#devices

let your devices be tools, not lifestyles. the internet is wonderful, but it shouldn’t be where you disappear to all day. try to only pick up your devices with an intended purpose in mind; don’t let the easy dopamine rush fool you into thinking browsing tumblr is any substitute for real life. your devices are tools whose usage you control, not the other way around.

smallzerowaste:

Hi! I really liked the decluttering idea. And I have a challenge for you! It’s about cleaning up your devices. Don’t force yourself to do it all at once it may take much time ;)

Text messages:

• Look through your e-mails, delete the needless ones. 
• Unsubscribe newsletters.
• Also check your SMS and text messaging apps. 

SM: 

• Unfollow the accounts that makes you feel bad somehow and people who you don’t like although keep following.

Gallery: 

• Look through your gallery and delete wrong taken photos, screenshots etc. 
• Organize the pictures.

Internet: 

• Clean up your browser history.
• Clean up your bookmarks. 
• Delete the accounts you no longer use (for example old browser games you no longer play accounts).
• Check your Google Drive and tidy it up.

Device:

• Change your wallpaper. 
• Delete the music you stopped listening to years ago. (Spotify counts!)
• Organize your desktop.
• Organize your secondary storage. 

I’m starting now, what about you?

Okay, I was finally able to complete it  It took a lot of time to be honest. The hardest challenge now is to keep it tidy

But it is worth it! I absolutely love my new wallpapers, furthermore deleting old messages really made me feel better. I was especially shocked with my e-mail box… I haven’t delete any e-mails since September 2018! 

I truly encourage you to clean up your devices!

fsawt:

fsawt:

fsawt:

I’m a college student that takes three separate essay-based subjects and my first set of proper exams are in just two days. I’ve always struggled with handwriting and have been frequently marked down in my assessments because they can’t read my work.

I know that this is because I can’t hold a pen correctly; whenever I try hold it how I’m ‘supposed’ to it doesn’t feel right at all. It feels incredibly wrong sensory-wise and stresses me out after even a minute. I’m autistic so I’m no stranger to sensory issues, but this will literally cause me to fail if I they can’t read my essays (or if I can’t read my notes because I have to do everything on paper). Physically writing in general stresses me out and my school won’t help me.

Does anyone have any advice on how to try overcome a sensory issue like this? Please please add anything you know. I’ve been struggling a lot with my autism recently and I have zero support. My education feels like hell. If you have anything to say, please tell me how I can deal with this.

In addition to this, I’ve developed a tic and I don’t know why. I’m unaware if this is a symptom of autism or not. I’ve gotten anxious tics before and have had habits of reactively throwing things before but this is different. I’m worried people will think I’m faking or mocking people with disabilities. I don’t want to disrupt anyone in the exam hall either.

Please, if there is anyone with any insight or advice please say in the notes, tags or dms.

Thank you everyone for the advice. I’ll try my best to ask to take a test or see a doctor so I can use a computer. Thank you for the support.

Yeah, the computer is a good idea! There are also grips you can put on a pen that might make it easier to hold. One occupational therapist I know hands them out like candy haha. They’re made in a variety of shapes and thicknesses so you might want to try a few different ones, if you decide to check ‘em out.

Like these! I know they look a little funky (well, personally I think they’re fun). My patients who have trouble holding writing utensils, either from sensory or physical/fine motor issues, have found these helpful. It might be too late for the exams you mentioned but I figured I’d put this out there anyway.

Google-owned Motorola Mobility announced a new hardware project today called Ara.

Ara is to phone hardware what Android was to phone software. It offers a toolkit for manufacturers to create fully customizable smartphones. And these toolkits will supposedly be plug-and-play.

Asthis article on TheNextWeb says beautifully:

You start with a bare-bones creation made up of a base board and add on the components you really need, and  then those you really want. Don’t use a camera on your phone? Simpy (sic) swap out the camera module and put in more storage. Is the processor positively sluggish for your use? Easy, just swap in a newer one with a higher clock speed.

Now, I think there’s a lot to be said here for the project. When it comes to either purchasing a pre-manufactured desktop versus building your own, both power and affordability are optimized in the DIY market.

However, self-built PCs struggle from an achilles heel – you have to know how to build them. Regardless of how easy some claim it is, the average person doesn’t want to risk breaking their new >$1000 investment because they were trying to but the square peg into the round hole.

So I’d say this: the major challenge that Motorola’s Ara will face is making it easy to self-manufacture.

Perhaps this can be done by making the modules extremely resistant to breaking, or making the process of putting them together more akin to building something out of legos rather than putting together an IKEA desk.

No matter what, I’d highly doubt that folks who currently shell out $199 for an iPhone for few reasons other than its meticulous, beautiful design, will switch to the self-built phone any time soon. Certainly there is a market for it, but until the form factor goes away altogether, there will be customers on the massive-scale manufacturing scene. 

However

This actually could be a red herring. With the recent developments in 3D printing that we’re beginning to see, one might wonder if the manufacturing industry as a whole is beginning to wane. It’s certainly an exciting view of the future to have a device, sitting in your home, from which you can make any assortment of things that you’d otherwise buy from a store.

Perhaps Ara is one step towards this universal self-manufacturing vision. Perhaps Ara will prove, once and for all, that design can be built in to a self-built machine, and that folks won’t care that they have to do an extra hour of work to get there.

I’m not certain, but regardless, Ara has a long battle ahead of it to prove itself.