occultI've published a new essay on my website.
“Into the Dark Wood: The Right to Be Unknown.”
Oblivion, autonomy, surveillance, and resisting a world that refuses to let us disappear.
People need to do this more often…
Devine Lu Linvega (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image Traveling in the countryside of Spain without a phone.
Devine Lu Linvega@occult Excellent piece, one thing I was hoping you'd mention is that you make different choices when you're willingly walking into oblivion. Like you said, you tell someone you're off, but also you prepare for the worse, bring some food, a compass, a map, and so on. I think this mindset of you might not get help at a moment's notice in Oblivion, changes how you act in and out of Oblivion.
@neauoire thank you for the feedback.
There’s a lot I wish I could have covered but it would have gone on too many tangents.
I believe what you're describing is temporary, people adjust to this and let go of those anxieties, I know I did eventually.
Everyone will be different on how they acclimate, suddenly you go out on a 2-hour walk without the phone and you didn’t even notice you left it behind.
This change in behavior is just our lizard brains trying to deprogram from our baseline.
@occult I don't know about the phone, I don't have one. But I think these Olivion-crafted habits can be useful, even after spending years in and out of it.
When we row to shore and hike out in the woods all day, knowing that we can't call for help changed how we act in and out of the woods.
When we sailed across the pacific and accidentally sailed right into a cluster of chinese poachers, the way we acted was advised by us having been in Oblivion long enough where the social contracts are somewhat different.
@neauoire You know, I've never thought about it like that. My sense of oblivion has been walking around the city of Boston; yours is much different than mine, with higher stakes. My concerns of leaving the phone behind are downright comical compared to your adventures in and out of oblivion.
I think you're more qualified to write about that kind of mindset than I!
@neauoire for me, once I had reached my new baseline of no phone, suddenly I noticed the buzzing became downright annoying. I knew it wasn't anything important. I was turning on Do Not Disturb mode more often to shut it up.
I went from worrying about what I was missing to being annoyed that I was being pinged so much. Sure enough, I'd take a glance at my screen, and there was nothing I needed to care about.
My behavioral changes are much less dramatic walking around a city, of course.
@occult Yeah for sure, it's a gradient :) There's still some valuable oblivion habits that apply in the city and country side.
We've developed this strange quirk where if we are driven somewhere, we have the impulse to ask how well the car is stocked up, does it have blankets? bottles of water?! Yo, chill out, we're just going for a car ride.
I hadnt heard of phantom ringing until today TIL
@neauoire I'm glad you like the essay! I was hoping folks would find it interesting.
Yeah, phantom ringing/buzzing is definitely a thing, and I have experienced it. Very strange.
I hope it inspired others to make a concerted effort to leave the phone behind once in a while.
∴ esoterik ∴
rostiger@occult This is such a timely piece, thank you for sharing it. I have been pondering the topic of my habits around smartphones for a while now.
I used to have a smartphone from 2010 to 2020 and then stopped to use a feature phone for three years. It was such a relief, I loved it. Nowadays I can't circumvent the necessity for owing and using one and I notice how much effort and self discipline it takes to keep my habits from becoming unhealthy. And also how extremely annoying I perceive the constant buzzing (even with most notifications turned off and it being in silent mode most of the time).
I've been making a habit of intentionally stepping into the oblivion, but now I have a word for it. 
@rostiger your experience mirrors my own and many others. It's difficult for sure, and everyone will be different.
The discipline to keep it within check is all you can do. Keep it up!
Obviously the use of the word is not new. The book I suggest reading at the beginning of the essay is what brought it back to mind. I don't agree with everything in the book. It misses a few things, but it approaches it from the philosophy / framework side, I just extended and applied it in my essay.
ravenbrook@occult firstly, lovely paintings, it fits the piece very well.
i am in a position like many others where carrying a phone is kind of required and i hate every second of it. im relatively young so i never really had the experience of not having a phone or something like that and it is really quite oppressive. turning off notifications for a lot of apps can help, and i am glad that, apart from this and tumblr, i dont use social media
nothing is like sitting by the sea with no online connection.
@ravenbrook Thank you for taking the time to read it!
It’s a challenge, for me as well, as I do need to keep a device on me for various reasons.
One can find a compromise, tune those notifications to an appropriate level, avoid the attention vortexes and dopamine traps.
I wrote it as a reminder that life still goes on without constant connectivity.
@occult yes, tuning is the most we can do, and it does help tremendously. for the most part i have stopped doing things like watching youtube, substituting that with reading blogs and such (jcs.org and cat-v are some of my favourites right now). i find that they suck less life out of me, and dont trap you in an attention vortex as you rightly described it as.
i think it was a great piece to write and tremendously well done, i look forward to your future writings.