Airplane Mode is Lindy As F*ck
no internet, no problemz
Crypto got wrecked this week. Hacks, crashes, and scammers — you name it, it happened. It was like a year in a week. As a journalist, it was exhausting.
Hence, I think it’s time for a little mental health check — both for myself and all my readers. I hope everyone is doing good. I’m a text or phone call away.
Now is a good time to get off the internet and reconnect with what is important.
One of my favorite ways to do this is by going on airplane mode. When I feel like I need to connect with the present and disconnect from the internet, Twitter, and people not physically with me, I turn on airplane mode.
My airplane mode is Julia Fox’s goblin mode.
As I mention in the title, airplane mode is lindy as fuck. Being a human with no internet connection has been around for as long as humans lived.
Being a human with internet is actually much, much less lindy than a human without internet. This internet shit is new. It’s fast-paced, endlessly entertaining, and full of crazy shit and funny memes. Our brains and bodies were not made for it.
So every now and then, it’s good to get off the internet. What is there to do without Reddit memes and Twitter fights? I do the following and more:
Write, read, and journal
Go on walks with my dog
Hang out with loved ones
Sleep
Sit in an airplane
Airplane mode may be made for airplanes, but it can be used at any time.
Something about being on airplane mode — being unreachable — helps me think clearly. When I’m on airplane mode, I think my most original thoughts.
Maybe it’s the feeling that no one is judging me, that I’m alone, that I’m simply me without the Instagram filter that is the internet.
I love walking my dog around the graveyard down the street from me. I’ve written about this before, how past girlfriends thought it was weird, how it’s kinda morbid. But, I find it really stoic and a peaceful way to collect my thoughts.
I think about how one day I’ll be dead, my dog will be dead, everyone I know will be dead. And while it’s sad, it helps me remember to seize the day — to take advantage of the time I have on earth and to have fun while doing it.
Usually when I’m on airplane mode, I’m not pondering life in a graveyard.
I am laying in bed reading, writing, or journaling. When I’m connected to the internet, I have the attention span of a coked out rabbit so I need to get rid of as many distractions as possible to get the important shit done.
My perfect Saturday afternoon: lying in bed next to my dog and girlfriend, airplane mode on, reading about the history of capitalism.
When I’m on airplane mode, I feel like my attention span increases and I can read for much longer. I’m just not thinking about what texts are coming in, anticipating how many retweets I’ll get on a tweet, or any of that bullshit.
I’m just present — reading and thinking about my reading. It’s beautiful.
The same goes for journaling. Whether it’s at 11 AM or 10 PM, there is not much more that I enjoy than sitting in bed journaling whilst on airplane mode.
I have no fears on airplane mode, I can simply write like no one will ever read it. Ironically, that is when I often think of my highest performing tweets or articles.
Sometimes, I’ll write on my laptop — with my phone on airplane mode and laptop on Do Not Disturb — and write on Substack like I’m doing now.
I even purchased a Freewrite Traveler— a $500 mini laptop that only connects to Google docs and Dropbox. It’s been perfect for writing fiction at night and getting myself into an imaginative place.
I understand why writers are unreachable. There are some jobs you can’t do while getting constantly interrupted.
Before I break out my journal Freewrite, I try to go on airplane mode around 9-10 PM.
I look forward to my pre-bedtime hours all day. I love sitting in bed, reading, journaling, writing, and hanging out with my girlfriend with no distractions.
When I’m finally ready to sleep, I keep airplane mode on because I am useless in emergencies. My dog — the only other life I’m responsible for — is next to me1.
When I go to sleep, I want to sleep — not be interrupted. So, I sleep with airplane mode on every night.
If I had kids, I’d leave my phone on, but I don’t. My girlfriend lives in NYC and there’s nothing I can do to help her from NJ at 3 AM if there was an emergency.