly makes for a much less exciting world. Sometimes I need to flounder my way through to the answer, but other times I just have to rest in my ignorance.

And when I do ask my friends to search on my behalf, humorous moments are made. My favorite experience of this was asking a bunch of my friends if they could google which stores in my town sold anchovies. I was trying to make Ceaser salad, and after looking at a few stores and having no luck, I decided to text a bunch of people and ask them to help me, either by pointing me in the right direction if they already knew where anchovies were sold, or by doing a quick search. In the end I think I figured it out myself, but explaining the whole situation next time I saw them in person was amusing.

Step Four: Entertainment

Up to this point, many of the high aspirations I enumerated in The Great Liberation have not played a significant part in my life these past few years. However, when it comes to Entertainment, this is where I have seen the most significant changes.

Almost all of these goals have become habits by now, and they have woven together to form what is currently my daily life. As you will see, I heavily quote my prior Substack writings in this section. This is because without The Great Liberation, many of these hobbies and thoughts would never have taken such firm root in my life.

Cutting down on technological distractions has given me more time to do the things I love, which have helped me to grow spiritually, intellectually, physically, and socially. I cannot emphasize this enough. Unchecked, the constant noise of the modern age will absolutely cripple your personal growth. If you are discontented with your current habits, you must assess your phone and technology usage.

Go to bed when the only thing you have energy to do is watch a show.

While there have been occasions where I’ve failed this over the last few years, overall, I can say that this has been such a good rule to follow! So often we try unwinding by watching movies and shows when we really just need to sleep. At the end of a long day, it’s easy to fall into the habit of “treating” yourself by watching something, when your poor body just wants you to make a cup of chamomile, take a shower, and go to bed. With the ease and feeling of comfort that comes from watching your favorite show, it requires a lot of discipline to just go to bed, even when we’re dead tired. But the reward is so worth it!

Read. All kinds of books.

One of the biggest blessings that cutting down on noise, technology, and distraction has given me is that I have more time, energy, and desire to return to one of my very first passions, which is reading. I usually try to read a little in the morning, and almost always in the evening before bed. Wherever I go, I throw a book in my bag to have at hand if I need to fill the time where I would have been scrolling on my phone.

An attentive reader must be at peace with someone else leading them. They must pay attention to patterns, notice changes, and listen for cues given by the writer. In our modern world where an instant buzz is always a swipe away, a reader must retrain their attention span so that they can complete the marathon of finishing a heavy volume.¹

Add extra holy hours into the week.

Over the last few years, I’ve changed the time of my holy hour, as well as increase and decrease my commitment depending on what season I’m in at the moment. But through it all, I’ve stuck to my holy hour, and have seen great benefits, not only in my prayer life, but in every other part as well.

When I first began weekly Eucharistic Adoration a few years ago, my body and mind were shocked by the empty expanse caused by an hour of fixed, solitary silence. Staying in one place for an entire hour, removed from my pressing to do list and persistent noise distractions, was a foreign experience to me.²

Call long distance friends.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to include this in my routine as much as I’d like. But I think I have made a better effort in the past few years. My long-distance friends are probably reading this, so perhaps they are the best to judge whether I’ve made time for them.

Make spontaneous plans with friends instead of filling time with TV/online scrolling.

Okay, I am not a spontaneous person. Far from it. Though my weeks are often full of social commitments, they are usually planned much in advance. But since I spend less time watching shows or online, I have been able to plan many more social events, and to have the energy to commit when I am invited somewhere.

Be comfortable with silence and thought.

As I cut out meaningless noise, I find that the silence isn’t as vast and daunting. Allowing myself the time to process my thoughts allows me to reflect on each experience soon after it happens, and to grow from it. To quote Committing to Nothing once again:

Like reading, prayer, lifting weights, refining our cooking skills, or any other accomplishment, the art of pondering and processing our thoughts is something that must be worked at.

Go for a walk.

Walking has been one of the greatest gifts of The Great Liberation. In the years that have followed my initial ideologically fueled purge, I’ve found more and more delight in lacing up my shoes and exploring my neighborhood or the surrounding mountains. While cars separate us from many of the generations passed, walking connects us those who have trod before us. Our lives in the safety of our homes, or even our gyms, give us a false sense of orderliness. This is not the case with walking:

When walking, the incline of the hill, the dust and pollen in the air, the bugs, the winds, the temperature, the humidity, and the precipitation all exert themselves upon you and roughen up the facade of perfection.³

To live a quiet, intentional, and reflective life, walking must weave its way into your routine. Walking connects us both to the natural world we inhabit, as well as to the historical world of our forebearers.

To walk well, one must first know how to enter new lands with the spirit of adventure. By necessity, a skilled walker must have the mind of an adventurer. Undaunted by the cold or the rain, a passionate walker sees the world as a place for connection, both to those inhabiting it in the present, and those who dwelt before in the past. A walker sets off into the world to see it with new eyes. These are both the eyes that see the wild goldenrod and the yapping lap dogs, as well as the eyes of the mind. Walking allows both our legs and our minds to wander new paths.⁴

Journal.

I’ve been journaling since I was a child, but at the time I compiled this list, I believe the practice had fallen out of my usual routine. However, I’d pulled out my journal to write down The Great Liberation, and ever since it’s been a pretty steady habit.

These days, anything that comes to mind is a candidate for my journal: to do lists, poetry, musings on life, outlines for articles, budgets, brainstorms, and yes, occasional emotional outbursts and pent-up angst. I’ve continued journaling throughout my entire life, and as I’ve grown older my journals have become more and more meaningful to me. There’s nothing quite like seeing how you’ve changed as you read the various thoughts that have come to mind over the past 20 some years.⁵

Pray the rosary.

Whether walking the treadmill at the gym, driving somewhere, meandering through my neighborhood, or trudging up a hill, the space of silence opens the door for me to pray with delight. Where once prayer might have felt like an intrusion, now it seems to rise naturally when I am traveling alone. It’s hard not to pray when walking or hiking, because “more than anywhere else, walking in nature places me physically with Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.”⁶

Moving Forward: 2024 & Onward

Last Summer I composed a similar list, but this time each item was something I already practice to some extent. You can read that list here:

A Daily Philosophy

If I were to compose a list like The Great Liberation now, instead of focusing on purging and buying many things to replace our phones, I would focus on what we can do to be more human right now, without trying to replicate the technology fueled life in a low-tech way. Instead of focusing on buying record players, maps, watches, and books with art, my approach would be first to listen to the music around you, to learn the winding roads of the land by experiencing them, to bask in the sun and the stars instead of buying a fancy watch, and to contemplate the beauty of nature and Scripture before loading up on art books. While records, maps, watches, and books are useful, delightful tools, we must first begin where we are before rushing to go buy a bunch of new stuff to replace the technology that has distracted us from God and His Creation. If we truly wish to escape the chains that tie us to sin and darkness, we must turn away from our self-reliance and turn to the Lord.

1. Bookworms and Wanderlust

2. Committing to Nothing

3. Generations Have Trod

4. Bookworms and Wanderlust

5. A Proper Introduction

6. Unexpected Vistas and Mountaintop Prayer