November 9th, 2024

The Weekly Review — Issue 14

Hey there! I’ve been working on getting back into the groove of posting weekly, and I think I’ve finally found a plan that will help me stick to it. If you’ve been following along, you might have noticed a few more posts recently — and that’s all thanks to some new habits I’ve been trying out with my writing process. Can’t wait to share what’s been working so far and keep this momentum going!

Taking a pause from social media

As I explained in my blog, Embracing JOMO, I find great joy in missing out on worldly events and social media distractions. The upcoming weeks will be jam packed with challenges and events at work, so I have decided to go on a digital detox / radio silence of social media. I am mature and disciplined enough to step away from distractions.

The radio silence could be up to eight weeks while I purposely focus on some goals I want to strive towards. I am starting a dyslexia course in the new year, so I would like to be distraction-free for the start of the course.

What does this digital detox look like? The usual process for me involves abstaining from X (Twitter), Facebook, Mastodon, Bluesky, Discord, YouTube, and Twos World. Moreover, I will not use my digital devices past 9:30pm. In addition, I hide my devices such as my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook out of sight, relying on my trusted bullet journal for most of my note-taking and task management.

My main output will be through my personal website, CodeMacLife, which I plan to update over the next eight weeks. Some posts will be copied to Medium because I understand the convenience of having multiple bloggers in one place. A bit of additional revenue wouldn’t hurt either. I won’t eliminate interactions from Medium and my blog in the process. It is important to connect with others in smaller circles.

Scribbles update

The great digital detox of social media leads me onto my next topic — my personal blog / website. I am currently using Scribbles, which I love using for posting content. I’m here to stay with the service I invested in with a lifetime membership. Like the mantra states: Scribbles is ‘blogging for humans’. Something with Scribbles has just clicked for me.

Vincent Ritter, creator of Scribbles, has made numerous changes to the service in the past few months. I am excited to share some that have made their way to my website:

You can like the posts 👍 (no sign-up required)
Leave a comment (subject to comment review via Komments)
Hit 🏠 to return to the main page
Hit 🔍 to access archive and search
Reply via email
Contact form added to the about page
Subscribe to blog via RSS

The next step is to update multiple areas of my website because I want CodeMacLife to be the central hub for my content. Ownership is indispensable to me as other services and social media networks come and go. The next steps will most likely include improved navigation, a dedicated page to explain what each blog category covers, an updated Now page, and several minor adjustments.

Follow other Scribble members through the explore tab.

By reducing the amount of time spent on social media, I will have more time to write a weekly review on a weekly basis (wouldn’t that be a nice aspiration).

Capacities update

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using Capacities.io — it’s a fantastic app, and the learning experience has been incredibly rewarding. However, I’ve run into a bit of a hiccup that I can’t overlook. It seems there’s a conflict with my work’s firewall, which is preventing the service from properly backing up through the web.

To fix it, I had to boot up my work laptop at home, make sure Capacities had time to sync properly, shut my work laptop down, relaunch the Capacities app on my MacBook and wait for the data to sync. As you can see, the process to get the data synchronised was a challenge. I don’t have time to do this tedious task each day.

The struggle made me realise I needed simplicity in my life. Less is more. Less but better. Whatever way you want to see it, I decided to leave Capacities and export my data. I like Capacities and the object-oriented approach. However, Capacities will not be something I can entertain in the future.

My posts

Here’s some of the media I have posted since my last Weekly Review.

Blogging can be part of the mindfulness routine

How an epiphany made me realise I was approaching blogging entirely wrong. I discuss the blogging being a mindfulness exercise.

Five apps I use every day to organise my life (2024 Edition)

Many changes, same principle: I discuss the changes and reasoning behind the apps I use each day. My post is an update on my popular 2023 submission.

Rekindling my use of e-ink books

From Apple Books to Amazon Kindle Paperwhite: A Journey Towards Focus and Immersion in Reading. I list the reasons why I chose to revert to my Amazon Kindle.

Embracing JOMO

Finding Joy in Prioritising What Matters. I explore the positive side of living life without the fear of missing out.

First impressions of Voicenotes

Discovering the Sixth Essential App: Revolutionising Productivity with Voicenotes. The new app in my life that has sparked a rush of creativity and thoughts.

Please remember — if you don’t respond on social media, I am not ignoring you. I won’t have access to any of the services mentioned above. If I decide to extend the break, I would like to say Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. You are all awesome!