The Freedom App
If you’re anything like me, I’ll bet you don’t even have the time or focus to actually read all of these words in this blog. You’ll see these words, wince at the idea of how long it might take to read, and go run along on the internet and click away to some other crap. Writing a blog seems archaic these days. Lazy me — why didn’t I take the time to condense this information in a blabbering youtube video where you have to stare at my face while I say words? Why didn’t I record this into an audio blog, where you can just sit back and listen? I know the mediums have changed and you must cater to what the audience whats. but sometimes I feel like writing is enough. It’s a start at least.
I struggle with focus. I’m a human. I know it’s common but some days I really feel like I’m losing the battle to get anything worthwhile accomplished. Today, the day I’m writing this feels absolutely brutal. Before I got around to starting working on this, I lost over 2 hours scouring the Zillow for condos despite having planned to write this.
To free me from the time-consuming endless pull of searching for condominiums up and down the coast of South Florida, I utilized my Freedom App. It’s an app I use to block things that I helplessly can’t stop checking. When my brain wants to do the easy thing. When my mind wants to chase a thought and before I know it my hands have typed away in the URL bar, and with just a few letters to start the search, google recommends where I wanted to go, my right-hand clicks enter and I’m there. The time slowly started to swirl away. Why does this happen? Even when I’m aware of it I feel as if I can’t stop it. The urge is strong. A thought of sex or longing for a date drives me to dating apps. suddenly I’ll have a fear that I’ll die alone and the next thing you know I’m wondering if that voluptuous lady from Tinder responded to my last message. and then I’m there — swiping away. And shortly thereafter, wasting my time realizing she’s just looking to pig butcher me into an investment scam. A worry or fear that I’m falling behind financially and I’ll be spending more money on rent next year drives me to hover vigorously on Zillow, and the desire to make more money pulls me to LinkedIn to apply for a job at Apple for the 60th time. Freedom allows me to stop that. it allows the sensible self and ideas to stay on track. There’s a sane voice inside of me that understands that the path to creative and financial freedom comes from creating. Having space to produce original works that bring value to other people. Creating and exploring ideas that can become intellectual property. Telling stories that matter. Bringing forth ideas that can make a difference for people.
But I can’t do that if I’m constantly in a digital arena where everyone is shouting and selling their own agenda. If I am to accomplish anything worthwhile I need the space to create. I need a balance of input and output. I need to consume purposefully the things that bring inspiration and wisdom. I need a learning path that is curated and digestible. I need patience and awareness. The same is true for you and what you’re working towards.
The Freedom app has been a life-changing time saver.
It’s a great way to build better habits and routines. To balance the power of being connected to the endless communities and information on the internet and being able to work in solitude to generate what’s important to me.
Instagram is another time sucker. There was a handful of years I was completely off it. Deleted it cold. But I soon realized that I needed it for my job. I had to be somewhat in tune with the features of the platform and the trends that happen there.
I ultimately decided that I need to look at it in a new way. I needed to create a healthy balance. To me, social media always felt like some sort of digital party. I viewed it almost like a physical thing. There’s this place, it’s on the internet where there are all these people, showing what they did, ate for lunch, yadda-yadda putting themselves out there. To me, it was a party. Parties are fun, sure. But here are all these things and places your mind could jump on and think about. The thing is, I don’t go to parties every day, I don’t accidentally get sucked into parties when I’m sitting by myself, and just with the simple flip and swipe of a hand gesture, I’m there – in a party, neglecting and avoiding all the productive things I wanted to do that day. To go to a real party, I have to physically make a choice to go out. I have to transport my body to another location. Perhaps make a plan. It’s healthy to socialize both digitally and physically, but not every day, that’s exhausting.
So I decided Saturday’s are for Instagram.
Saturday is my day to go on the gram. Saturday is the day I catch up and see what people posted. That’s the day I contribute and show people I’m still alive. I get to post a thing or two and be seen. I don’t have to be sucked in. I just have to be there and show up once in a while. Sure, the algorithm doens’t favor my frequency on the app, but fuck that, my time, the only thing I can’t buy, is way more important. This routine has even inspired me to think of an idea to create a social media experience (or a metaverse experience) only open one day a week. It should inspire healthy social behavior but also inspire a balance of a healthy lifestyle. I see it as something aiming to bring people together, but not aiming to suck away your time all day and every day.
So that’s my social media M.O. I go on Saturday, I started saying Hi once a week there. Showing a Hi product, doing something like that.
And Freedom is an amazing app that forces me to stick to that plan. It allows me to set times when I’m allowed to use certain apps. It blocks things even when I try. Checking too much LinkedIn and scrolling through news articles and people you may know? Good news. You can create a window of time say 9:30 am - 10: am where can only check Linkedin. Freedom is super helpful and has not only saved my mind and constant checking. It’s boosted my productivity.
When you’re striving to create unique ideas and work from a place of originality or building any type of creative endeavor, having space and awareness to have thoughts is important. Being able to inspire yourself and not constantly get jarred by disruptive bits of media constantly being thrown at you. Freedom helps you focus, it’s a wonderful system and I’m very grateful there was a human who decided to create this software for the benefit of others who want to focus and create works that matter. I’m so glad I was able to write this article instead of wasting my time on Tinder and I’m personally astounded you actually had the focus and fortitude to read an entire blog post from top to bottom. Good on you, friend.